Stand by your fellow woman

The July 9, 2009 Boston Globe had "The cheat sheet" in the "g" section with a list of the latest men in public positions who had had affairs. Having survived a similar experience led me to a feeling of dismay that women do not have more honor and respect for one another. It seems many even lure men into an affair with no regard for the man's marriage and the harm it will do to his wife or children or his position in life. That is sad. I wish women had more values, and that if they work with or encounter a man they find attractive, they would respect and honor his marriage or commitment even if he doesn't. Do you really want someone who would hurt the very people he has made vows and commitments to? What kind of man is that?

Rather, be the one who says to the man, "You are not free and if you have no morals, I do and will not participate in this." To stand by other women and have honor and decency - is this possible?

(Note:  This was a letter I had written to the Boston Globe and it was published in 2009.)

Occasionally I will be posting poems I have written on my Facebook page - so thought I would also post them in my blog as well.  Here are two of them so far - both haiku:

     Ice Storm

Winter's work of art,

Glass trees wake in morning sun,

Please handle with care.

   Jelly Bean Trees

Easter candies sprout

shining brightly in the sun

in jelly bean trees.

VETERANS' DAY THOUGHTS 

This is a special day set aside to honor and remember Veterans. Sure could have fooled me!  Sales, specials, you name it - all trying to profit from this special day.  Capitalism has found yet another way to make money, allegedly honoring Veterans.  Hopefully some of the events and honors will help out Veterans but so much seems to be hype as a cover for sales.

I'm a Veteran but have a hard time seeing myself as one because I never served during any war. Is a Veteran in peacetime still a Veteran? 

When the Air Force found out I could type, they made me a clerk typist!  Wow - isn't that something! I actually managed to answer the aptitude testing such that it showed I'd have been great for some training or skill - but nope - I could type and they needed typists at the time. The needs of the service come first! When my 3 years was just a couple months shy of the full 36 months, they had an overage of typists so I was released early.  Guess they wanted to save money or something.

So I've never felt like a Veteran - yeah, I wore the uniform and went thru basic training and marched a time or two - marched in D.C. for President Eisenhower's 2nd inauguration - stood at parade rest so long my feet went numb when we were finally ordered to march.

I've had the privilege of meeting and getting to know some Veterans who did serve during various wars and military actions - some are my neighbors where I live now. I also have a very long-term friend on the opposite coast of the US who has gone missing lately so I don't know if he is still living. He served in Vietnam.  Tim and I shared letters during his time in Vietnam and the following poem came from this time:

Christmas in Vietnam

On a hill -

There is a sign saying

"Peace on Earth"

It stands out

In the dark;

While from the chapel

Comes beautiful

Christmas music -

At the same time,

Guns are firing,

Bombs exploding,

And aircraft

Roaring down the runway.

LONG TIME GONE

Somehow I stopped posting here but I'm back today - August 20, 2015.  For some reason I've been reading books related to desertification and a sixth extinction on planet Earth. The descriptions are dire. The news is filled with Climate Change (is it or isn't it) (man-made or natural). It hurts to see how little heed is given to all this. It hurts to know there are people somewhere going without food while here in the US obesity is a problem.  Water is becoming increasingly critical as drought leads to wildfires through much of California and even in Alaska - who'd a thought Alaska could burn like this!

There is some attention being given to Climate Change - great topic for politics - but will the attention lead to real action and will it be enough or in time?

Don't Buy the Dark Stuff

I was in my car today stopped at a stop light where my attention was drawn to the closing of a road that crosses the railroad tracks in town, so when the light turned green I didn’t move out instantly. The vehicle behind me gave an annoying beep of its horn a few times, even after I had started going and my delay was not THAT long. Caught up by the annoyance of being beeped at in excess of the situation I felt my own anger rising and was tempted to drive really, really slow or maybe even sort of tap my brakes a few times – you know, the get back thing but it was a passing thought – not an action. I realized that to do anything negative (getting back) was taking on that person’s annoyance or anger and buying into it which was really pretty stupid. If s/he wanted to feel that way, that was his/her problem but I didn’t have to buy into it or accept it. I felt a sort of weight lift, and continued my drive home lighter and free of the dark stuff.

I wonder if this process – of not “buying” into negativity that another was expressing can stay with me and be in effect for all kinds of things that upset me – anger me - scare me – to go through the rest of my life just not buying this dark stuff.

What is "life"?

I wonder when/if we will figure out what “life” is? I had the thought the other day that everything is trying to be. The thing of it is, it is trying to be what it is. We humans try to figure out what we will be, i.e., “what do you want to be when you grow up?” This “being” is usually referring to an occupation, “I want to be a doctor or a fireman or a mom or a pilot.” The list is endless. The little bunny in my yard doesn’t think that way – it is too busy just being. Sometimes I think my pet birds try to be people, like when they want me to walk with them, deliberately not going under the kitchen table so they can walk around it with me so maybe they can conceive of “being” in a way similar to how we humans see it. But if you take it down to the microscopic level, the bacteria, germs and viruses – they too are trying to just be. It’s too bad their “being” means making us sick but they are not trying to do that – they just are “being”. And even the more inanimate things in the world we can perceive, the trees are just being trees, rocks being rocks. So life is not what we are being. Life is that we be. Can it ever be absent? Gone? If our body dies, there are still all the cells and chemicals it is composed of continuing to be, though they transform. Hmm – come to think of it, when they do transform (decay), they become more an individual being, separate. Together they are part of a body. If one plays with that idea, all the myriad life forms of just planet earth, is this one molecule of something so big we can’t really grasp it? Could the galaxy be one small part of some vast and huge “being”? 

Goodbye Ginger

This is Ginger Bird. Despite the name, Ginger is very much a he. He died on August 23, 2012. Arrived here in June of 2007. Only 5 years for a very big presence. Some things words just don’t quite hold – words could never hold a bird. They can be about a bird. There is something magical about living with birds in a situation where they are free to fly and join you or not. Ginger liked to sit on my head. Especially when I was working – sitting here transcribing medical reports. Don’t know if he did it to be “top bird” or he liked me or it kept his feet warm – whatever, the effect was precious.

When he came I had 3 other birds, all cockatiels, Billy, Jockey and Tori. We lost Billy Bird in August of 2010. Seems August is a tough month for birdies! Turns out it takes 3 birds at least to be a flock – 2 birds are just a pair – so much less than 3.

When Ginger came, Tori had never whistled a note in his life – and he learned from Ginger. Now he jabbers in bird jabber and whistles like a human – memories of Ginger lingering on. Ginger also taught Tori and Jock how to be good birdies and go in their cages each night because he insisted on it and insisted on being covered up too.

One of the cutest things they would do is walk. Here are these creatures who can fly beautifully and instead would choose to walk the length of the house – all 3 of them. Ginger always wanted me to walk with him in the afternoon when I would be sitting and knitting – he’d come stand by my chair, head cocked looking up at me – totally irresistible – so I’d get up and follow behind him, into the kitchen with him making sure he went around the kitchen table because he knew I could not go under. I often wondered if he was being a “person” when he did this. 

We really miss him, Tori, Jockey and me.  But more than missing, we remember Ginger – we remember everything about him, how special he was and always will be in our hearts and memories.