The Protestant Work Ethic

Hello Everyone! I recently told you about taking a small vacation – it’s really a working vacation as I’m going to be opening my parent’s “summer home” up for them as they make their snowbird way back from the Sunshine State. And, as of this writing, I’ve not left yet – but damn! It feels so good to exit the rat race!!

In America many of us, especially in Gen X and before, have been raised with the moral expectation of working everyday and being in early, staying late, working until we drop.

The end result is that we break down our body, our mind, our very soul, sacrifice our relationships and our time with loved ones — our very life! — to struggle up a ladder that seems to be attached to a moving goal with the hope that we are respected by our community, our family, and that God will smile down upon us that we have done so well with what He has given us.

Yet no sooner do I have a bit of money than everything costs more and I realize I now have to work harder and longer just to get where I thought I needed to be to enjoy life again. It isn’t fair, and it never was meant to be. It’s a manipulation, a lie, a tale told to fools and I wouldn’t need a vacation if I was truly doing that which brings me peace, joy, love.

So, I guess what I’m really trying to say here as I get ready to bounce my happy fat ass off to the great white and play in the forests for a while is that I so wish I could start life over understanding that idea that I have only so much time, and I should be spending it on that which brings me fulfillment and actualization rather than just making some millionaire millionairer. Hugs. Randy

What does it mean to be free?

Good Morning Everyone, and Happy Easter! I recently had the opportunity to listen to an interview with the President of Wesleyan University. He spoke on something that grabbed my attention: See, as a listener in this interview I was a bit surprised by the willingness of this man, as a representative of the University, would be willing to be critical of the Drumpf Administration – especially right now as drumpf seems to be driving head long into the abyss of Fascism and Authoritarianism, and he was asked of that. I have to admit, I feel a bit of concern as I write what I write, knowing that I don’t have the power to contradict an arrest, imprisonment, deportation to a foreign land all because the ‘power of the moment’ doesn’t like what I say. How much more is this man in jeapardy, and so as the interviewer’s question sparked my own concerns and therein my attention, I was awarded this statement (para): “It says a lot that you would ask me that question. I mean, where are we?”.

It is striking to me that we are hearkening back to the age of McCarthyism and the Red Scare, only to find that the Red Scare is not Russia and Communism – in fact, they seem to be quite the fan of our current administration and our current administration is absolutely fawning at the feet of them! No, the fear of our administration is that people be treated with dignity, given their Constitutionally guaranteed rights and freedoms. And, to say to us that believe the Bill of Rights are sacrosanct that we must be treasonous if we demand our people be given those rights and freedoms flies in the face of our Forefathers who fought and died to provide us that freedom – from the contemporaries of Paul Revere and George Washington to the ones we see marching on Veteran’s Day.

Below is a video because I like to give a bit of entertainment along with my clanging sentences of woe and worry. Within are these lines:

‘And the young people ask, “what are they marching for?”, and I ask myself the same question. The old men still answer the call, but as year follows year, more old men disappear. Someday no one will march there at all”

It startles me how quickly we have forgotten. It saddens me the cost of our remiss.

Hugs. -randy

When sane men fear dark future.

Hi all. I’ve written and rewritten this post 4 times now. I’m worried. See, drumpf has been in office for 3-months now. About 6.25% of his allotted 4-years time. I know, seems a lot longer, right? In this short time he has threatened to invade a sovereign ally nation because he wants it, has abused and offended our neighbor nation and greatest ally, has gone on to abuse and spark a trade war with not only our allies but the entire world excepting our historic adversary – who he seems quite beholden to, has crashed the economy, stripped the efficacy of our government, deported people without due process into a concentration camp, given access to the very interior of our government to an unelected and unrestrained biased contractor, shown no regard for the rule of law going so far as to defy the Supreme Court rulings, and good night I don’t know how much else. Or better question: how much does it take? Ironically, his outright theft of millions of dollars funneled into his golf course has been the least damaging thing he has done.

Over this presidency, and as heartbreaking as it is, over this last 8 years or more really, I’ve come to find that my first question in any political discussion has to be: Are you capable of thinking logically and rationally about what we discuss? Because, if you are not, if you are going to throw out empty sentences and refuse to have any ability to stay on topic, then I am not wasting my time any further with this. In fairness, people who have invested so much of themselves and their 401k into this man are desperate for him to be not only right but to be the ubermensch that he tells us he is. It’s debilitating to realize he is simply a conman and any indication that he is is met with defensive anger and even violence.

I’m going on vacation soon so will be away from blogging anything, but I have a back log of stuff that I want to make available to you. I’m going to schedule it out so it doesn’t become too much at once. But, I’m worried. Like a big rodent eating away at the foundations of our nation, we hear the creaking and groaning of a weakening structure yet we allow him to remain. Does the house need to collapse before we acknowledge we have a rat problem?

I’m doing ok…

Hello Everyone. I saw this vid come up and wanted to share it with you. This song reminds us that sometimes things are hard, but we are going to be alright. It also reminds us that there are people around us going through hard times, too. I thought it put out a great message, great music, and from a great group that doesn’t use any instruments – Home Free uses only those beats and sounds that can be produced by mouth. They have great harmony.

Here is their youtube link, if you are interested in more: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTFuNYrqAcsmSjgqYMvxOqw

hugs.

randy

A tear yet to be shed

In the time since the first European man stepped foot on the soil of these shores, we have done the cringeworthy all too often, but now and again we do that which allows us to still stand tall. My father’s Uncle Dutch went to fight in WW2 and brought back pictures of the horrors of the concentration camps. We stopped that! We stood against the Fascist Nazi. And we should be proud of that.

I am sure that there were people then who believed the Jews, Gypsy’s and Gays were criminals deserving of their internment in concentration camps. I’m sure there were some who believed that Jews had no right to live in Germany. I’m sure that there some who believed that Gypsy’s were inherently criminal, whether they had a criminal record or not. I’m sure that there were some who convinced themselves that anyone who was gay was deserving of all abuse. I’m sure there were some. And, unfortunately, too many others went along with it.

Just like these German men, we will one day be forced to come face to face with what we have done, what we have allowed, because some charismatic charlatan said we should.

It’s a sad day, America.

Hugs.

A bit of the surreal when things are all too real

I really enjoy reading Sci-Fi and Fantasy books. I took a try at writing a story in that genre one time and found it really difficult to manage the imagery. Some favorite series: The Spellmonger by Terry Mancour. The Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne. The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. Do you have a favorite?

I hope you find something here that brings you peace and wonder. A Special Thanks at the end. Hugs.

That first pic made me miss my friend. Had to include this one.

This man deserves the greatest of accolades. He is inspiring, worthy of emulating, and a true national treasure. Thank you Mr. LeVar Burton for Reading Rainbow!!

Be Cool

Some affirmations for all of us. May these bring you some deep thoughts and real peace.

Fools and Damned Fools

Over the past days, our nation, the world even, has been swept through the raging tides of a thief. It was not enough to give tax breaks to the rich, it was not enough to devastate the safety net of the poor, it was now to be the middle class upon the chopping block. And, fools that they were, they rooted him on as he decimated their retirement, made their groceries more expensive, and created a tax on every product they would purchase.

Perhaps I’m “too strong in my opinion”? Perhaps I’m “being unfair to a great patriotic American who only wants to secure a great future for our nation”? Ok, let me ask you who, like me, have invested all that you can into your 401k: How easily can you move your money around? Can you do it within a week? A couple of days? How quickly does your 401k manager react to emergency move requests? How much would you lose in transaction fees? While every middle class American who has their money locked into investments had little choice but to take it up the ass from this particular ass clown’s fuckery with the world economy, his friends and colleague’s pulled some mad money out of their lobbyist bribe fund and made a fortune.

I look forward to the moment the damned fools that voted for this man look deep into their mirror and realize that while he tanked their 401k’s (interestingly every damn republican administration has and twice now on this one), everyone with an ability to move large amounts of money around raped huge rewards.