Bad luck negates bad luck. That is what I learned in Manitoba, three summers ago, in the marbled building. And that is what I saw today, one black cat crossing the street west, and later, one black cat waiting briefly as I unlocked my bike. It occurs to me now that they might have been the same cat. But I saw it twice. And the twice sight is what I can know determinedly, therefore anything more precise I cannot be punished for not knowing.

What does it mean to love individuals and not groups? To see the individuals within the group? To be cognizant, to be forgiving, of something that is now an inherent evil?

But we are all in groups. We are loved because of groups, we belong because we are in groups, we are kept alive by people who can act with collective effort.

Certainly, the original statement-question can be simply a reminder to see the humanity in each individual of each group. That, it is not always our fault. That, as units we are designed to be good.

I would like to prove this by saying that by doing good, we feel good. But I think it’s safer to say that we feel good when we do good and we receive good back. Goodness might be inherently a two-way feature. What good is one-way good?

And yet, we BELIEVE, we PUT FAITH IN, that the good we put in will be reciprocated. The opposite is tragedy, yes? So, does our belief of goodness rely on our belief of goodness as self-perpetuating? Because what is goodness without faith? Our faith. Our stupid, good faith.

I will say, what goodness it is to find similarities between two people. To know the unknowable. To crave whatever is on the other side, wherever is the side, if there is a side. To go from 0 to 1. Something from nothing. Is this not how our minds operate? Do we not perform miracles everyday by refusing our limited-ness?

Walking on hill grass, cutting through streets. Fast pace, steady pace, apt pace for the pace of the words, ideas, cold air, masked air. Two black cats, one black cat, two appearances, one colour. I biked home smiling.