I usually avoid the news, but sometimes you can't avoid it. News of the recent eruption of violence in an area plagued by violence for a long, long time has been widespread and unavoidable.

I don't want to comment much on a situation I am far from an expert in, but it seems to me that regardless of past sins of either side, violence is never a good answer. I'm also not an expert in either Judaism or Islam, but I think this message applies to both:

"thou shall not kill"
their god tells them, yet...
they kill

I penned that after seeing the news. The cycle of revenge and vengeance and retribution is a never-ending one. One side will always deserve revenge. This endless spiral will never burn out naturally, unless it's with the destruction of both sides. Anyway, I sadly shook my head at the news of another war there and then that haiku came to mind.

On a different day I was at the library. The library here a nice cafe area in an atrium space. I think it's a trend in modern library design, a trend for the better I'd say. Anyway, I bought some hot tea from the indoor store and I was sitting it while watching the rain outside.

I wonder
while watching the rain
did I lock the front door?

At least I was certain I had turned off the stove, so I had that going for me. (That's a joke. People often seem to worry about if they turned it off or not. Aw, never mind.) I'm not a worrier by nature and those kind of board-line OCD thoughts rarely come or stick around when they do. And as expected, the worry quickly left; I only paid attention to it long enough to write that haiku down in my notebook. Then I returned to sipping my tea and watching the rain.

[title photo by bertvthul from Pixabay]

David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku.