Blog number 310 **** 20 June 2009
So I'm reading this comix called, "Maus." It's a biography about a man's father who describes what it was like in the concentration camps in Germany during the Good War.
One of the stories tells of this old man who, at every appel (a counting of prisoners) would loudly complain, "I don't belong here with these Polacks and Yids, I am a German like you. I have medals from the Kaiser. My SON is a German soldier."
He eventually disappeared. The man telling the story couldn't remember exactly, but he was either sent to the gas chambers or a guard pushed him down and jumped on his neck.
Now what struck me was not so much that his guy was being treated unfairly and nobody would listen to him, but that he was thinking only of how badly HE was being treated. He had no concern at all of the thousands of other human beings there with him that were being treated as he was.
And more, I don't believe that that man was all that different from the great majority of humans that populate this Earth. We have not yet matured enough as a species for that type of behavior not to be the norm. Seems a shame, but there it is. Nothing anyone can do about it.
Me and mine, not you and yours.
I woke up this morning thinking about the above and it struck me that if the guy was really a Jew and was just trying to get better treatment or even get relased, then that would seem an honorable thing to do. Like trying to get out of a body of water instead of drowning. It was him complaining that he wasn't like these other "guys" and thus didn't deserve the same treatment as they did that struck me as maybe in a pre-karmic way, "deserved."
I wonder what I would have done in similar circumstances.
Bad Mojo any way you look at it. Bad times. Bad people. Yuk.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
MONEY FOR NOTHING, CHICKS FOR FREE
Blog number 309 **** 20 June 2009
A few days ago I dropped Teresa off so she could go into a store in order to buy a marking pencil for counterfeit money detection. I walked down to Ace hardware for some bug spray. On the way back I passed by one of the ubiquitous Dollar Stores acclimated to Casa Grande and a nine year old boy standing outside helloed me. I asked him if he had bought anything in the Dollar Store and he said no, he didn't have any money. I asked him if he would like a dollar so he could buy something and he said yes. I then remembered that I only carried two dollar bills, so I told him I would give him two dollars. Pulling the money out of my billfold, one dropped on the ground, so I told him, "There. Pick that one up. It's yours."
He did and then looked at me and said, "But it's only one." I told him it was a two dollar bill, but he didn't seem to grasp what I was saying, even though I pointed out the "2" on the bill. His mother and another lady came out about then and he got real excited, telling them about the man giving him the money and said he now could buy their lunch. He seemed really excited about the whole thing, which made me feel pretty good.
When I was about his age I use to stand in front of movie theaters hoping that someone would buy me a ticket, but nobody ever did. So I have some idea about what that little boy was feeling.
A few days ago I dropped Teresa off so she could go into a store in order to buy a marking pencil for counterfeit money detection. I walked down to Ace hardware for some bug spray. On the way back I passed by one of the ubiquitous Dollar Stores acclimated to Casa Grande and a nine year old boy standing outside helloed me. I asked him if he had bought anything in the Dollar Store and he said no, he didn't have any money. I asked him if he would like a dollar so he could buy something and he said yes. I then remembered that I only carried two dollar bills, so I told him I would give him two dollars. Pulling the money out of my billfold, one dropped on the ground, so I told him, "There. Pick that one up. It's yours."
He did and then looked at me and said, "But it's only one." I told him it was a two dollar bill, but he didn't seem to grasp what I was saying, even though I pointed out the "2" on the bill. His mother and another lady came out about then and he got real excited, telling them about the man giving him the money and said he now could buy their lunch. He seemed really excited about the whole thing, which made me feel pretty good.
When I was about his age I use to stand in front of movie theaters hoping that someone would buy me a ticket, but nobody ever did. So I have some idea about what that little boy was feeling.
A MORNING OF BABY CAKES
Blog number 308 **** 21 June 2009
Back in the 70's I would ask a mother if I could hold her baby and never get refused. Then American "stranger danger" fear mongering started and after a few refusals, I stopped asking.
A few days ago Teresa, Derek, Kiki and I went to Mimi's for breakfast after Mass. A man and two women sat down in the booth next to us and they had this cute, cute, five month old baby with them. I kept peeking at the baby, smiling, and when the baby saw me, she would give this goofy smile. We were all commenting on how cute she was, and one time I noticed that the mother was holding the baby with one arm while trying to eat with the other. I humorously commented that if she wanted me to hold the baby while she ate, I would. I didn't think I spoke loud enough for any of the people to hear me, but the mother handed the baby over to Teresa and then Teresa gave her to me. She was one of those babies that just loved people. I got to hug her and kiss her on the back of the head. Pure joy. That age baby is my very favorite.
Back in the 70's I would ask a mother if I could hold her baby and never get refused. Then American "stranger danger" fear mongering started and after a few refusals, I stopped asking.
A few days ago Teresa, Derek, Kiki and I went to Mimi's for breakfast after Mass. A man and two women sat down in the booth next to us and they had this cute, cute, five month old baby with them. I kept peeking at the baby, smiling, and when the baby saw me, she would give this goofy smile. We were all commenting on how cute she was, and one time I noticed that the mother was holding the baby with one arm while trying to eat with the other. I humorously commented that if she wanted me to hold the baby while she ate, I would. I didn't think I spoke loud enough for any of the people to hear me, but the mother handed the baby over to Teresa and then Teresa gave her to me. She was one of those babies that just loved people. I got to hug her and kiss her on the back of the head. Pure joy. That age baby is my very favorite.
Friday, June 19, 2009
UNBELIEVABLE
Blog number 307 **** 19 June 2009
My wife and I went to see the movie, "Proposal" starring Sandra Bullock today. It's a movie one could miss without too much trouble. It was like watching an old Rock Hudson, Doris Day movie. But that's not why I am Blogging about it. The reason I am mentioning it is because it contained one of my bugaboos - that of the laws of physics being overturned for no good reason other than carelessness and/or ignorance.
The two stars were in a speedboat, the boat took a sharp left turn and Sandra was thrown overboard to the left.Why do they continually do that? Is it to see me get riled up? Are they trying to get me to change my perception of reality so it is more aligned with theirs? Is somebody paying them to do subvert the laws of physics?
Am I going nuts?
Blog number 307 **** 19 June 2009
My wife and I went to see the movie, "Proposal" starring Sandra Bullock today. It's a movie one could miss without too much trouble. It was like watching an old Rock Hudson, Doris Day movie. But that's not why I am Blogging about it. The reason I am mentioning it is because it contained one of my bugaboos - that of the laws of physics being overturned for no good reason other than carelessness and/or ignorance.
The two stars were in a speedboat, the boat took a sharp left turn and Sandra was thrown overboard to the left.Why do they continually do that? Is it to see me get riled up? Are they trying to get me to change my perception of reality so it is more aligned with theirs? Is somebody paying them to do subvert the laws of physics?
Am I going nuts?
Thursday, June 18, 2009
THE HAIR ON THE BACK OF MY NECK GOT SOME EXERCISE
Blog number 306 **** 18 June 2009
The lovely Teresa and I were sitting in Starbucks reading, when Teresa said, "Look at the man going out the door."
I turned around in my seat and watched this seventy some year old Indian dressed in what was obviously not his clothes. Clean and pressed pants bunched up around the ankles, a clean pressed shirt too big for him, and a straw hat sitting on top of his head. Very picturesque.
I watched him walk slowly across the parking lot. When he reached the middle of the lot - about fifty feet away, he stopped and stood there a moment, then turned slowly and deliberately around and looked right at me. His lips then moved as if he were mumbling something. Done, he turned around - again in a deliberate manner, and continued on his way.
I had the definite impression that he had "felt" my gaze and turned to check it out. And it didn't seem so much that he FELT it, but it seemed rather that he KNEW I was looking at him.
The lovely Teresa and I were sitting in Starbucks reading, when Teresa said, "Look at the man going out the door."
I turned around in my seat and watched this seventy some year old Indian dressed in what was obviously not his clothes. Clean and pressed pants bunched up around the ankles, a clean pressed shirt too big for him, and a straw hat sitting on top of his head. Very picturesque.
I watched him walk slowly across the parking lot. When he reached the middle of the lot - about fifty feet away, he stopped and stood there a moment, then turned slowly and deliberately around and looked right at me. His lips then moved as if he were mumbling something. Done, he turned around - again in a deliberate manner, and continued on his way.
I had the definite impression that he had "felt" my gaze and turned to check it out. And it didn't seem so much that he FELT it, but it seemed rather that he KNEW I was looking at him.
HAH!
Blog number 305 **** 18 June 2009
I'm reading a book called, "Why Smart People Do Dumb Things." One of the stories concerns a Pennsylvania first grade teacher whose class contained two Black children. To teach the class about race relations and to dramatize slavery, one child was "sold" while the other was chained to a post.
The teacher said, "It seemed like a good idea at the time. But the school board, the parents, and the whole town went crazy."
I'm reading a book called, "Why Smart People Do Dumb Things." One of the stories concerns a Pennsylvania first grade teacher whose class contained two Black children. To teach the class about race relations and to dramatize slavery, one child was "sold" while the other was chained to a post.
The teacher said, "It seemed like a good idea at the time. But the school board, the parents, and the whole town went crazy."
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
THE STORY OF ME
Blog number 304 **** 16 June 2009
So long ago that I don't remember how old I was - three or four I think, I was playing cops and robbers with my older brother. There was an old wreck of a car rusting away out in the pasture. I was lying on the fender shooting at the robbers like I had always seen them doing in the movies, and my brother was driving the car. Somehow the door shut and my finger got caught in the door. The last thing I remember was my brother running toward the house to get my Mom. And it is this last bit of this story that makes me think that I have already presented it in this very Blog. Oh well.
The happening described above made me very careful of car doors and fingers. Whenever we drove into town on a Saturday night, I always made sure that I sat by the only door available to us kids (my mother sat next to the window on the other side.) I did this to make sure none of the other kids got their finger caught in the car door.
One night my older brother insisted on sitting by that door, so I thought that what he was doing was trying to make sure that we others didn't get our fingers caught. Wouldn't you know it, he slammed the door on his finger and started screaming. I was shocked, so sure was I that he knew about the nefariousness of unwatched car doors.
*******************
After my bypass, while still in the hospital, we were required to attend a seminar on how to better care for our stresses. One thing the lady hostess said was that if we are ever in a situation that is making us nervous, we are to immediately leave. We need not explain or anything. Just leave. Shortly thereafter I started feeling faint, so I stood up and said I had to leave. She said, "Wait just a minute, Mr. Reynolds. We are almost finished here." So I waited out to the finish - about ten minutes later, after that last inane question somebody always has at these things.
I didn't faint, but I sweated it out.
********************
Two days ago I was trying to find something on the telly and I was trying to read the description of a program on the program description channel. I couldn't read it! I tried to phonetically sound out the words, but I couldn't quite get them right, and I don't think I even understood what the words meant, but I can't be sure of that last statement because I never really paid attention to that, so engrossed was I with being amazed at not being able to pronounce simple five letter words.
For instance I remember one was something like "pilot," and try as mightily as I could, I could not get it to sound right. I tried later to get Teresa to tell me some of the mispronounced words, but she wasn't paying attention to that part of the episode, so she couldn't tell me even one. Dirty shame if you ask me.
That's two "episodes," both concerning words. One verbal, one written. Must mean something, right?
So long ago that I don't remember how old I was - three or four I think, I was playing cops and robbers with my older brother. There was an old wreck of a car rusting away out in the pasture. I was lying on the fender shooting at the robbers like I had always seen them doing in the movies, and my brother was driving the car. Somehow the door shut and my finger got caught in the door. The last thing I remember was my brother running toward the house to get my Mom. And it is this last bit of this story that makes me think that I have already presented it in this very Blog. Oh well.
The happening described above made me very careful of car doors and fingers. Whenever we drove into town on a Saturday night, I always made sure that I sat by the only door available to us kids (my mother sat next to the window on the other side.) I did this to make sure none of the other kids got their finger caught in the car door.
One night my older brother insisted on sitting by that door, so I thought that what he was doing was trying to make sure that we others didn't get our fingers caught. Wouldn't you know it, he slammed the door on his finger and started screaming. I was shocked, so sure was I that he knew about the nefariousness of unwatched car doors.
*******************
After my bypass, while still in the hospital, we were required to attend a seminar on how to better care for our stresses. One thing the lady hostess said was that if we are ever in a situation that is making us nervous, we are to immediately leave. We need not explain or anything. Just leave. Shortly thereafter I started feeling faint, so I stood up and said I had to leave. She said, "Wait just a minute, Mr. Reynolds. We are almost finished here." So I waited out to the finish - about ten minutes later, after that last inane question somebody always has at these things.
I didn't faint, but I sweated it out.
********************
Two days ago I was trying to find something on the telly and I was trying to read the description of a program on the program description channel. I couldn't read it! I tried to phonetically sound out the words, but I couldn't quite get them right, and I don't think I even understood what the words meant, but I can't be sure of that last statement because I never really paid attention to that, so engrossed was I with being amazed at not being able to pronounce simple five letter words.
For instance I remember one was something like "pilot," and try as mightily as I could, I could not get it to sound right. I tried later to get Teresa to tell me some of the mispronounced words, but she wasn't paying attention to that part of the episode, so she couldn't tell me even one. Dirty shame if you ask me.
That's two "episodes," both concerning words. One verbal, one written. Must mean something, right?
Saturday, June 13, 2009
STRAIGHT TO A BABY'S TRUTH
Blog number 303 **** 13 June 2009
We went to see the movie, "Up" today. "Up," as you probably already know, is an animated movie. And as you can probably guess, most of the audience was composed of babies. I heard one little girl speaking of one of the characters in the movie, "He talks too loud."
We went to see the movie, "Up" today. "Up," as you probably already know, is an animated movie. And as you can probably guess, most of the audience was composed of babies. I heard one little girl speaking of one of the characters in the movie, "He talks too loud."
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