The Man in the Arena

 

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." - Theodore Roosevelt

Same Old Shit /Normal vs. Disabled

 

                                

Same Old Shit, Different Players

         The war in Israel is another shit show. They can spin it however they like but it's still a war against average people just trying to live a normal life despite being marginalized, isolated and contained in designated zones with limited resources, a genocide by attrition like, you know, the ways Jews were treated for a thousand years in the Diaspora. They're repeating the lesson of history too well, let's do to these people what those people did to us.

         I bet if you took a random sample of a hundred Palestinians and Israelis and did a DNA/ genealogy test, they would be distantly related. Horrifying to them I'm sure, but I got a news flash for everybody - we're all related.

         But when a leader feels threatened by a faltering economy, shifting loyalties, or people fed up with say, corruption- like Netanyahu well let's start a war and blame those people to distract from their own sins. Sigh.

         Meanwhile honest, average people are killed en mass and it's sick. How about a concert to get everyone to chill out.

"We are all the same. There is no difference anywhere in the world. People are people. They laugh, cry, feel and love and music seems to be the common denomination that brings us all together. Music cuts through all boundaries and goes right to the soul.

 -- Willie Nelson

Quote of the Week -Waste Not- In Case of a Meltdown

 

Quote of the Week

American democracy will fail... “If it is going to use this power to force the world into color prejudice and race antagonism; if it is going to use it to manufacture millionaires, increase the rule of wealth, and break down democratic government everywhere; if it is going increasingly to stand for reaction, fascism, white supremacy and imperialism; if it is going to promote war and not peace; then America will go the way of the Roman Empire.”   --W.E.B. DuBois.

 

 

 

 

 

 Waste Not

    There is a looming threat to the environment that we are avoiding -waste. People complain about trash left by the homeless. Piles of it strewn about but how practical is it to carry around bags of garbage? Look at a garbage can and see how much refuse we accumulate every day. We don't think about it after it goes in a can to be picked up and poof- gone.

    The waste happens every day. I've seen perfectly good, usable glass jars pitched in the trash like crumpled paper-also recyclable. A mere drop in the vast ocean, you may say, but such small discards pile up and spread.

    Food, construction material, clothing, furniture- all tossed when expired, imperfect or out of date. Capitalism failed to take in to account that our resources and demand are finite with no more space for the cast off.

    The problem is vast. Whole towns under construction then halted to rot. Office buildings empty as the work environment changes, last years fashion shipped to third world countries to be burned in mounds -creating toxic air pollution. People make a living picking up stuff the rich put on the curb and what box store throw in their dumpsters is beyond appalling.

    We already have plenty of stuff. The covid lock down demonstrated this when supply lines were disrupted.

    Sneering at the idea of reuse, recycle and reduce or buying second hand is propaganda from the producers of all this crap. Unfortunately, the onus of reducing waste is placed on the consumer rather than the manufacturers. We have been sold on the convenience of disposable goods when they simply make a bigger mess and ends up costing us more. Recycling plastic- one of the major evils of the modern age- is unprofitable.

    There are things we can do on a daily basis to reduce the waste. I use my own bag when shopping or get a paper bag for garbage instead of plastic.  Since I'm handy with tools I have found ways to repurpose furniture, cardboard and fabric. I've made pillows out of old tee shirts. Food cartons are used for storing crafty stuff and yogurt containers are great as a picnic cup. The longer it stays out of landfills, the better.

     Such efforts might be a drop in the ocean but like the drops, they will accumulate and pay off.

 

Autism: In Case of a Meltdown

    A reader asked if there is something they can do to help when a melt down occurs. Yes-- nothing.

    What people tend to do when someone freaks out is yell and demand the person calm down immediately. Horror stories abound of police taseing, shooting, or injuring people when they are having a fit. Children are punished and locked in isolation rooms. Mental cases are subdued to death.

    All because of extreme response to distress. When someone is in crisis, they are not thinking clearly--apparently the rescuers aren't either. Expecting someone to understand and obey commands in that state is unrealistic. Like someone having an epileptic seizure, the best thing to do is stand by and make sure they don't hurt themselves or others until the moment passes.

    Asking "What can I do to help?" can be a way to stop the cycle when they are only focused on the storm within. Change the subject if they persist with obsessive behavior to help them regain their balance and lose track of the cause of their break down.

    I don't know about psychotics, but autistics are usually horribly embarrassed by the lack of control on display. They spend a lot of energy to maintain a sense of normalcy and are bound to lose it on occasion.

    Everyone has moments of frustration and anger. We need to recognize the difference between genuine despair or someone just having a bad hair day. Treat them with kindness not punishment and they'll be fine again.

 

 

 

 

Quote of the Day

“We humans are one among millions of separate species who live in a world burgeoning, overflowing with life. And yet, most species that ever were are no more. After flourishing for one hundred fifty million years, the dinosaurs became extinct. Every last one. No species is guaranteed its tenure on this planet. And humans, the first beings to devise the means for their own destruction, have been here for only several million years.

We are rare and precious because we are alive, because we can think. We are privileged to influence and perhaps control our future. We have an obligation to fight for life on Earth — not just for ourselves but for all those, humans and others, who came before us and to whom we are beholden, and for all those who, if we are wise enough, will come after. There is no cause more urgent than to survive to eliminate on a global basis the growing threats of nuclear war, environmental catastrophe, economic collapse and mass starvation. These problems were created by humans and can only be solved by humans. No social convention, no political system, no economic hypothesis, no religious dogma is more important.

The hard truth seems to be this: We live in a vast and awesome universe in which, daily, suns are made and worlds destroyed, where humanity clings to an obscure clod of rock. The significance of our lives and our fragile realm derives from our own wisdom and courage. We are the custodians of life’s meaning. We would prefer it to be otherwise, of course, but there is no compelling evidence for a cosmic Parent who will care for us and save us from ourselves. It is up to us,” – Carl Sagan.

Quote of the Day

"Be yourself, everyone else is taken."

Oscar Wilde

(photo credit: historicalwallpapers.blogspot.com)

Wisdom of the Day

If you had started doing anything two weeks ago, 

by today you would have been two weeks better at it.

~John Mayer ~


This is your homework for the next two weeks. Note your new skill and report back. That is all.

Paraprosdokian of the Day

Paraprosdokian - a phrase or sentence that leads to an unexpected ending. 

"The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it's still on my list."

Quote of the Day

Quote For the Day

"Science can give us knowledge, but it cannot give us wisdom. Nor can religion, until it puts aside nonsense and distraction and becomes itself again," - Marilynne Robinson, When I Was A Child, I Read Books.

Quote of the Day

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
— Theodore Roosevelt

Quote of the Day

“Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.”

-Herman Goering at the Nuremburg Trials

Quote for the Day

“Man has always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much...the wheel, New York, wars and so on...while all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man...for precisely the same reason.” Douglas Adams, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."

Yes and Dolphins don't kill us over stupid things like parking spaces or out of jealousy. We, however kill dolphins with fish nets and in Japan) if they are competitions for fishing grounds. Obviously they are the superior ones.

Quote for the Day

"How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives."
- Annie Dillard, writer

Make your days count.

quote of the Day

“We want a civil state, pluralism, with freedom enshrined by law. Extremism was a reaction to oppression and the violence of the state. Give us freedom and see what happens."

Who said this? A liberal, tea party memeber, a revolutionist? Close. Libyan Muslim cleric, Shukri Abdel-Hamid, who had spent 10 years in prison under Qaddafi.

Quote of the Day

"We must be careful about what we pretend to be."- Kurt Vonnegut.

My mom loved Vonnegut and I consider "Slaughter house Five or the Children's Crusade" to be one of the best books ever written. Hell even the goofy movie version is worth a look.

Turn off the TV and go read a book. Now.

Quote of the Day

"It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious." ~Oscar Wilde

Take his advice, don't be tedious.

Quote for the Day

“You must write every single day of your life. You must lurk in libraries to sniff books like perfumes and wear books like hats upon your crazy heads. May you be in love every day for the next 20,000 days and out of that love, remake a world.” -Ray Bradbury

A Prayer in These Times of Conflict

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury- pardon;
where there is doubt-faith;
where there is darkness-light;
and where there is sadness -joy.

-St. Francis of Assisi

The Bliss of Ignorance

“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.” — Isaac Asimov.

Enuff said.

Forgiveness

" It would be more constructive if people tried to understand their supposed enemies, learning to forgive is much more useful than merely picking up a stone and throwing it at the object of one's anger. The more so when the provocation is extreme, for it is under the greatest adversity that there exists the greatest potential for doing good, both for oneself and others."

-Dalai Lama