Relatively Fearless

Daily writing prompt
What does it mean to be a good person?

It’s someone who shows up, who has a heart, who listens and cares, who maybe isn’t quite as concerned about finding “balance” all the time. Someone who drains their batteries more often than others, who does more than preach, who isn’t really worried about what others think of them when it comes to doing the right thing. And there is often a right thing.

Maybe someone who lives out Romans 12:9-18, whether or not they’ve ever set foot in a church or opened a Bible.

Messiah Complex

Peter Thiel and the rest are detached from reality. They live well in their own reality, and of course they think so far out of the box that they have no patience with anyone they perceive as not keeping up, which is a substantial percentage of the rest of the world.

Yes, Thiel and Musk and others may be groundbreakers and visionaries, but they seem to think they have exclusive rights to deciding how the future should go for all of us.

This is concerning because they appear not to think much of humans as a species. Thiel has said, out loud, that evil isn’t bad, since at least evil people are “competent” and they’re “getting something done.”

Money equals power. It’s a reality, but it is also a stone-cold monument to vanity and hubris and indifference. It inhibits sight and deadens the heart.

This miniscule minority of billionaires? Turns out they can get Trump’s attention anytime they want. They appear to be the puppeteers, along with Xi and Vlad.

Window Dressing

Daily writing prompt
What are your strategies for SEO?

I don’t have any strategies for search engine optimization. I didn’t sign up for this with site improvement in mind. This has always only been an outlet for putting thoughts to paper, so to speak. The words, meager as they are at times, are really all I care about. I’m grateful for those who read and like what I post, but I’m resigned to the fact that I will never develop a huge readership.

Maybe I should work on more clever or catchy titles for the posts.

Natalie, what are you feeding him?

The Nobel Committee is in no way obligated to defend or explain itself to Donald Trump.

I can’t believe this is even a thing. Isn’t the world tired of this man baby by now? The fact that he feels snubbed—again—is just the latest evidence that Trump indeed lives in a bubble, that he is off his rocker.

He starts a war with Iran that looks to be expanding into something larger. He blames Mr. Zelensky for the world’s fossil fuel shortages, cozies up to Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, and has the audacity to think he’s owed the Peace Prize?

A tired trope revisited.

Please, Nobel Committee, just ignore this guy. He is perhaps the most needy, immature, and pathetic human being on earth.

Then again, we’re not talking about the Epstein files.

An Absurd Place To Be

Did anyone think it would trend in any other direction? All that’s left for Trump and the rest is the heavy-handed stuff now.

In some ways they’ve become quite predictable—draconian Executive orders, favorable Supreme Court rulings, WTF distractions—but the thing everyone fears is what will ultimately be rolled out: attempts at martial law, unwarranted monitoring of polling places, bald-faced terroristic threats, and violence. It’s the whole desperate times, desperate measures thing anymore.

Maybe our law and order folks will stiffen their spines and just say No.

Out There

Daily writing prompt
What’s the weirdest movie you’ve ever watched?

There have been others, most likely, but the one that comes to mind is 2001: A Space Odyssey. I don’t think I even watched the whole thing but saw enough of it to make me wonder what it was about. At the time, I remember it seeming quite weird.

It’s been a long time. I should probably try watching it in its entirety. I hear it’s a bit prescient.

Lost Boy

Among the sad and disgusting aspects of the Trump era is the loathsome disregard he seems to have for recognizing any sense of obligation to being a role model.

I suppose toddlers and younger children don’t really notice or care how Donald Trump and those around him behave, but at some point, in the cognition and awareness process, people of a certain age start paying attention. I wonder what they see, what they make of their President.

Trump obviously doesn’t care, or if he does it’s all about presenting himself as an example of wealth and success. Impressionable youngsters might take note and for some reason want to be like Donald, though I might give POTUS the benefit of the doubt and choose to believe that he has just enough self-awareness to offer up a cautionary tale about himself.

Nah, probably not.

(Still) The Best Time of Day

Daily writing prompt
Tell us about your morning routine.

It’s been nine years or so of getting up at 5am or shortly thereafter, making my morning cold brew concoction, and settling in with a daily journal entry and then writing here in WordPress, sometimes checking news happenings, and just generally enjoying the quiet of the morning. The rest of the day commences around 7:30 or so, with breakfast, etc.

Lately, the 5am alarm is going off and I’m hitting the snooze button more often than not. Been thinking about moving the wake-up call to 6am.