Beyond Rude, Absurd

 

List of characters:

  Old Man

  Old Man’s Wife

  Son

  Son’s mom

  Daughter-in-law

                                                   Daughter-in-law’s mom

                                                   Daughter-in-law’s dad

Old Man and his wife rescued Son from his depression, no job, apartment in disarray.  They spent the day cleaning his apartment so that he could get his deposit, then invited him to live with them.  After a year, and finding a good paying job, the Son successfully ‘flew the coup”.

Old Man, his wife, and wife’s mom at the Wedding Reception were seated at the last table next to the kitchen.  One would think that a generous monetary wedding gift would rate a better seating, at least a seating for the honor of being parents.

Also at the Wedding Reception party, Son's mother-in-law confronted Son's Uncle, saying "What are you doing here?  You were not invited. Please leave." After the Son's Uncle gave a $200 gift.  How low can a person go?

“Well Old Man, you have a business degree so you must know about Amortization Tables”. said Daughter-in-law’s mom sarcastically. 

The Visitor Baton was passed between the two friends of Daughter-in-law “ok, it’s my turn” as this game went on for quite a while as they waited to see mother and child. Daughter-in-law mom sat there and watched this charade.

With their newly purchased house, they came over to help clean and were completely shunned by daughter-in-law mom, her husband, and all of their friends.

They pulled into the driveway for the diner invitation, and as they walked up the sidewalk, they noticed daughter-in-law mom and husband jump from their parked car to rush ahead of them saying nothing but giving a dirty look.

While sitting in the waiting room at the hospital, daughter-in-law mom sat there knitting, and when Old Man asked about her husband, she scornfully said “you know that my husband does not like hospitals!”

They attended the baby’s baptism and were motioned to sit with family, but were shunned by daughter-in-law mom since they  took her seat.  “Well Old Man, since you’re in my spot, heres my camera, you’re in charge of taking pictures…”

As Old Man stood in her driveway smoking his cigarette, daughter-in-law drove up, got out of her car, and while approaching Old Man he gave congratulations on the Baptism. She gave the Old Man smart aleck remark “Piff”. 

The Old Man and his wife gave his son their three year old refrigerator, which they gladly accepted for use in the garage.  After a bitter winter's use, the moister tubes in the refrigerator busted.  The daughter-in-law's dad claimed that the Old Man gave away a bum refrigerator.  

Old Man’s wife to Daughter-in-law: maybe your husbands mom could take care of your child while you work.  Daughter-in-law responded:  “i don’t want that fuc**** cripple taking care of my child.” as her husband sat in chair saying nothing.

They heard that the baby was sick, throwing up, fever.  Old Man’s wife, RN, talked on the telephone to recommended pedialyte, and absolutely no milk.  Daughter-in-law mom interceded and said to give the baby lots of milk.

Old Man’s wife’s mom died and Son did not acknowledge even though she loved him like a grandchild.

Old Man and his wife were not notified of the birth of their second grandchild of Son. Heard about it thru the grape vine a week later.

The Old Man and his wife agreed that obviously one can’t choose family, but what’s the excuse for disrespect bordering on hatred? 

Draining Good Health

Perhaps the best part of the potato is the potato water, packed full of added nutrients extracted from the potatoes themselves! Nutrients like vitamins B and C, potassium and fiber, and phytonutrients like carotenoids and flavonoids which are thought to promote good overall health.

The potatoes release their starchy goodness into the water as they are boiled or steamed. The potato water can then be used as a substitute for tap water in your bread making recipes for example, or as a thickener in other recipes that is naturally gluten-free.

Want to show even more love and care in the form of great-for-you vitamins? Use the water that you used to boil or steam your vegetables instead of pouring the water down the drain, as I see in so many TV cooking programs.  

For example broccoli, kale, spinach, to name a few, are packed with vitamins, minerals, containing potent antioxidants, bioactive compounds that contribute to reduced inflammation, protect against cancer, and support a healthy heart. 

Repurpose that liquid left in the pot after cooking or steaming, avoid wasting any part of food byproducts.  Think twice when boiling or steaming.

The Love of Animals Gives a Wider Window to Life

Our little Spunky.  Wonderment. Loving. Mischievous sometimes, but grateful. Would rather play than eat.  

She was an orphan, abandoned in the woods, rescued and delivered to us.

Crying, disheveled, flea infected, but Spunky.  

The only cat not afraid of surrounding dogs at the rescuers home, but would climb the side of their brick house to reach the rescuing tree limb for her safe haven.  

Seventeen years, deserving more than just comment.  That “Window to Life” did shine for 

us with her existence,

Yes, we can be amazed by the phenomenal, incredible spiritual exuberance of little creatures, big and small. Psalm 104, verses 24 and 25: "Oh Lord, how manifold are thy works!

That “Window” showed exuberance for life, Always Spunky.  And, in our quietude she would gently come to ask, with her little swipe of her paw to ask for a “scratchy, scratchy”, putting her little head forward.

Undaunted, in the days, if not weeks, before she became gravely sick, 

she asked for a little further attention.  It was a signal for the Love of Animal’s Window.

She knew.

“Do not go gentle into that good night”.  

The first Vet’s shot only wagged her tail.  Vet came 20 minutes later with stethoscope, Spunky said “wahangh don’t touch me”.

 “Do not go gently into that good night”.

 The second shot closed our Window to Little Spunky.

Spunky’s loving memories gives the Window full circle to life.

Left to Loving Memories.  Spunky.

The Profoundest Of Numbers Is 7

The world’s favorite number is Seven. 

We have the Seven Hills of Rome, Seven Hills of Istanbul. Seven days in a week, Seven Seas, Seven Continents, 7UP, 7-Eleven, James Bond 007, The Seven Year Itch, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the 7th Inning Stretch to name just a few …

Alexander the Great brought 70 Greek scholars from Athens to Alexandria Egypt in 300 BC to translate the Hebrew Bible to Greek called the Septuagint (from the Latin meaning 70).  

Profoundly, Seven is the number of completeness and perfection being tied directly to God’s creation of all things. The word “created” is used 7 times describing God’s creative work: Genesis 1:1, 21, 27 three times; 2:3; 2:4. St. Paul had his epiphany 7 years after the Crucifixion of Jesus. 

God's Sabbath is on the 7th day of the week. 

The Christian Bible was originally divided into 7 major divisions: 

1. Law
2. History
3. Psalms 
4. Prophecy of the Old Testament 
5. General Epistles 
6. Epistles of Paul
7. Revelation

This profound number has always been in my thoughts and research since my travels through Asia Minor, Greece, while serving in the United States Army Security Agency stationed in Ankara Turkey 1963-1964. 

Just a few thoughts on the number seven from a numbers person who was a business school graduate working with numbers my entire life.

And, this proud father was blessed with a daughter Renee, born 7-7-77 and watched the Delivery Nurse look at the wall clock to record 7:14 AM.

And God Made The World

And God Made The World

“Yes I am, I am also a Muslim, a Christian, a Buddhist, and a Jew.” - Mahatma Gandhi

Pope John Paul II in his Address to young Muslims in Morocco, August 19,1985 said: “Christians and Muslims, we have many things in common, as believers and as human beings. We live in the same world, marked by many signs of hope, but also by multiple signs of anguish. For us, Abraham is a very model of faith in God, of submission to his will and of confidence in his goodness. We believe in the sane (rational, balanced, stable) God, the one God, the living God, the God who created the world and brings his creatures to their perfection.” 

In his acceptance of the Ecumenical Council of 1960-1965, Vatican 2, Pope John Paul II asserted that as a descendent to the throne of St. Peter, the true message of Jesus was all inclusive, that all people of the world were saved.

The religious xenophobia so pervasive in our society today is born out of ignorance. In his tremendously brilliant lectures on comparative religion, Professor Charles Kimball reveals the vast similarities of the 5 basic world religions, all faith based: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism. 

I particularly like Dr. Kimball’s example in his lecture to a Muslim audience, and the question put to him was that he must be a Muslim because he preached all of the tenants of Islam and that Muslims believe the all inclusive that if you do no harm that you will be rewarded. Dr. Kimball’s answer was that he was a Christian.

Another example from his lectures came from a Hindu, who stated, to the effect,“the other 4 basic religions are really Hindu, they just don’t realize it!”

And, most people have heard the name Dali Lama. This Buddhist Monk’s world views mirror the other four basic world religions. This beautifully enlightened Buddhist Monk said: “Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them”. And another famous quote from this brilliant religious leader: “My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.”

The Judaeo-Christian culture is self evident to the Western World with its revelations of hope, kindness, forgiveness, jubilee, and more. Perhaps Judaism, going back to time recorded, is the genesis of the other religions, since Jesus was a rabbi born in the days of Herod the King.

Buddha was a prophet in 600 BCE, and Mohammad, self-proclaimed the last of the prophets, around 600 CE, but Hinduism has no founder and goes back to unrecorded antiquity, to the days of “oral tradition”. Perhaps the questioning Hindu in Dr. Kimball’s audience was correct.

With the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem, 701 BCE, and if the Assyrian army proceeded to destroy Jerusalem, would there be Judaism, Christianity, Muslim religions?  This question reveals the historical, special connectivity of these three religions.

The only differences between the religious communities is diversity and cultural manifestations, but the common thread is, to use Dr. Kimball’s phrase, the “human capacity for self transcendence”. 

The human species has been religious from time recorded, from the Ancient Greek Gods of Poseidon, Zeus, Apollo, Artemis, and more. I think that the human experience is in our DNA to be religious with the brain manifestations of delight in prayer and self reflection. 

Scripture is replete with God’s message of Joy and Salvation for all religious communities of the world. Inherent in a gift is that there is no payment in return.

My prayer is for everyone to know of the vast religious similarities of all religions, instead of hearing the vast reporting of the religious xenophobia promoting the “fear factor” of religious differences.

Gov. Snyder Legacy Luau Limbo - How Low Can You Go?

The conspiratorial capitalism thrust upon us today has morphed into a destructive force entity beyond the poisoning of our economic system, destroying the lives of most Americans, but has literally poisoned the lives of thousands of children in Flint Michigan. Governor Rick Snyder, playing “luau limbo” with the Michigan economy, has sunk to new lows never imagined from not only a political leader but from humanity!

Former Gov. Rick Snyder is now charged with a misdemeanor for the Flint Water Crisis.

We have Reagonomics on steroids with Michigan Republican Gov. Rick Snyder, Michigan’s Republican-controlled Legislature, the corporate press, right-wing judges, ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) composed of 100-percent Republicans, all in collusion in this “grand rip-off.” Snyder appointed his emergency manager to Flint Michigan using the same bill authorizing the use of an emergency financial manager which the voters rejected in 2011. 

A little more than a month after voters repealed Public Act 4 (PA 4) on Nov. 6, Snyder signed into law Public Act 436 (PA 436), with the help of the Republican legislature.

Here was Gov Snyder’s game plan: give $1.8 billion in tax breaks to the wealthy and corporations at the expense of Michigan cities’ budgets, then ask the individual cities to make up the difference. 

Knowing that this shorting the cities of expected revenue sharing, many cities would have hardships and struggles to make up the difference, especially cities with large black populations like Benton Harbor, who lost a children's lakeside park to a rich private golf park, given in perpetuity by the Klock Family in memory of their lost child to the children of Benton Harbor.

When the individual cities fell behind in their fiscal obligations, Rick Snyder sent in his appointed Czar, an Emergency Manager to sell off the city’s assets, in other words a transfer of wealth upwards.

The Emergency Manger of Flint, Darnell Earley, colluded with the Emergency Manager of Detroit, Keven Orr, to switch the source of Flint’s water supply from Detroit to the Flint River, thus making the Detroit Water Department more profitable and more lucrative for privatizing. 

With the closing of General Motor’s plants and shipping those jobs to China, the resultant hardship placed many Flint residents in default on their water bills, among other bills, leaving the Detroit Water Department to absorb some of Flint’s problems. The solution according to the two Emergency Managers was to let Flint get its water from the Flint River and pay for their own problem.

The switching to the Flint River was a disaster because the poorly treated Flint River water is unsafe and too acid thus corroding and destroying the hundred year old underground pipe infrastructure and allowing the lead seals to leach into the water reaching the residents’ tap. 

Among all of the government agencies condemning the Flint River water, GM on October 13, 2014 announced that it will stop using Flint water because it was too corrosive for building its precision engines. This switch from the Detroit Water Department occurred in April 2014 and switched back in October 2015. 

It comes down to the proverbial question: “what did he know and when did he know it?” It’s obvious that Gov Snyder has his foot prints on this disaster from start to finish! But it’s not over yet; at the heart of this problem is payment, both monetarily and criminally. 

The heart breaking fact is the poor children of Flint who will grow up with lead poisoning, an irreversible tragedy.  

Brick & Mortar vs On-line Shopping

Here’s why the “brick & mortar” stores can’t compete with “on-line” shopping.  It all revolves around the number of times that the article has to be touched.  

With the “brick & mortar” the delivery truck arrives at the store, a stockman has to unload the merchandise at the warehouse and unpack it, another person has to haul it to the to the shelves, unpack the boxes, sort it for display.  The clerk has to ring up the merchandise and pack it in bags.  The customer takes the merchandise.

On-line shopping, the customer orders from a displayed picture, not needing a cash register clerk.  

The merchandise is delivered to a warehouse, the stockman shelves the merchandise.  When the customer orders the merchandise, the most likely is mechanically retrieved from the shelve already boxed from the delivery.  

The order is picked up by the Post Office and delivered by the Post Office, thus fulfilling the job of the warehouse stockman, department clerk, and cashier, since the order was paid for with a credit card. 

Touched eight times with “brick & mortar” compared to three times with “on-line” shopping.  The wave of the future?