After, Calming Affects

A Temporary Cessation, Here and There: As in here and now, "Braking News!"..."We've put a hold on ads,* featuring negative campaigning..." While over There and Else-Where...global conflicts..."A temporary cessation in hostilities..."

Peace Talks, Walks: As in offering up some kind words, while sitting at the table...to more sustained gestures, acts of good will...

Olive Branches to Dove Tales: Both of which are power-full symbols of Peace and such, that go back to a time of early "civilization" where "Peace and prosperity" occasionally went hand to hand, were always lofty goals...

The Ultimate Challenge: The true origins of the olive branch, the one that gets extended both before and after a conflict, as a gesture of peace, reconciliation goes back to, of course, to the ancient times of both Greece and Rome, where we see Athena -- known, identified with, such mortal, human attributes, as "goddess of both warfare and wisdom...as well as handicraft...courage...inspiration" -- challenged the likes of Poseidon! ("god of the sea") whose superpowers allowed him to simply strike his trident into the ground, and up pops a saltwater spring...

Inter-vention: What we always hope for, prior to, in the midst of, following...a crisis, trauma, conditions giving rise to...Where back then was simply called the court of gods, which collectively reasoned she, Athena, had the better right to the land since she had given a better gift...becoming the patron goddess of Attica, renamed Athens as a partial tribute...adopted by Romans (the olive branch that is) as a peace symbol...

Con-temporary Times: Which follow times that, while not quite as ancient, are known well by Biblical scholars, as the time when, after the Great Flood, which was rendered, depending on whose account, view-point you adopt, an act of "divine retribution...attempt to destroy all civilization and start over...or (highly current)...a cleansing action...a clean slate" In any case, when the "lonesome dove" that was sent out from the Ark, returned with an olive branch in its beak, it was interpreted as a good sign, that God had found, made peace with mankind...

Where Eagles Dare, Glare: That is, at least since 1775, after the American Continental Congress adopted the Olive Branch Petition, an explicit attempt (beyond symbolic that is) to reconcile the hostilities that were reaching critical mass between US colonies and them Great Brits, an attempt at least for an enduring peace...symbol...

What We've got: "The Great Seal" which depicts the eagle clutching an olive branch in its right...talon, and a bundle (known by earlier archers as a "quiver") of arrows, in its left claw. Together, as in collectively symbolizing "America's desire for peace, while also being at the ready, just in case..." Oddly portrayed, given our current states of...left, right...in the middle...

What WE will stand for: Represented in part, by lots and lots of different points of view, from all the blame casters that always come out, as if "at the ready" out of the so-called "woodwork" (woodworkers, by the way, find "dove tailing" a highly skilled undertaking) -- "...these acts of violence, yet another tragic occurrence...perpetrated from, by..." And calls by world leaders for unity as well as international condemnation, as in "We can't and won't tolerate..." It's an old, odd saying, but one that appeals to both Us and Them...

"E Pluribus Unum"*** It's still our motto, hopefully not just a myth. And a call for action, as in looking into the mirror. Always a good starting point...

***In case you haven't taken law classes or brushed up on your Latin..."Out of many...One"

*at least put on hold, until returning to the Latin state, "ad infinitum"