FLY THE FLAG - Bah

I got this email; a chain email really, saying I should make it my duty to display the American flag on September 11th this year.

BAH

How does it honor families to wave a flag? Is losing 3000 people to terrorism bad? Sure. But why should I promote my country more because people died?

How about we honor the families by lighting a candle? Or perhaps finding a desktop theme showing the world trade center...

Or how about this? How about people pick a day to NOT speed? In 2004, 13,192 lives were lost due to speed-related accidents. This is happening every year people. Why don't we remember that first before we start remembering some terrorist attack that happened once five years ago.

If you ask me if we are going to do something to remember 9/11, maybe we should spend the day pondering why it is that certain individuals are fanatic enough to exchange themselves for a building? I'm sick to death of "because they are crazy" or "because they hate us." Neither of these answers are sufficient. Neither of these helps prevent these kinds of attacks in the future. Maybe the president is right to take over countries with fanatic friendly leaders, but I'm not going to go all ga ga over America simply because some people died. I abhor that in our mourning that some people are so manipulative or desparate as to use the death of individuals as a political rally call to promote the status quo of the nation and in blindly following its management.

I wonder what it's all about;
traditional answers fill me with doubt;
Who was Jesus anyway?
Should I or how should I pray?

Death's mysteries frighten;
while the age lines tighten;
The missionaries all disagree,
as how to give me the third degree.

I don't think I have a problem trusting God,
but I do mistrust man's desparate facade;
so many snake oil salesman with their inside exclusive,
to contradictory truths to make knowledge elusive.

I want to do right and have peace of mind,
and I don't think it's so easy to find;
for Jesus, Buddha and other prophets too,
they rejected the mainstream before they Knew.

It is sometimes in the morning under a hot shower that I get my best ideas. That's when I'll figure out the answer to something..though usually when I'm not thinking about it. I'll strain on some question of interest...STRAIN!! and finally give up. Then in the shower the next morning, its like the hot vapors loosen some of the gray matter brain paths, freeing the correct answer that was always there.

I think some people are like hot showers that way.

Slowing down and speeding up can both be insults.
They can both be misconstrued.
When you don't go the same pace as your neighbor:
he may think his own pace must be faulty,
or he may think that YOU think his own pace must be faulty,
this brings up feelings of inadequacy, guilt, or anger.

Sweat

Sweaty women are quite attractive. There is some kind of vibrant sheen that hits me at a primal level. I think its my genes screaming, "copulate with this one! she is strong! Make good next generation!"

My genes are weird that way...They grunt like cavemen while using words like copulate and generation...

To write

Enchanting fantasy realms
So much fictional delight
To waste one's time
in such pursuits
separates us
from real
people

Dreamares

A dream of pillage
The nightmare of pleasure sin
To control others.

To hurt for vileness
To entice to wickedness
Wake up in a sweat.

Fantastical

I have a high opinion of fantasy.
Rather than hear about mundane squabbles and petty bickering I just sigh and go back into my world where people get along.

It does make empathy more difficult.
On the other hand, I don't particpate or provoke this kind of bickering either.
The better me will communicate more of this...

Instead of just going to another room, which is what I usally do, I should say "please stop this bickering; are these matters really worth tainting yourselves and those about whom you discuss by reaffirming the mistakes of others? Are you helping the situation or exacerbating it?"

The Muse

A floating feather
dances with the winds of chance
led by chaos breeze.

Old Habits

Bad habits are like grooves worn in time after time.

In the wilderness of possible action, we develop trails from the morning to the evening. We wake up one day and realize the rut is so large that to take a different path seems like a monumental task. We have created a ten foot deep chasm. To climb out seems very difficult indeed.

The Most Important

God fearing windy last night.

I wonder; to whom do I pray?

There are people who have an answer to this.

Different people; different answers.

I don't trust them.

I think they are liars..

Not the terrible mean variety -

but the scared-of-the-wind variety like me.

Am I more stoic or more frightened not to believe them?

Meme-Ries

Purpose Question

My purpose in life here and now is free myself from the mental and emotional shackles and chains that ensnare me. I picture myself as the ghost from A Christmas Carol, dragging these self-inflicted limitations that constrict, chafe, bruise and than tear at my spirit. Only then can I do anything else.

What is really interesting to me is that these chains and shackles are interwoven in those of loved ones.. So to free myself I need to free my loved ones a bit as well, but my focus should be on freeing myself, not on freeing my loved ones at this point.

It is like the instructions the flight attendants give - in case the cabin loses air pressure, put the air mask on yourself FIRST and THEN put it on your dependants..

What would be your ideal breakfast, lunch and dinner? Assume you can eat anything without fear of being bad for your health.

Another Meme

On a cruise ship with a cabin to myself; new people to visit with all the time, all you can eat food, plenty of scenery, with servants to make my bed; and I could write great novels without workaday distraction.

What is the most beautiful thing you've ever witnessed?

meme link

Question Meme- Revisit

With the question Mem, you read a question on someone's site then answer it on your own with a link back to the question. Then you can add a question of your own.

I am answering another question(s).

A bully came looking for a fight with me in jr. high school. He said mean things designed to intimidate and agitate me into a fight situation. I walked away. He pursued me, continuuing his verbal assault. I explained I did not wish to fight and continueed by retreat. It seemed that the entire school wished me fight and so surrounded me - it seems the entire school yard worth of students crowded at my back so I could no longer escape. I waited until there was no place I could go to reatreat - I punched the fellow in the nose... and then ran like hell past him. As there was no one obstructing my escape at his back, I was able to run all the way to the principal's office and explain the situation. Although the other fellow never touched me, and I had punched him, he was suspended and I was not. I felt great pride in sticking with my ideals and sticking to within the law.

I went to church camp one year and had a great time playing, learning and making friends. My cabin mates were all fanciful dreamers like me and we spent a great deal of time wishing and making vast promises for how our lives could be; how we would be successful and break convention through invention and outside the box thinking. We discussed methods of time travel and shrink rays and so forth. I believe this was my one true interaction with what I would call "the occult" as we pretended to be posessed by people from the past. It got out of hand when my colleague would not admit to be faking and claimed to be Einstein, though he couldn't speak another language or engage in mathematics or physics conversations... The attempted deception affected me deeply, "hardenning my heart" to religion and to miracle workers.

My first girlfriend dumped me. I was distraught for weeks; months; maybe years (perhaps I am still distraught by it to this day). Part of me knows how much of a jerk I had been - so thoughtless and rude at that age - and it saddens me today when I see how much of that jerk I can still be. She cheated on me, and that hurt; but as I couldn't or wouldn't give her what she needed, I blame myself for the break up... I also realize now that the relationship was very much focused on the physical side - is it possible that sexual relations can be so good, so deleriously tempting, that you can never have a real nurturing loving relationship? I can see why so many religions and philosophies teach that a person should abstain from sexual relations - either altogether or to wait until the more difficult habits of love can be formed before exploring the quick and easy physical path.

Of course I don't know that these examples represent pinacles or key moments in my life; but they certainly are the most memorable for me. I wonder if it says something that all of these take place in the first half of my life up to this point... Certainly I've had ups and downs at later points; but perhaps those successes and failures only serve to strengthen the joys and sorrows formed in these earlier years.

New Question: Where do you go when you need to be alone?

Hagling

I like to haggle. I don’t do it much. When I do; though; I empower myself.

I had a chance this week. My landlords wanted to increase my rent $50 unless I signed a 1 year lease. I haggled. So now I’ve got a 1 year lease; but I’m paying $10 less than I have been paying. It was beautiful. Through reason I was able to take charge of my position as a stable business partner and save myself $120 all while writing great prose in the process:

Good afternoon,
We hear what you are saying and can understand your initial hesitancy with regards to negotiating our new lease. We had based our original arrangement on a shorter lease where we were new, unestablished, renters. As we have proved ourselves as patient, stable business partners who meet their commitments consistently, and as we would be willing to commit to a full 12-month period, I hope there is room for negotiation in the monthly amount. I do realize that inflation and property taxes have increased over the course of the year, but surely this amount does not exceed the amount of good faith my family has secured with you. Would you consider an offer of $xxx a month?