I have to admit I don’t like pizza. I love it. And I am prepared to do literally anything to get my hands on a slice. ~ Liz Truss (and Rev Kane)

Pizza

So as I mentioned in a post yesterday, my SF Pizza Update, I headed into the city to find a new pizza place. Recently my go to place in the Mission District, Arinell, closed down. So I did some research online, talked to some colleagues at work and selected three places to try, Tony’s Coal Fired Slice House, Outta Sight Pizza and Gioia Pizzeria. While all three places had their merits, you can check out the other post for pictures and details, Gioia Pizzeria was absolutely the best. They served me two of the best slices I’ve ever had outside of New York City and slices comparable to the best pizza places in New York.

So I’ve sort of done what I hate what movies do, give you the current situation then go, but two hours before, sorry about that. Pre-pandemic and during in fact, I would at least once a month do a walking tour in San Francisco. I’d map out a route of places and neighborhoods I wanted to check out and then put together a five or six mile loop to walk starting and ending at a BART stop. I did one again recently when a couple of friends came into town and it really got me fired up to start doing these again. They are a really nice combination of several things I really love, walking, photography and eating. I love taking long walks, I always find interesting things to photograph and great places to eat. Much like two other cities I love, NY and New Orleans, SF is a great food city.

So today I set out from the UN Plaza/Civic Center BART stop and did a loop around Hayes Valley to catch the first two pizza places and then across and over past Union Square, through Chinatown and into North Beach (Little Italy) for the last place and then finally down to the Embarcadero and back on to BART and home. At least six miles, maybe more.

And in tonight’s post I want to talk about exactly what the title says, pizza which I already have, and peace which I’ll do below.

PEACE

Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding. ~ Albert Einstein

The day started with my stopping by the UN Plaza for a large rally for peace focusing on the tragedy of the Gaza/Israel war that is currently going on. There was a huge crowd including lots of families and people, as they will be in SF, were very vocal and focused on calling for peace.

I’m going to diverge from my normal policy of keeping the Ministry of Happiness blog politics free and include something I wrote recently about what’s happening in Gaza and in particular about the question I keep seeing online, wouldn’t you want revenge?

Revenge

To state the obvious, the Israel/Palestine issue is complicated. It has been for the last 75+ years. And there is no argument that Jews have faced attacks for centuries. People in Israel live under constant threat of attack and surrounded by people who want them eradicated.

People in Gaza live in what the Israelis call an open air prison. Their movement, imports, water, power and communications controlled by Israel. Israeli settlers, supported by the government, take Palestinian homes and lands through violent means sometimes killing Palestinians

Israel was attacked by Hamas, and I’ve read totals that from 700 to 1400 people were killed in the attack, including civilians and children. The attack was tragic and horrifying. And since the attack I’ve seen lots of posts talking about revenge.

Often the question is wouldn’t you want revenge if your family was attacked/killed? And yes, my Scotch/Irish blood would boil and I would want the world to burn. To quote a line from Sin City, “Never give an Irishman good cause for revenge.” We Celts have our own historical trauma issues.

But I would hope that my better angel would prevail and I would find a better way. And the question that has to be asked, how much? How much revenge is enough? I’ve seen statements that Israel plans to kill every member of Hamas. There’s a problem with that.

Hamas is both an organization and an idea, you can kill the people. But to quote V for Vendetta, “ideas are bulletproof.” The father who does not support Hamas or Hamas’ tactics, whose children died today from Israeli bombs is likely now Hamas, will you kill him now?

The 5 yr old child, made an orphan today by Israeli bombs is now Hamas, or soon will be. Will you kill him now too, or in 5 years, 10, 15 – how long will this killing have to go on before revenge is satisfied? How much revenge is enough?

I have read that between 8 and 10,000 people have died in the Israeli attacks. Figures report up to 3000 children are dead. Tens to hundreds of thousands have had their homes destroyed and they’ve been displaced.

How many more homes must be destroyed? How many more families must be displaced? How much more blood, how many more children have to be killed to satisfy revenge? Is it 10,000, 100,000? And now, aren’t their parents also entitled to revenge for the death of their children?

Ghandi said, “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind” Until we find another way, a better way, our world will drown in rivers of blood and the cries of dying children.

I have no solution, right now honestly all I have is sadness. Listening to the speakers today, looking at the families and children surrounding me, I broke into tears. What’s happening in the world is more than a little overwhelming for all of us. I have Palestinian friends who are suffering terribly during this, I have Jewish friends who are overwrought as well, it tears me up inside to see what’s happening to all of them.

It’s been a hard week for me as well. There has been some medical issues happening in my family as well. A lot of the responsibility falls on others and that’s hard to handle as well as the distance can make you feel less supportive than you feel you should be. My job also continues to be a drama filled circus of frustration. The day started with someone dear to me letting me know their mother has been diagnosed with breast cancer and they are understandably blown up over this. It’s easy to feel like my world is falling apart, and I didn’t even win the $1 million dollar Fantasy 5 drawing tonight. 🙂

So what’s the lesson in all of this? And honestly I didn’t have to think long and hard to figure out what it is, particularly in the month of November. It’s simply gratitude for what I do have. My life has never been easy, never been simple but for many years it also included substance abuse or money problems, or battles with deep depression. None of that applies to me anymore. I am grateful for having found my way to a place in life where I’m no longer substance dependent, I’m financially stable and no longer battling with the demons that led me into the depths of depression. I’m a generally happy person, I’m closing in on semi-retirement and in fact, likely retiring earlier than I had originally planned. Life is good as I get ready to celebrate my 60th year of life. I’m very much looking forward to the celebrations that I have planned.

So yes, there’s a lot of shit in the world, things are horrible. But you can’t focus on the horror, you do what you can to help out in the world, but you have to keep your near focus on those silver linings, the things you’re grateful for and try to be happy, in a clearly unhappy world.

Photography

Photography can be a way into worlds and memories that words sometimes fail to convey. ~ Stacy Martin

Finally, I took a few photos on my stroll and here’s a few of my favorites.