The Extremes of American Politics

The Tea Party elements on the "Right" -- the ultra-progressives of the Democratic party on the "Left"-- both sides too hung up on their principles to understand or sometimes even consider the ordinary problems faced by real people, real groups, and the country as a whole.  People isolate themselves in their ideologies and run around like small children with their fingers in their ears screaming "I don't hear you; I don't hear you!" And then they proceed to demonize the opposite side or sides as un-American, or Socialist, or Communist, or un-Christian! 

Normalcy and problem-solving do not lie on the extreme edges of American politics!  Yet everyone in any party seem to kowtow to those extremes -- paying homage out of fear, or out of single-minded stupidity. Sometimes the thought is: "if I keep saying these stupid things aloud long enough, more and more people will come to believe them, or at least the argument(s) with have shifted in my direction."

The extremes have worked their way into the major parties and splintered the ideas of "compromise" and "progress." When progress is somehow accidentally or even blindly achieved, it is never enough for one wing or the other to stop them from condemning whatever change is introduced. We are at a political stalemate. That makes us all political morons. 

Approaching Another Birthday

I think I have the Buddhist slant on age -- it is what it is!  I don't try to pretend I am younger than I really am; I don't try to duplicate activities I did 30 years ago; I don't pretend or even imagine I will live forever.  As I drove to a Conference yesterday in Macon, GA with a colleague -- I was struck with how different our viewpoints were about: planning, thinking about retirement, death, illness, etc.

I have made many mental decisions concerning any diagnosis of "terminal illness" for myself.  I would not allow for disease to create fighting over "any life at all" for myself!  I would want and only accept a quality of life that I could endure and yet still be open to learning, experiences, and all the joys of living.

I would not live --- just so that I would not die! 

Life is precious and it is to be used up, fully, by every participant.  If it is not -- than what is it for? If life is precious only when we are about to lose it -- than what was it for? If life is only precious during its final moment -- than how does it differ from simple fear of death? Of course, I will be afraid when I am facing death -- that is human! But I will not allow that fear to force me to grasp at straws -- "any kind of life at all." I will try to die full of life!

Coulda Hadda V8!!!

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood," blah, blah, blah! Sure, I have regrets; lots of them. So many times I have made a decision only to have to "live up to it later" even as others question it. I find that my instincts guide me pretty well during the initial decision, no matter how far out of line it might be to ordinary thinking. Justifying and understanding my own decision-process is a slower matter, and requires careful review of why my mind "jumped" in one direction or another. Usually I wind up either being pleased with my initial jump, or able to stomach it even though it might have been a bit of a stretch. 

We will always be in the situation where "we coulda hadda V\8!" So what? Anybody keeping score?
Someone suing us for lack of healthy eating/drinking? It is our own lack of trust in ourselves that attempts to condemn us for taking one path as opposed to another!

So, if "two roads diverge in a yellow wood" don't dawdle -- take either one, and come back and take the other one later if you must!

Life's Timing is Awful... and Wonderful... and Survivable

On most days I have just learned to laugh...and survive. The computer "goes out" just when one needs it the most --- in the midst of school registration the entire program used to register students is offline for days and we are instructed to: "keep registering students as before." Hah! How does one do that?

You go to DMV to have your driver's license renewed -- and now suddenly have to have your "birth certificate" in hand because of a new state law passed to catch "voter fraud" where no "voter fraud" exists -- but "voter suppression" of older folks who haven't seen their birth certificates in 40 years is a certainty! Political maneuvering of voter and license registration should be a crime. Gerrymandering should also be a crime. Profiting from regulations like these, either for a political party or for an individual, should be jailable offenses!

Karma interferes -- a person like me is lucky enough to have a sibling like Linda who gets me through the absolutely maddening points of bureaucracies -- gets my birth certificate sent to me via UPS -- but then, hold on; they only deliver their packages when they want -- so: "be there (at home) or tough luck." Situation finally saved by a very conscientious delivery man for UPS who works well after dark to rectify the situation (ie deliver the package) and save my driver's license.

Of course it doesn't end there -- because the DMV looks at my birth certificate (really) and asks where it is from -- and if it's a legal document, and if it is real, and where is Milwaukee (is it real?),
and...and... you get the idea. In the South, everything they haven't heard of is probably in Canada, or Afghanistan, or on the Moon, or....  Oh, my God -- what a series of adventures we all undergo!

Carol Johns

I am always struck by the self-appointed "preachers" among us --- those who by sheer bravado or arrogance make themselves the advisers of all of the rest of us.  I have a cousin by marriage who actually wrote a comment to me about a post I made "on heaven" expressing my frustration and doubts about what is to come in my life. She responded to me as if I were a child. Not all doubts are childish; nor are they misinformed, or wrong--just because they are different than your beliefs. 

Carol sent me an unsigned response -- first begging my pardon for her perceived sin(s) against me and my family (and hers) and then counseling me on what is to come.  I know that no matter how informed she is by Faith; she still does not know what is to come, for me, or you, or herself. She trusts in her "felt" faith whereas the rest of us humans trust in what all our thoughts, feelings and ideas tell us.

Carol may be a believer; but she is not infallible. Nor is she wrong -- just because she believes. She is wrong in her attempts to lead people who have different beliefs than she does. She is wrong because she cannot imagine that anyone could believe as fiercely as she does, and believe differently. And that is her most human of errors.The sin is called "presumption."

Iraq --- a New Tragedy

More fighting; more devastating and heartbreaking murder; more blood in the sand!  And for what?
Because my "religious background" is truer than yours? Because my "faith" is bloodier than yours?

Muslims killing Muslims is not the way any knowing "God" would want human history to work out.
Anyone killing anyone is not the way of anyone's faith -- and if it is, than that "faith" is not of God but of man's own lust for power. Men think they hear the echoes of faith when they are actually listening to their own small minds grown bloated with self-worth! Phoney self-worth!  Phoney faith!

War is a tragedy filled with many other tragedies -- war crimes, killing combatants and non-combatants without conscience,  crimes against humanity, crimes against morality, crimes against reason, crimes against life! Stop, stop, stop -- stop all of it now!!!

Carey, Bertina (Part III)

How does a story continue without further contact among the characters? Easily!  How does memory happen? How does life continue to flow even when the nagging frustrations appear to overcome all sense, and all normalcy? Why do thoughts linger in our brains? Why does our desire never cease to stir us into regret, or satisfaction unsatisfied?

Bertina was and is perhaps my second "soul mate" --- so why did I resist that fact; why did I decide the relationship was "impossible?" I'm afraid the answer is complex -- a combination of circumstances, life's experiences (for both of us), and distance -- these have created the answer. You cannot have what will kill you --- or it will kill you. You should not love that one person who may not know they love you -- but would hurt you at a moment's notice, simply out of ignorance and antipathy towards themselves. You will not willingly hurt yourself -- for any promised promise of happiness. Lying is not an option in life -- truth is what keeps us free and able to be ourselves.