Good Night!

Good night and God bless you Mrs. Robinson-el where ever you may be.

Calling Me a Hero Only Makes You Feel Better

I work in a grocery store. All this grandiose praise rings insincere.

Working in a grocery store has earned me and my co-workers a temporary status. After years of being overlooked, we suddenly feel a sense of responsibility, solidarity, and pride......

.....I’m grateful to be acknowledged for the risky work we’re doing. Being in an environment where morale is up despite global uncertainty is encouraging. But I have a problem with all this hero talk. It’s a pernicious label perpetuated by those who wish to gain something—money, goods, a clean conscience—from my jeopardization.......

.....I fear that many of my co-workers are so high on recognition and glorification, they can’t see the real danger they’re in......

Cashiers and shelf-stockers and delivery-truck drivers aren’t heroes. They’re victims. To call them heroes is to justify their exploitation. By praising the blue-collar worker’s public service, the progressive consumer is assuaged of her cognitive dissonance. When the world isn’t falling apart, we know the view of us is usually as faceless, throwaway citizens.......

.....I have immense gratitude for my job. I love my co-workers like family. I respect the company that has employed me......

......I can't speak for every occupation, but for supermarket cashiers, I think the best way you can show your respect is by not showing up at all. Minimize your shopping outings, and make them quick and efficient. Please save the small talk for next year. And I beg of you, don't call my co-workers heroes as you wait for them to bag your carrot-cake muffins and face serum. They would trade places with you if they could.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/04/i-work-grocery-store-dont-call-me-hero/610147/?utm_source=pocket-newtab

A Poem For Lucy

You Reap What You Sow

But, you want others to rescue you from the weeds and briers of your decisions.

Generally speaking, humans are born with free will and a capacity to learn right from wrong, good from evil and, hot from cold; how many times did you have to be instructed not to touch the burner on the stove when it is ignited – probably just once.

There is an individual who is very close to me who has ran their health into the ground because of a conscious decision that they continued to make after being made aware and, also seeing the consequences of not changing their path. Instead of throwing you a rope, I dived in head-first to trying save you.

Life is tenuous, nothing is guaranteed. People must look at their circumstances and decide what is best for the moment and, what is better for the long run. I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know, I’ve been there at many forks-in-the-road and, I did not always choose the correct one but, I did accept full responsibilities for my actions; others have not.

Twenty-five years ago, our paths diverged, I was on a mission to save loved ones, I took the steeped climb up from the bottom while, you choose to wallow around in the mud. Sure, there were half efforts on your part (not of your own volition) to change but, you did not prevail and continued the downward digging of your hole.

You now find yourself clinging to the last rungs of the Ladder of Life, you have played all the cards in your deck and, you don’t want to be alone in the final chapter of this story; you were never alone. For the entire existence of this issue, you have dragged us behind you; we have all suffered through your trials and tribulations.

You call on the phone, sobbing and distressed at your circumstances; you shredded our emotions with your tears but, where were your own tears when you were destroying your health, relationships and, finances? It was all foolishness and finger-popping until now.

We are there for you, but we will not allow ourselves to be dragged further down this dead-end road.

Signed,

Those who care for you.

Hello Snowflakes

DISINFORMATION CAUSES BRAIN DAMAGE

MAYBE DO A LITTLE RESEARCH BEFORE YOU POST

Incapable of forming an independent opinion, those lacking in critical thinking skills allow others to manipulate their reality with specious claims and rhetoric that, they willingly accept at face value; my brother-from-another-mother has fallen into that trap.

Please forgive me for digressing but, there was a time when true knowledge was peer reviewed and written in books by scholarly individuals; these books still exist in libraries today but, the bulk of the population obtains its news and knowledge from the Internet, a medium that is open to anyone with a cell phone and one half of a brain. Disregarding the fact that we have made exponential progress in Technology, the addition of poorly educated masses to the mix has lowered the “Global Intelligence Quotient”.

One of my high school alumni is on a Social Media platform proselytizing and posting disinformation with regards to the upcoming elections in November of 2020; certainly, he has the rights to Freedom of Speech but, at the same time he opens his mouth or types content onto a page, he sets himself up for criticism and he is asked to defend his position; he cannot do it without gleaning the Internet for a quote to substantiate his position.

When confronted, he retreats and complains that he is being treated rudely and that the dialogue is uncivil. Well, in the era of tRumpism, all I can say is, “Buck-up Snowflake” because what we have here is a Frankenstein Monster of your own GOP creation; what used to be referred to as, “The American way” is now reviled world-over, our former allies can no longer depend on America for a stable foreign policy and, half of our citizenry is engaged in a cultural war with the other half.

It’s time for the country to reject tRumpism, the horse he rode in on and, the horse droppings that are now known as the Republican Party.