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Detail of a stained glass window in St. Barbara's Church (Kutná Hora, Czech Republic). The window depicts St. Aloysius, St. Monica, St. Francis of Assisi, and St. Joseph in prayer. Today is All Saints' Day.

Pudelek (Marcin Szala), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

                   Pity the Nation 

Pity the nation whose people are sheep
And whose shepherds mislead them
Pity the nation whose leaders are liars
Whose sages are silenced
and whose bigots haunt the airways
Pity the nation that raises not its voice
but aims to rule the world
by force and by torture
And knows
No other language but its own
Pity the nation whose breath is money
and sleeps the sleep of the too well fed
Pity the nation Oh pity the people of my country
My country, tears of thee
Sweet land of liberty! 

Lawrence Monsanto Ferlinghetti (1919 – 2021) was an American poet, painter, social activist, and co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers. Ferlinghetti was best known for his second collection of poems, A Coney Island of the Mind (1958), which has been translated into nine languages and sold over a million copies. He published his Poem " Pity the Nation in 2007 toward the end of Bob Bush second term to tell what he felt was wrong about the USA . It was also a response to Kahil Gibran’s 1933 poem Pity the Nation. Gibran’s poem was about Pakistan. Video of Ferlinghetti reading the poem

Illustration of Davy Jones sitting on his locker, wearing a pirate captain's uniform. Today is Halloween.

John Tenniel, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

George Washington (1732 - 1799) He is known as the Father of the Nation for his role in bringing about American independence. He was the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797 and had served as commander of the Continental Army,  leading the Patriot forces to victory in the American Revolutionary War against the British Empire. The quote appears in a letter he wrote to Major General Robert Howe on August 17, 1779. The context of the quote is about the importance of integrity and the challenge of maintaining it when faced with financial incentives that might compromise it. View letter

mckenzie toyne on Unsplash

Schwetzingen Palace gardens, Schwetzingen, Germany: view from the Garden Theatre to the Temple of Apollo.

Roman Eisele, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

Portrait of a Peacock dance performer during the harvest festival of Thai Pongal in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

TAPAS KUMAR HALDER, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

Sanjeev Shakya on Unsplash