got back this afternoon from a weekend camp-out with nick and his cub scout pack.  wonderful time.  we ran and ran until we could run no more.  lots of activities.  and it was hot, lo to mid-90s F.  now i'm back and catching up with the news and the world at large.  most of the news is bad.  met lots of people this weekend.  many whose views are quite different than mine.  but all, i say, were good and decent human beings.  human beings are flawed.  the world[s] we create are fucked up.  tho i love life [echoes of rilke] i don't know if we as a species will make it in the long haul.  in my more optimistic moments i think we can.  in my -- arguably -- more realistic moments i think we can't.  i don't mean to write of and out of despair.  there is nothing to despair if the human species goes out like a huffed out candle.  the universe, i think, is rather indifferent to us and our plights and triumphs.  the universe just is.  whether we exist or not is not material to the universe.  that is neither a good thing or bad thing.  it is only but a thing.