Tired of the tedious, depressing headlines in the news? Every day I read about more human misery: the war in Syria…human traffickers preying on migrants desperate to escape endless violence… the entire country of Greece drowning in debt, and all the individuals across the globe at the mercy of cultural clashes and political power grabs, trying to cobble together a new life and rebuild their family nests… while conflict continues to escalate between Israel and Palestine. Turning to local news here in America, we have yet another mass shooting—this time at Umpqua Community College—by another angry, isolated young man unable to find a girlfriend. (Beware the unloved adolescent!) All of the hand-wringing and pontificating by media and politicians about overhauling gun control laws versus our Second Amendment rights to bear arms has given me a ferocious headache. Advil isn’t doing the trick.
Although I’m not in a war-torn country, trying to reach Greece in an over-crowded raft, there’s still plenty to worry a mama bird in her semi-empty, Manhattan nest. Both my kids just finished filming their respective movies. Max and his girlfriend survived a cross-country move from Maine to California in a 16 foot U-Haul driving day and night. With his bank account dwindling, Max needs to put the finishing touches on his second project in order to avoid becoming a (truly) starving artist. With every passing month, Henry and I must adjust to the fact that our son now lives faraway and may never return. Does Max’s relocation mean that one day our (prospective) grandchildren will grow up on the west coast, in a different time zone? Will we be too old and feeble to journey cross country often enough to know our potential grand babies? But that’s far off into the nebulous future, so I should stop worrying, right?
Enough about tragic world events and my children, right? This week’s challenge was to find someone or something uplifting that might give me and my readers a smile. So far I’ve failed miserably, I know. But, wait, John Lennon was born this week. To commemorate what would have been his 75th birthday, Yoko Ono invited thousands to Central Park to create the largest-ever human peace sign. ABC reported that 2,000 people gathered in the East Meadow—far short of the number needed to break the current record of 5,824 set in 2009 by the Ithaca festival. But Ono thinks Lennon would have been happy anyway. All different kinds of people, old and young, former hippies and politicians joined together to celebrate John Lennon’s birthday and legacy of peace.
Marguerite Elisofon is a New York City writer and the author of My Picture Perfect Family, a memoir about how her family navigated life with a child on the autistic spectrum before the internet and support groups existed. She also blogs about parenting young adults and disability related issues in The Never Empty Nest. Her writing has been featured in a variety of publications, including Time and NY Metro Parents magazine, and her family’s story has been featured by the NY Post, Fox News, The Daily Mail, and on Jenny McCarthy’s Dirty Sexy Funny radio show. A Vassar graduate, Marguerite was born and raised in New York City, where she still lives with her husband, Howard, in their mostly-empty nest. She is available to speak about a wide variety of issues relating to twins, parenting, and autism. 