A Story of Skulls and What Goes On Inside

Late yesterday afternoon I walked into my "zombie" bank with deposits from work, rumors of nationalization still ringing in my ears, those rumors causing wild fluctuations in the stock market. There was a line. There were only three tellers open although several were just sitting there zombie-like with "closed, next window please" signs protecting them from any expectation of service.

A woman in her forties, was just finishing filling out her deposit slip when I walked into the line. I gestured for her to go ahead of me.

"In this world, right now, we need a little fairness," I smiled.

Which began our conversation about how in these hard times, everyone is suffering, so we have to be kind and open with each other, or else there will be nothing much to live for.

Then she told me her story: About eighteen months ago, she was driving her mother to her four-hour-a-week job when a rock rolled off a truck and came smashing through the windshield of her car. Within seconds, the rock was embedded in her mother's skull and she died immediately.

"We just never know. One moment she was alive, and the next she was dead."

The story was a reminder of just how little control we have over our lives. To cement this ubiquitous realization, we happened upon Parker Palmer on Bill Moyers' Journal last night. His insights and clarity on illusion and how illusion leads us to darkness are extraordinary. He provided comfort and a path to get through these crises. It's worth a quiet view, perhaps sitting alongside someone you love, as we did last night.

Another aspect of skulls came up in a February 19 story in the New York Times. The descendants of Geronimo want the "skull" of the secret "Skull & Bones" society at Yale returned to the family. Legend has it that George W. Bush's grandfather, Prescott S. Bush, stole the skull from the grave of this legendary Native American and brought it to Yale along with other stolen artifacts, which remain on secret display. Oh, boys will be boys!

Respect for human life and the understanding that we are all connected, well, that gene seems to be missing from the Bush lineage.