In a place untouched by strife and petty bickering and climate change.
In other words, right where I am. Because there is no such untouched place. We can always visit other places, but I’m content to stay put.
Enough Already
Honestly, only as a frame of reference, only as it provides contrast to moments of calm and relative peace. I’m tired of chaos, since that’s pretty much all we’ve been getting since 2016.
There’s a difference between the chaos of hosting a houseful of families with children for a long weekend and the constant drumbeat of manufactured drama and insolence and blatant incompetence of a second Trump term. Both come with a shelf life, but the former is a bit easier to tolerate.
I’m at the point where it’s a big No to even a small amount of chaos. I’m tired of it, I abhor it, at least in the context of daily dealing with this gaggle of shysters and low-lifes we loosely refer to as “leaders.”
It does make for some interesting viewing if one is watching a World Cup match, though.
Walk East (or West) ’til Your Hat Floats
In an old post from July 5, 2020, I was doing a post-mortem on Donald and Melania’s appearance at Mt. Rushmore the previous day, where he gave one of his screeds dressed as a speech in front of 7500 maskless disciples who thumbed their noses at the pandemic in order to come and listen to their fearless leader spend who knows how long spewing more Milleresque poison.
I added at the end that Gutzon Borglum, the brainchild of the landmark, was associated with the KKK. This has gotten me thinking about the messiness of our history and how we grow up learning only parts of stories about places like Mt. Rushmore, often excluding how the local native American tribes, for example, didn’t want a gigantic monument to Manifest Destiny and four white guys, two of whom were slave holders, emblazoned on the side of a mountain on what they considered sacred land.
That whole scene from six years ago was surreal, and now Trump is back, elected to office for a second time, and still dropping hints about wanting to have his face added to the four who are already there.
Sure, why not? It’s not even ridiculous anymore. It actually makes sense, if one understands such a thing to be just the latest attempt at distraction, another tactic that he hopes will get us off the Epstein scent.
Or maybe he’s finally going off the deep end.
Older and Newer
Daily writing prompt
What’s a lesson you’ve learned recently that shifted your perspective?
I’ve mentioned this in different contexts, and it’s not a recent learning, but one that has led to significant personal reassessments. After reading Sapiens, by Juval Noah Harari, my view of religious faith changed. A certain doubt took hold. I suppose one could say that it was a mistake for me to pick up the book in the first place, but it was there to read and I had heard good things about it. It ended up changing my perspective on lifelong beliefs and practices. Or perhaps it was just confirming doubts I had already been harboring.
A more current revelation is that the 4th of July I’d prefer to observe has nothing to do with what’s going on in this country at the moment. The current leadership is useless and hateful and uninspiring. I am simply remembering and honoring the events and people associated with what went on in the late 1700s, when a group of leaders put their names on a remarkable document– an act of defiance that would have gotten them hanged if things had worked out differently. Such courage and conviction and imagination are nowhere to be found among this present-day hodgepodge of sycophants and pretenders.
Z land
Lately, I’ve started going to bed earlier. I also try to limit fluid intake after a certain time, in hopes of getting up less during the night. I don’t eat anything heavy after supper, maybe apple slices or dry cereal or a bowl of microwaved popcorn made in a Pampered Chef silicone family sized popper. I turn on one of those tall, rotating floor fans and keep it on low, just to get some air movement.
That’s about it.
Crispy
Daily writing prompt
Hit 5,000 steps today and drop your achievement here — we’re cheering you on!
Probably won’t happen today. I did have 14000+ steps on Saturday, when it was still hospitable for humans to be outdoors. So I’m gonna count that as having some in the bank… 🙂
Had a “feels like” temp of 116 here yesterday. More of the same today. And tomorrow.
Kudos to all who get it done today.
Something To Cheer About
Seismic II
This isn’t a mere difference of opinion, nor is it a manageable give-and-take between liberal and conservative or whatever labels can be slapped on someone’s political stance.
It is, rather, blatant awfulness on full display. It is abject failure and incompetence in need of being called out. This is about naming intentional evil, ignorance, deceit, neglect, self-interest, power grabs, delusions of grandeur, and deprived childhoods that have mushroomed into skewed worldviews and irrational hate.
We’re watching as this all plays out before us. And as abhorrent as many say it is, it just keeps happening. It’s a cancer, a toxic ooze that’s finding its way into cracks in the foundation.
Imagine the balls it takes to step into an administrative role with little to no experience and then behave as if everyone should bow in your presence. Every day the dynamic is one of bruised egos and kids in candy stores. In Donald Trump’s case, add bull in a China closet.
The folks at MS Now are apoplectic on a daily basis, taken aback by the bald-faced lying, the unabashed attempts at sabotage and destruction of long-held norms and Constitutional provisions. Meanwhile, the crew at Fox News is seemingly luxuriating in the afterglow of jobs well done, still wondering what all the fuss is about among “Dumbocrats,” yelling and swearing at Haitian immigrants to get the fuck out of America and return to a homeland that’s on fire with gang violence and rampant poverty.
No, this is nowhere close to a mere difference of opinion. This is more like watching the shining city on the hill being taken to the cleaners, being reduced to a smoldering pile of shattered dreams and empty promises, and not wanting that to happen.
Maybe, though, our dreams need to be made of sterner stuff than a chicken in every pot and some shallow, endless pursuit of… happiness?
Fog Lifting
I had written and was ready to publish a whole post offering up various ideas and suggestions but decided to nix that, given that I quickly headed into the weeds and water that was over my head. I started to wonder if “negative thoughts” gave license to tackle the topic of depression and decided this was a bridge too far, outside the bounds of a reasonable and responsible treatment of a topic with which I am not that familiar.
So, I will treat this prompt from the perspective of someone who understands “negative thoughts” to be of a more garden variety that looks like anger and frustration– with oneself or with the state of affairs in this country or the world.
Explore these thoughts, recognize an overreaction when you see one, take a walk or run, exercise, help someone, work them out on paper or in a blog post, talk them through with a friend or a therapist. Or make a rational attempt to work through an issue with the person who may have caused the negativity in the first place.
You could just ignore these thoughts, because we all have a bad day every now and then, and given the current state of world affairs, we’re allowed to be a bit sour or angry on occasion.
But an unrelenting cloud of negativity is never a good thing, so it helps to have trusted friends, support, someone who can offer a healthy perspective and some light to counter the darkness, along with the recognition that a constructive response helps lighten the load and disappear the sometimes self-imposed frown.
And now I realize I’m touching on depression, anyway.
Time Changes
Getting up early, going to bed early, being left alone with my thoughts, having less guilt over being idle; working in the yard and tending to the lawn and gardens; broccoli, beets, and chickpeas– but only after they’ve been turned into hummus (the chickpeas, that is).
