There was a man who needed to find a way to make money, so he decided to raise rabbits. He knew that rabbits reproduced rapidly, and thought he could sell the meat and the fur and make some money.
Well, the rabbits did multiply, but the man found himself unable to kill the rabbits, so now instead of making him money, the rabbits were costing him money.
One day as he was cleaning up the rabbit warren (yes he had built a truly spectacular habitat for his rabbits) he thought "If I could only find a market for rabbit poop, I could still make money off of these rabbits". And then an idea was born. The man decided to collect the rabbit poop, box it, and sell the poop as "Smart Pills". After all, didn't almost everyone wish they were smarter?
The man had boxes printed up, and put ten poop pellets in each box. He had allowed the pellets to dry out, so there was no smell. He then sprinkled the pellets with cinnamon, so when the box was opened, the smell was cinnamon.
The man went door to door in a town away from where he lived, and soon sold out all of his "Smart Pills". This went on for several weeks, until the man got bold and took a supply of "Smart Pills" for sale to a local farmer's market.
Sales were going very well, until late in the afternoon, when a young boy stopped and asked for a box of Smart Pills. The farmer sold him a box, and the boy immediately opened the box and popped a pellet into his mouth. The boy's eyes got big, and he spit out the pellet. "That tastes like poop!" the boy said, and the man said "See, you are getting smarter already!"
I hope you're laughing. That was my intent.
The next part isn't funny. The American Voting Populace has been buying poop from our politicians, the media, and their employers for so long they really think that they are smart, and all they have been doing is hypothetically eating poop for years.
One of the truest things in the world is that there will always be those that want to separate you from your wealth. There are employers who want to steal the time and talents of employees by not paying a decent wage for the services provided. There are unscrupulous business people who want to overcharge for their products. There are politicians who want to raise your taxes to fund their corporate interests. There are unaccredited colleges and universities who want to take your money and give you no marketable skill or degree in return. The list goes on and on.
And now it is ridiculously easy. I watch people vote against their own best interests. I watch politician after politician flat out lie about what they can do, because they know the average voter doesn't know the difference between the roles of the Congress, the Senate, the President and the Supreme Court.
And millions of Americans have sunk even lower than mainstream media for their information, now a Facebook meme or a tweet on Twitter are their news sources.
Intellectual poop. And the more of this intellectual poop they swallow, the smarter they think they are getting. And the easier they are to manipulate to vote against their own self interests.
And now a modern day P.T. Barnum is playing the American voting populace for fools. From Wikipedia:
Phineas Taylor "P. T." Barnum (July 5, 1810 – April 7, 1891) was an American politician, showman, and businessman remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and for founding the Barnum & Bailey Circus.[1]Although Barnum was also an author, publisher, philanthropist, and for some time a politician, he said of himself, "I am a showman by profession...and all the gilding shall make nothing else of me",[2] and his personal aim was "to put money in his own coffers".
In my opinion, if the above quotes are correct, P. T. was better than his modern day counterpart, because he admitted and owned who he actually was. America is still a free country, and everyone is entitled to keep eating poop and thinking they are getting smarter if they want to.
I just wish more people would think. Would read. Would analyze. Would research. Every piece of information presented to you is tainted by the viewpoint of the person presenting the information. That includes this blog. Only when you seek varying sources of information, and when you challenge everything you read and hear can you endeavor to find your own truth.
And truth doesn't taste like poop. Truth tastes like hope. And hope breeds optimism. And optimism breeds improvement. And improvement means you are finally like the little boy who will spit out false information because finally, you can tell it is nothing but poop.
Thursday, October 27, 2016
Tuesday, October 25, 2016
Random stuff
This morning I read a blog post that I wrote in May 2016. It was titled "Waking Up Happy" and it was good for me to read it this morning, because I have been in danger of waking up grumpy lately. I lost my focus, and started paying too much attention to the negatives, and not enough attention to the positives. I'm back on track now.
Yesterday, my husband and I went to the brunch show at BB's Stage Door Canteen, at the National WWII Museum here in New Orleans. The show was "Pictures of Marilyn" and presented snippets of the life of Marilyn Monroe from her time in a munitions factory during World War II until the founding of Marilyn Monroe Productions in late 1954. The show was amazing, and the actress who played Marilyn, Courtney Boe, managed to capture the complexity of Marilyn Monroe, presenting both her vulnerability and her strength.
On Saturday, after walking the dogs and ourselves, we lunched at Station 6, a new restaurant in our neighborhood. The food was great. We ate outside on the patio in absolutely glorious fall weather. Then we watched the University of West Virginia play an absolutely beautiful football game, ate some leftover gumbo, and then watched back and forth as LSU played a great game against Mississippi State, and the Chicago Cubs won their way into the baseball World Series for the first time since 1945.
Friday was the first real fall day in New Orleans. After a walk along the lakefront, I went to the grocery store to pick up the ingredients for gumbo for supper. I asked my husband if he needed anything special, and he said no. Fast forward to later in the day, and my husband asks if I picked up more Michelob Ultra for him at the store. I hadn't. That was the purpose of asking if anything special was needed.
So, I went to the store for beer, and had one of those wonderful experiences. The young man working the register at the checkout was in the sixteen to eighteen age group. Very handsome young man. As he started to ring up my beer, he asked how my day had been. I think he asked every customer. So I looked at him, and smiled, really smiled and said "Great! The weather is wonderful, my kids are coming over for supper to eat gumbo, just a great day." And then he smiled back at me. A real smile. A smile with enough wattage to light a city block. And so a conversation started. "Are you planning your Thanksgiving food already?" he asked. "I know there will be turkey and macaroni and cheese," I replied, "But not sure what else." "Not Thanksgiving without turkey and mac and cheese," was his answer, "How about pie?" "I like to make pumpkin tarts," I said, "More whipped cream per bite that way." "Good thinking", he answered. We parted ways both smiling and feeling wonderful.
As my husband would ask at this point, "Is this going somewhere?" Yes, it is. You see, the last few days have been ordinary, in the scope of life. Yes, I ate at a restaurant. Yes, my daughter and son-in-law came to dinner. Yes, I saw a stage show. Those are great things, but not winning the lottery great, or getting a perfect job great.
And it can be easy to take those everyday great things for granted and let them take a back seat to the inevitable aggravations that are part of life. And that is what I mean about losing focus. I could have gone to the store aggravated that I had to make a second trip, instead of amused that after twenty-nine years together, my husband and I still miscommunicate. Had I been aggravated instead of amused, I may have missed a truly uplifting exchange with a stranger. And there you go.
The life you have is a compilation of the things you give your time to, and the things you give your attention to. The more time and attention you give to noticing and appreciating the positives, the more the positives accumulate and push away the negatives.
I know I have the choice to focus on the things I want to focus on. I know I have the choice to respond positively or negatively to the events in my life. It is easy when the noise in society is predominantly negative to forget that you can choose to tune it out. I was forgetting. I remember now why keeping my focus on the positive is so important.
There are millions of great people in the world who will light up your day with their smile if you just give them the chance. Isn't that enough incentive to throw your positive energy into the universe to see what comes back?
Trust me. Try throwing your positive energy out there for a while. I promise you won't be disappointed with the wealth of good experiences that come back to you.
Yesterday, my husband and I went to the brunch show at BB's Stage Door Canteen, at the National WWII Museum here in New Orleans. The show was "Pictures of Marilyn" and presented snippets of the life of Marilyn Monroe from her time in a munitions factory during World War II until the founding of Marilyn Monroe Productions in late 1954. The show was amazing, and the actress who played Marilyn, Courtney Boe, managed to capture the complexity of Marilyn Monroe, presenting both her vulnerability and her strength.
On Saturday, after walking the dogs and ourselves, we lunched at Station 6, a new restaurant in our neighborhood. The food was great. We ate outside on the patio in absolutely glorious fall weather. Then we watched the University of West Virginia play an absolutely beautiful football game, ate some leftover gumbo, and then watched back and forth as LSU played a great game against Mississippi State, and the Chicago Cubs won their way into the baseball World Series for the first time since 1945.
Friday was the first real fall day in New Orleans. After a walk along the lakefront, I went to the grocery store to pick up the ingredients for gumbo for supper. I asked my husband if he needed anything special, and he said no. Fast forward to later in the day, and my husband asks if I picked up more Michelob Ultra for him at the store. I hadn't. That was the purpose of asking if anything special was needed.
So, I went to the store for beer, and had one of those wonderful experiences. The young man working the register at the checkout was in the sixteen to eighteen age group. Very handsome young man. As he started to ring up my beer, he asked how my day had been. I think he asked every customer. So I looked at him, and smiled, really smiled and said "Great! The weather is wonderful, my kids are coming over for supper to eat gumbo, just a great day." And then he smiled back at me. A real smile. A smile with enough wattage to light a city block. And so a conversation started. "Are you planning your Thanksgiving food already?" he asked. "I know there will be turkey and macaroni and cheese," I replied, "But not sure what else." "Not Thanksgiving without turkey and mac and cheese," was his answer, "How about pie?" "I like to make pumpkin tarts," I said, "More whipped cream per bite that way." "Good thinking", he answered. We parted ways both smiling and feeling wonderful.
As my husband would ask at this point, "Is this going somewhere?" Yes, it is. You see, the last few days have been ordinary, in the scope of life. Yes, I ate at a restaurant. Yes, my daughter and son-in-law came to dinner. Yes, I saw a stage show. Those are great things, but not winning the lottery great, or getting a perfect job great.
And it can be easy to take those everyday great things for granted and let them take a back seat to the inevitable aggravations that are part of life. And that is what I mean about losing focus. I could have gone to the store aggravated that I had to make a second trip, instead of amused that after twenty-nine years together, my husband and I still miscommunicate. Had I been aggravated instead of amused, I may have missed a truly uplifting exchange with a stranger. And there you go.
The life you have is a compilation of the things you give your time to, and the things you give your attention to. The more time and attention you give to noticing and appreciating the positives, the more the positives accumulate and push away the negatives.
I know I have the choice to focus on the things I want to focus on. I know I have the choice to respond positively or negatively to the events in my life. It is easy when the noise in society is predominantly negative to forget that you can choose to tune it out. I was forgetting. I remember now why keeping my focus on the positive is so important.
There are millions of great people in the world who will light up your day with their smile if you just give them the chance. Isn't that enough incentive to throw your positive energy into the universe to see what comes back?
Trust me. Try throwing your positive energy out there for a while. I promise you won't be disappointed with the wealth of good experiences that come back to you.
Thursday, October 20, 2016
A pot on simmer
Those of you who know me and those of you who know me through this blog know that I try really hard to be calm. I try really hard to see the other person's point of view. I try really hard to not put bad karma in the universe.
I'm not myself lately. The tension in America as we lead up to the presidential election has me on edge too. I am like a pot on simmer, and it takes very little until I hit my boiling point.
It happened earlier today. I'd like to tell you all about it.
My husband and I had just started our walk. When we leave our house, we have a decision to make. We can walk up on the levee and walk through the grass to the paved path, or we can walk around the block to where the paved path crosses the levee. We decided to walk on the sidewalk around the block to the paved path.
As we approached the corner, there was a pumper truck working on the water system, so the sidewalk was blocked, and my husband and I were walking in the street. Here is where the ugly starts.
Walking away from the levee is an man in his sixties, carrying a small dog. My husband and I see this man regularly. He has a small spaniel type dog. He always carries a bag and picks up behind his dog if the dog goes to the bathroom. If the little dog gets tired, the man picks up the dog and carries him home. I don't know the man's name or the dog's name, but we say "hello" in passing. The man and the dog seem like very nice creatures who try to cause no harm.
The man starts to cross the street carrying his dog. A black BMW stops at the stop sign, on the street parallel to the levee. As the man is almost across the street, the BMW turns the corner, heading right behind the man, and beeps the horn.
I lose it. I run up to the car yelling "What is wrong with you?" The woman rolls down her window and says "What are you talking about?" I yell (I know I should have stopped yelling) "Where in the world do you have to be that is so important that you can't let this man and his dog cross the street without beeping your horn at him?" She replies "There is something wrong with you. I beeped because he was right in front of me." Now the man says,"I was just trying to cross the street, you didn't have to beep." I turn to him and say "I'm sorry sir that you had to experience this. That was just rude to beep at you."
I shouldn't have yelled. I should have calmly explained that the rule of a four way stop sign is that you wait until the path you need to take with your vehicle is free from vehicular and pedestrian traffic before you proceed. I should have pointed out that she failed to use her blinker, and was on the wrong side of the road when she made her turn. I should have told her that there is nothing wrong with me, unless you think there is something wrong with anyone who will stand up to a bully on behalf of another person.
Because the action of beeping your horn at someone instead of waiting your turn is bullying. And I can't not call out people who bully. Because someone has to.
I don't know if that woman thought she was being a bully. I don't know why she just didn't wait until the man cleared the intersection. I would never beep at a pedestrian unless they were about to put themselves in harm's way.
That man didn't put himself in harm's way, he was merely trying to cross the street, and could not use the sidewalk path because it was blocked by the pumper truck.
The driver of the BMW created potential harm for him by not waiting until the intersection was clear.
I wish I would have handled myself better. But I'm not sorry I confronted her. I forgot the principle rule though. Never argue with a fool, because people might not be able to tell the difference. I don't know that woman, but I feel like I tried to argue with a fool. Or that I tried to show what reasonable people think to an unreasonable person.
I need to let it go. I am trying to let it go. I'll be glad when this election season is over. Maybe then I can cool down and be more like myself again.
I'm not myself lately. The tension in America as we lead up to the presidential election has me on edge too. I am like a pot on simmer, and it takes very little until I hit my boiling point.
It happened earlier today. I'd like to tell you all about it.
My husband and I had just started our walk. When we leave our house, we have a decision to make. We can walk up on the levee and walk through the grass to the paved path, or we can walk around the block to where the paved path crosses the levee. We decided to walk on the sidewalk around the block to the paved path.
As we approached the corner, there was a pumper truck working on the water system, so the sidewalk was blocked, and my husband and I were walking in the street. Here is where the ugly starts.
Walking away from the levee is an man in his sixties, carrying a small dog. My husband and I see this man regularly. He has a small spaniel type dog. He always carries a bag and picks up behind his dog if the dog goes to the bathroom. If the little dog gets tired, the man picks up the dog and carries him home. I don't know the man's name or the dog's name, but we say "hello" in passing. The man and the dog seem like very nice creatures who try to cause no harm.
The man starts to cross the street carrying his dog. A black BMW stops at the stop sign, on the street parallel to the levee. As the man is almost across the street, the BMW turns the corner, heading right behind the man, and beeps the horn.
I lose it. I run up to the car yelling "What is wrong with you?" The woman rolls down her window and says "What are you talking about?" I yell (I know I should have stopped yelling) "Where in the world do you have to be that is so important that you can't let this man and his dog cross the street without beeping your horn at him?" She replies "There is something wrong with you. I beeped because he was right in front of me." Now the man says,"I was just trying to cross the street, you didn't have to beep." I turn to him and say "I'm sorry sir that you had to experience this. That was just rude to beep at you."
I shouldn't have yelled. I should have calmly explained that the rule of a four way stop sign is that you wait until the path you need to take with your vehicle is free from vehicular and pedestrian traffic before you proceed. I should have pointed out that she failed to use her blinker, and was on the wrong side of the road when she made her turn. I should have told her that there is nothing wrong with me, unless you think there is something wrong with anyone who will stand up to a bully on behalf of another person.
Because the action of beeping your horn at someone instead of waiting your turn is bullying. And I can't not call out people who bully. Because someone has to.
I don't know if that woman thought she was being a bully. I don't know why she just didn't wait until the man cleared the intersection. I would never beep at a pedestrian unless they were about to put themselves in harm's way.
That man didn't put himself in harm's way, he was merely trying to cross the street, and could not use the sidewalk path because it was blocked by the pumper truck.
The driver of the BMW created potential harm for him by not waiting until the intersection was clear.
I wish I would have handled myself better. But I'm not sorry I confronted her. I forgot the principle rule though. Never argue with a fool, because people might not be able to tell the difference. I don't know that woman, but I feel like I tried to argue with a fool. Or that I tried to show what reasonable people think to an unreasonable person.
I need to let it go. I am trying to let it go. I'll be glad when this election season is over. Maybe then I can cool down and be more like myself again.
Wednesday, October 19, 2016
The house of noisy machines
The clothes dryer just sang to me to inform me that it had stopped. The clothes were not dry, so I reset the dryer for more time. As it started, the noise started again. There are bad bearings on the dryer drum, so it makes a squeaky noise.
I walked past my husbands computer, as he is doing whatever it is he is doing, and his computer has this high pitched whine. But you stop hearing it after a while.
Most of the noisy machines in my house only make a noise to alert me that there is something I must do, like get the food out of the microwave or oven, or get the dishes out of the dishwasher, or move the clothes from the washer to the dryer, or fold the clothes in the dryer.
But for the last few months, I have these two noisy machines keeping a symphony playing in the background of my days.
Mostly I've stopped noticing the noisy machines, but last night my daughter was visiting and asked about the dryer noise, so I'm hearing it again. And once I started hearing the dryer noise again, the computer noise intruded.
And it made me think about how nothing and everything is normal. I know that the dryer shouldn't make that noise, and my husband purchased the repair parts to fix it, but it hasn't been done yet. I know the computer shouldn't make that noise. I have no idea why it is making it, but not my computer, not mine to troubleshoot or fix. Because the noises have been with me for so long, I had stopped hearing them until they were pointed out to me.
We all get used to things the way they are. It often takes someone else to point something out to us as unusual if it is part of our everyday landscape. And just like the squeaks and whines of equipment and machinery can become part of our normal, so too can the sounds of meanness, and prejudice, and hate. And that is just plain scary.
I've been thinking a lot lately about how far acceptable behavior standards have fallen. My husband and I were in a casino two weeks ago today, and there were a couple of young men in the same area as we were. They were dropping curses, including the "f" bomb, loudly and frequently. My husband and I moved to another area to get away from them. But then we discussed how not too many years ago, they would have been asked to leave by security.
When we stop hearing offensive speech as offensive, our normal has shifted to include that type of speech as normal.
And it makes me sad. Because I don't want to live in a society where loud profanity is normal. I accept that many people lose their composure and use profane language. I forgive everyone that has done that in my presence. But these guys hadn't lost their composure. They just seemed to have a vocabulary limited to profanity and articles.
I see social media posts full of profanity. Why? There are so many words in the English language to choose from. Better words. More descriptive words. Why fall into the lazy trap of profanity?
I try to refrain from cursing and profanity, and I fail at times. Stubbing my toe in the middle of the night is almost guaranteed to elicit profane language from me. I wish I could do better.
But when awake and alert, I should try harder to speak in such a way that I do not make any listener uncomfortable. And that goes beyond the words I use to the things I talk about.
There is plenty to talk about in public, when you can be overheard, that is not going to make anyone feel uncomfortable. That is another decline in behavior I have observed. So many people loudly and proudly discuss things in public that used to be expected to be discussed in private.
I was raised that polite conversation did not include religion, politics or sex, and it seems like I can't go to the grocery store, or a restaurant, or to a casino, or to a museum, or to a park, or to a sporting event, or to an airport without hearing a conversation on one of those topics.
Doesn't anybody read books anymore? Or watch TV? Or go to the theater? Or listen to music? Or have hobbies?
I want to live in a world where out of respect for one another, in public we discuss benign, uniting topics, and we save divisive topics for private conversations with people we are in good relationships with. Because good relationships can stand the tension of disagreement as long as it is respectful disagreement.
I wonder how many people have left a public place, or gone home and cried because of what they have overheard. That is not the normal I want. I don't think that is a healthy normal for society.
So please, when in public, think before you speak. When on social media, think before you post. (Actually, I recommend always thinking before you speak, but in the privacy of your home, or a friend's home, there is more latitude for the subject matter.) Is it true, is it kind, is it necessary? Is the topic I'm discussing likely to cause anxiety or pain to someone listening? If my mother overheard, would I be embarrassed? If my boss overheard, would I be embarrassed? If my child overheard, would I be embarrassed? If this conversation was recorded and played back in front of my church congregation, would I be embarrassed?
If most people adopted a normal that kept public places free from hurtful, hateful, exclusionary and profane speech, that would be our society's normal. And I think that would be a very good thing.
I walked past my husbands computer, as he is doing whatever it is he is doing, and his computer has this high pitched whine. But you stop hearing it after a while.
Most of the noisy machines in my house only make a noise to alert me that there is something I must do, like get the food out of the microwave or oven, or get the dishes out of the dishwasher, or move the clothes from the washer to the dryer, or fold the clothes in the dryer.
But for the last few months, I have these two noisy machines keeping a symphony playing in the background of my days.
Mostly I've stopped noticing the noisy machines, but last night my daughter was visiting and asked about the dryer noise, so I'm hearing it again. And once I started hearing the dryer noise again, the computer noise intruded.
And it made me think about how nothing and everything is normal. I know that the dryer shouldn't make that noise, and my husband purchased the repair parts to fix it, but it hasn't been done yet. I know the computer shouldn't make that noise. I have no idea why it is making it, but not my computer, not mine to troubleshoot or fix. Because the noises have been with me for so long, I had stopped hearing them until they were pointed out to me.
We all get used to things the way they are. It often takes someone else to point something out to us as unusual if it is part of our everyday landscape. And just like the squeaks and whines of equipment and machinery can become part of our normal, so too can the sounds of meanness, and prejudice, and hate. And that is just plain scary.
I've been thinking a lot lately about how far acceptable behavior standards have fallen. My husband and I were in a casino two weeks ago today, and there were a couple of young men in the same area as we were. They were dropping curses, including the "f" bomb, loudly and frequently. My husband and I moved to another area to get away from them. But then we discussed how not too many years ago, they would have been asked to leave by security.
When we stop hearing offensive speech as offensive, our normal has shifted to include that type of speech as normal.
And it makes me sad. Because I don't want to live in a society where loud profanity is normal. I accept that many people lose their composure and use profane language. I forgive everyone that has done that in my presence. But these guys hadn't lost their composure. They just seemed to have a vocabulary limited to profanity and articles.
I see social media posts full of profanity. Why? There are so many words in the English language to choose from. Better words. More descriptive words. Why fall into the lazy trap of profanity?
I try to refrain from cursing and profanity, and I fail at times. Stubbing my toe in the middle of the night is almost guaranteed to elicit profane language from me. I wish I could do better.
But when awake and alert, I should try harder to speak in such a way that I do not make any listener uncomfortable. And that goes beyond the words I use to the things I talk about.
There is plenty to talk about in public, when you can be overheard, that is not going to make anyone feel uncomfortable. That is another decline in behavior I have observed. So many people loudly and proudly discuss things in public that used to be expected to be discussed in private.
I was raised that polite conversation did not include religion, politics or sex, and it seems like I can't go to the grocery store, or a restaurant, or to a casino, or to a museum, or to a park, or to a sporting event, or to an airport without hearing a conversation on one of those topics.
Doesn't anybody read books anymore? Or watch TV? Or go to the theater? Or listen to music? Or have hobbies?
I want to live in a world where out of respect for one another, in public we discuss benign, uniting topics, and we save divisive topics for private conversations with people we are in good relationships with. Because good relationships can stand the tension of disagreement as long as it is respectful disagreement.
I wonder how many people have left a public place, or gone home and cried because of what they have overheard. That is not the normal I want. I don't think that is a healthy normal for society.
So please, when in public, think before you speak. When on social media, think before you post. (Actually, I recommend always thinking before you speak, but in the privacy of your home, or a friend's home, there is more latitude for the subject matter.) Is it true, is it kind, is it necessary? Is the topic I'm discussing likely to cause anxiety or pain to someone listening? If my mother overheard, would I be embarrassed? If my boss overheard, would I be embarrassed? If my child overheard, would I be embarrassed? If this conversation was recorded and played back in front of my church congregation, would I be embarrassed?
If most people adopted a normal that kept public places free from hurtful, hateful, exclusionary and profane speech, that would be our society's normal. And I think that would be a very good thing.
Monday, October 17, 2016
Thinking is a good thing
Today I read a long exchange between friends on Facebook. In the exchange, one party held the President responsible for the loss of jobs in her hometown, jobs that depend on the oil industry. Another friend tried to point out that global demand for fossil fuels is decreasing, so that a downturn in that economic sector is inevitable.
But you could tell that the person blaming the President was not convinced. It made me profoundly sad. And not because I'm a fan of the President.
It made me sad because the oil industry has been cyclical ever since I can remember. It became totally obvious in the 1970's, when OPEC created an artificial shortage to drive prices up. The US oil industry created more refining capacity to fill the need, and OPEC flooded the market with cheap gas, causing the US refineries to lay off and mothball units. Then OPEC cut supply again, and so on, and so on.
I know it is not always OPEC cutting supply. We have had loss of stability in Venezuela, multiple military actions in the Middle East, strained and strange relationships with Russia all contribute to different market shortages and market gluts which have created a boom and bust cycle in the oil industry.
And whoever the President of the United States is at the time has had very little if anything to do with that boom and bust cycle.
Actually, the President of the United States has very little power to make any kind of change at all.
Change is made by the Congress, and the Senate, and the Supreme Court. And by the will of the people.
Sure, every presidential candidate has a platform. And every candidate has personal goals for the county. But the power of executive orders is very limited, no matter what you heard on TV or the radio.
And Congress and the Senate make the laws. And they also fund the laws. An unfunded law is just words on paper.
The Supreme Court interprets the law as regards to the United States Constitution. Interpretations of what was meant in a document written two hundred and twenty-nine years ago is an evolutionary process. As each new court of justices is informed by the norms and politics of the times that they live in, new interpretations of the original and subsequent amendments can change.
The founding fathers deliberately set up a system of checks and balances so that no one branch of government would have too much power.
Now we have seen a corruption of power in the Congress and the Senate. The failure to hold hearings on the vacant Supreme Court seat is an example of that corruption, as is the government shutdown in October 2013, which is estimated to have cost the US economy twenty-four billion dollars.
Unfortunately, most people blame everything on the current president, or someone else's congressman or senator.
And that is why thinking is a good thing. As much as you can, try not to believe everything you see, hear or read. Research. Gather data. Learn about how government works, and how it is supposed to work. Analyze. Think. Draw your own conclusions.
Single node answers are rarely correct. The world is always evolving, and when that evolution causes personal loss or pain it feels good to be mad at someone, to blame someone.
That doesn't solve anything. If you are really unhappy with the government, get more involved in the political process. Vote against your senator or your congressman if you feel they do not represent you.
Send your representative, your senator, the vice-president and the president letters and emails asking questions and making your position on issues known.
Volunteer with organizations who support your causes.
But whatever you do, try as hard as you can to not buy into the fact that one political figure or the other has created whatever hardship there is in your life.
None of them are that powerful. We give them power when we believe and advance that our unfortunate circumstance is their fault.
It is not. Every life has it's ups and downs. Until each of us accepts our responsibility for our own life, and make the sometimes painful choices necessary to have the life we want, it will never get better.
No matter who the President is.
But you could tell that the person blaming the President was not convinced. It made me profoundly sad. And not because I'm a fan of the President.
It made me sad because the oil industry has been cyclical ever since I can remember. It became totally obvious in the 1970's, when OPEC created an artificial shortage to drive prices up. The US oil industry created more refining capacity to fill the need, and OPEC flooded the market with cheap gas, causing the US refineries to lay off and mothball units. Then OPEC cut supply again, and so on, and so on.
I know it is not always OPEC cutting supply. We have had loss of stability in Venezuela, multiple military actions in the Middle East, strained and strange relationships with Russia all contribute to different market shortages and market gluts which have created a boom and bust cycle in the oil industry.
And whoever the President of the United States is at the time has had very little if anything to do with that boom and bust cycle.
Actually, the President of the United States has very little power to make any kind of change at all.
Change is made by the Congress, and the Senate, and the Supreme Court. And by the will of the people.
Sure, every presidential candidate has a platform. And every candidate has personal goals for the county. But the power of executive orders is very limited, no matter what you heard on TV or the radio.
And Congress and the Senate make the laws. And they also fund the laws. An unfunded law is just words on paper.
The Supreme Court interprets the law as regards to the United States Constitution. Interpretations of what was meant in a document written two hundred and twenty-nine years ago is an evolutionary process. As each new court of justices is informed by the norms and politics of the times that they live in, new interpretations of the original and subsequent amendments can change.
The founding fathers deliberately set up a system of checks and balances so that no one branch of government would have too much power.
Now we have seen a corruption of power in the Congress and the Senate. The failure to hold hearings on the vacant Supreme Court seat is an example of that corruption, as is the government shutdown in October 2013, which is estimated to have cost the US economy twenty-four billion dollars.
Unfortunately, most people blame everything on the current president, or someone else's congressman or senator.
And that is why thinking is a good thing. As much as you can, try not to believe everything you see, hear or read. Research. Gather data. Learn about how government works, and how it is supposed to work. Analyze. Think. Draw your own conclusions.
Single node answers are rarely correct. The world is always evolving, and when that evolution causes personal loss or pain it feels good to be mad at someone, to blame someone.
That doesn't solve anything. If you are really unhappy with the government, get more involved in the political process. Vote against your senator or your congressman if you feel they do not represent you.
Send your representative, your senator, the vice-president and the president letters and emails asking questions and making your position on issues known.
Volunteer with organizations who support your causes.
But whatever you do, try as hard as you can to not buy into the fact that one political figure or the other has created whatever hardship there is in your life.
None of them are that powerful. We give them power when we believe and advance that our unfortunate circumstance is their fault.
It is not. Every life has it's ups and downs. Until each of us accepts our responsibility for our own life, and make the sometimes painful choices necessary to have the life we want, it will never get better.
No matter who the President is.
Wednesday, October 12, 2016
Being George's daughter, and adulting
Yesterday was my daughter's fortieth birthday. That is a pretty big occasion, both for a person and for a parent. I spent the day remembering her birth, and the evening celebrating with her, my husband, my son-in-law and a couple of her friends. It was a wonderful day.
One of the memories that surfaced during the day was one that I hadn't thought about in years. My first husband and my daughter's father was a friend of my older brother. This meant that many of my first husband's friends were also my brother's friends.
On the night of the day that my daughter was born, a group of those friends showed up at my parent's house with a bottle of Old Grand Dad bourbon whiskey, to celebrate with my father the birth of his first grandchild. Now, if they had stayed at my parents house and sat around the kitchen or dining room table, the story could be more bland. That is not how it transpired.
The friends and my dad went to a local park (which had closed at dark) and sat in the deserted park drinking whiskey out of paper cups until the bottle was empty. They had a blast. My mother was not amused. There was no harm done, but had they been caught, it could have been very embarrassing. Everyone was old enough to drink, and ten guys and one bottle of whiskey is not a scary level of drinking, but while for the young men it was kind of age typical behavior, my mom thought my dad was simply to old to behave so recklessly.
And that brings me to the crux of this post. My dad was never really good at adulting.
Don't get me wrong. He went to work every day. He carried more than his fair share of parenting duties, of household duties, and of lawn duties. He volunteered in the community. He volunteered at church. He drove the bus for our drum and bugle corps, and chaperoned our road trips.
But he did it all with the lighthearted joy of a child.
Sure, he had bad moments and bad days, just like we all do. But when I remember my dad, I remember him smiling and laughing. I remember the person who everyone wanted to be around at every party, because that was where all the laughter was coming from. I remember him dressing as a clown to take us trick or treating at Halloween, and never saying a word while in his clown costume. I remember him doing tricks on my bicycle when he was teaching me to ride.
Looking back, I know it put more of a burden on my mom because my dad was such a kid at heart. Mom had to be the one that enforced stopping fun and getting work done. Because when we were playing with Daddy, he never wanted it to end just like we didn't want the fun to end. When my daughter was small, I remember him watching Sesame Street with her and enjoying the show as much as she did.
Daddy was usually the last to leave any party, because he was having so much fun. Over the years, he went to work on too little sleep too many times, but it just meant he fell asleep watching television really early the next night.
My dad had the rare gift of meeting all his responsibilities, and taking on responsibilities he didn't have to, all while remaining very much a child at heart. Always able to experience the wonder of a child, always able to experience the joy. He never lost the ability to connect with children in their world. To participate in the imagination games, and to do so with gusto.
And that is why I am so proud to be George's daughter, and why I try so hard to be like him. Just because you have to meet your responsibilities, just because you have to make difficult decisions and discipline yourself, it doesn't mean you have to be glum or hopeless or angry or overwhelmed.
The joy is always there. That child is always in you. The one who got excited by a ladybug or a butterfly. The child who could color and be proud of staying in the lines. The child who loved to run and spin in circles. The child who loved to sing. The child who was happy just because the sun was shining and they had a dog to pet.
I'm so grateful that I got to watch my dad maintain his childlike wonder and joy. I'm so glad I got to watch him tease my mother until she remembered to see the joy too.
When I look back at the life I lived with my mom and dad growing up, I realize my mother struggled with depression and anxiety for most of her life. And Daddy was always protecting her, and boosting her morale, and making her laugh. Even though she had to be the one to call time on the fun, he never fussed her, he thanked her, and would tell us kids how lucky we were to have such a great mom.
So I encourage all of you to be like George. Watch out for those who are struggling, and tell them they are doing a great job. Meet your obligations, but don't be burdened by them. Find the joy, and celebrate it. Not only will your own life be greatly enriched, but you will enrich the lives of all those you meet.
One of the memories that surfaced during the day was one that I hadn't thought about in years. My first husband and my daughter's father was a friend of my older brother. This meant that many of my first husband's friends were also my brother's friends.
On the night of the day that my daughter was born, a group of those friends showed up at my parent's house with a bottle of Old Grand Dad bourbon whiskey, to celebrate with my father the birth of his first grandchild. Now, if they had stayed at my parents house and sat around the kitchen or dining room table, the story could be more bland. That is not how it transpired.
The friends and my dad went to a local park (which had closed at dark) and sat in the deserted park drinking whiskey out of paper cups until the bottle was empty. They had a blast. My mother was not amused. There was no harm done, but had they been caught, it could have been very embarrassing. Everyone was old enough to drink, and ten guys and one bottle of whiskey is not a scary level of drinking, but while for the young men it was kind of age typical behavior, my mom thought my dad was simply to old to behave so recklessly.
And that brings me to the crux of this post. My dad was never really good at adulting.
Don't get me wrong. He went to work every day. He carried more than his fair share of parenting duties, of household duties, and of lawn duties. He volunteered in the community. He volunteered at church. He drove the bus for our drum and bugle corps, and chaperoned our road trips.
But he did it all with the lighthearted joy of a child.
Sure, he had bad moments and bad days, just like we all do. But when I remember my dad, I remember him smiling and laughing. I remember the person who everyone wanted to be around at every party, because that was where all the laughter was coming from. I remember him dressing as a clown to take us trick or treating at Halloween, and never saying a word while in his clown costume. I remember him doing tricks on my bicycle when he was teaching me to ride.
Looking back, I know it put more of a burden on my mom because my dad was such a kid at heart. Mom had to be the one that enforced stopping fun and getting work done. Because when we were playing with Daddy, he never wanted it to end just like we didn't want the fun to end. When my daughter was small, I remember him watching Sesame Street with her and enjoying the show as much as she did.
Daddy was usually the last to leave any party, because he was having so much fun. Over the years, he went to work on too little sleep too many times, but it just meant he fell asleep watching television really early the next night.
My dad had the rare gift of meeting all his responsibilities, and taking on responsibilities he didn't have to, all while remaining very much a child at heart. Always able to experience the wonder of a child, always able to experience the joy. He never lost the ability to connect with children in their world. To participate in the imagination games, and to do so with gusto.
And that is why I am so proud to be George's daughter, and why I try so hard to be like him. Just because you have to meet your responsibilities, just because you have to make difficult decisions and discipline yourself, it doesn't mean you have to be glum or hopeless or angry or overwhelmed.
The joy is always there. That child is always in you. The one who got excited by a ladybug or a butterfly. The child who could color and be proud of staying in the lines. The child who loved to run and spin in circles. The child who loved to sing. The child who was happy just because the sun was shining and they had a dog to pet.
I'm so grateful that I got to watch my dad maintain his childlike wonder and joy. I'm so glad I got to watch him tease my mother until she remembered to see the joy too.
When I look back at the life I lived with my mom and dad growing up, I realize my mother struggled with depression and anxiety for most of her life. And Daddy was always protecting her, and boosting her morale, and making her laugh. Even though she had to be the one to call time on the fun, he never fussed her, he thanked her, and would tell us kids how lucky we were to have such a great mom.
So I encourage all of you to be like George. Watch out for those who are struggling, and tell them they are doing a great job. Meet your obligations, but don't be burdened by them. Find the joy, and celebrate it. Not only will your own life be greatly enriched, but you will enrich the lives of all those you meet.
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
Birds
It has been a long time since I sat at my computer and composed a blog post. Eleven days in fact. I've been traveling, and on vacation, and really never sat down at my computer for very long. I read and crocheted more than anything else when I wasn't out and enjoying our annual visit to Cruisin' the Coast.
There were a number of significant news stories during the eleven days since I last posted, but since my purpose in starting and continuing this blog was to offer inspiration and encouragement, I'm going to leave those news stories alone.
Instead, I'm going to talk about something I observed on a daily walk with my husband across the bridge that links Biloxi, Mississippi with Ocean Springs, Mississippi.
As you cross the bridge, you are actually crossing over Biloxi Bay, but you can see out into the Gulf of Mexico. The bridge was built after Hurricane Katrina, and includes a wide walking, running, biking path which is separated from the six driving lanes, three in each direction. The bridge is truly a beautiful structure, soaring high above the bay to allow for the passage of marine vessels underneath.
Also under the bridge lining the shore are piers. There are piers populated with boats in marinas, there is a dedicated fishing pier, and there are some abandoned piers that were useful at one time, but now exist in different states of disrepair.
It was one of these abandoned piers that caught my attention. It was covered with birds. All water birds, but birds of all kinds. There were sea gulls, and tern, and puldo and pelicans and other birds I don't know the names of.
And they were all hanging out together on the pier, soaking in the sun. All those different birds, and not assembled by type. Just mixed up and peacefully hanging out.
And I thought "Why can't humans be that way? Just hang out together in the sun and not be so hateful to those who are different from us?" And I thought about it a lot.
And I realized something important. Those birds all peacefully coexist because there is enough for everyone. There is plenty of food. The big bridge and the superstructure of the bridge provide plenty of shelter. The area is relatively free of predators. Peaceful coexistence is easier when everyone has everything they need.
And that is where humans often fail. It is so hard for humans to be happy with what they have, even if it is all they need. It seems hard wired into some humans to always want more, and to always want what someone else has.
I found myself falling into that trap as the week went on. Coveting certain beautiful cars, thinking that life must be perfect if you live in one of those big beautiful houses facing the Gulf of Mexico. Falling into the trap of thinking happiness is related to having more.
And then I thought of those birds. They all seemed to be enjoying life. They weren't fighting. They weren't striving. They were just enjoying the beauty of the planet, in the warm sun with a full belly.
And I thought about how lucky I am, in that I have everything I need, and a lot of things I want. I was delighted to come home to my house, and sleep in my bed, and sit in my backyard. I was thrilled to pick my dogs up from arguably the best doggie day care in the world (Puppy Love Nola), and to eat at the great new restaurant in my neighborhood, Station 6.
And I thought about those birds again. The secret of life is being happy with what you have. In appreciating the simple everyday joys. In reflecting on the people that you love and have loved, and cherishing the memories that you have of simple everyday joys with loved ones.
You can always want more. There is always someone or something to disagree about. But you can always be grateful for what you have. And you can always try to find common ground. Or at least you can peacefully coexist in silence in the warm sun.
And maybe one of the greatest gifts of vacation is how good it feels to come home again. I loved my time at the family wedding in New Jersey, and at Cruisin' the Coast. But I also loved waking up in the middle of the night last night in my own bed, with my husband and my two dogs close by.
And today my husband and I will walk with the dogs, and Scarlett will bark at the birds, and Beaux will stop and roll over numerous times, and I will forget to be aggravated with them because I missed them so much while we were away.
And before too many days pass, I'll get aggravated again. But I'm going to try really hard not to. Because even the little aggravations are what we miss when the living creatures who share our lives pass on to another plane.
I'm going to try to remember the birds. To strive for peaceful coexistence, with gratitude for food and shelter, and the ability to appreciate basking in the warm sunshine.
There were a number of significant news stories during the eleven days since I last posted, but since my purpose in starting and continuing this blog was to offer inspiration and encouragement, I'm going to leave those news stories alone.
Instead, I'm going to talk about something I observed on a daily walk with my husband across the bridge that links Biloxi, Mississippi with Ocean Springs, Mississippi.
As you cross the bridge, you are actually crossing over Biloxi Bay, but you can see out into the Gulf of Mexico. The bridge was built after Hurricane Katrina, and includes a wide walking, running, biking path which is separated from the six driving lanes, three in each direction. The bridge is truly a beautiful structure, soaring high above the bay to allow for the passage of marine vessels underneath.
Also under the bridge lining the shore are piers. There are piers populated with boats in marinas, there is a dedicated fishing pier, and there are some abandoned piers that were useful at one time, but now exist in different states of disrepair.
It was one of these abandoned piers that caught my attention. It was covered with birds. All water birds, but birds of all kinds. There were sea gulls, and tern, and puldo and pelicans and other birds I don't know the names of.
And they were all hanging out together on the pier, soaking in the sun. All those different birds, and not assembled by type. Just mixed up and peacefully hanging out.
And I thought "Why can't humans be that way? Just hang out together in the sun and not be so hateful to those who are different from us?" And I thought about it a lot.
And I realized something important. Those birds all peacefully coexist because there is enough for everyone. There is plenty of food. The big bridge and the superstructure of the bridge provide plenty of shelter. The area is relatively free of predators. Peaceful coexistence is easier when everyone has everything they need.
And that is where humans often fail. It is so hard for humans to be happy with what they have, even if it is all they need. It seems hard wired into some humans to always want more, and to always want what someone else has.
I found myself falling into that trap as the week went on. Coveting certain beautiful cars, thinking that life must be perfect if you live in one of those big beautiful houses facing the Gulf of Mexico. Falling into the trap of thinking happiness is related to having more.
And then I thought of those birds. They all seemed to be enjoying life. They weren't fighting. They weren't striving. They were just enjoying the beauty of the planet, in the warm sun with a full belly.
And I thought about how lucky I am, in that I have everything I need, and a lot of things I want. I was delighted to come home to my house, and sleep in my bed, and sit in my backyard. I was thrilled to pick my dogs up from arguably the best doggie day care in the world (Puppy Love Nola), and to eat at the great new restaurant in my neighborhood, Station 6.
And I thought about those birds again. The secret of life is being happy with what you have. In appreciating the simple everyday joys. In reflecting on the people that you love and have loved, and cherishing the memories that you have of simple everyday joys with loved ones.
You can always want more. There is always someone or something to disagree about. But you can always be grateful for what you have. And you can always try to find common ground. Or at least you can peacefully coexist in silence in the warm sun.
And maybe one of the greatest gifts of vacation is how good it feels to come home again. I loved my time at the family wedding in New Jersey, and at Cruisin' the Coast. But I also loved waking up in the middle of the night last night in my own bed, with my husband and my two dogs close by.
And today my husband and I will walk with the dogs, and Scarlett will bark at the birds, and Beaux will stop and roll over numerous times, and I will forget to be aggravated with them because I missed them so much while we were away.
And before too many days pass, I'll get aggravated again. But I'm going to try really hard not to. Because even the little aggravations are what we miss when the living creatures who share our lives pass on to another plane.
I'm going to try to remember the birds. To strive for peaceful coexistence, with gratitude for food and shelter, and the ability to appreciate basking in the warm sunshine.
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