I’m not waiting for someone to tell me the state of the World ........ or maybe I am. I’m not sure.

I’ve had a couple of people tell me today that they enjoyed reading my blogs. As you can see, that’s the only encouragement it takes for me to start writing again. After all, the words are always spinning around in my head so why not put it down on the internet for all to praise, snarf or chortle at. (Teacher Parental Units aside, yes, I will end a sentence in a preposition when it feels right.)

The state of our world: does anyone have this nailed down? My typical stance and/or reaction to people’s grousing about how things are so much worse now than they ever were is, “No, things are not worse. We simply HEAR about all the bad stuff that happens in every part of the world except Australia’s outback and not only once but every hour on the hour if you have any news channel tuned in on the television.” Evil television.

Now I like movies and a good story as much as anyone does but what I’ve figured out is this: half hour sitcoms and 24-hour news are both damaging to one’s psyche for different reasons. The half hour sitcom, along with mindless jokes, taped laugh tracks (because we don’t know when to laugh if left to our own devices) and language dumbed down enough to bore a six year old not only rot your brain but portray a half-assed, gargantuan lack of enthusiasm for anything more concrete and thought provoking than body part jokes. (I was going to say fart jokes but that’s only too true and too gross.)

Whereas news is sincere and vital to our knowledge of events farther away than our neighbor’s latest scandal (hopefully it goes without saying that I’m not referring to Faux News here), the incessant influx of bad news from around the world convinces us that indeed the world is a scary place and around every corner lies someone waiting to kidnap your child, rip off your 95-year-old Mother or steal your identity by hacking your computer. And that’s only the first 4 minutes of news. By the time we hear an hour’s worth we may find ourselves sticking our heads into the sand hoping we’re ostriches who can’t be seen by anyone else. (Hey, do these jeans make my butt look big when my head’s lower than my feet?)

The Supreme Court has just returned us to corporate/union dominated elections. Haiti breaks my heart yet inspires me every time I see those wonderful people being pried from the ground singing and blessing their life forces. Iraq and Afghanistan continue to stumble on their paths to nowhere. England is not the place to be right now if one believes in terror alerts. Republicans say “no” to everything on the grounds that a Democrat came up with the idea, while our $4,000 a year insurance premiums thrive and I eschew the use of most doctors because the $4,000 doesn’t include co-pays and deductibles.

We live in a small world these days. What we do ripples events a long way from home. But do we really need to know all about every ripple? If we were to Golden-Rule the events and the people in our lives (yes, I did just verb another noun) would it be enough to be aware that positive begets positive?

I’m really not sure where I’m going with this except to say that sometimes it’s just as well to only know what is happening in your own small neck o’ the woods. Sometimes that is enough. Tend to your own, do the right thing, love those around you. Make that cheery phone call, send a card, sit in silence. Tranquility begins at home. If we are happy at home it’s difficult to wish anything other than happiness for anyone else.

I’ve discovered that turning off the tube, even my brand new flat screen which I adore, is the key to my return of peaceful sanity. Listening to the wall clock tick while gazing out into our back woods is top of the list serenity. I know there are many wonderful places in the world to visit and I want to get to them, but for now seven sleeping furballs, soft Leonard Cohen tunes, my digital camera and nature make this small portion of Missouri seem like heaven on earth. Which I’m convinced that it is.



Cutie owl in our front yard

Happy Day of the Dead!

Wouldn't it be wonderful to enjoy Day of the Dead celebrations in this country?



The Day of the Dead is celebrated on November 1st and 2nd in Mexico. As a ritual of respect for one's departed relatives there is much food, dancing and general celebration. The holiday can be traced back thousands of years to the Aztecs, who dedicated the day to a Goddess, Mictecacihuatl. The holiday, however, is not limited to Mexico. In many forms it is celebrated all around the world.

The Mexican Day of the Dead artwork is some of my favorite:



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Imagine No Religion?

Well ........ perhaps in Denmark.  As reported, the Danish are the happiest people on our planet.  When I heard this I wondered why. 

So what did I do?  Watched "Oprah", of course.  Ok ...... and did a little online research.

Turns out that they pay about half their considerable incomes to the government, which in turn gives excellent health care to all of its citizens.  School, from pre-Kindergarten through university is also completely paid for every citizen.  In fact, the government pays its citizens to attend university.  Hmmm:  encouraging its population to be educated.  Imagine doing that rather than breaking parents' backs having to pay tens of thousands a year to get their children educated in the United States.

Even though the Evangelical Lutheran Church is the government's pick of state religion, most Danish are not particularly religious and do not attend church.  Horrors!  Imagine no religion!  Imagine no pious assurety that one religion is right and all others wrong.  Imagine!

Believe it or not, the Danish tend to live with less.  WAY less.  Their homes look ...... well ....... Danish!  Clean lines and smaller, less cluttered spaces.  Their closets hold what little they do accumulate.

To quote one of the Danish women on "Oprah", "we live with less things but more life."  Ya ...... let's digest that one in this country.  Believe me, I'm pointing directly at myself on that one.

Now lest ye get the wrong idea, I adore the United States.  However, I also think that this does not disallow the general niftiness of other countries. 

The most remarkable thing about Denmark, to me, was this:  it's safe.  So .... we're safe in this country, right?  Well let me ask you this.  Would you leave your twin, month-old babies sleeping in their pram out on the street in front of your house or in front of the restaurant while you dine with the rest of your family?  No?  Why not?

Because you'd be scared absolutely into going to church every dang Sunday if you had to leave you baby out on the street in this country.  In fact it's so perilous here (in comparison) that in a county not too far from where I'm living now, a woman killed another woman in order to cut her open and steal her fetus!

The Danish, evidently, don't have a tendency towards stealing someone else's child.  That's an idea I could live with, and here's another.  Women don't feel the need to be married unless they find a man who actually seems like a spiritually aligned mate.  Danish women are raised with the notion that they can take care of themselves, thank you, and don't need a male for taking care of them.  As one Danish woman pointed out, the women there don't dream about weddings.

What a wonderful idea!  Here it seems that we dream of a fantabulous wedding party but give little to no attention to the picking of the person we're supposedly going to share the rest of our happily-ever-after lives with.  Isn't that reverse logic?  Happiness doesn't just take care of itself because we read it in a fairy tale.  Seems a bit ironic since wasn't it some Danish guy who wrote a lot of those fairy tales?

Oh, and one more thing.  No homeless people in Denmark, either.  If you're out of a job the government not only pays 90% of your previous salary for four years, they assist you in finding a new job.  Most jobs pay similarly so that one's career is picked accordng to one's likes, not one's desire to earn more than the Joneses.  In other words:  everyone is important, and every job is important.

Another idea with which I'd feel comfortable, as it's  my philosophy that from janitor to CEO, every job is important.

Wonder if they're looking for middle-aged, sorta blonde, overweight (they tend towards tall, slender blondness over there due to a fresh, healthful diet) kitty lover in Copenhagen.

Ukraine's Got Talent!

This incredible artist, who won the Ukraine's version of "America's Got Talent" interprets Germany's invasion of the Ukraine during World War II with her ultra talented hands and some sand.

It's a must see!

Nice to Hear the Truth!

I think the point he's making should be talked about more. I've always thought it to be true.

My experience, for instance, has taught me that the men who are most vociferous about the punishment which should be dealt to rapists are the men who most have a secret desire to rape.

What do you think?

Things I'm Officially Done With or ....... Things with Which I'm Officially Done

1. Kanye West. Mr. West: hopefully your current life lesson of humility will "take".



2. Wanting President Obama to remain his even-tempered, measured self. President Obama: get wicked against stupid!



3. The Modern Burning Times. Right wing insensitive, egomaniacal, holier-than-thou, witch hating, hateful, pseudo-Christians: there are WAY more of us out here than you, and we're not taking it anymore.




4. Sarah Palin. Dumb is as dumb does.











5. Feeling that things are necessary to my daily happiness.



6. Glenn Beck/FOX News/Hypocrites and Liars. I think that's self-explanatory, but just in case:

Glenn Beck Example

7. Worrying about being the perfect weight.

Beauty is as beauty does.

8. Stupid and unevolved. Although I aspire to be kind, I no longer invite people into my life who speak but don't listen, fail to give consideration to another's words and thoughts or have closed their minds to anything they weren't taught as children.


THINK!

Pussycat Dolls?

I'm sitting here drying my hair, watching the "Ellen DeGeneres Show". I really adore Ellen. She seems to be one of the nicest people in show business. But this blog isn't about her. It's about the Pussycat Dolls who are singing (and I use that word very loosely) at the tail end of her show. Which is appropriate. The tail part.

They appear to be five extremely skinny young women dressed in painted on clothes, dancing (and I use THAT word very loosely) in five inch stilettos. They are lip synching. At least they appear to be remembering the words.

As they flip and flop around the stage, wiggling and wagging, to prerecorded music which is amplified and electronically modified many times over, I'm left wondering why many people seem to think that this is entertainment. Because it's loud? It's colorful ...... as in pink and various colors of clothing. But it's boring. There is nothing meaningful to the lyrics, no excellence of practiced vocal chords or choreography. There is simply nothing about this that is top notch or entertaining (unless, perhaps, you're a 50-year-old straight man having a mid-life crisis).

I find myself hoping that my 12-year-old granddaughter never sees these young "entertainers" and never comes to believe that this is something to which she should aspire.

Go Ahead, Tell Us Glenn Beck is NOT the Biggest Hypocrite in the Western World

First, from January 3, 2008, Glenn Beck now knows "the meaning of compassion."



Quotes from the above:
- "(surgery) went horribly awry"
- "it was one of the most eye opening experiences of my life to receive health care in the United States today"
- "(health care) was phenomenally bad"
- "I have stories that will melt your brain ...... hopefully will melt the brain of the CEO of this hospital"
- "If they don't care about the President of GE do you really think they care about schlubs ..... the average working stiffs?"
- "We don't understand compassion anymore" (yes, particularly ironic, isn't it?)
- "I've had pretty dark times"
- "could have come out of the movie SAW"
- "Saturday night I was full fledged suicidal"

All of the above because of his BUTT SURGERY. Screwed up butt surgery. By our health care system. What a weenie.

Then comes even more explanation of how bad the care is in this country:



Quotes from the above:
- "There were times in the last couple of weeks that I was literally nothing more than a number"
- "There were times when people literally turned their back on my cries of plea"
- "Our politicians are right, we do have a health care crisis in this country"

He indicates that health care will not be improved by politicians who want to throw money at the health care system for marble counters and plasma TVs. Wow. I didn't know I was getting a plasma TV next time I was in hospital, did you? Cool! I thought I was just gonna get the usual, good ol' fashioned kind of plasma. You know, the kind that comes in a plastic bag. Glad he straightened that one out for me.

Try not to lose your teeth from the quick spin around after Glenn Beck went from CNN (at which time the above was filmed) to FOX News .......



Quotes from the above:

- "America has the best health care system in the world."

How does he know this?

- "I don't see anyone dying in the streets anywhere."

Here comes a pretty good summary of Glenn Beck:



One of the comments following this video on YouTube was "too bad nobody handed him a gun." Hmmmmmmm.