The Weekend Witness
Highlights on news, neighborhoods, and what's growing on in the world
The Obvious News
US gun violence shocks the world and impassioned calls for tempered speech.
Once more people are dead, widowed, fatherless, and traumatized by the devastating violence of men with AR-15 style rifles. This time, the target was a former US president during his campaign speech. Terror and death happened, and it weighs heavily on us all. I praise God former president Trump was not murdered. I am also grateful for the calls to end politically violent speech, and many recognize that violent speech begets violence one way or another. While a person may speak the violence that is in her heart, she may not be one to pull a trigger, and tragically, there are enough lost souls who eventually do so.
Politicians should not be exempt from speech that whips up crowds against another person, or groups of people. It remains to be seen if others follow their own advice, but in the meantime, let’s check our own behavior and consider what impact our words (or the words we reshare) have on others.
“A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” —Jesus
North Carolina Riptides and Tourism
I grew up swimming in the waters up and down the Pender and New Hanover county coastline. I knew how to navigate every type of water situation whether we were skiing, boating, playing in the waves or jumping off docks. We were taught about tides (and tide clocks), undertows, barnacles, hurricanes, alligators, sharks, jellyfish, quicksand, currents, full moons and storm surges. And definitely rip tides (the technical term is rip currents). My dad constantly spoke to us about what to do and not to do. We had great respect for the strength and unpredictability of the ocean and wind.
As North Carolina tourism explodes, people are surging to the coast without proper understanding of how the ocean behaves. People are swept away by the rip currents, then disappear or panic, while brave souls swim out to rescue them only to be themselves overcome. We ignore those red warning flags snapping in the wind, and overestimate our fitness and ability to “outswim” strong currents.
See: More than 150 rescued over 5 days from rip currents at North Carolina beaches
Thankfully the NOAA has excellent educational resources: Carolinas Rip Current Awareness and 7 rip current myths debunked. Through community education and listening to those with coastal wisdom, we can reduce the number of these incredibly sad events.
Some Good News
For me, the ultimate Good News is in the person of Jesus. Connected to that, we can pursue a life of faith by discerning the good and highlighting it!
Let’s be intentional about seeking out what is good, especially for those of us in fields of service that require extensive knowledge about trauma, abuse, and injustice. I love reels and reshares that make me laugh, but I NEED reminders of the good things in the world that change people’s lives for good. Some examples:
Housing Needs in NC: Kristen Powers shared a beautiful personal testimony and recent news of Benevolence Farm receiving funding for them to build more tiny homes. Benevolence Farm serves women leaving prisons and women with any conviction histories and incarceration lengths.
News from the Anti-Trafficking Field | NC Coalition Against Sexual Assault
Social media accounts that highlight the good, true, and beautiful here and here.
What’s your GOOD NEWS?
What’s Growing On?
A Delightful Discovery
A chance discovery turned into a day of wandering through the breathtaking Juniper Level Botanic Garden that only opens to the public twice a year!! It was like a dream–seeing such diversity, color and texture arranged a variety of mini-ecosystems. You could tell how much love went into the care and conversation of the soil and health of the specimens. I snapped a few obligatory photos, preferring rather to immerse myself in the landscape.
JLBG, was established in 1986 when Raleigh native Tony Avent and his wife Michelle purchased a 2.2 acre abandoned sandy loam tobacco field (9241 Sauls Rd.) in the community of Juniper in Southern Wake County (central North Carolina).
JLBG’s mission is to “collect, study, preserve, propagate, and share plants for a better world.” They believe that “plants belong to humankind, not to countries, governments, bureaucrats, or academic elitists. That’s why our ex-situ plant conservation goal is to actively promote and preserve botanic diversity by sharing plants with gardeners around the world.”
Here are my photos. Please notice the Pitcher Plants that look like they are tell a joke to the other one laughing. Also the pair of hot pink hibiscus skirts.
