In the paper today, there is a quote from Margaret Thatcher…..”One of the great problems of our age is that we’re governed by people who care more about feelings than they do about thoughts and ideas”…..
I will add that it seems we are also veering from our values due to the sensitivity of our friends, kids, jobs, churches, and our own cravings. Hey! There is nothing wrong with saying “no”. There is nothing wrong with saying, “this is not right”. There is nothing wrong with saying “yes, we can get away with it, but no, it’s not right”. There is nothing wrong with saying “YOU ARE WRONG” when your values, morals, and ethics scream inside your brain.
When did we start going down this path? Did our little kiddies pull the wool over our eyes when we were vulnerable? Shame on us…Did our friends manipulate us into believing they would walk if we didn’t go along with the opinions and even their actions?
Now go look in the mirror……..Did you fall for it? If so…..shame on you!
Keep looking in that mirror and make a plan to make a change….starting now, not after you go to the game and yell obscenities, not after finance committee meeting concerning balancing the budget, not after you snicker at the less fortunate, not after you cheat on your taxes, but NOW!
ATTENTION…….morals, values, and ethics have not been modified to fit our lifestyle….I don’t care what the kids say……
BOTTOM LINE…….make the change…..be at the head of the line…..stand tall…
Here we are, bumping along. There are ‘up’ days, ‘medium’ days, (normal) and ‘down days’. (Really all three are normal, right) So here we are, bumping along, and then……there we go. Exit bumping. Exit normal days. Exit life..we’re dead!
Now what shall become of us…..woulda, coulda, shoulda thoughts ‘should’a’ occurred prior to the ‘exit’ sign above us, but sometimes our ducks are not just ‘all in a row’, if you know what I mean.
Wait, what about that little card? I had that somewhere…dang where is it, my wallet, my purse, my top left drawer in the bedroom, with my passport, dang!
Well, not to worry now……as in ‘Elvis has exited……”. But, for the sake of this article, you do (or did) have that nice card. This card is way past nice, it is the best of the best, the cat’s meow, the Taj Mahal, lotto, and more. “Why”, you ask? Simple……If you only have one kidney that works, if you are blind, if your liver is shot, if your heart only pumps because of a machine, or heavy medication, this little card will be all the above and more.
You, the one newly exited, offer the gift of life, with this little card. People and organizations world-wide have come together to offer those in need, a new chance at life, and you, my friend, are the integral part. It is you who have, at one time, usually when you renewed your driver’s license, made the choice to donate your useful organs. Of course, at that time, death was at least 10 light years away, so it was not thought about prayerfully, but now!!!!!…….as you move on to the beautiful place you chose….that decision made in life is making life for others possible.
The stuff worked for you while you had it and needed it, but now, it is surplus. For that child needing a new kidney, it is beyond words. For the soldier, blind from serving his country, it is the open door to life and work and family. For these thankful recipients, it is not surplus, it is opportunity………
Creation, flawless as it is, is sometimes hard for us humans to understand. I know we all have different opinions when it comes to creation, and this discussion is not about that…..Mother Nature has pretty well put together how things work, the sun, the seasons, the temperature, the chloroform idea, the magnetic field, and on and on. I know there are a few forms of life we question when they over run our picnic tables, or swallow a deer whole, but since I wasn’t called on at the time of ‘making stuff’, I should be happy that I don’t have more or less anything.
But every now and then, I walk into sadness. I know, we all have families, and friends who have passed, or have a certain type of chronic illness, but at least, as humans, we have the ability to communicate our sorrow, our understanding, and our help.
My sadness comes for those, I can’t communicate with. I know animals die in the forest, I know plants wither, but when it happens en mass, it is striking to the heart. On the beaches of south Florida, this time of year, the fighting conches are mating and dying. They are wonderful little ‘people’ who spend their lives int he Gulf of Mexico. They come in all sizes, shapes, and colors, and have a ‘foot claw’ that helps them move along in the sand. They aren’t scary and don’t bite or sting or spit. They are just wonderful little beings.
They become more human when you see them look up at you with their little telescopic eyes….they stick out of their shell, one on each side, and watch. Their eyes are on the end of the long telescopes…it is so cool!
Laws supposedly prohibit anyone from taking more than two live shells per day from the gulf…….right….. we could fill the local jails with people who bag these creatures by the hundreds …..and then are appalled at anyone who tells them to put the little guys back. Another story….another time.
So now is the time of the year when the conchs come to mate. I repeat, I know life and death are certain, but it causes one to pause when low tide uncovers the dead and dying by the thousands. They leave us for their hereafter, and it doesn’t happen quickly…..Mother Nature steps in to see that their remains are taken care of by the local birds and hermit crabs. Admittedly, she has thought of everything, in spite of our doubts, but the whole thing is just hard to watch. I am part of the cleanup committee too. Their colorful shells are carefully cleaned and used for decoration, crafts, and sent to schools where little ones learn about the sea.
All I’m say’in is, dang, when you are hit in the face with thousands of anything dying, it should have an effect on you. How we treat our fellow-man, how we treat our earth, and how we should care for every creature with love and respect, should cross our minds each time we walk around a life and not on it.
Handling sickness and death with love and compassion…..whether it is your friend, your pet, or the fighting conch is something we should strive for. Although we cannot change migration without dire consequences, we can feed those who are hungry and care for those who are alone and afraid.
Little eyes are little eyes, no matter who they belong to…….
The little one next door (1 1/2 yrs) doesn’t mind a an imperfect cookie…or fudge with a few ‘chewies’…..his eyes sparkle as he holds out his little hand for a cookie corner.It is the simple things that make us continue to wonder, isn’t it. There truly is joy in the smallest of things. We must merely open our eyes and hearts.
been bak’in……mexican wedding cakes, choc.chip cookies, and fudge (did you know the little mini morsals do NOT completely melt?) Needless to say I didn’t…..just tell’in everyone chopped nutss!!!
Hard to get the lights in place, so large plastic ornaments (red of course) do the job. (and I do mean large)…goes great with the filament tree inside….straight from Michaels 6 years ago. I’m ready!
Friends….they come in all sizes, shapes, colors, and years. I find in my case, most of my friends, didn’t start out day 1 being, what I call, a ‘friend’. I knew them in grade school. Their desk was beside mine. It didn’t matter if they were male or female. Either we clicked in second grade, or we didn’t. Maybe we shared recess and that was all…..never knowing anything else about each other. It wasn’t really important, was it? Maybe we played musical instruments together in the band….remember those ‘flute’ things we all started on…..before choosing the ‘instrument of choice’. Maybe we walked to school together and then went our separate ways to different classes. I remember how we would meet “at the corner’ and share our lives, as we knew them, til we got to school. Yes, we did walk to school, a mile one way, and we came home for lunch too. How wonderful it was, and still is, to grow up in a small town.
My grade school friends have become my life long friends……there were birthday parties, slumber parties, and chili suppers, and basketball games. We marched together in the band on the coldest of football Fridays, and sweat up a storm in the July 4th Parade.
In our neighborhood we had all ages of friends….some were 5 years younger and some were 5 years older. We all had come to the neighborhood at the same time when the little National Homes were being built in the early 50’s. Everyone had younger brothers and sisters, who were definitely in the way, so we girls had our private times sitting on the curb under the street light, taking walks around the block, sitting under the maple trees catching lightning bugs, and laying on a blanket underneath the stars before the dew fell.
From late spring til late fall we played ‘kick the can’ until our parents called us in…..or in my case, rang the bell. My mother had a school bell and we all knew that when the bell rang, that ment ‘come home and come home now!’ I think if someone would ring a school bell now, at age 68, I would suddenly become 12 again.
Later on the friendships seemed to solidify, and we all felt comfortable venturing outside our town to Girl Scout Camp for 2 weeks and then to church camp for a week where we met ‘boys’. I don’t know who was the most scared. Oh, thank goodness for friends.
As I continued on this journey, thru school, and jobs, and marriage, and kids, and divorce, etc, etc…..there are many acquaintances who have come and gone. The neighborhood I grew up in, transformed to the first apartment, and then house I shared with 4 other girls. My marriage brought me to a new town with our first home, and, as if in some large orderly plan, a friendly street, where my children would come to repeat the process. And so it goes.
My Christmas card list is full of friends. Even today there are those I meet who may become part of this precious list. As I address each card, thoughts of how we came to share our lives, some by mere coincidence, come to mind. Our babies are long gone, our work in the Jaycees, long forgotten, our church suppers and Sunday school teaching, turned over to the young adults, but our friendship, our memories, our defeats, and our successes, remain as bright and clear as if it were yesterday.
Friends…….I am so blessed they came to enrich my life….
Pitures in the local paper this AM….shows young teens and adults standing beside the dead deer they shot..They even hold the face up as it hangs….who is the animal here?
seriouslyscorpio 