Stars of Hope

To keep things simply directed on this Good Friday and start of Passover, I pull something from the past that celebrated another holiday. The Featured Image looks upward from within a decorative, metal-frame globe on Nov. 22, 2017. Location: Fashion Valley Mall in San Diego. I used iPhone X to make the moment. Vitals: f/1.8, ISO 20, 1/1350 sec, 28mm; 10:50 a.m. PST.

The Exodus and Crucifixion/Resurrection are about becoming free from enslavement—arguably differently but thematically similar. Nevertheless, so many of us are slaves to circumstance. Perhaps some kind of addiction, overwhelming debt, or entangled relationship.

There are lots of ways to be enslaved and countless taskmasters. People become trapped, immobilized. Hunger, poverty, and war are among the many other means. Some folks live in fear of anything, or everything, and SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2)/COVID-19 led many people to self-imposed imprisonment. Fear is a brutal taskmaster.

On this Good Friday and Passover, I would like to celebrate freedom, for which these stars are symbols of hope. May they, or something like them, inspire the breaking of your personal shackles, bring you to a liberated mental state, and guide you to a physical place of freedom.