There is a valid question we must each ask ourselves:
How badly do you really want it?
Children: Inspiration
Sophomores: Vaunted Ration
Adults: Unimaginative Ration
The Aged: Experience enough for Inspiration
Think on that. We are cheating ourselves horribly.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
At What Point Do Freedom and Intolerance Intersect?
A friend of mine on MicePace posted a blog about how an acquaintance of hers e-mailed her a link to a group protesting an Islamic Holiday stamp from the United States Post Office, asking her to "join the fight".
To be entirely fair, this particular friend of mine is quite liberal BUT tends to consider the degrees of her level of tolerance. About the only problem she has is a problem common to so many of us: Righteous indignation and possibly jumping the gun when we see something we feel is wrong.
Further, the site protesting the Islamic Holiday stamp isn't protesting Islam, they're protesting because Christmas is supposed to be Baby Jesus' birthday and Islam is, in their eyes, defiling that!
Perhaps that's the only aspect of this my friend is billing as stupid, perhaps not. Nevertheless, being me, I'm forced to read so much more into it from the get-go.
One of the first things which happens when America's uber-liberal begin to defend Islam is they tend to fall back on the old "many of my friends are black" argument. People always cite their friends or acquaintances as perfect examples of Islamic thinking because (and I DO paraphrase, but accurately, as far as the sentiment goes) "MY friends behave themselves and seem to want to fit in, so that must be an accurate depiction of the Islamic world at large!"
Maybe, maybe not. I DO know that every single time I hear anyone defending Islamic thinking by declaring Islam a religion of peace, NO ONE, not ONE single person EVER answers me when I ask "Okay, so what about the hudna?" Instead they grimace as though I am clearly intolerant and unenlightened, and the discussion ends thusly.
Me, silly as I am, I'm thinking it's a damned valid question. Hell, when discussing Islam no one even seems to want to discuss Sharia law.
America is the perfect place for nonsense like this, because people in general are so immersed in the idea of tolerance they cannot fathom the notion someone else might not see things their way.
In the end I sent the following response to my friend:
I'm going to post something here; perhaps you'll post it, perhaps not. It risks sounding intolerant and offensive, but that doesn't change the truth of it. Further, I apologize for answering a blog with what amounts to a blog of its own.
I, too, have Muslim friends and acquaintances; however, I have noted slight differences in the way they act with me versus the way they act with one another.
"Oh, that's just culture," you could say -- and probably not be wrong. We associate with "our own kind" more closely, differently than we do "others", and it's just human nature, completely understandable in a realistic, logical sense.
After all, as an experienced world traveler I know full well there are certain cultural subtleties which I, as a foreigner in a given situation, cannot fathom; similarly, I have immigrant friends frequently ask me for explanations of certain things which are distinctly American in nature.
The word "Ramadan" gives one man a pious sentiment with its very utterance; it makes me think "sham-a-lam-a-ding-dong". It's no one's fault, merely a cultural difference. To me that's funny; to the pious man it's offensive in a deep and abiding way.
That's where things begin to get tricky.
You see, people aren't generally very moral. There are LOTS of great ideas out there to put Society at large back on track, some of them semi-official in nature, others as timeworn and heartfelt as the Golden Rule. But you don't see these ideas being enacted. Why is that? Is it because it's too hard? I doubt it.
No, I suspect it's because people, as a whole, are generally shitty, much as we'd love to believe otherwise. Most would espouse an inherent good nature for Humanity and consider themselves all the better, all the more enlightened for even having said such a thing out loud. Me, because I grimace and say "Um, don't think so...", well, I'm clearly sociopathic.
The thing about FREEDOM that most people fail to realize is that FREEDOM actually comes right out of the package with built-in limitations.
What's that? LIMITS on the very concept of FREEDOM? That doesn't make any sense!
Yes, it does.
You see, your freedom in ANY form, in ANY guise or practice, extends precisely to the edges of someone else's contradicting freedom and not one whit farther unless -- here, pay attention, this is the important part -- unless you PUSH it farther.
I have freedom of speech according to my Constitution; but there's a long, long list of things I'm forbidden to say. Think about that. People conceive of Freedom in absolutes but there is no such thing as absolute freedom.
And while you're at it, stop and think about the way our nation seems to be bending over backwards to avoid any possibility of even mildly offending the nation of Islam (their words, not mine; they refer to themselves as a nation, not a religion).
We are literally stomping on the rights of our own people specifically in order to avoid offending another people because right now it's so very PC to do so.
Harvard itself closed a co-ed gym -- remember when a co-ed gym was considered a great step FORWARD in the name of equality? -- to men during prime hours because Muslim women asked to be allowed to exercise without males present. There is nothing in Q'uranic or Shariah law forbidding males and females to be together during exercise, but they asked for it and got it because America is so very afraid and so very wound up in its own politically correct atmosphere.
And while you're at THAT, think about the man we just elected President. Raised in Islam (okay, nothing wrong with that), raised for a portion of his life in one of the most RADICAL of Islamic countries (hmm... but we're tolerant here, we're all about tolerance) and "officially" LEFT HIS CHURCH because he felt it was inappropriate during an election and he had some disagreement with his pastor -- BUT prayed with the man one final time before his election; and he was able to do this precisely because it's JUST THAT EASY for a man to walk away from his religious beliefs and practice his political career COMPLETELY DEVOID of any preconceived notions or ideas based on his rearing.
Because that's how people work, right? Right? Able to turn our beliefs on and off, like a toggle.
I don't give a damn about that stamp AS A STAMP; but it is, I promise, the brief sniffle before full-blown flu, the kind of flu that just might kill you down the line. Whether we choose to see it or not (and I say this as a thinking MAN, not based on any religious beliefs) Islam is gaining a powerful foothold in our land; when it's strong enough, it will become strongly political. And when it becomes strong enough politically, you WILL see many of your freedoms evaporate; up and vanished like a fart in the wind.
And you invoked Jesus, not Muhammed; ergo, you're a heretic. Ergo, if enough religious freedom is exercised, one day you just might find yourself under a whip in the name of religious freedom. Problem will be that your freedom will extend not very far at all. Sure, you're free, but HOW free? You'll have freedomed your way out of freedom.
Ironic, no?
"Oh, Michael; you're going too far this time."
Yes. Because I just KEEP being wrong, don't I? Hmm...
Something to think about.
I understand fully your stance on tolerance; honest to God, if more people were tolerant AND moral, I'd back it a zillion percent. But they're not, and much as I wish to fight for and believe in Freedom, if it comes down to a me-or-him situation, what will your vote be?
That's a serious question which merits some consideration.
Whether it's Islam or Christianity or Judaism, Snake-worshippers, Druids, Satanists, Hindus or the Church of Bob and the Scientologists, in the end so-called religious freedom will prove our greatest freedom and our most fallible undoing, and there is no way in the world to justifiably or even logically correct such a thing.
To be entirely fair, this particular friend of mine is quite liberal BUT tends to consider the degrees of her level of tolerance. About the only problem she has is a problem common to so many of us: Righteous indignation and possibly jumping the gun when we see something we feel is wrong.
Further, the site protesting the Islamic Holiday stamp isn't protesting Islam, they're protesting because Christmas is supposed to be Baby Jesus' birthday and Islam is, in their eyes, defiling that!
Perhaps that's the only aspect of this my friend is billing as stupid, perhaps not. Nevertheless, being me, I'm forced to read so much more into it from the get-go.
One of the first things which happens when America's uber-liberal begin to defend Islam is they tend to fall back on the old "many of my friends are black" argument. People always cite their friends or acquaintances as perfect examples of Islamic thinking because (and I DO paraphrase, but accurately, as far as the sentiment goes) "MY friends behave themselves and seem to want to fit in, so that must be an accurate depiction of the Islamic world at large!"
Maybe, maybe not. I DO know that every single time I hear anyone defending Islamic thinking by declaring Islam a religion of peace, NO ONE, not ONE single person EVER answers me when I ask "Okay, so what about the hudna?" Instead they grimace as though I am clearly intolerant and unenlightened, and the discussion ends thusly.
Me, silly as I am, I'm thinking it's a damned valid question. Hell, when discussing Islam no one even seems to want to discuss Sharia law.
America is the perfect place for nonsense like this, because people in general are so immersed in the idea of tolerance they cannot fathom the notion someone else might not see things their way.
In the end I sent the following response to my friend:
I'm going to post something here; perhaps you'll post it, perhaps not. It risks sounding intolerant and offensive, but that doesn't change the truth of it. Further, I apologize for answering a blog with what amounts to a blog of its own.
I, too, have Muslim friends and acquaintances; however, I have noted slight differences in the way they act with me versus the way they act with one another.
"Oh, that's just culture," you could say -- and probably not be wrong. We associate with "our own kind" more closely, differently than we do "others", and it's just human nature, completely understandable in a realistic, logical sense.
After all, as an experienced world traveler I know full well there are certain cultural subtleties which I, as a foreigner in a given situation, cannot fathom; similarly, I have immigrant friends frequently ask me for explanations of certain things which are distinctly American in nature.
The word "Ramadan" gives one man a pious sentiment with its very utterance; it makes me think "sham-a-lam-a-ding-dong". It's no one's fault, merely a cultural difference. To me that's funny; to the pious man it's offensive in a deep and abiding way.
That's where things begin to get tricky.
You see, people aren't generally very moral. There are LOTS of great ideas out there to put Society at large back on track, some of them semi-official in nature, others as timeworn and heartfelt as the Golden Rule. But you don't see these ideas being enacted. Why is that? Is it because it's too hard? I doubt it.
No, I suspect it's because people, as a whole, are generally shitty, much as we'd love to believe otherwise. Most would espouse an inherent good nature for Humanity and consider themselves all the better, all the more enlightened for even having said such a thing out loud. Me, because I grimace and say "Um, don't think so...", well, I'm clearly sociopathic.
The thing about FREEDOM that most people fail to realize is that FREEDOM actually comes right out of the package with built-in limitations.
What's that? LIMITS on the very concept of FREEDOM? That doesn't make any sense!
Yes, it does.
You see, your freedom in ANY form, in ANY guise or practice, extends precisely to the edges of someone else's contradicting freedom and not one whit farther unless -- here, pay attention, this is the important part -- unless you PUSH it farther.
I have freedom of speech according to my Constitution; but there's a long, long list of things I'm forbidden to say. Think about that. People conceive of Freedom in absolutes but there is no such thing as absolute freedom.
And while you're at it, stop and think about the way our nation seems to be bending over backwards to avoid any possibility of even mildly offending the nation of Islam (their words, not mine; they refer to themselves as a nation, not a religion).
We are literally stomping on the rights of our own people specifically in order to avoid offending another people because right now it's so very PC to do so.
Harvard itself closed a co-ed gym -- remember when a co-ed gym was considered a great step FORWARD in the name of equality? -- to men during prime hours because Muslim women asked to be allowed to exercise without males present. There is nothing in Q'uranic or Shariah law forbidding males and females to be together during exercise, but they asked for it and got it because America is so very afraid and so very wound up in its own politically correct atmosphere.
And while you're at THAT, think about the man we just elected President. Raised in Islam (okay, nothing wrong with that), raised for a portion of his life in one of the most RADICAL of Islamic countries (hmm... but we're tolerant here, we're all about tolerance) and "officially" LEFT HIS CHURCH because he felt it was inappropriate during an election and he had some disagreement with his pastor -- BUT prayed with the man one final time before his election; and he was able to do this precisely because it's JUST THAT EASY for a man to walk away from his religious beliefs and practice his political career COMPLETELY DEVOID of any preconceived notions or ideas based on his rearing.
Because that's how people work, right? Right? Able to turn our beliefs on and off, like a toggle.
I don't give a damn about that stamp AS A STAMP; but it is, I promise, the brief sniffle before full-blown flu, the kind of flu that just might kill you down the line. Whether we choose to see it or not (and I say this as a thinking MAN, not based on any religious beliefs) Islam is gaining a powerful foothold in our land; when it's strong enough, it will become strongly political. And when it becomes strong enough politically, you WILL see many of your freedoms evaporate; up and vanished like a fart in the wind.
And you invoked Jesus, not Muhammed; ergo, you're a heretic. Ergo, if enough religious freedom is exercised, one day you just might find yourself under a whip in the name of religious freedom. Problem will be that your freedom will extend not very far at all. Sure, you're free, but HOW free? You'll have freedomed your way out of freedom.
Ironic, no?
"Oh, Michael; you're going too far this time."
Yes. Because I just KEEP being wrong, don't I? Hmm...
Something to think about.
I understand fully your stance on tolerance; honest to God, if more people were tolerant AND moral, I'd back it a zillion percent. But they're not, and much as I wish to fight for and believe in Freedom, if it comes down to a me-or-him situation, what will your vote be?
That's a serious question which merits some consideration.
Whether it's Islam or Christianity or Judaism, Snake-worshippers, Druids, Satanists, Hindus or the Church of Bob and the Scientologists, in the end so-called religious freedom will prove our greatest freedom and our most fallible undoing, and there is no way in the world to justifiably or even logically correct such a thing.
I'm Only Sayin'...
I've stated elsewhere that the color and race of any United States President doesn't make the least bit of difference to me, BUT it does to so many other people that I cannot imagine how anyone could get this Land-of-Freedom-Gone-Mad country back on track.
That being said, Mr. Obama is in (or will be in a bit over a month), done is done and I HOPE the man manages a decent job based on the mess he's inheriting. I certainly don't attribute the Messianic qualities I've heard bandied about for nearly two years, but I'm hoping he's no Satan either.
Either way, I suspect he'd find this both embarrassing and sad, partially an illustration of just how low America has fallen, partially as the perfect illustration of why there's so damned much work to be done.
Perhaps this is merely a small snapshot of my part of the country; if so, it's nigh perfect to showcase for the world at large the honest-to-God general population in the area in which I live. I'd venture to say that an easy 65 percent of the locals fall well within this category. Then again, INTERnationally, the United States is significantly lower in the educational rankings than one should expect, while nationally, Kentucky is third from the bottom -- meaning we're not even the worst this country has to offer!
This puts the educational level of the general populace in KY on an approximate equal footing with certain third world countries portrayed in charity videos.
And perhaps, as I said, it's just a way for me to describe what the hell's going on in America at large today.
Found on a profile (seen many, many like it) for locals in my area. I did not change anything, including the capital lettering; there was no editing -- this is merely typical:
AM LOOKING 4 NO LIER'S AND NO GAME'S IF U PLAY GAMES R LIE DO NOT HOT BOX BUT IF U DO NOT PLAY GAME'S THAN HOT BOX ME..WE MADE HISTORY WHEN OBAMA GOT IN 4 A BLACK MAN 2 BE PRENIDENT...I THOUGHT I WOUD NEVER THAT HAPPEN BUT BY GOD'S WILL I DID.....
I will be building the compound as soon as possible.
Thinkers are welcome. There will be a quiz.
That being said, Mr. Obama is in (or will be in a bit over a month), done is done and I HOPE the man manages a decent job based on the mess he's inheriting. I certainly don't attribute the Messianic qualities I've heard bandied about for nearly two years, but I'm hoping he's no Satan either.
Either way, I suspect he'd find this both embarrassing and sad, partially an illustration of just how low America has fallen, partially as the perfect illustration of why there's so damned much work to be done.
Perhaps this is merely a small snapshot of my part of the country; if so, it's nigh perfect to showcase for the world at large the honest-to-God general population in the area in which I live. I'd venture to say that an easy 65 percent of the locals fall well within this category. Then again, INTERnationally, the United States is significantly lower in the educational rankings than one should expect, while nationally, Kentucky is third from the bottom -- meaning we're not even the worst this country has to offer!
This puts the educational level of the general populace in KY on an approximate equal footing with certain third world countries portrayed in charity videos.
And perhaps, as I said, it's just a way for me to describe what the hell's going on in America at large today.
Found on a profile (seen many, many like it) for locals in my area. I did not change anything, including the capital lettering; there was no editing -- this is merely typical:
AM LOOKING 4 NO LIER'S AND NO GAME'S IF U PLAY GAMES R LIE DO NOT HOT BOX BUT IF U DO NOT PLAY GAME'S THAN HOT BOX ME..WE MADE HISTORY WHEN OBAMA GOT IN 4 A BLACK MAN 2 BE PRENIDENT...I THOUGHT I WOUD NEVER THAT HAPPEN BUT BY GOD'S WILL I DID.....
I will be building the compound as soon as possible.
Thinkers are welcome. There will be a quiz.
Monday, December 1, 2008
The Wrong Feng Shui...
I think Feng Shui is garbage.
Oh, don't get me wrong or send me books, links or pamphlets explaining otherwise, and how the placement of my couch can fix the heart murmur of some unsuspecting guy in Boise. In fact, that tripe is precisely why I think Feng Shui is garbage.
People "rediscover" some Eastern tradition or belief (it galls me that often nobody, and I mean nobody, has heard of these ancient traditions, not even monks) and then some idiot, some chowder-head whose grandparents were Asian and whose only bequeathal from all that Asian tradition was an epicanthic fold, decides to declare himself an expert on said tradition by writing a book -- which promptly sells like hotcakes to the American public, a people generally capable of being brainwashed with a damp cloth.
It doesn't take a genius to realize that the placement of items in our home adds to or takes away from a sort of "flow", that things need to be placed for maximum comfort, convenience and a certain untouchable quality which turns a mere house into a HOME. I just don't think I have to face East or burn incense for that quality to begin to appear. If that's your thing I say go for broke; it's simply not my thing.
However, lately my 19-month-old son has begun explaining to me by way of demonstration how my placement of articles in our home has been, for lack of a better word, WRONG.
For example:
I was unaware until recently that the flow of cosmic energy in my home was being interrupted by misplacement of the remote controls for our television system, nor was I aware that said remotes actually belong in the following places:
- The main remote belongs beneath our couch
- The dvd remote belongs in my son's toy chest
- And the television remote belongs in the rear of a tiny cubicle in our wine rack.
I was unaware of the role metals play in the induction of celestial harmonies within a house, and thus unaware that several of our metal mixing bowls from the kitchen cabinets actually belong in our office AND in two separate bookshelves, while the books which formerly occupied the space now reserved for varied mixing bowls belong, neatly stacked, on one side of the couch AND inside yet another mixing bowl -- this one stoneware.
It had entirely escaped me that Sock Monkey, meant for a weird sort of hugging toy (it gives me the creeps), was actually a perfect dog toy. Let's not even mention my boy's glee in removing the squeak-bone from the dog's mouth and carrying it around in his own.
Meanwhile Oggy the dinosaur, with whom my son sleeps nightly, roams from box to bowl, from bowl to cabinet, from cabinet to office, from there to alternate box; making his tiny, plush dinosaur rounds to assure domestic tranquility and completeness in the glory which is Feng Shui.
There is absolutely NO telling where this little guy will turn up next as he works diligently to align our household energies with the Jade Emperor's master scheme.
Plastic gears belong in my work boots. I have learned this by removing said gears, placing them back among my son's toys only to have them invariably, determinedly even, reappear in my boots.
Any accompanying socks, however, belong elsewhere. One is often found stuffed inside a different dinosaur, a saurian with holes for plastic orbs, a dinosaur filled with lights and music; the other sock frequently resides around my son's neck like a bizarre scarf -- at least until he finally brings both socks to me and insists I put them ON him, whereupon he wears them for a while and then returns to me without them.
At this point I know the little rascal-cum-interior designer has completed another round of Feng Shui and I'll be amazed at where my socks turn up. Given an entire drawer of them, the possibilities are endless. In the meantime it is my privilege to enjoy spiritual bliss based on my child's efforts.
My shirts are steadily disappearing. I've yet to fathom precisely how this fits the ongoing development of our spiritual schematic.
My son also possesses a series of blocks fitted to various holes in yet another toy; these blocks, however, appear to belong in or near his toybox -- with the exception of one blue cube which apparently completes a celestial pattern or flow when it resides precisely in the center of our living room floor.
He could be right; in fact it's gotten so when I walk into the room, if I don't step on the blue cube or nearly stumble on the thing, I actually wonder where it's gotten off to. In a crazy way it's come to complete my vision of the sitting area. A few days ago it wasn't even present and I still stepped over the spot, lifting my leg to avoid stumbling on... well, on nothing.
Each evening after putting the lad to bed we go around cleaning up articles over which we might stumble in the night, or upon which we could step and create clatter, ruckus as it were; and each day Luke dutifully returns items to their areas in one manner or another, although he appears to be experimenting with the flow of Ch'i in our home, as exhibited by his delight over the recent addition of our Christmas Tree.
While we carefully placed ornaments at the higher levels of the tree, Luke dutifully brought the boxes in which individual ornaments were kept and placed the boxes among the branches down at his level.
If not for the fire hazard, I'd have left them. After all, apparently the kid knows what he's about.
Who am I to argue?
Oh, don't get me wrong or send me books, links or pamphlets explaining otherwise, and how the placement of my couch can fix the heart murmur of some unsuspecting guy in Boise. In fact, that tripe is precisely why I think Feng Shui is garbage.
People "rediscover" some Eastern tradition or belief (it galls me that often nobody, and I mean nobody, has heard of these ancient traditions, not even monks) and then some idiot, some chowder-head whose grandparents were Asian and whose only bequeathal from all that Asian tradition was an epicanthic fold, decides to declare himself an expert on said tradition by writing a book -- which promptly sells like hotcakes to the American public, a people generally capable of being brainwashed with a damp cloth.
It doesn't take a genius to realize that the placement of items in our home adds to or takes away from a sort of "flow", that things need to be placed for maximum comfort, convenience and a certain untouchable quality which turns a mere house into a HOME. I just don't think I have to face East or burn incense for that quality to begin to appear. If that's your thing I say go for broke; it's simply not my thing.
However, lately my 19-month-old son has begun explaining to me by way of demonstration how my placement of articles in our home has been, for lack of a better word, WRONG.
For example:
I was unaware until recently that the flow of cosmic energy in my home was being interrupted by misplacement of the remote controls for our television system, nor was I aware that said remotes actually belong in the following places:
- The main remote belongs beneath our couch
- The dvd remote belongs in my son's toy chest
- And the television remote belongs in the rear of a tiny cubicle in our wine rack.
I was unaware of the role metals play in the induction of celestial harmonies within a house, and thus unaware that several of our metal mixing bowls from the kitchen cabinets actually belong in our office AND in two separate bookshelves, while the books which formerly occupied the space now reserved for varied mixing bowls belong, neatly stacked, on one side of the couch AND inside yet another mixing bowl -- this one stoneware.
It had entirely escaped me that Sock Monkey, meant for a weird sort of hugging toy (it gives me the creeps), was actually a perfect dog toy. Let's not even mention my boy's glee in removing the squeak-bone from the dog's mouth and carrying it around in his own.
Meanwhile Oggy the dinosaur, with whom my son sleeps nightly, roams from box to bowl, from bowl to cabinet, from cabinet to office, from there to alternate box; making his tiny, plush dinosaur rounds to assure domestic tranquility and completeness in the glory which is Feng Shui.
There is absolutely NO telling where this little guy will turn up next as he works diligently to align our household energies with the Jade Emperor's master scheme.
Plastic gears belong in my work boots. I have learned this by removing said gears, placing them back among my son's toys only to have them invariably, determinedly even, reappear in my boots.
Any accompanying socks, however, belong elsewhere. One is often found stuffed inside a different dinosaur, a saurian with holes for plastic orbs, a dinosaur filled with lights and music; the other sock frequently resides around my son's neck like a bizarre scarf -- at least until he finally brings both socks to me and insists I put them ON him, whereupon he wears them for a while and then returns to me without them.
At this point I know the little rascal-cum-interior designer has completed another round of Feng Shui and I'll be amazed at where my socks turn up. Given an entire drawer of them, the possibilities are endless. In the meantime it is my privilege to enjoy spiritual bliss based on my child's efforts.
My shirts are steadily disappearing. I've yet to fathom precisely how this fits the ongoing development of our spiritual schematic.
My son also possesses a series of blocks fitted to various holes in yet another toy; these blocks, however, appear to belong in or near his toybox -- with the exception of one blue cube which apparently completes a celestial pattern or flow when it resides precisely in the center of our living room floor.
He could be right; in fact it's gotten so when I walk into the room, if I don't step on the blue cube or nearly stumble on the thing, I actually wonder where it's gotten off to. In a crazy way it's come to complete my vision of the sitting area. A few days ago it wasn't even present and I still stepped over the spot, lifting my leg to avoid stumbling on... well, on nothing.
Each evening after putting the lad to bed we go around cleaning up articles over which we might stumble in the night, or upon which we could step and create clatter, ruckus as it were; and each day Luke dutifully returns items to their areas in one manner or another, although he appears to be experimenting with the flow of Ch'i in our home, as exhibited by his delight over the recent addition of our Christmas Tree.
While we carefully placed ornaments at the higher levels of the tree, Luke dutifully brought the boxes in which individual ornaments were kept and placed the boxes among the branches down at his level.
If not for the fire hazard, I'd have left them. After all, apparently the kid knows what he's about.
Who am I to argue?
Friday, November 21, 2008
I Wonder How Normal it is...
There's not a day that goes by when someone doesn't bring up politics at the office, at home or out in public.
There's not a day which goes by when the news doesn't shout at me about how the tides have turned in America, how our land of plenty has become a haven for madness and despair with a crashing economy in a land worthy of a legendary Robin Hood as the rich grow filthy rich and ignorance is promoted within the rank and file of the common man; as common sense simply isn't anymore.
There's not a day which goes by when I don't look at my son and feel worry gnawing relentlessly at my guts.
Poetic and sugary-sad, true; but take anyone you love and close your eyes, place them into the context of that little clay-mation character and tell me you're immune to the effect.
There's not a day which goes by when the news doesn't shout at me about how the tides have turned in America, how our land of plenty has become a haven for madness and despair with a crashing economy in a land worthy of a legendary Robin Hood as the rich grow filthy rich and ignorance is promoted within the rank and file of the common man; as common sense simply isn't anymore.
There's not a day which goes by when I don't look at my son and feel worry gnawing relentlessly at my guts.
Poetic and sugary-sad, true; but take anyone you love and close your eyes, place them into the context of that little clay-mation character and tell me you're immune to the effect.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
On 100-Word Silliness...
My charming and entertaining friend Ms Density and I challenged one another to write a "story" on a proferred topic using precisely 100 words, no more, no less.
She gave me a "clockwork owl" with the stipulation that I NOT look it up.
I, in turn, gave her a "cheese pig" with the same strictures.
Here is my story:
Oesterren lived in the Black Forest.
Unlike other owls, Oesterren lived diurnally. “The early bird catches the worm,” he said cryptically, considering himself a wise, old owl. Others simply thought “Odd duck...”
One day a temperamental kestrel chased Oesterren home. Oesterren remained inside, with his bird's eye-view, watching said birdie. “Don't give a hoot about cowardice,” he thought, “This won't be MY swan song!”
Just then a woodsman chopped down Oesterren's tree – with Oesterren inside, refusing to fly the coop.
A timepiece was made. Oesterren, keeping his pecker up, was utilized rather than a cuckoo, making him a clockwork owl!
I've yet to see my challenger's literary retort just yet, but I'm sure it shall prove amusing and silly as my own. And I've NO idea yet what a clockwork owl is/was/shall be, wondering if it might be something as daft as a clockwork orange?
She gave me a "clockwork owl" with the stipulation that I NOT look it up.
I, in turn, gave her a "cheese pig" with the same strictures.
Here is my story:
Oesterren lived in the Black Forest.
Unlike other owls, Oesterren lived diurnally. “The early bird catches the worm,” he said cryptically, considering himself a wise, old owl. Others simply thought “Odd duck...”
One day a temperamental kestrel chased Oesterren home. Oesterren remained inside, with his bird's eye-view, watching said birdie. “Don't give a hoot about cowardice,” he thought, “This won't be MY swan song!”
Just then a woodsman chopped down Oesterren's tree – with Oesterren inside, refusing to fly the coop.
A timepiece was made. Oesterren, keeping his pecker up, was utilized rather than a cuckoo, making him a clockwork owl!
I've yet to see my challenger's literary retort just yet, but I'm sure it shall prove amusing and silly as my own. And I've NO idea yet what a clockwork owl is/was/shall be, wondering if it might be something as daft as a clockwork orange?
It's Occurred To Me...
Way back when I first started blogging I was fresh home from the war in Iraq. My mind was awash with thoughts, feelings and sentiments; I was eager to take advantage of my renewed lease on life.
Sure, I'd been dealing with a robotic kind of stupidity non-stop for a bit over fifteen months, but now I was home and would finally be able to ease that particular burden!
What I didn't realize at the time was by coming home to America and leaving the war I was, in a way, merely exchanging one form of stupidity for another. Sure, I was getting away from bombs and bullets; but I was also coming back to traffic jams and a form of social anarchy.
Sure I wouldn't be forced to stand in lines for idiotic things which seemed interminable, but I was coming back to deal, interminably, with idiots who can't seem to properly handle standing in line for anything at all.
Worse still, while I had been dealing with lots of stupid people in the military unit I was then attached to, there were still enough good folk so that I was not only exposed to a variety of individuals from differing backgrounds but also forced due to circumstances to cope with a variety of situations.
I didn't realize my brain, while shutting down in some areas, was highly stimulated in other areas, areas I didn't easily recognize or, for that matter, particularly care for when I could recognize them. However, I failed to recognize the positive aspects of said stimulation as well.
I lost much of my language ability through disuse but gained a sense of patience; I never performed mathematical operations but I was able to quickly calculate variations on themes in order to safely chain down a heretofore unknown piece of heavy equipment; I seldom got stimulating conversation from the people around me but I had the chance to interact with a lot of foreign nationals and share in their joys and sorrows on the road, to experience even small bits of their varying cultures in passing.
Coming home I began to pour out my mind on an electronic piece of paper, posting it for all the world to see should they care to view it. I was enthusiastic and it showed.
Sadly, it seems of late (meaning the last year, perhaps year and a half) I've become something of a bitch.
I don't like this and I'm trying hard to figure out what's happened to me, why this terrible transformation has come to pass. I'm no longer humorous the way I once was; my humor is less joyous and more sardonic these days when it occurs at all.
And after taking a good look around, after thinking about it while trapped in pointless traffic this morning, I've come to realize that I let America get to me.
I love my country for what it once stood for, what it could stand for again someday, maybe. I love the idea of freedom and opportunity and all that.
Still, looking around, there's simply no denying that the majority of our people are... well, they're just pretty damned small and stupid. They have an inflated sense of self, an unrealistically challenged view of the world at large. They're petty in nature while attempting to aggrandize themselves with charitable causes which are, generally, purely liberal in nature rather than especially helpful. They don't really want to help because there's a solution to be offered, they want to help because it's fashionable. They don't want to promote things like general Equality, they want to be king without actually being king.
I don't like writing posts about things like sexism and racism; it's my preference to write funny things, things which make people smile and laugh, feel good for a moment, get a giggle out of life. It's just that... well,...
I'm having trouble telling the difference anymore because my humor has become so bitter. When I see the things I really and truly SEE each and every day part of me laughs inside, and so I think it might be funny. When I get in front of the computer I'm thinking about things, laughing at them because they're just so damnably unbelievable, so ludicrous that there's pretty much nowhere to go except for laughter and head-shaking.
Only, when I begin to type the funny part just won't seem to come.
Here in America people proudly claim things such as coffee snobbery, making remarks like "Oh, I'm a coffee snob. I only drink [insert product here]." Such people will explain in condescending tones why it is, for example, improper to make the statement I love coffee if you're the sort of person who adds cream and sugar because once you add these inferior substances it's no longer real coffee.
Well, it didn't turn into a wart when I added my stuff, now did it?!?
In Europe, during all my time there, the coffee was absolutely excellent and I never ran into a single, solitary person who gave a good damn about how I drank mine. I saw people drinking espresso, the real stuff, completely black... or with huge heaps of sugar... or by adding cream... or with the foamed cream and added sugar whereby they enjoyed a cappuccino.
I never met a single coffee snob, not one. In America I've encountered, even here in my small, ignorant portion of the country, dozens who proudly proclaimed it, as though this affectation somehow made them cultured.
But coffee is, no pun intended, small beans in the grand scheme of American stupidity. There's just SOOOO much more.
In all my world travels I've definitely encountered racism; and nowhere else save here in the allegedly great Melting Pot has it been so forcibly shoved down my throat at each and every turn; nowhere else save here does it matter so much on a daily basis without a civil war actually going on.
In America a black person is African-American, not black; and yet a young lady I once knew, a tall blonde who grew up in South Africa and moved here for University and marriage, was screamed at and nearly expelled from the Department of Motor Vehicles when she put down African-American for her nationality -- dual citizenship notwithstanding!
Americans have some pretty screwed up ideas about what it means to be an American, too. When you ask anyone about their heritage, nobody says "I'm an American," they always respond Scottish, Irish, German, Norwegian, what have you. It's as though they want to say "I'm from anywhere but here!"
In America, Saint Patrick's Day involves wearing green, dyeing an entire river green, taking all the music of Irish origin people can find and making a giant deal out of it, swooning in delight at the sound of Uilleann pipes whilst sucking on Guinness and claiming to prefer it to other draughts. Why? Because any given person so expounding on the qualities is, of course, a beer snob.
I don't recall such stuff from Europe, or more specifically from Ireland.
There's sexism everywhere, whether you wish (in your Freedom) to be a practicioner or not.
In Europe and Asia I really didn't hear much being made about the things Men do versus the things Women do, except in England. People just did things like politely hold doors for one another or rudely ignore others, regardless of gender.
Here in America... well, let me put it this way: The blog I just deleted, the really bitchy one where I happened to mention the Feminist Majority Foundation as part of a list of other organizations? None of you are aware of this, but my blog was actually visited by someone from the Fem-Maj-Foun, from their site in Arlington, VA.
Coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not.
The problem, in the end, is not that I'm living in America; it's that I've finally been indoctrinated with an American frame of mind, an American way of thinking that really, until the last couple of years, was never part of my personality. I honestly fear that were I to travel just now people would do a thing they've never, ever done with me and mutter among themselves Hmph -- typical American.
That would be bad; I lived abroad for years and no matter what anyone may think of this comment, when traveling abroad I can think of no greater shame than to be what foreign nationals consider a typical American.
I've got to relax, lighten up, find new stimulus, new friends, boost my rotting brain.
Sure, I'd been dealing with a robotic kind of stupidity non-stop for a bit over fifteen months, but now I was home and would finally be able to ease that particular burden!
What I didn't realize at the time was by coming home to America and leaving the war I was, in a way, merely exchanging one form of stupidity for another. Sure, I was getting away from bombs and bullets; but I was also coming back to traffic jams and a form of social anarchy.
Sure I wouldn't be forced to stand in lines for idiotic things which seemed interminable, but I was coming back to deal, interminably, with idiots who can't seem to properly handle standing in line for anything at all.
Worse still, while I had been dealing with lots of stupid people in the military unit I was then attached to, there were still enough good folk so that I was not only exposed to a variety of individuals from differing backgrounds but also forced due to circumstances to cope with a variety of situations.
I didn't realize my brain, while shutting down in some areas, was highly stimulated in other areas, areas I didn't easily recognize or, for that matter, particularly care for when I could recognize them. However, I failed to recognize the positive aspects of said stimulation as well.
I lost much of my language ability through disuse but gained a sense of patience; I never performed mathematical operations but I was able to quickly calculate variations on themes in order to safely chain down a heretofore unknown piece of heavy equipment; I seldom got stimulating conversation from the people around me but I had the chance to interact with a lot of foreign nationals and share in their joys and sorrows on the road, to experience even small bits of their varying cultures in passing.
Coming home I began to pour out my mind on an electronic piece of paper, posting it for all the world to see should they care to view it. I was enthusiastic and it showed.
Sadly, it seems of late (meaning the last year, perhaps year and a half) I've become something of a bitch.
I don't like this and I'm trying hard to figure out what's happened to me, why this terrible transformation has come to pass. I'm no longer humorous the way I once was; my humor is less joyous and more sardonic these days when it occurs at all.
And after taking a good look around, after thinking about it while trapped in pointless traffic this morning, I've come to realize that I let America get to me.
I love my country for what it once stood for, what it could stand for again someday, maybe. I love the idea of freedom and opportunity and all that.
Still, looking around, there's simply no denying that the majority of our people are... well, they're just pretty damned small and stupid. They have an inflated sense of self, an unrealistically challenged view of the world at large. They're petty in nature while attempting to aggrandize themselves with charitable causes which are, generally, purely liberal in nature rather than especially helpful. They don't really want to help because there's a solution to be offered, they want to help because it's fashionable. They don't want to promote things like general Equality, they want to be king without actually being king.
I don't like writing posts about things like sexism and racism; it's my preference to write funny things, things which make people smile and laugh, feel good for a moment, get a giggle out of life. It's just that... well,...
I'm having trouble telling the difference anymore because my humor has become so bitter. When I see the things I really and truly SEE each and every day part of me laughs inside, and so I think it might be funny. When I get in front of the computer I'm thinking about things, laughing at them because they're just so damnably unbelievable, so ludicrous that there's pretty much nowhere to go except for laughter and head-shaking.
Only, when I begin to type the funny part just won't seem to come.
Here in America people proudly claim things such as coffee snobbery, making remarks like "Oh, I'm a coffee snob. I only drink [insert product here]." Such people will explain in condescending tones why it is, for example, improper to make the statement I love coffee if you're the sort of person who adds cream and sugar because once you add these inferior substances it's no longer real coffee.
Well, it didn't turn into a wart when I added my stuff, now did it?!?
In Europe, during all my time there, the coffee was absolutely excellent and I never ran into a single, solitary person who gave a good damn about how I drank mine. I saw people drinking espresso, the real stuff, completely black... or with huge heaps of sugar... or by adding cream... or with the foamed cream and added sugar whereby they enjoyed a cappuccino.
I never met a single coffee snob, not one. In America I've encountered, even here in my small, ignorant portion of the country, dozens who proudly proclaimed it, as though this affectation somehow made them cultured.
But coffee is, no pun intended, small beans in the grand scheme of American stupidity. There's just SOOOO much more.
In all my world travels I've definitely encountered racism; and nowhere else save here in the allegedly great Melting Pot has it been so forcibly shoved down my throat at each and every turn; nowhere else save here does it matter so much on a daily basis without a civil war actually going on.
In America a black person is African-American, not black; and yet a young lady I once knew, a tall blonde who grew up in South Africa and moved here for University and marriage, was screamed at and nearly expelled from the Department of Motor Vehicles when she put down African-American for her nationality -- dual citizenship notwithstanding!
Americans have some pretty screwed up ideas about what it means to be an American, too. When you ask anyone about their heritage, nobody says "I'm an American," they always respond Scottish, Irish, German, Norwegian, what have you. It's as though they want to say "I'm from anywhere but here!"
In America, Saint Patrick's Day involves wearing green, dyeing an entire river green, taking all the music of Irish origin people can find and making a giant deal out of it, swooning in delight at the sound of Uilleann pipes whilst sucking on Guinness and claiming to prefer it to other draughts. Why? Because any given person so expounding on the qualities is, of course, a beer snob.
I don't recall such stuff from Europe, or more specifically from Ireland.
There's sexism everywhere, whether you wish (in your Freedom) to be a practicioner or not.
In Europe and Asia I really didn't hear much being made about the things Men do versus the things Women do, except in England. People just did things like politely hold doors for one another or rudely ignore others, regardless of gender.
Here in America... well, let me put it this way: The blog I just deleted, the really bitchy one where I happened to mention the Feminist Majority Foundation as part of a list of other organizations? None of you are aware of this, but my blog was actually visited by someone from the Fem-Maj-Foun, from their site in Arlington, VA.
Coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not.
The problem, in the end, is not that I'm living in America; it's that I've finally been indoctrinated with an American frame of mind, an American way of thinking that really, until the last couple of years, was never part of my personality. I honestly fear that were I to travel just now people would do a thing they've never, ever done with me and mutter among themselves Hmph -- typical American.
That would be bad; I lived abroad for years and no matter what anyone may think of this comment, when traveling abroad I can think of no greater shame than to be what foreign nationals consider a typical American.
I've got to relax, lighten up, find new stimulus, new friends, boost my rotting brain.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
