que es la veritat?

I was able to suspend philsophical questioning during this vacation - until I walked up the stairs of Gaudi's fantastic creation, La Familia Sagrada. My eyes immediately gravitated to the Catalan version of the ever-troubling question, "What is truth?" Gaudi (1852-1926) was a modernist architect whose buildings look like a mix of Alice in Wonderland fancifulness and Catholic gravitas.

La Sagrada Familia, rising above an unremarkable neighborhood in Barcelona, is still under construction. Architects and artists are keeping Gaudi's vision alive, with futuristic stairways and stained glass windows that are simple and striking.

Okay, confession. I have not, in fact, been able to suspend philosophical meanderings for all that long. How could I, surrounded by places built for transcendence? How could I, surrounded by news that Obama will be our next president?

In my sun-drunk state, I've been ruminating on the politics of memory, progress and God. Maybe there is something to appreciate about America's foreshortened memory? Or is it our wide-eyed hope, so to speak? Either way, less than fifty years after the end of de jure segregation, we are going to elect a black president. Though calls for progress often mask other agendas, I'm a believer again if all goes as predicted on November 4th.

There are missteps, like George W. Bush's Reign of Error, but the overall trend is up. A universal truth? The jury is out until the next big hurdle is cleared. No, not Hillary in the White House with Bill as the First Gentleman. Bigger.

I'll let you imagine. We're about to set sail.