How we reframe the precipice

We all live on a  precipice. It is just a matter of definition.

Today my mind is hanging out on that rocky cliff, looking down, wondering if the precipice is really up  here, looking down, or  (in here), walking upright, my  brain limited to the input of my five senses, and a tiny little corner, isolated (but at times powerful), whispering, "there is more, Connie, there is more than the daily civilities of life, the repeat patterns, the selfish tailgater, the banalities of daily living."

We re frame so much in our lives to fit the images projected by various mediums of what is normal.

Normal is banalities. Normal is mediocre. Normal is what people do when they follow-normal is comfortable, acceptable, likable and fluffy.

Humans crave likeness. Humans cringe at different. The toothless, homeless man begging on the street. The wheel chaired young woman with twisted, disfigured legs. Those humans creating conflict by asking hard questions about subjects which have no easy answers. We squirm, we apple pie a la mode the issue and burn the conflicted, questioning, human at the emotional stake, using nice methods of course.

Our own precipice hides in our mind as fears. Fear of losing a job, a loved one, status, money, reputation,-we all own something. 

Today, my precipice is in sight. I am hanging on the rock asking myself uncomfortable questions-which have no easy answers-or solutions. I am looking over that rock and wondering if it so easy to re frame one's precipice, or are we, at some point, required to face it?

War and the big "little people" who fight it

Face it, war is fought on the backs of our brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, babysitters, high school sweethearts, moms, dads, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, ...with courage, with conviction, with loyalty and dedication and faith in our country.

I was a US Army soldier during the Vietnam War. A time when the draft compelled men to service in Vietnam for a year based on a magic number. So many men, sent to die, in a country which did not invite us to intervene-my cousin, a boyfriend, classmates, -

On Memorial Day I remember all the men I worked with in Europe,  boy  soldiers, sent to Vietnam, good boys not always believing in the war but believing in our country.

It is what compels young men and women to join today-believing in the United States. Young adults fight our wars for us. Mostly young and poor, or without the means to pay for college or learn a trade-these are the hopeful -signing up to have a shot at something more than a job at Wal-Mart or 7-11.

It is not the rich, educated, politically connected fighting our wars for us. Dick Cheney, Rumsfeld, Bush-never saw a day of service to our country-let alone immersion in a foreign country where the very citizens help plant bombs to kills those who believe they are there to protect them.

From a woman's perspective war seems like such a waste. Killing other humans? I wonder when we might have a world that the very idea is so barbaric, so uncivilized, so repulsive, it is only referred to in historic terms?

I think I can speak for women when I say those who go to war are not anonymous bodies-trained and decked out by a political system who considers "casualties" a term, one not to be shown  as tangible and physically real-on TV or in the media.

These men and women are our babies. They are our first and second graders, missing teeth, learning to ride a bike-

they are our  young adults holding that high school diploma-knowing parents pride float their way to the podium to pick it up.

Those bodies, hidden from the TV cameras, caskets, not acknowledged in the media anymore, as if the killings don't exist, perhaps alluding to the "death toll" as if it were some byproduct of war-

those bodies of dead soldiers-those bodies are still our babies, our family members, those we love so much the hole left in our hearts feels unbearable to carry-

Vietnam was honest.

No the war was a lie-as this war is-predicated on lies from leaders we so badly want to believe have some form of goodness in them for the sake of our children-

but the media was ruthless about ensuring every American knew and could  see the price we were paying for the war, Bombings, napalm, body bags, massacres-the media laid it out-bare naked-and it is what shook us-like rag dolls-from our stupor-to say NO MORE-

Today, as we honor the death of so many of our babies, no media, no tv, no newspaper is the conscience of our nation-

none 

Americans don't see and  feel the pain of war-like a video game-it  all seems   so pretend-so men and women die each day they die, and thousands of Americans go about their business-did you think about the war yesterday?-last week?. A month ago?

This is not a courageous war-from American citizens at home--almost as if it doesn't exist-unless the death call is at your front door-ringing the bell, standing in uniform-for the last and final news of the your baby-and I  am shamed we do not pay attention

to the deaths of our babies-ashamed and anguished.

Gov. Gibbons mowed down by citizens caustic wit

Gibbons Insulted by President Obama's refusal to meet with him. hahaha

I have to hand it to you, Nevadans, when it comes to sarcasm, acerbic wit and go for the throat comments, you are the best! There is something about that libertarian bent from the southern portion of the dry wilderness that cuts anyone's nonsense off at the Hoover Dam Pass-

once again, in response to the not-wit- of the nit-wit  Gov. Gibbons , your comments had me laughing so loud my cats ran for cover.

Here are the best of the best

you're kidding, right? wrote on May 18, 2009 04:03 PM:Gibbons is a bad on Nevada the same way Bush was a bad joke on the country.
He should just lay low until his term ends and then scurry out of town like a lost rat. 

LuvGuv meeting with the most important man on the planet? Yeah, rightdan wrote on May 18, 2009 03:58 PM:Gibbons better stick to married Reno women for his 'meetings'. 

President Obama has more important things to attend to than helping to prop up a failed governor with 15% approval ratings.

GOP wrote on May 18, 2009 03:47 PM:Well even Bush and McCain wouldn't meet with Gibbons last year. The top Republicans in the state and nation want nothing to do with him. Gibbons must be very lonely if he wants to meet President Obama.

Hopefully the GOP can oust the lame duck in the primary.

Waste of... wrote on May 18, 2009 03:43 PM:...time for President Obama to meet with a dog. Didn't he just get one

scary jim wrote on May 18, 2009 03:32 PM:Jim Gibbons is a creep. Why would anyone want to "meet" with him

ames wrote on May 18, 2009 03:14 PM:Of course President Obama won't meet with our embarrassing governor. 
Jimmy a low-life misfit while the president is the most popular person in the worldD

an wrote on May 18, 2009 03:08 PM:If Gibbons wasn't such a complete idiot Obama would meet with him. 

Think of it this way, if you were president would you want to meet with "I'llTextUAtMidnite" Gibbons? 
'Nuf said.

Same Gibbons wrote on May 18, 2009 02:34 PM:"Gibbons said he was disappointed that Obama isn't making an effort to "repair the damage" done by his comment in February that corporations shouldn't use bailout funds for trips to Las Vegas or the Super Bowl or to get corporate jets." 
Is this the same Gibbons that refused the FED money for unemployment benefits? 
So Gibbons is all for spending the money supplied by other tax payers of the USA. 
The real reason Obama will not meet with Gibbons is because he would be unable to control his laughter at the luv guv.hannon wrote on May 18, 2009 02:23 PM:Oh, please. Gibbons knows darn well that Obama has nothing to do with the drop in tourism. He also shouldn't be surprised by the fact that Obama doesn't have time for him, particularly after his "invitation" to come talk to him. 

1. President Obama is coming to Las Vegas later this month for a political fundraiser, but he will not help the struggling families in Las Vegas and Nevada who are out of work because of his reckless comments." ????Wake up ZERO, he does not want to meet with YOU! Very few would waste their time and energy to meet with you. This has nothing to do with his care for those in Las Vegas or Nevada being out of work.

   You played games with the stimulus money - said you did not want it and then took it. You are the one who brought negative change to Nevada, you have lied to us over and over again.Resign please.

2. 1. By VegasbikeCan someone remind who this Jim Gibbons is?I thought sum zero only met with cocktail waitresses, when he was not texting his girlfriends on state time.Have to say he is the most entertaining gov. in the country. Rather listen to him that watch the Grand old Opera.

He really is a country song. And a bad one at that.

1.  Ms Kate5/18/09 at 3:59 p.m.Gibbons has no credibility as a governor or even as a human. He is an embarrassment to the State of Nevada; how he was elected is anyones' guess.

1. If anything, the President shows good taste and common sense in not meeting with Gibbons. Gibbons makes Blago look like a rank amateur

   Thank-you, "Have no mercy, take no prisoners". Las Vegans! 
   

Scarecrow asks, "Which Way?"

Which Way? Good question. I liked life better when I was younger and thought I had most of the answers. As I get older the answers aren't always so clear. The best decision seems to be the best answer. Not believing it is always the right decision, just the best one for the situation.

From Outhouse to Handsanitizer...

What a transformation! With progress and technology contributing to our modern but simple mindsets,  Americans have developed a certain zeal for cleanliness.

Outhouses no longer grace our landscape but we do the modern version, "the portapotty"- commonly used at major civic and regional one time events.

Yesterday as I entered a public restroom in St Augustine, Florida, my brain commented on the fact no toilet seat covers caught my right peripheral vision. I wondered if it was a cost saving decision and I would now enter stalls with seats completely covered in toilet paper(the old method) to protect those zealously guarded and precious portions of our  human anatomy exposed to the elements.

My brain wandered further. How did we get from outhouses to hand sanitizers? From washing hands to antibacterial soaps and face masks?

How did we develop a religious fervor and reverence for antibiotics-to a point where we seek out and learn the symptoms which compel a Physician to write the words for that golden elixir?

Researchers have discovered a great deal about the amazing human body. How it protects against germs, how it develops antibodies once a germ has coursed our system. How it can even alter these antibodies to meet the sneaky germs, masked as old germs.

Our systems are in such sync  -much  like a virus scorching  computer program, it created sleep. Sleeping allows the body to run full scans of our system and also provide healing power for our bodies, made vulnerable after much abuse.

Germs are not new. New strains of  flu virus are not  either. In fact our immune system at one time was much hardier-prior to modern medicine. Everyone knew a fever was one method of fighting germs. An old time Doctor once told me to allow a fever to run its course with my kids. Tamping down the fever with medication often slowed the process of recovery because the immune system could not function properly.

Media sensationalism is the deadliest virus I know. It creates panic, hostility, places the human nervous system on alert, stresses other physical systems and weakens the positive synchronization / harmony of one of the greatest, amazing, perfect systems known to scientists-the human body.

Too bad we humans don't trust it.

OMG!! 80's fashion -save us from the MULLET!!

Oh My Gawd! The valley girl is back! Big Hair!

Leggings! Jelly bracelets!

The mullet!

The MULLET!

Please save us from our past fashion horrors!

Now I know the mullet has never left  the nether regions of the US

Take Florida for example, home of the mega southern baptist church-  with full orchestra, inventors of the large screen for singing christian songs otherwise words unknown.. and -voila-a mens Capella group comprised of , what else-all the southern baptist ministers replete with required mullet hairdos!!

Kinda takes ya back-eh?

-Jimmy Swaggert, et.al

Enjoy! 

Thirty  years later, we get to be, you know, like, um, Madonna--OMG!

Thanks, Social Security--future baglady

Welcome to the new generation of bag ladies-those 25 plus year single working women, victims of the gleeful corporations slashing retirement benefits (because they can-"times are tough"), 401K's placed in the hands of the "investment counselors"(lovingly sponsored by the workplace), now dangerously near poverty in the retirement years.

What are the consequences of Social Security shortfalls?

Interesting question.

I have news for the government-Baby Boomer retirements are just beginning.

Screw Wall Street, banks, auto manufacturers and newspapers.

You better have a little file in your computer with my name on it and  one of those poverty stricken looking checks in there unless you want my new residence to be the White House lawn, shopping cart, pets, Coleman stove , portapotty  clothesline, and the sixteen garbage bags of junk (from my former life) I just couldn't give up.