The Stress Is Back

 It's back.

The fear. The stress. The worry. The chaos.

I thought, I hoped, I prayed, that once the former president lost the 2020 election we would be rid of him. Of his negativity. His hatred. His inane ramblings. His insults. His sucking up to the world's dictators. His incessant lies. His clapping for himself. His clenched fist in the air.

But no, he's back and doing everything in his power to regain the presidency. That so many Americans support this megalomaniac, this sick, twisted, broken, mentally ill person is mind boggling. He is facing 91 felonies in four different jurisdictions. He has been convicted of sexual abuse in one case and accused in several more. He promises to be a dictator from his first day in office. He has vowed vengeance and retribution on those he views as his enemies, which in reality means anybody who fails to praise him .

He openly admires dictators and he reportedly keeps a copy of Hitler's book Mein Kampf on his bedside table. Whether he can actually read is up for debate. He promises to use the FBI and the Department of Justice to bring charges against those he perceives as enemies. 

He is so pathetic that he has fallen asleep during the so-called hush money trials. Not one of his family members has shown up to support him in court. He constantly portrays himself as the victim, proclaiming that he is treated unfairly and is the victim of a witch hunt.

My stress levels are soaring. I refuse to listen to his droning babble. I know I should simply refuse to watch the news. But I spent my career working with members of the news media. I am interested in current events both at home and internationally. So it's a struggle to stay away from the news.

He offers nothing to this country aside from chaos, lies, anger, racism and misogyny.

He needs to go away, permanently. 

Earth Day 2024

Every year on April 22, we in the United States and 174 other countries celebrate Earth Day.

This year doesn't feel like much of a celebration, but rather, an urgent wake-up call. Our home planet, our Earth, is in big trouble The Earth is sick mostly due to human overpopulation and practices.

Global warming has resulted in devastating droughts in some places and record rainfall and snowfall in others. Glaciers are melting and sea levels rising. Oceans are warming. More species are threatened with extinction. Climate change is resulting in an increasing number of people leaving their countries due to failing food production and poverty.

We as individuals cannot stop or reverse climate change. But we can do something.

The Farmer’s Almanac suggests the following 10 things you can do on Earth Day to help our planet:

• Support the bees by planting pollinator-friendly plants
• Pick up the trash in your neighborhood
• Go to a park and explore nature
• Plant a tree
• Plant wildflowers and plants native to where you live
• Reduce, reuse and recycle
• Stop using chemicals in the garden
• Conserve water and practice mindful use of water
• Think about your diet and prevent the wasting of food
•  Get your friends, family and kids involved.

Here are a few things I do to help our planet.

• Make changes to your daily habits.
• I keep reusable shopping bags in my car so I don't have to use flimsy, single-use bags.

• I limit my showers to 10 minutes.
• I turn off lights when I leave a room.
• I recently traded my car (which got 31 mpg) for a hybrid vehicle that around town get 55 mpg.
• I recycle everything that is recyclable where I live.
• I set my thermostat to 56 degrees F at night during the winter.
• My sprinklers are set to run early in the morning to avoid evaporation.
• I refuse to buy anything made from any endangered species.
• I try to avoid any food product that includes palm oil.
• I donate or give away things I no longer want or need to keep them out of the landfill. I recently jointed my local Buy Nothing group and have found new homes for an ironing board and iron, stationery and other items.
• I switched from plastic to bamboo toothbrushes.
• I stopped buying liquid laundry detergent  and now use detergent sheets that dissolve in water. No more plastic detergent bottles.
• I now use bar soap rather than shower gel in plastic bottles.
• I bought a razor with replaceable blades rather than tossing disposable plastic razors into the landfill.

Big business and governments, as the largest creators of pollution and users of fossil fuels, must step up. It will take all of us working together to save our planet.

Sweet Anabelle

Anabelle was a dog, a pit bull, a fighter.

Yes, she was a fighter, but not in the way you most likely thought when you read the words pit bull and fighter in a single sentence. 

Anabelle was fighter just to survive the abuse she endured at the hands of a human. She fought bravely against the diseases that took her life just a day ago. She suffered from pancreatitis, probably bone cancer and a variety of other life-threatening problems. She remained a fighter to the end.

Anabelle was a bait dog, with her teeth filed down so she couldn't fight back against the dogs who used her as bait in their training. Her body was covered in scars. Her wrists were broken, likely on purpose. A back leg was broken. She was most probably used to breed litters of puppies. And then she was dumped, left to die in a remote area of North Carolina. Obviously she was dumped someplace where no one was likely to find her. She was left to die, alone, frightened and in pain. I broke my wrist in a fall 8 years ago. It was incredibly painful, and human wrists are not weight-bearing as are a dog's wrists.

Anabelle was rescued and adopted by a loving family that eventually added two more special needs dogs to their family. All three dogs receive endless love and patience in their new family. 

Annabelle was so terrified, so shut down, that she spent the first part of her life after adoption hiding, cowering behind furniture or behind the toilet. She wouldn’t even look at people. But gradually, she came to understand that these people, the people who adopted her, would not hurt her. 

Surgery helped Anabelle, but walking was still a challenge for her. When she needed to go a distance, her mom pushed Anabelle around in a stroller. Despite her difficulties, Anabelle remained sweet and loving. She loved to play with Boone and Crew, her disabled brothers. All she wanted was to be loved.

What I will remember most about Anabelle was her playing with her plastic bucket. She used her muzzle to push it along the grass, running after it and pushing it again and again. She also was usually photographed while wearing a pretty bandana, many of them sent by her fans.

Anabelle's early torment left her with injuries both visible and invisible. Changes in her environment frightened her, but she was, as I noted above, a fighter. She gradually overcame many of her fears. Despite her torture and abuse at the hands of humans, if I may use that word loosely, she loved meeting new people. Her human mom took her to schools to help teach children that just because a dog, or a person, is different doesn't make them less deserving of love.

I never got a chance to meet Anabelle in person, but I followed her online adventures each day with great anticipation.

Anabelle is now at peace, free of pain and able to run and chase buckets as much as she wants. She doesn't need to fight anymore.

Be at peace, sweet Anabelle.

What Has Happened to America?

 What has happened to America?

I have lived my entire life -- several decades -- in this country. Sadly, I no longer recognize the nation in which I have spent my life. I know there have always been undercurrents of racism, antisemitism and misogyny. There have been times when these negative thoughts and actions were more pronounced, and more in the open, than at others. But I hoped things had changed. I believed that the American people had changed.

How incredibly wrong I was.

Now the followers of a former twice-impeached president seem determined to destroy this country and everything it has stood for for nearly 250 years. They wear their racism, their antisemitism and their misogyny as a badge of honor. 

They call for the overthrow of the government. They ban books that don't conform to their warped ideology. They call for the execution of the current and the previous president. They call themselves 'pro-life' while simultaneously refusing to provide food and medical care assistance to those who need help the most. They want to turn this nation into a "Christian" nation, ignoring the founding fathers' insistence (embedded in the US Constitution) that there should be separation of church and state.

The disgraced leading candidate for the presidency of one party says he will be a dictator "from day one." He proclaims that if he loses the election, "there will be a bloodbath." He says he will round up all the people in this country illegally, put them in camps, and then conduct a massive deportation. He announced that he plans to fire the nation's federal civil servants (non-partisan employees) and replace them with those loyal only to him, not to defending our constitution. Adolf Hitler and the current Hungarian dictator Viktor Orban did the same thing. He wants to slash Medicare and Social Security, upon which millions of Americans depend, and for which we paid through mandatory payroll taxes. He even mirrors the rhetoric of his idol Adolf Hitler when he refers to immigrants as not human.

Jewish students on college campuses across the country, even at traditionally liberal universities, have been threatened because of their religion. Someone at San Francisco International Airport was questioned about his religion and the driver (who was fired) ultimately told the would-be passenger that he  would not transport a Jew in his car. 

Three Palestinian students at a Vermont college were walking down the street, speaking Arabic, when a man walked onto his porch and shot them. Two have recovered, while the third is permanently paralyzed.

A candidate for the position of head of public schools in North Carolina has publicly called for the assassination of former President Barack Obama and current President Joe Biden. She should have been arrested for these threats, but of course, nothing was done, and her Republican colleagues are silent.

In an opinion piece on cnn.com, some political scientists suggest this country is on the verge of another civil war. Here is the link to the article:  https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/16/opinions/us-brink-of-civil-war-hoffman-ware/index.html

These are just a few examples of what has happened in our country. 

It is up to us, the people who believe in this country and that for which it had stood since 1776. to not remain silent. We cannot sit by and watch the destruction of our country.

Get out and vote in every election, the November presidential election in particular. The stake have never been higher.

One Day Is Not Enough

 Today is International Women's Day.

Yet despite the many advances women have made over the years, we now find ourselves going backward. The Republican-majority US Supreme Court overturned legislation (Roe v Wade) that had for 22 years protected a woman's right to a safe abortion. Since then, various states, led by Texas, have seriously limited a woman's right to choose, going so far as to criminalize abortion. Now the Alabama supreme court has declared that frozen embryos are, in fact, children, and destroying them is tantamount to murder.

In Afghanistan, following the return of the Taliban, girls who are allowed to attend school usually stay only 2 years. Afghanistan ranks among the highest for gender-based violence. So-called honor killings, while illegal, are still widely practiced. Women are not allowed to work outside the home or to leave the home unless unaccompanied by a male relative. Females must once again cover their faces in public. Pakistan and several African countries round out the top 10 worst nations for women's rights.

Female Israeli hostages being held by the terrorist group Hamas in Gaza are subjected to not only the tears of being kidnapped, but also the absolute horrors of sexual violence. Far too many women in India are victims of domestic abuse and even gang rapes in public places and on buses.

Women throughout the world have the potential to do great things with their lives. They can be fighter pilots in the armed forces. They can command naval vessels. They can be police officers and neurosurgeons and prime ministers. They can make amazing discoveries and develop new medications to treat fatal diseases. 

One group I really admire is called the Black Mambas, an all female anti-poaching group in South Africa that works to prevent the slaughter of South Africa’s rhinoceros population and other wildlife. These highly trained rangers put their lives on the line every time they go on patrol.

There are many notable female role models in our world: Malala Yousafzai, Jane Goodall, Kamala Harris, Greta Thunberg and Amanda Gorman immediately come to mind. If you're not familiar with these women, please look them up and read about them.

I have been fortunate to have met a couple of female trailblazers. Dr. Ellen Ochoa was the first female Hispanic astronaut. She later became the first Hispanic woman and the second female director of NASA's Johnson Space Center. Ochoa holds a doctorate in electrical engineering from Stanford University.

US Air Force Colonel Eileen Collins became the first female pilot and the first woman to command a space shuttle mission. 

Educate yourself, then speak up for women everywhere. Our struggling world is beset by wars on many fronts, by poverty and hunger and disease. We need all of us, not just white men, to work to make this world better for everyone.

Every day should be a day to recognize and honor the world's women. All women, not just those with advanced degrees or celebrity. deserve to be given the chance to follow their dreams and to succeed in whatever life they choose.

Your Religion Is Not Better

Your religion is not better than mine ... or anyone else's.

It may be the best religion for you. But that doesn't make it the best religion for everyone else. For many people, following no religion is best for them. And your religion does not give you the right to impose your religious beliefs on others.

Maybe you come from a long line of Mormons, or Roman Catholics, or Baptists, or Muslims or Hindus or Jews. That's wonderful. If that makes you happy, great. But that doesn't make you better than anyone else on the planet. And it doesn't make your religion of choice better than anyone else's. 

It does not give you the right to try to exterminate followers of other religions. It does not give you the right to attempt to impose your personal religious beliefs on others and prevent them from following their own set of beliefs. Your religion doesn't give you the right to impose your beliefs on others through coercion or legislation. Our Constitution's First Amendment permits freedom of religion, as well as freedom from religion.

If you want your children to attend a private, religion-sponsored school, you have that right. But you do not have the right to expect taxpayers to fund your child's private school education and indoctrination.

You wouldn't be happy if tax dollars were spent to pay for tuition at an Islamic school that taught sharia law. So you shouldn't expect people to pay for your children to attend a Christian school.

Too many wars have been fought over religious differences: the Crusades, the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East between Muslims and Jews, even battles between the two major factions of Islam. The Roman Empire murdered early Christians who refused to worship the Romans' panoply of gods.

The major monotheistic religions have one thing in common: worship of a single god. The ancient Greeks and Romans worshipped many gods. They had a god of the sea, household gods, a goddess of love, a god of war, and so on. 

I would guess that followers of each of the major religions feel that their religion is the best. And that's fine. 

Just stop trying to force your religion, and your non-religious beliefs, on others.

Hypocrites Among Us

No, God did not create government.

The ridiculous claim that "God created government" was made last week by the chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. This court also decided that frozen embryos are children, and that anyone who destroys them can be charged with wrongful death. This nonsense is why I have started calling the state of Alabama, Alabamastan, or Talibama. It has a lot of similarities with the country of Afghanistan and its fanatical religious leaders.

This attorney has decided to ignore the Constitution's first amendment that states, in part, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ..." The chief justice, as so many other right-wing evangelical Christians have done, feels he can do whatever he chooses as long as he cites his religious beliefs. That’s the case, however, only as long as those beliefs are the ultra right wing evangelical Christian beliefs. Jews and Muslims need not apply.. 

The "God created governments" line arises from the belief that since God created people, and people created governments, therefore God created governments. This ridiculous assumption can be carried to unbelievable conclusions. For example, since God created people, and some people are murderers or rapists or pedophiles, it should then follow that God created murderers, rapists and pedophiles. God created people, and people created assault rifles. Therefore God created assault rifles. 

The United States is not now, nor has it ever been, a Christian nation. The United States has never been, and should not be allowed to become, a theocracy. The authors of the US Constitution made this abundantly clear, except to those blindly following their golden calf (or, I should say, their tacky golden sneakers).

A frozen embryo is NOT a child. An embryo cannot move. It cannot survive on its own. It cannot feel pain. It is not sentient. It cannot express emotions. A clump of cardiac cells beating in unison do not a heart make. A grape is not a bottle of wine. An acorn is not an oak tree. A tomato plant is not a tomato. An egg is not a chicken. A seed is not a flower. See the difference?

Evangelicals don't want the government to infringe on their rights as Christians (I question whether they are, in fact, Christians), while at the same time trying to force the government to infringe the freedoms of others, all in the name of their version of Christianity. 

Rather hypocritical, don't you think?

I Am A Real Christian

 I am a real Christian. 

This thought popped into my mind this Sunday morning as I was walking one of my dogs. Over the past few years, the words and actions of many so-called Christians have not been anything like what Christ taught.

These so-called Christians, aka evangelicals, oppose gay marriage. They tend to be anti-Semitic and homophobic. They pick and choose which biblical verses they will follow. They rail against the imposition of sharia law by certain Islamic countries, but they have no problem at all with attempting to impose their restrictive religious beliefs on their fellow Americans.

The recent decision by the Alabama supreme court that declared frozen embryos to be children, while the state has eliminated its summer food program for children who already have been born, tells me all I need to know about the so-called Christian nationalists.

I was raised in a church-going family who attended a mainstream Protestant church. Once I left home to attend college, and ever since then, I have not attended church on a regular basis. In fact, I can't recall the last time I attended church. I did attend a friend's church wedding many years ago, but that was a special occasion.

When I lived in Houston, I joined a local church that sponsored a group called Christians in Action. I enjoyed that group, as it gave me a chance to take part in things that helped others. One Thanksgiving, we were asked to purchase everything, from a turkey to a roasting pan to gravy, stuffing and everything else on the list we were given, for a family in need. We got to choose the size of the family we wanted to help.

One Christmas, we were asked to purchase a gift for a child. Again, we got to choose the age and gender of the child, and we were told what the child would like for Christmas. This was fun. I remember shopping for a pink bicycle for a little girl.

So although I don't attend, or belong to, any church, I believe I am a good Christian. Why do I believe this? Don't I need to attend church services each week to glorify God? I don't think so.

I don't need to promote or announce my religion. I'd guess that none of my friends has a clue about my religion, and that's just fine with me. I prefer to put my religious beliefs into action. After all, actions speak louder than words. 

My actions include donating to a dozen charities every year. They include funding a scholarship for two girls from rural Kenya so they can attend high school. They include being kind. They include adopting my daughter from an orphanage in Siberia. They include adopting 15 dogs during my adult life. They include paying forward a kindness shown to me. They include working to protect our planet from human destruction. They include being a witness at the wedding of a gay friend and photographing the brief civil ceremony.

My actions do not include trying to force others to follow and live by my beliefs. They do not include refusing to allow gay people the same rights I enjoy as a straight person. They do not include discriminating against others because of their race, ethnicity, skin color, political beliefs or gender preference. They do not include declaring frozen embryos to  be 'children' while simultaneously refusing to take part in a summer food program for children already born.

I'm not writing this blog post to hold myself up as a wonderful example of Christianity. I'm not looking for praise or accolades. I am merely pointing out the gross hypocrisy of many who call themselves Christians.

They need to read again the teachings of the one whom they allegedly follow.

Random Acts of Kindness Day

Today is Random Acts of Kindness Day.

Everyone is invited to participate. Random acts of kindness can be free or inexpensive. 

Don't know where to start? Don't want to deal with someone directly? How about simply letting a driver go ahead of you in traffic, or buying extra food and donating it to a food pantry, or paying for the coffee of the person behind you in the coffee shop drive-through?  

How about paying for someone's meal, letting a shopper check out ahead of you, giving someone a compliment, taking cookies or muffins to work, paying for another person's meal, letting someone go ahead in line, buying extra at the grocery store and donating it to a food pantry, or buying flowers for someone. 

There are so many ways we can show kindness to others. No money is required. Just a bit of thoughtfulness can make someone's day.

So be kind to others, not just today, but every day.

I Am Angry

I am angry. 

I am very angry. There has been yet another mass shooting. Two gun-toting criminals -- both juveniles -- opened fire on a crowd of some 1,000,000 people gathered in Kansas City, Missouri, to celebrate the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl victory. Nine of the victims are children.

In other news, three police officers in Washington, D.C., were shot while trying to serve an arrest warrant on a suspect in an animal cruelty case.

And in Los Angeles Country, four people were shot and killed in apparently random killings.

So this is the state of America in 2024.

We have reached the point where it isn't safe to be in any large public gatherings. It isn't safe to go to the grocery store. It isn't safe to go to the movies. It isn't safe to attend church or synagogue. It isn't safe to attend school. It isn't safe to go to the mall. It isn't safe to walk down the street or to drive anywhere. 

The bottom line is, it isn't safe any place in America.

The state in which I live, New Mexico, has a couple of new laws aimed at the gun violence. The first will impose a 7-day waiting period on anybody wanting to buy a gun. This will allow time for the federally required background check to be completed. The bill as originally introduced would have mandated a 14-day wait, but after lots of screaming about their Second Amendment rights, the 7-day was a compromise both sides agreed to. 

The second piece of legislation bans firearms in or near polling places and during early voting. The only exceptions are for law enforcement and those with concealed carry permits.

Will these pieces of legislation, which our governor has said she will sign, actually make an impact on gun deaths in our state? That remains to be seen, but guns are so readily available on the streets that it doesn't seem likely. Our governor has declared gun violence to be a public health emergency, which it definitely is nationwide.

Gun violence is a serious matter, taking the lives of nearly 19,000 Americans in 2023. That number does not include suicides. Gun-related deaths dropped for the second consecutive year, but the number of deaths by firearms remains appallingly high.

Firearms are the leading cause of death among children and teenagers, with more than 1,600 deaths every year. Is this the world in which we want our children to live, with active shooter drills part of their education?

My father had rifles used solely for hunting squirrels and rabbits. I don't know that he kept them locked away, but I know they were not anyplace we kids could have found them. We were never tempted to pull out a gun and kill people.

Clearly mental health issues play a large role in gun violence, so that issue needs to be addressed in any discussion of gun deaths. But not all shooters have mental health issues. Some are just plain evil.

There were 800 armed law enforcement officers at the Chiefs' parade and celebration. Eight hundred armed officers on scene, and still they were unable to prevent the shooting. So much for the "only a good guy with a gun can stop a bad guy with a gun" theory. And who brought down one of the shooters? An unarmed civilian who tackled the guy with a gun and, with the help of other unarmed civilians, brought the guy down.

It's pretty clear that America care a lot more for its guns than for the safety and lives of its citizens. 

I have no answers to gun violence, but it's blatantly obviously our government's do-nothing-but-offer-thoughts-and-prayers to the victims of gun violence and their families is not enough. 

Little Things

Small things done with great love will change the world. -- Mother Teresa

I have seen a couple of posts on Facebook that started me thinking.

The first mentioned that a shopper in a grocery store noticed that the cashier was having a bad day. So the shopper decided to do something nice. She turned to the display of candy bars, said she couldn't decide what kind to buy, and asked the cashier for her favorite. The shopper bought that kind of candy bar, then gave it to the cashier as she paid her bill. This small act of kindness lifted the cashier's spirits.

Another person commented about a small act of kindness she had done for another cashier at another time. The cashier had mentioned that she was saving money so she could buy a blanket like the one being purchased. So the shopper bought an extra blanket and gave it to the cashier.

These acts of kindness made me realize how easy it is for people to brighten someone's day with a small kindness.

I have been the recipient of an act of kindness in a grocery store, where I was about to pay for the few items I was purchasing. The man ahead of me in line told the cashier to add my items to his bill, because he wanted to pay for them. I protested, but he insisted. I thanked him and said I would pay it forward.

And I kept my word. On three occasions I paid for the items of the person behind me. In one case, it was a young man buying a dozen yellow roses. The second case involved a Native American woman in a wheelchair who was buying a few items. Another time I paid for the doughnuts being bought by a man who really didn't want me to buy his treats. I asked him to please do this for me, and he relented.

My daughter once took my car to the car wash for a complete cleaning inside and out when I was out of town. I really appreciated not just the clean car, but most of all, I appreciated her act of kindness.

I guess the lesson is that not everyone can graciously accept a kindness. I didn't imply that the man couldn't pay for a couple of doughnuts; they cost very little. I just wanted to do something nice for him. But I guess accepting an act of kindness makes some people feel uncomfortable.

Maybe, if more people practiced small acts of kindness, they would be easier to accept. I have read about how someone paying for the coffee of the person in the car behind them set off a chain reaction, with that person then buying the coffee of the next person in line. I don't drink coffee, but I certainly would not want to be the person to break the chain of kindness.

For many years I had a colorful card with the following message: “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” –Aesop. These words of Aesop, a Greek storyteller who was born around 620 BC, remain true to this day.

Maybe if each of us commits to doing some little thing whenever we can, we can make this world, or at least our little corner of it, a better place.

What little things can you do or have you done for others? Have you been the recipient of a small act of kindness? How did it make you feel as the giver or as the recipient?

Lessons From A Shoe Company?

Today seems to be a good day to revisit and update this post from 14 years ago. 

The origin of the post was a Sunday newspaper ad for Naturalizer shoes, from the days when I subscribed to the local California newspaper. The bottom the ad included the following five phrases: 

Be flexible.
Go lightly.
Find balance.
Move softly.
Breathe easy.

So, with apologies to Naturalizer, I present once more these thoughts courtesy of a shoe company.

Be flexible. Flexibility can refer to so many things, from being physically flexible (something I struggle with) to being mentally flexible. I see it as a reminder not to become rigid in our thinking and outlook. Be open to new possibilities and to new ways of seeing the world. Be flexible and willing to change your opinion about something or someone. Be willing to consider opinions other than your own. This is quite difficult in today's very polarized political reality.

Go lightly. The possibilities are many. Go lightly in the world. Don't use more than you need, whether it's water, energy or food. Recycle and reuse. Minimize your impact on the Earth. See the humor in things, and don't take yourself too seriously. Find your own 'lightness of being.' I recently joined my local Buy Nothing group and have found new homes for some gift bags and an ironing board I no longer need. My garage is a bit less cluttered, and nothing ended up in the landfill.

Find balance. This is a wonderful life lesson. We should all strive for balance in our lives. Balance work with play, activity with rest, crying with laughing, social time with personal time. This lesson is a difficult one for me, as for so many people. Life in 21st century America doesn't lend itself to balance, so it requires a real effort to find and maintain a balance in life.

Move softly. Move softly through the world. Treat others with respect. Minimize your negative impact on the world. Be firm when necessary, yet gentle. Think of the great people who have moved softly yet had tremendous impact: Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Rev. Martin Luther King.

Breathe easy. This is another dictum that is difficult for me. It is difficult to breathe easy, but oh so easy to become caught up in worry, fear and the 'what ifs' of life. But as I have learned during the past couple of challenging years, "Nothing gets done until we feel the peace inside," to quote a friend of mine. Things will happen as they are meant to. Sometimes those things are positive, and sometimes they are negative. But our worrying and fretting about them won't change the outcome. Trust in your higher power, Mother Nature, or whatever your source of strength.

So, here are today's life lessons, courtesy of an ad for shoes in the local newspaper. more than a dozen years ago. It always amazes me where I will find the inspiration or the kernel of an idea for a blog post. Yet these ideas offer timeless reminders of small things we can do to make this world a better place.

American Idiocracy

I read something online recently on the page of a writer and pundit. 

In response to his post, someone commented that we are living in the American idiocracy. Not a democracy. Not a democratic republic. An idiocracy.

Sadly, I believe the person who made that comment is 100 percent correct. The term certainly touches on many things that are prevalent in our society: anti-intellectualism, rampant capitalism, the growth of oligarchy, corporate control, overconsumption, rampant commercialism, lack of critical thinking skills, anti-science beliefs, anti-education, willingness to believe and follow the latest fraudster, etc. I would add the slavish following of the so-called evangelicals, who work tirelessly to impose their version of Christianity (which is about as far removed from the message of Christ as it can get) on everyone else. And let us not forget the most well known advocates of idiocracy in Congress: Marjorie Taylor Green and Lauren Boebert.

The dumbing down of America is, sadly, real. I mean, it took Boebert three times to pass her GED. That means she struggled to pass a high school equivalency exam. And she's in Congress?

Put another way, we are living in the age of stupid, the era of the idiot. It's all about what's in it for me. It's about being too dumb or lazy to read, to think, and to make up one's own mind. People are incredibly gullible. Here's one example: drinking bleach to rid the body of the covid virus, suggested by the king of idiocracy.

During the recent pandemic, conspiracy theories were rampant. Among them: Bill Gates was having people injected with microchips along with their covid vaccinations. The vaccination was far more dangerous than the virus, according to various conspiracy theorists. The current example of rampant stupidity is that megastar Taylor Swift is part of a massive psychological operations plot by the NFL and the Democratic Party to ensure that the 2024 election is won by President Joe Biden. Now, Taylor Swift has encouraged her fans to register to vote, and she did endorse Biden in 2020. But there is no, zero evidence that she is part of some nefarious plot leading up to the 2024 election.

Social media, and its MAGAt pea-brains, are responsible for concocting and spreading this idiocy. They actually believe that covid vaccinations killed more people than did the pandemic. A friend of mine -- an intelligent, well-educated woman -- refused to be vaccinated until she would be guaranteed that the vaccine would make her asthma worse. Guess what? She got covid and was very ill. I have had all recommended vaccinations (five in total), and I'm still alive. And I didn't grow horns. 

People stupid enough to believe this and other conspiracy theories need to have their heads examined. Either our education system has failed abysmally, or the stupidity is more rampant and deeply rooted than we want to believe.

Welcome to the not-United States of Idiocracy!

Let Us Never Forget

This year, for International Holocaust Remembrance Day, I am going to do something different.

Rather than writing about my experiences at Auschwitz I and at Auschwitz-Birkenau, I am going to share some of the images I captured during my in-depth visit to these camps. If it's true that pictures are worth 1,000 words, I hope these images will convey some of the reality of the horrors that took place there in a way words cannot. I am including captions to explain each photo. All photos are copyright Ann Sullivan Nature Photography and are the photographer's intellectual property. Please note that all photos were taken with great respect and in areas where photography was allowed.

Let's begin in Berlin, where the 'final solution to the Jewish question' began.

These so-called stumble stones were place in front of homes where Berlin's Jewish population lived before being deported. The shiny bronze plaques commemorate the victims of the Nazis in some 1,100 locations in 17 countries. Each one lists the name, date of birth, year of deportation, and place of death. I photographed the ones seen here in Berlin, heart of the Nazi terror.

Memorial to the Sinti and Roma murdered by members of National Socialism. Then known as gypsies, as many as 500,000 members of these groups were rounded up and put into concentration camps before being executed.

In this villa in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee, top Nazi officials met in January 1942 to discuss "the final solution to the Jewish question." Representatives of several government ministries, along with members of the SS, attended. After the meeting, attendees enjoyed a nice meal. This building, set on the shore of Lake Wannsee, is now a Holocaust memorial.

Plaques along a no-longer-used train track -- track 17 -- in Berlin note the number of Jews, the date of deportation, and their final destination. This track was used to transport Jews from Berlin to various concentration camps. This plaque indicates that on February 2, 1945, near the end of the war, Nazis were still deporting Jews from Berlin to Ravensbruck and Sachsenhausen. Only 23 Jews were in this shipment, as nearly all of Berlin's Jewish residents had been killed, had fled or were in hiding. Visitors had placed a rose on most of the plaques in memory of the victims of the Nazis. Being there for just a few minutes and remembering what took place there was chilling.

From Berlin, my group traveled by bus to Oswiecim (Auschwitz), Poland.  We stayed in a former monastery a short walk from camp. On the way, we passed train tracks that had been used to deliver millions to the Auschwitz concentration camp.

The following photos are from Auschwitz 1, the original concentration camp. It was originally built as a Polish army barracks. When this camp became full, 49 subcamps were opened. The most famous of them is Auschwitz-Birkenau, a couple of miles away.

Historians believe that around 1.1 million people died in Auschwitz during its 5 years of operation. Around 1 million were Jews, 70,000 to 75.000 were Poles, and about 20,000 were Roma. About 16,000 Soviet POWs and 10-15 thousand prisoners of other ethnic backgrounds (including Czechs, Belorussians, Yugoslavs, French, Germans and Austrians) also died there.

Over the gate to Auschwitz is a sign that reads 'Work will set you free.' The only thing work in the camps did was cause the deaths of countless people forced to work until they died of exhaustion, starvation or disease. Only then did work set them free from the horrors of life at Auschwitz.

Three-tiered beds in one of the buildings at Auschwitz. Multiple people 'slept' on each bed, with possibly a single, thin, lice-infested blanket. Originally designed to hold 700 prisoners, they held as many as 1,200 as the roundups continued.

The campus of the original Auschwitz looks deceptively peaceful. Brick buildings, trees and wide streets gave the impression of a lovely, quiet town. Nothing could be further from the truth. Some of the buildings, known as blocks, hid a variety of kinds of torture, including heinous experimentation.

One of many wooden guard towers at Auschwitz 1, with double electric fences. To the right behind the tower is a reconstruction of the gallows on which prisoners were hanged. Camp commandant Rudolf Hoess was hanged there after the war and his conviction for war crimes.

The home of the camp commandant during most of the war years, Rudolf Hoess, is seen behind one of the guard towers. Hoess and his family, including his five children, lived in the house most of the time Auschwitz was in operation. Camp inmates worked in the house and garden as slaves. The house is still in use to this day.

This suitcase, labeled with its former owner's information, is one of hundreds displayed in the main camp. Conservators work daily to preserve (not to restore) all the items left behind when the camp was liberated by Soviet soldiers. There were suitcases, eyeglasses, toothbrushes, eating and cooking utensils, shoes, toys and many more personal objects.

Crutches, artificial limbs and other devices previously belonging to Jews who were sent to Auschwitz provide a stark reminder of the scope of those who were murdered at the camps. Anyone unable to work due to age, illness or infirmity was sent immediately to the gas chamber.

Empty canisters that held deadly pellets of the cyanide-based pesticide Zyklon B. The pellets were dropped into an air shaft from the building's roof. The pellets turned to gas when exposed to air. Those locked inside the gas chambers suffocated.

Cups and other personal items that belonged to those murdered at Auschwitz. 

Of all the reminders of the people murdered at Auschwitz, this large display case of shoes hit me the hardest. These shoes once belonged to innocent people as they went about their lives. The red shoe in a sea of brown really stands out. It makes me wonder about the person who once wore it. What was she like? Did she like to have fun? Did her red shoes reveal a lively and vivacious person?

The gas chamber and crematorium at Auschwitz 1. Several hundred people could be killed at a time. The Nazis were all about efficiency and maximizing the number of people they could murder at one time. Before operations began, the Nazis experimented to find the most effective chemical agent and to work out the proper method for its use. About 600 Soviet POWs and 250 sick Poles were killed in such experimentation from September 3-5, 1941. The original crematorium was destroyed by the Nazis as the war approached the end. A replica was built in its place. It still holds haunting memories of all those murdered within its walls.

Double rows of electric fences surrounded the camp. Prisoners who could no longer tolerate the inhumane conditions and abuse of the camp staff committed suicide by throwing themselves against the fence. Poison was another popular method of suicide.

Reconstruction of the wall where Auschwitz prisoners were executed by being shot. Known as the 'wall of death,' it saw the execution by SS firing squad of thousands of prisoners, the majority Polish political prisoners. 

The photos that follow were taken at Auschwitz-Birkenau, about 1.2 miles (2 km) from the original Auschwitz death camp. The first image shows the main gate of Birkenau as approached by rail. This train track, in operation from May to October 1944, led to barrack, gas chambers and crematoria. 

Birkenau was the largest of the 40 camps and subcamps in the Auschwitz complex. The camp sat on 346 acres, and included 300 barracks and other buildings, 10 miles of barbed wire, and four gas chambers with crematoria. In August 1944, there were 90,000 prisoners and 908 guards. 

View of the tracks from Birkenau's administrative
offices on the second floor.

One row of wooden barracks as seen from the second floor of the main building.  There were 36 bunks in each barrack, each holding five or six inmates, for more than 500 prisoners in each barrack. There was no insulation from cold or heat, and the roof often leaked.

Barracks for Birkenau prisoners were adapted from a German army horse stable. Designed to hold 51 horses, 
each barrack held more than 400 human prisoners.

Prisoner bathroom. No privacy, no paper, only a couple of minutes at designated times to take care of business on the toilets.

A cattle car like those used to transport Jewish residents from Berlin and other cities to Auschwitz sits on a track. Each locked and windowless car held up to 150 prisoners, so packed together there was only room to stand. Prisoners were given no food or water during the journey, which could take days.

Personal items on display at Auschwitz-Birkenau. The personal nature of these items really brought home the individuality of the prisoners. Someone once wore these boots and carried this suitcase. The victims were so much more than mere numbers.

A memorial candle, flowers and ribbon rest on the remains of Birkenau's infamous gas chamber and crematorium 5. It was destroyed by the Nazis toward the end of the war in an attempt to remove traces of their crimes against humanity.

This is the death barrack, where women deemed too sick to work were sent to await their deaths. They waited without food or water, often for several days. Many died as they awaited their trip to the gas chamber. When the barrack was full, additional prisoners selected by the SS for death were kept outside in a locked yard surrounded by brick walls.

At the conclusion of our extensive tour of Auschwitz-Birkenau on a cold, rainy and somber day, I was wandering around and noticed that someone had placed flowers on the train tracks that took so many to their deaths. The main gate of the camp looms in the background directly ahead of the main track.

A strand of barbed wire, a brick building, a light and a 'block' (or building) number symbolize the terror that was Auschwitz 1.

Thank you for reading this lengthy blog post. My visits to Auschwitz and Birkenau were both incredibly enlightening and horrifying. As the threat of fascism and anti-Semitism increase both in the US and in much of Europe, I hope that learning about the horrors perpetrated by the Nazis and other fascists will encourage people to be aware of its dangers and work to stop its spread. Sometimes photos tell more than mere words can.

Momma's Here!

I don't know what brought this about, but I had a most unusual thought the other day.

Somewhere between being asleep and awake one early morning, I was envisioning myself on my death bed, and wondering what my final words would be. And then I knew.

"Benny!!! Momma's here!" Those are what I imagined and hoped would be my final words as I leave this life.

These words will mean that my best boy, Benny, who died last summer, will be there to greet me at the Rainbow Bridge. It will mean that he and I, and my other dogs, will get to spend eternity together. Benny, never a dominant dog, will lead the pack as it rushes to me.

This doesn't mean I have received a devastating medical diagnosis, or that I plan to move to the next stage of my life any time soon. It simply means that I miss Benny so very much I miss him more than I have ever missed any of the 14 dogs I have adopted.  I still call my newest dog, Jett, by Benny's name from time to time without realizing.

So I hope that when the time comes, whenever that is, I will be greeted by this happy face, wagging tail and short legs running into my arms with all the speed he can muster.

Until then, I will miss him every day. 

Until we meet again, Mr. Ben.

Strangers No More

This is the time of year when I change the batteries in my four smoke detectors. 

Changing batteries is a task that is not difficult, but I’m not a fan of climbing on a ladder and trying to balance myself while I struggle to replace the batteries. Every year I have taken care of this simple chore myself … Until this year. This year, as I stood on the ladder looking up at the smoke detector on the ceiling and trying to reattach it to the short cable (my smoke detectors are all hard-wired into the house's electrical system, with battery back-up), I decided that I wasn’t comfortable doing this. If I fell, there would be no one in the house to help me. That was a risk I wasn't prepared to take.

So I decided to ask for help, something not easy for me, or for most people, to do. I put a message on NextDoor to see if somebody would change the batteries for me. I had new batteries, and I have a stepladder. All I needed was somebody to actually change the batteries.

I quickly got a response from a few people offering to help. I certainly wouldn’t have minded paying someone a reasonable amount for this service. But then I got a response from a woman named Amy who said she would change the batteries at no charge. What a nice surprise that was!

I got in touch with her, and she and one of her daughters, who is learning to drive, soon arrived at my house. I had asked her to give me a minute to get my dogs into the backyard before I let the people into the house, as my dogs get overly excited when we get company. But she said not to worry about it, because she has a couple of very excitable dogs as well.

She quickly replaced the batteries and reattached one of the smoke detectors. Somehow we started talking about photography, she asked what I like to photograph, and I replied that my most favorite subjects are African wildlife. So I showed my guests my favorite leopard photo, as well as one of elephants and a cheetah peering into the back of our safari vehicle, all of the photos hanging on a wall in my office.

She said I should hold onto her phone number in case I need help with any other small things around the house. She has five teens and young adults living in her house, and either she or one of them would be happy to help. I think she is doing a great job of raising kind young adults. When she introduced her daughter to me, the teen quickly reached out to shake my hand.

Amy is setting a great example for her children how to be a good person and to help people, even strangers, with no expectation of anything in return.

I texted Amy my thanks (I also thanked her a couple of times while she was here). She replied that "We are ... neighbors, and we aren't strangers any more. It just seemed silly to have to pay someone for something so quick! And we got to see photos of leopards and elephants and those big cat eyes, which made my day." The cat eyes belonged to a cheetah sitting on the spare tire and peering into the safari vehicle in which I was riding.

In a world so filled with hate, greed and selfishness, it did my old heart good to see that there are people who are willing to help others.

The Clock Is Ticking

 The clock is ticking.

We all know that our time on this planet is limited. Most of us don't dwell on that fact, but sometimes something happens to remind us.

I am at the age where I no longer need an external reminder. My vision isn't what it used to be. I have arthritis that flares up often, causing pain in my fingers. I don't have the strength or the stamina I once had. I don't have the energy I used to have.

And then Tina Turner died. She was older than I am, but still, she died. She had high blood pressure that caused a stroke and that damaged her kidneys. Tina Turner, with her hundreds of millions of dollars and worldwide acclaim, died of maladies that afflict many people. Her money and her fame couldn't save her.

My blood pressure has been a bit high recently, so I made an appointment with my doctor.  I now take a daily pill to control it. I also take a daily pill to lower my cholesterol. 

So yes, the clock is ticking. I have more years behind me than ahead of me.

But I'm not focused on the past. And I'm not focused on what may lie ahead. Instead, I try to focus on what I want to do with whatever time I have left. I want to do as much as I can in the time I have left. I want to travel as much as I can afford to. I want to do as much photography as I can. I want to help make the world a better place by donating to causes most important to me.

And really, that is all any of us can do. Live life with no regrets.