Bob Schwartz

Dear ___,

I hope this finds you and finds you well. I came across your name today in an old list of addresses. It reminded me that it has been years since we have been in touch. There are so many memories of the time we shared a neighborhood. I see online that ___ died three years ago. He was a small and good part of our lives. He was an irreplaceable part of yours. We are well and maybe surprisingly are living back here in ___. Anyway, if this does reach you and you want, please do reply.

Bob

Why do this?
To prove that what happened happened?
To show that the connection of
Proximity and convenience
Was more and is durable?
To know that life before and life now
Are all one life
That time before and time now
Are all one time
And if one life and one time
Then life and time go on forever?
Or just to send love and say hello?

© 2023 by Bob Schwartz

Among my old correspondence I found a letter that closed with this:

“The 90s are turning out to be the decade when the words “it can’t happen here” are quickly disappearing from the language.”

It doesn’t matter what the topic was. I’m not a forecaster who could see that whatever I meant then is doubled now. Anybody who studies history knows that no nation or society or generation is immune to unwelcome forces. None.

Monty Python was wrong in joking that “Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!” Actually, if you pay attention, everybody should expect the Spanish Inquisition or something like it. Anywhere, any time.

So much good goes on, thank goodness. But people being people, in the 1990s and today, stuff is going to happen. And “it can’t happen here” is never true.

© 2023 by Bob Schwartz