Random Thoughts October 2024

(Content Warning: There is some political commentary here)

Ted Reads Random Thoughts

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I was wondering if my becoming angry at those in power has as much to do with them as it has to do with my sense of powerlessness.  I am wondering if my doing that isn’t an attempt to feel better and more empowered, when, in fact, I actually have relatively little power.  I wonder if it isn’t an attempt to project my powerlessness and dismay at a particular target that is accessible, even if only from a distance.  Directed at those people who are not necessarily responsible for the experience I am having.  Example?  Egg prices go up because so many chickens died of bird flu?  Blame a politician.  A foreign war occurs, thus gas prices balloon?  Blame a politician.  Trip over a crack in the sidewalk because I am not paying attention to what I am doing?  Blame the HOA.

I’d love to hear the rationalizations of those otherwise seemingly intelligent, professing to care about the well-being of others, the well-being of America, call themselves patriots and at the same time, support robust voter suppression and disenfranchising efforts.  The same for those who see nothing wrong with bribing voters of a particular bent a chance at $1,000,000 if they commit to register and/or vote in the (stated) hope that it will encourage folks to vote for a particular candidate. 

A strategy that openly violates federal law which makes it a crime for anyone to pay or offer to pay or accept payment for their registration to vote or for voting (for any candidate or party).  How do they make that (and all the other wackiness and criminality) ok?  Are they that desperate?

What I have learned over the last few years is that whether someone violates the law, even if it is a crime, doesn’t matter as much as who owns the law.

That doesn’t sound like what I learned about democracy in my civics classes.  Perhaps the definition has changed, and I just haven’t kept up with things.

Perhaps an old adage has been modified to “All is fair in love, war, and now, politics.  Maybe it has always been this way, and I’ve been blissfully naïve. 

There is a current commercial that shows someone doing really bad things, and someone asks them, “How do you sleep at night?”  And they answer, “On a mattress.”  That’s been my experience when I have asked, “How could you…..?  Please, vote.  

I know dogs dream, or at least seem to.  I remember our dog, Auggie, sleeping and obviously chasing, or running away from something based on how her legs were moving.  Sometimes she would yelp or “grrrrrrrr,” or whimper, or give some indication she was playing in another dimension.  Do they dream of us?  Their past?  Their future?  Their freedom from the leash, or cage or electric fence, or “electronic neck shocker?” Do they have nightmares?  Erotic dreams?  Do cats?

I overheard someone exclaim “Honest to God.”  When did God become a qualifier in the realm of honesty?  What’s the purpose of that phrase?  Is honesty on a 1-10 scale and this is the 10, or a 15?

I remarked to my Urologist that his sense of humor as he went about his work kept me entertained and was wondering where it came from.  (He could seamlessly move from what he is doing to the standup comedy stage.) He said, “Think about what I do every day,” as he spread his arms like he was blessing a crowd, “Humor is how I keep from going crazy,” and chuckled. 

Speaking of Urological issues, I was very proud of myself, when the other day, I passed my first kidney stone all by myself.  Felt like a rite of passage somehow.  Literally, for sure.  The other half dozen I’ve had, I needed help.  Sometimes LOTS of help.

My dental hygienist quipped as I opened my mouth to have her start my teeth, “Wow what a gold mine we have here!”  In all honesty I had a moment of paranoia, wondering if my life was at risk, as in “I wonder if she is going to ‘off’ me for the gold and silver.” 

A good “Twilight Zone episode?  I was glad to be living in America where that is less likely to happen as it might in other parts of the world.  At least for now.  We are an election result away where all that might change, if I am to believe what some of the politicians are suggesting their plans are in terms of how they intend to ‘rule.’  Vote, Please.  

Someone asked how I feel about the upcoming election.  I heard myself saying, no matter who wins, America loses.  She already has.  Which represents what I think.  How do I feel?  Really, really sad that our country and millions upon millions of people’s value system seems to have devolved to (in my opinion) an embarrassing, dangerous, and deadly level.  Please Vote. 

My recent hospital stay wasn’t free.  Currently the tab is well into the seven-figure range.  Thank goodness for labor unions and negotiated health care.  If one studies history, American History, labor unions arose as a result of the abuses workers suffered.  There is a reason both exist, or in America’s case, currently, for the most part, used to exist. 

On the other hand, is it a good thing to invest over a million dollars to keep an 80-year-old car running (imagining me as the car)?  I am not so sure.  Somewhere, today an 8-year-old will die because his loved ones cannot afford his treatment, or they will have to sell their home.   Something isn’t right about this equation. 

Someone was commenting on how I had affected them over the years. I imagined my life as me standing at the stern of an ocean liner looking back at the wake I have created with my life.  While the wake does indeed smooth the waters, at least for a while, there is also flotsam (stuff that remains floating from an actual wreck), jetsam (stuff intentionally thrown overboard), Lagan (stuff that’s been lost and has sunk to the bottom of the sea, AND is capable of being retrieved), and Derelict (stuff that has been lost, sinks to the bottom of the sea, never to be retrieved).  As I look at my life, and my wake, I see each of those things.    

I was listening to a political conversation, and how often “God” (the American Christian version) was directly and indirectly invoked in making a point.  I was struck by the sense that we Americans, as a culture, ‘see’ some foreign countries as being dysfunctionally dominated by a particular religion.  Religions that control, dominate, influence, intimidate, infiltrate, control, and permeate, in a damaging way, nearly every aspect of that country’s culture and politics.

I believe the same thing is true of America, though I would guess that most Americans would probably deny it if I raised the issue, especially if they were of that brand of religion.  Vote please. 

I’m told that the amazing colors of the fall aren’t because leaves actually turn colors, but that those colors are there all along.  When they appear green, they are wearing a cloak of chlorophyll that trees quit manufacturing as fall and winter approach, 

As I age into my late fall, and (hopefully) early winter of my life, more and more of my friend’s true colors begin to reveal themselves.  Sometimes it is painful to look at, even more painful to experience and accept, while many others display the richest, most vibrant, and stunning display of beauty imaginable that leaves me standing in awe and gratitude.  I’m wondering what colors others see, as my “chlorophyll” fades away.  

I can’t quite get the image out of my head of my eating, drinking or breathing in plastic, to the tune of a credit card worth each week.  Every week.  And it is probably going to become, over time, an ever-bigger hunk of plastic.  Researchers suggest that is how much plastic in the form of micro particles that each of us eat, drink and inhale each week.  Not just into my stomach.  But also, my heart.  My kidneys.  My liver.  My brain.  It lives there. 

Recently, I read that men’s testicles are now similarly infused. (So, I was wondering, if the phrase “he has a pair of brass …..” becomes obsolete.)   

What is even scarier is the realization that my 6-year-old grandson is consuming that much also.  Let’s assume that he drinks only pure water and eats only totally healthy food (neither of which exist anywhere on our planet) the mere fact that he breathes means he is inhaling plastic, each and every breath.  A part of my legacy to him.

Being immersed as a spectator and speculator in the wackiness of the current political world, I had the vision of a house (America) on fire.  One group of fire fighters trying to put it out with water, and another group pumping gasoline out of their hoses, while blaming the former for not making any progress in putting out the fire.  Please Vote. 

As I did last time, my vote will be cast in support of decency.  And I understand clearly that I will because I can, meaning that having decency as a priority is a privileged position. 

It always feels good to me to go from “not a priority” in another person’s life, to “a priority” and even better to become “THE PRIORITY”.  It’s tough when I realize I’ve been demoted.  Especially when the other person denies the same.  When that happens, I suffer.  A lot.  I’ve adopted the term, “right sizing” as in “I need to ‘right-size’ this relationship, it is not what it used to be.”  I also think it is a bit insane for me to believe that being someone’s “THE PRIOITY” forever is wacky.