Being a Bear

 Oh, to be a bear.

There is a reason why grizzly bears and black bears hibernate. I mean, who wouldn't enjoy stuffing one's face, packing on as many calories as possible, and then crawling into a dark, quiet cave and sleeping the winter away? 

Then, when spring arrives, they crawl out of the cave with a much thinner body, ready to start eating again. Bears to into such a deep sleep during hibernation that they won't eat or drink anything for four to six months.

And what a great way to give birth to a couple of baby bears, during hibernation, although mama bear doesn't, as commonly believed, sleep through the entire process. The mama bear is awake to give birth and to care for her cubs.

The baby bears stay very close to mama until it's time to emerge from hibernation. Then it's game on as the cubs frequently wander as they explore their big, new world.

Of course, being a bear in Alaska isn't such a good thing. Mighty hunters are allowed to slaughter hibernating bears in that state as a way to 'manage' the bear population.

I think bears have come up with a great way to survive the long, cold, dark winters. 

It Isn't Safe

In contemporary America ...

It isn't safe to go grocery shopping.

It isn't safe to attend church.

It isn't safe to go to see a movie.

It isn't safe to attend synagogue.

It isn't safe to go bowling.

It isn't safe to go to a restaurant or bar.

It isn't safe to go to the mall.

It isn't safe to go to work.

It isn't safe to go to a concert.

It isn't safe to go to the post office.

It isn't safe to go to school, whether college, high school or elementary school.

The bottom line is, it isn't safe to go anyplace. Some deranged person toting an assault-style rifle is likely to show up and start shooting random people, including children.

This folks, is the reality of life in 21st century America. 

Meanwhile, politicians bought and paid for by the NRA and the gun rights lobby offer than pathetic, useless and trite thoughts and prayers. Thoughts and prayers do nothing to ease the pain of those loved ones left behind. Thoughts and prayers do nothing to ease the physical and emotional suffering of those wounded in yet another senseless attack.

I know about the oh-so-precious Second Amendment to the US Constitution. I have heard the tired old arguments about how only "a good guy with a gun" can stop the slaughter. But strangely, a good guy with a gun never seems to be around when the slaughter starts. 

I believe nothing will stop the carnage in America. Far too many people own guns, legally or illegally, and they aren't about to surrender them. The demon has been let out of the bottle.

The thing is, other countries have people with mental illness. Other countries have people who get depressed or angry about something. But only the United States has people who have the capacity to grab an automatic rifle and mow down tons of people.

I have a friend who has guns. She knows how to use them. She takes all precautions, up to not leaving a gun in her vehicle out of fear it will be stolen and used in a crime. She is a sensible, responsible gun owner. I have no problem with her owning guns. They, and she, are a threat to no one.

Constitutional amendments were passed for a reason, but times have changed since the muzzle loaders in use when the Second Amendment was passed. Population density was much less in the 18th century.  People knew those who lived in their communities, unlike today when despite the high population density in much of the country, there is little to no sense of community.

As someone wrote on social media recently, “The rights of gun nuts to murder is more important than our right to live.” So much for our right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, huh?

What's the answer? I don't know. But clearly what we are doing now is not working.

Under Attack

I feel under attack.

I'm not under attack by weapons or rampaging crowds, but by those wanting money from me. Most every day's mail delivery brings appeals for some organization’s 'annual fund drive' or some emergency somewhere in the world.

I am a pretty generous person, but this year's rampant inflation has me thinking more about my finances than I have in a long time. So I have really cut back on my charitable donations. 

I get appeals for yet more money from non-profits to which I have previously donated. I get appeals from organizations to which I have never given a dime. I get appeals from an organization to which I gave money once 20 years ago. It never stops. And it's really annoying.

Most of the time these appeals never make it inside my house. They go directly into the outdoor recycling container. 

Sometimes it seems that all these non-profits do with my donations is to print and mail still more appeals for money. One day a few years ago I received two different appeals from a single group on the same day. I haven't sent anything to that organization since then, and I never will. My generosity has a limit. I'm not going to give a $1,500 donation just because I once felt very generous and donated $500. 

I get it. Times are tough. Everything is extremely expensive. Charities are facing decreased donations and more requests for help. But hitting up donors for still more donations -- and bigger donations -- risks driving those donors away. 

I'm pretty burned out on donating. I know the need is there, but I can't give to every group that asks. There is a group of perhaps 12 charities to which I give donations, and I'm not going to add any others to my pool of charities and get repeated appeals from yet another organization. 

I wish I could give more, lots more, to my charities of choice. But the bottom line is, I simply can’t. And I really resent being hounded for more and bigger donations by the groups to which I already give. Please, don’t send me calendars or address labels or note cards that I don’t want and I won’t use. It’s a waste of donor money.

My well of compassion is about to run dry.

I Am Not A Jew

 I am not a Jew.

So that means I have no idea what it's like to live as part of thousands of years of oppression.

I have no idea what it feels like to know that large numbers of people look down on me or dislike me without knowing me, simply because of who I am, or what my last name is, or what god I worship.

Because I am not Jewish, I don't have to live with the thought that some people want me dead. My place of worship doesn't need extra security. Nobody protests against my religion.

The Nazi movement of the 1930s and 1940s -- indeed, even today -- was designed to rid the world of Jews. Hitler and his gang of misfits blamed Jews for German's defeat in World Wat I. They blamed Jews for German's crumbling economy and sky-high inflation and unemployment. And so they set about murdering some 6 million European Jews.

Sadly, neo-Nazi groups still exist, including in the United States. Supporters chanted "Jews will not replace us" at a rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. So-called skinhead groups are proliferating in Hungary and the Czech Republic, among other countries.

I am not a Jew, but I like to think that I am a fair, open-minded person who accepts people of all religions -- and of no religion. A few years ago I spent more than a week studying the origins and conduct of the Holocaust. This trip, sponsored by Road Scholar, began in Berlin, where we visited sites integral to the foundations of the Holocaust. 

You can read about what I saw and experienced during this trip at https://redrocksandsunflowers.blogspot.com/2023/01/never-forget.html

Because I am not a Jew, it's likely that this experience had less impact on me than on other, Jewish, members of my group. This isn't to say, however, that those experiences did not have a huge impact on me. Always a history buff, that trip lit a huge flame of desire to learn more about the Holocaust, those behind it, and those who survived it.

Since that trip I have read many dozens of books -- some historical, some autobiographical, some biographical, and some historical fiction -- about this dark time. I am trying to understand.

Still, I am not a Jew, so I cannot begin to comprehend the disbelief, the anger, the fear and the abject terror still felt by all Jews everywhere, but particularly those directly impacted by the recent slaughter in Israel.

I have some Jewish friends, and I have struggled, and continue to struggle, to find the right words to say to them. "I'm so sorry" seems empty and void. But I have trouble sleeping as I think about the horrors that were perpetrated on innocent Israelis. I think about all the hostages and I wonder if they, too, have been slaughtered. 

I don't know what to say, so I share memes and graphics on my social media page in a pathetic attempt to offer support. That is not enough, but is there anything that is enough?

I am not a Jew, so all I can do is to be there for my Jewish friends and to be supportive. But what does that really mean? These friends live in other states, so I can't give them a hug or share a cup of coffee with them.

I can call out those who spew antisemitic hatred. Fortunately, I have no friends who are obviously antisemitic. 

I am not a Jew, but I support my Jewish friends who are hurting and angry. I, too, am angry that a people simply seeking to live in peace and worship their god as they choose have been marginalized, brutalized and slaughtered for millennia.

I am not a Jew by ethnicity or by religion, but in reality, we all must be Jews.

We Must Do Better

 The world has gone mad.

Palestinian terrorist group Hamas has conducted an ongoing, completely unpredicted and unwarranted attack on the state of Israel, taking hostages including women, children and the elderly, and firing more than 2,000 rockets into Israel in the early days of the assault. More than 1,300 Israelis were killed, thousands wounded. Palestinian fatalities number in the thousands as well. Now the terrorists are reportedly beheading infants previously taken hostage. A humanitarian crisis is unfolding in Gaza after Israel cut off supplies of food, water and fuel to the population, not all of whom support Hamas.

Putin‘s war on Ukraine continues, with the most recent attacks being not on military installations, but on a small Ukrainian grocery store and coffee shop.

The US currently has no ambassador to Israel because some Republican senator decided to block all appointments. Some 300 military promotions are being held up because another nut-job senator doesn't like the fact that female members of the military can get time off their jobs to get an abortion.

The former president of the United States is suspected of giving Israeli military secrets to the Russians, and bragging about it. The Russians are believed to have given it to Iran, a country that is a major supporter of Hamas. This same former president gave highly classified information about the capabilities of America's nuclear submarine fleet to an Australian, who shared it with 45 other people. Why he has not been charged with treason is beyond me. Executive privilege, which he constantly claims protects him from all variety of crimes with which he has been charged, does not apply to treason.

The leading candidate to become speaker of the House of Representatives an antisemitic, KKK-supporting ultraconservative, has withdrawn from the race. Without a speaker, the House, and therefore the entire Congress, is unable to pass any legislation. Aid to Ukraine and to Israel, as well as funding to keep the US government operating, are going nowhere without a functioning House.

So that's the state of the US government, which will cease operation unless Congress gets its act together and passes the legislation required to fund the government in the next 35 or so days.

This is what this nation has become. States banning books. States busing illegal immigrants to northern so-called 'sanctuary cities,' overwhelming those cities' ability to care for the huge influx of people arriving with nothing.

The bottom line is, the Republicans are unable to govern even their own party, much less the nation. Apparently there are no moderate, not-insane, non-MAGAt members of the party. It is time to either vote the radicals out of office, or for the moderates (if there are any) to take control of the party.

All of these things -- Ukraine, Israel, Congress -- have left me feeling incredibly stressed. My sleep is restless. I have trouble falling asleep even after taking a prescription sleeping pill. My temper is short. My tolerance for delays and ineptness is non-existent.

We are supposed to be the beacon of freedom, of second chances, of promises. Right now, we are none of these things. Our borders last year were inundated by 3 million illegal immigrants, with some 9,000 more crossing every day. We are unable to provide necessary assistance to Ukraine and Israel as they fight for their very existence. Gaza, a densely populated area adjoining Israel, is facing a huge humanitarian crisis without food, clean water and fuel. The people of Gaza -- Palestinians -- are victims of Hamas control and brutality. Half of the population is younger than 15 years old.

We can do better. We must do better.

Out of Sorts

 I have felt out of sorts lately, and I'm not sure why.

The weather is about the only thing that is good at this time, with sunny skies, no wind to speak of, and daytime temperatures in the upper 70s (nighttime temps are in the 40s). 

First, my freezer stopped freezing and the refrigerator wasn't very cool. I was able to get a repair man to the house who quickly diagnosed the problem. For $625, he fixed the problem.

The recent Republican debacle in the US House of Representatives, which saw a small group of ultra-right wing nutcases oust the speaker of the House with no replacement lined up, sent the government into a tail spin. Let's not forget that the US government is currently operating under a continuing resolution that funds the government for just more than 40 days.

Our southern border is being inundated by illegal immigrants to the tune of some 3 million last year. Recent days have seen 9:300 illegals literally running across the border each day. Our cities simply cannot handle this huge influx of migrants. They do not have the resources -- money, rooms, medical care, food or anything else -- to accommodate these people.

Some 1.3 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan have been told to leave the country by the end of the month. 

Gun violence continues to take nearly 50,000 lives in the US each year.

Prices are through the roof. An item I bought last October for $4.99 and in January for $7.99 is now $21.99. Talk about inflation!

Businesses continue to suffer because of a shortage of workers. There is a shortage of nurses. There is a shortage of school bus drivers. There is a shortage of other bus drivers. There’s a shortage of teachers. There’s a shortage of doctors. There’s a shortage of retail workers. There’s a shortage of restaurant workers. What I don’t understand is, why? 

Russia's war on Ukraine drags on amid reports that support for providing weapons to the Ukrainian army is beginning to waiver in some European countries and among the far-right faction in the US. Anyone who believes that Putin will be satisfied with conquering only Ukraine is badly mistaken, just as appeasing Hitler in the late 1930s did not stop his megalomanic drive for more and more territory.

And of course, there is nothing I can do about any of these situations except to limit my exposure to news reports. That is difficult for me to do, as I spent my career working with members of the news media. I am, to put it bluntly, a news junkie. A local friend has told me that she, too, is feeling out of sorts for no clear reason.

But for today, I am going too try to enjoy the beautiful weather and the opening day of the 51st Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.