We All Need Some Love

 I saw the following on a Facebook friend's timeline this morning.

And it spoke to me. I don't know who the author is. But this spoke to me. Feel free to share it.
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As the world fights to figure everything out, I’ll be holding doors for strangers, letting people cut in front of me in traffic, saying good morning, keeping babies entertained in grocery lines, stopping to talk to someone who is lonely, tipping generously, waving at police, sharing food, giving children a thumbs-up, being patient with sales clerks, smiling at passersby, and buying a stranger a cup of coffee.

WHY? Because I will not stand to live in a world where love is invisible.

Join me in showing kindness, understanding, and judging less.
 
Be kind to a stranger, give grace to people who may be having a bad day, be forgiving with yourself.

If you can’t find kindness, BE kindness.
 
Copied from an awesome, loving, friend.

Keep copying.

We all need some love. ❤️

I Am Tired and I Am Fed Up

I am tired.

• I am tired of kidney stones and the pain they bring.  
• I am tired of politics. 
• I am tired of coronavirus.  
• I am tired of idiocy and racism and cruelty and violence.  
• I am tired of divisiveness.  
• I am tired of lies.  
• I am tired of hypocrisy.
• I am tired of people suffering and losing their homes and going hungry while politicians go on vacation and billionaires get even wealthier.  
• I am tired of watching helplessly as our planet is destroyed and wildlife exterminated in the never-ending pursuit of still more money.  
• I am tired of our collective refusal to take climate change seriously and to start taking steps to combat it. 
• I am tired of social media.
• I am tired of ignorance and stupidity and blind allegiance to an illiterate, lying con artist whose only goals are to become even richer and to become a despot.  
• I am tired of hearing about Black Americans being shot for simply being Black and therefore suspicious.
• I am tired of gun violence and the cries of "They're going to take our guns."
• I am tired of the fear-mongering and gross incompetence of the current administration.
• I am tired of citizens putting their own wants and desires above the needs of the country. 
• I am tired of selfishness and greed.
• I am tired of people turning posts about travel or photography or anything else into opportunities to advocate their political positions. Enough already! I am sick of politics! 
• I am tired of the lack of civil discourse and rudeness and name-calling.
• I am tired of this once great country being turned into the laughing stock of the world.

So yes, I am tired and I am fed up and I want to give up. But I won't. I will continue to hope and pray that Nov. 3 will see the beginning of a new, better, more hopeful America.

National Relaxation Day

Today, August 15, is National Relaxation Day.

So please, take some time to relax and care for yourself. You do so much already. We are living in incredibly stressful times, with worries about our health, our jobs, our businesses, our friends and families, our country. Stress can impact us in many ways. While some stress is good, and some people seem to thrive on stress, too much stress for too long can result in serious mental and physical health problems.

So take a walk. Take a nap. Read a book you have been wanting to read. Listen to classical music. I love classical music, and it is what I listen to when at home. I also love smooth jazz. Take some vitamin C, which can help alleviate the physical and psychological effects of stress. Enjoy a bit of dark chocolate (unless it isn't allowed as part of your diet). Turn off the news and unplug from your electronic devices.

I relax by taking a walk or a nap. I also find it relaxing to look at something beautiful, such as a gorgeous sunrise or a photograph I took at a favorite location. I have a couple of tabletop fountains in my house. The sounds of water running over the small rocks are very relaxing.

 I know that taking time for ourselves isn't easy most of the time, but you owe it to yourself and those you love to relax if even for a short time.


 

What's In A Word?

As a blogger and writer, I love language.
 
I love the creativity involved in writing. I love the challenge of finding just the right word to express my thoughts. My love of language also includes reading, something I have done avidly since childhood. Recently I read an article in which the author described the current occupant of the White House as "grotesque, incoherent, malicious, dumb." 
 
I actually laughed out loud when I read this all-too-appropriate description of the 45th president* of the United States. 
That started me thinking about other adjectives I would use to describe him. Here are a few:

illiterate  
greedy 
selfish  
egotistical  
narcissistic 
cruel
lying  
cheating 
uneducated 
inept 
cowardly   
vile 
hideous 
orange  
obtuse  
hateful  
spiteful 
incompetent  
impeached   
revolting  
racist 
sexist  
obese 
arrogant 
boastful  
combative  

bragging repulsive  
nasty  
dishonest
rude  
thin-skinned 
callous 
mean  
self-centered  
stupid  
tactless  
vain  
ignorant   
clueless 
 
Ask me to make a list of positive words to describe this person, and nothing -- I mean nothing -- comes to mind. He isn't kind, or compassionate or generous. He isn't intelligent. He is all about himself and money. That's it. Oh, and golf. But none of those things is a positive attribute.
 
Let's face it: he is a nasty, unlikable, lying cheat who will do anything and everything to get what he wants, including destroying the US Postal Service.
This list of 39 adjectives is a start at describing this evil person. But it certainly is not all-encompassing.

Out of Patience

I am about to run out of patience. 

I'm not a very patient person in the best of times. And this is certainly not the best of times. I’m out of patience with endless news stories about either the coronavirus pandemic or about still more lies from the occupant of the White House bragging about how great the US is doing in its fight against the virus.

The US is not doing great against the virus. It continues to wrack up record numbers of deaths on a nearly daily basis. US citizens are banned from travel to nearly every country on the planet because of our government's failure to deal with the pandemic on a national level.

I’m out of patience with our Congress. The Senate took a three day weekend rather than trying to come up with a package of funding to help the millions of Americans who are unemployed.The extra $600/week in unemployment benefits expired at the end of July. The House came up with a plan to extend those benefits in light of the very high unemployment rates due to the pandemic. The Senate, feeling that the extra $600/week is going to turn workers into lazy bums who would rather sit home than return to work, offered a paltry $200/week. Now talks between Democrats in the House and Republicans in the Senate have collapsed, leaving the president* to sign an executive order giving $400/week in additional benefits. There is a major problem with that, however: the power of the purse belongs not to the president, but to the House of Representatives. This is nothing short of yet another power grab by the would-be dictator and his enablers. He obviously thinks his cult followers will fall to their knees in gratitude for his signing an executive order that does nothing. It's all for show.

I am out of patience with stories about everyday Americans facing hunger and eviction because they lost their jobs and are unable to pay their bills. It makes me incredibly sad, but mostly it makes me angry, to watch our elected officials -- nearly all of them multimillionaires -- squabble and put political posturing above the needs of everyday Americans. 

I have no patience for the endless lies spewing from the occupant of the White House. I have no more patience for the idiots who refuse to endure a few weeks of inconvenience by wearing a mask to help bring this pandemic under control. I am out of patience with sitting at home 23 hours a day, day after day, week after week, month after month. 

I have no patience for stupidity, selfishness, greed, willful ignorance, partisan arguments and the I-don't-care-about-anybody-but-me attitude.

I’m basically out of patience with everything. And I know I am simply one of millions who feels this way.

The Era of Stupid

How can anybody continue to believe that the coronavirus pandemic is a hoax?

More than 161,000 Americans have died of this disease -- for which there is no vaccine and no cure -- so far. Countless others are hospitalized and fighting for their lives. Of those who recover, some 75 percent suffer heart problems. Morgues and funeral homes are unable to keep up with the influx of bodies, resorting to refrigerated trucks to hold the overflow.

Are Americans really so stupid that they cannot accept the threat this virus presents, not just to our lives but to our economy as well? Do they actually believe that wearing a mask (something that is done, and has been done, by doctors and nurses for hours every day) is going to kill them from a build-up of carbon monoxide? (And for the terminally stupid, we exhale carbon DIOXIDE, not carbon monoxide). 

Perhaps, as Michael Cohen (no, not that Michael Cohen), a columnist for the Boston Globe suggested, we should call this time in America's history "the era of stupid." (https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/05/16/opinion/era-stupid/)  

Stupid is a simple word, understood by nearly everyone. And look, Donald Dumb has made some really stupid comments. How about his proclamation that windmills cause brain cancer? Or his suggestion to inject disinfectants into the human body to kill any resident coronavirus? Or perhaps his statement that the island of Puerto Rico is surrounded by "water...big water"? Or perhaps we should take his advice and drop a nuclear bomb into a hurricane to destroy it.

So yes, stupid seems a perfectly good word to describe both the man and his cult followers who eagerly gobble up each and every stupid thing he says without question. And stupid is an appropriate word to describe those who crowded onto a 'party boat' in New York City recently, joining some 170 other party goers who exposed themselves to the virus. Or how about the 250,000 people expected to attend the Sturgis motorcycle rally in South Dakota this month? Do you think there will be a spike in Covid-19 infections after that? Is there a better word other than stupid that describes these people?

Mass, rampant stupidity is the only reason I can think of for the willingness of so many to believe the lies and inane statements uttered by the occupant of the White House. Apparently these Americans see freedom as the right to be stupid and to do stupid things. People want to be 'free' to spread a disease and 'free' not to have to wear a mask for a few minutes. They also apparently want to be 'free' to threaten and intimidate public officials who aren't telling these clowns what they want to hear. What happened to cause so many Americans to see stupidity and willful ignorance as virtues?

This isn't about supporting one political party over another. The pandemic and whether to wear a mask or not should not be a political issue. Honestly, I don't care which party someone supports. But I DO care if someone's actions contribute to the spread of a potentially deadly disease. This virus is an equal opportunity killer.

Why do people continue to put themselves in situations that dramatically increase their risk of contracting Covid-19 and spreading it to others? Is a good time at a motorcycle rally worth risking one's life, and the lives of others? What happened to common sense and logical thinking? Obviously those things are as extinct as the dodo bird.

Why believe some of the best physicians, virologists, public health officials, infectious disease specialists and scientists when they talk about how to control spread of the virus, when a barely literate ("a very stable genius" according to him), mentally defective, failed businessman has an answer to everything? After all, the scientists and physicians obviously all got together and came up with a fake pandemic just to make "the chosen one" (his words) look bad and cost him the election.

Just because not everyone can, or wants to, attend college doesn't make them stupid. Many very intelligent people, for a variety of reasons, don't attend college. So I'm not criticizing people for their lack of higher education. But blind allegiance to a known con man, cheat and liar does make me wonder about the intelligence of his followers. Giving even cursory consideration to the recommendations of people who actually know what they are talking about would be a good step in the right direction.

And these same cult followers need to educate themselves about what the US Constitution really says. Being forced to wear a mask before entering a place of business violates no one's constitutional rights. Neither does it violate the Americans with Disabilities Act. So if you're going to cite the law, at least make sure you know what the law really says. Otherwise you look, at best, uninformed, and at worst, stupid.

Maybe it isn't fair to call all of his cult followers stupid. I'm sure not all of them are. But how else do I explain their refusal to wear a mask, to socially distance, and their threats against experts who advocate keeping businesses and schools closed until the pandemic is under control? I cannot come up with a positive adjective to describe these selfish, ignorant, self-centered people. How else do I describe people who protest business closures because they need a manicure or want to get their hair colored? I went 4 months without a haircut, and it never occurred to me to march in protest. My health, and the health of others in my community, are far more important than my need to get my hair cut.

The only way out of this pandemic is for all of us to work together and take the steps necessary to bring the spread of coronavirus under control. If we don't, more draconian measures will almost certainly be enacted. We already have seen the reopening of economies postponed. Some states whose governors initially ignored the recommendations of public health officials are now being forced to put in place the measures they previously refused to accept. 

So let's not politicize this pandemic and the wearing of masks. Let's put an end to the era of stupid. The death toll is already far too high. And it most certainly is not a hoax.

You're Not a Christian If ...

I see a lot of pronouncements from so-called Christians these days.

And I have to say, what I am seeing from these 'Christians' is far from Christian. Now, I am not a theologian. I don't even go to church. But I was raised in a Christian household and I try, imperfectly, to live a Christian life. So let me say that ...

You are not a Christian if you're not Christlike. We mere humans all commit sins, and we can only attempt to be Christlike. But far too many who profess to be Christians don't even come close. In fact, you do and say the opposite of what good Christians should do and say.

You are not a Christian if you don't at least try to follow the teachings of Christ. 

You are not a Christian if your actions don't conform with what you claim to believe. 

You are not a Christian if you lie, cheat and take advantage of others.

You are not a Christian if you approve of taking children from their parents and locking them in cages because they aren't white enough. Think about this: Christ was a Middle Eastern man with dark skin, too. He wasn't white, with blue eyes and light hair, as so often portrayed.

You're not a Christian if you continue to support an unrepentant lying con artist who is a repeat adulterer, a racist and a misogynist, and who uses the Bible as a prop in a photo op.

You are not a Christian if you disobey one of the fundamental teachings of Christianity: Treat others as you wish to be treated.

You are not a Christian if you are OK with discriminating against people because of the color of their skin or their sexual orientation. 

You are not a Christian if you do nothing to help the poor, the oppressed and the hungry. 

You're not a Christian if the only evidence of your faith is your attendance at church and maybe throwing a few dollars into the collection plate.

You're not a Christian if you support, or worse, belong to, the KKK or other white supremacist organizations. 

You're not a Christian if you rail against one man's infidelities while turning a blind eye to the repeat infidelities of another. That makes you a hypocrite.

You're not a Christian if you refuse to issue a marriage license to a gay couple while you have been married and divorced multiple times.

You're not a Christian if as pastor of a megachurch you live in a multi-million dollar mansion and own a private jet while refusing to help those in need.

I would never consider myself to be Christlike, but I think I am a pretty good person, someone who quietly and unobtrusively lives a Christian life. Am I short-tempered and impatient at times? Yes. Do I sometimes judge others? Yes, I do. But I donate food and money to help feed the hungry. I support a variety of charities here and abroad that are working to preserve the planet and the animals trying to live in this cruel world. I have paid expenses for a Kenyan student for 4 years so she can attend high school. I paid for tuition and books for a friend of my daughter, so she could attend community college. I volunteered at Auschwitz concentration camp as part of a 2-week journey to better understand the Holocaust. I believe that as someone blessed to have a nice house, a good car and sufficient money to live a good life, I am obligated to use those blessings to help the less fortunate.

When I lived in Houston I attended a church that had a group called Christians in Action. This group of people put their faith into action by providing food for Thanksgiving meals for the poor. One year members bought Christmas gifts for children from the kids' wish lists. I like the concept of putting faith into action.

Certainly Christians are not the only ones who fail to live up to the teachings of their religion. And certainly atheists and agnostics, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and followers of other religions do good works. I recently read about a Sikh community that prepared hundreds of meals for those impacted by the pandemic. Christians aren't the only people to reach out and help others.

Unfortunately, Christians, especially of the evangelical sort, seem to put their unchristian behavior and attitudes on greatest display. I love this quote attributed to Gandhi: “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

So if you are proud of being a Christian and you feel a need to put your faith on display, please put the good Christian attributes into action, and not the unchristian acts, words and hypocrisy. Show your faith in your words and actions.