Take the High Road

As we go through the insanity that is this modern World, we are confronted with rudeness, violence, and depravity. Those have always been a part of the human condition and I suppose they will continue to be with us for long years to come.
It is so easy to fall into such traps, or so it seems. Actually, it is quite difficult. You tax your soul, your spirit, to the breaking point. Yes, there are people who behave horribly, and, sometimes, they are successful. Often, their lives descend into chaos and misery. Even if they retain their surface worldly success, they suffer in their personal lives. True, sometimes they wind up with people who are as mentally ill as they are, and yes, horrible behavior is a mental illness, they will pay retribution when they leave this life. Make no mistake. We do have immortal souls and they do pay for past mistakes, unless we repent and do penance.
I am not preaching a sermon, just stating facts about how the Creation works. If you don't like that, too bad. I certainly have not lived a saintly life, far from it. I have repented, which simply means to have a change of heart, and I have done penance. I still make a lot of mistakes, but I try to correct them quickly.
Part of our problem stems fro our constant bombardment, by the media, with depraved images of sexuality, violence, greed and decadence. They should remember the words of Jesus, " Woe unto you who lead these children astray. It would be better if you had a millstone tied to your neck and were cast into the seal. He was not one to mince words.
We all need to learn to tune out the garbage we are being fed. If you find certain presentations titillating, but uncomfortable, you need to get away from them. This does not mean banning content, censoring. That never works. Nor does it mean that you can only view Sesame Street and read Mother Goose. There are many programs, books, movies and pieces of music that can hold the interest of grown ups without boring them silly. Also, beware the news. Sometimes they are far too graphically violent.
You cannot, and should not, try to control the World. The Creator grants freedom to the Creation. But, you can choose what you allow to penetrate your consciousness and how you react to the input.  Always, take the high road. Rise above the disease. It's not that hard. Have a very Blessed day. 

And Now an Opposing View

It occurs to me that yesterday's predictions drifted a wee bit toward the gloomy side. I stand by all of them, but I do see some bright spots.
First, the announced retirement of Supreme Court Justice Kennedy. He was basically a moderate and I guarantee his replacement will be  conservative, a fairly young cponservative, who will sit there for many years. The President has Congressional Majorities and will hanner thiss appointment through before the mid terms. Hooray.
Second, by imposing his travel and immigration ban, now approved by the Supreme Court, the affedted countries will be forced to deal with their own problems instead of pushing dissidents over here. Most European natins will follow suit and the Mid East may finally setlle down.
We will finally redognize the importance of Latin Amerrica and turn our attention toward them, nor ro impose our will, but simply to become good neighbors.
We will see even lower Federal taxes. Local and State taxes may go up a bit,, but at least those officials know what their citizens need and want.
We will, at long last, make a serious move to repair our disgraceful infrastructure.
More, non violent criminals will be punished ny fines, community service and being restricted in their travels ( home to work and back).  This will lower the overall cost of imprisoning the truly dangerous. Also, more and more prisons will be administered by provate companies. Nothing improves efficiency ike looking for profits.
Likewise, you will see a move to have schools run by private companies. They may still be public, but not government administered.
The Space Program will return, only this time at a more practical level/ The first steps toward creating a Moon colony will begin. It will be small and, initially serve as a base for launching probes and Rover type missions to Mars, of course, but also to the moons of Saturn and Jupiter, which may actually support life. We will explore the asteroid belt and, at last see what lies beyond Pluto.
Huge entertainment blockbusters will give way to small local show.   They  are less expensive and usually more entertaining, Golf will become more popular as an actual sport people play instead of watching with the spread of tiny courses, (9. or even 6 holes), short and playable by all. Bowling will get more popular as will other sports that real people can play, badminton, croquet, flag football and such. Restaurant chains  and fine dining palaces will give way to small cafes, diners and even street vendors. On line shopping will fail just as soon as their business is hit with sales tax, which us right around the corner.
A religious revival will occur, but not the old time fire and brimstone evangelism. Instead, we will have a gentle, community action oriented faith, short on doctrine and long on helping those in need, and open to moderate Christians, Jews and Moslems, to  all the People of the Book. And, at last, we will have a religion compatible with science, as it used to be.
So, cheer up. Things are dark, but glimmers of light are staring to show. \

The Madness of America

We are all quite mad. That's okay. I like craziness because from madness comes change and beauty. However, madness takes many forms, and the less pleasant manifestations are the most prevalent at the moment.

Americans are stuck in a weird paranoia mixed with a near catatonic reaction to the World. Everyone seems out to get us, terrorists are plotting and lone nuts are lurking everywhere, and we take two paths; we arm ourselves to the teeth with fearsome weapons and we devote our spare time to mindless shopping and even more mindless entertainment. Be honest, who really needs an automatic weapon for self defense? I am totally against gun control legislation because I don't want the government taking any more of our rights, but, seriously, unless you live in a war zone, any ordinary hand gun or shotgun will deter evil-doers and you damn sure aren't going rabbit hunting with an automatic rifle.

We shop mindlessly. I love shopping, but I believe I use a little sense, yet, year after year, folks go out and buy enormous quantities of gifts at Christmas, using plastic, and put themselves in a financial hole they will never dig their way out of. Then, throughout the year them stress themselves to the breaking point as they struggle to  keep a roof over their heads and some food on the table.

Then, one and all relax by watching idiotic shows on TV ( how many people really think Duck Dynasty, America's Got Talent, and Real Housewives are worth spending more than 5 minutes with?), or watching overpaid, steroid fed, giants beat the snot out of each other on the football field and vastly overpaid baseball players who can't field their position or run the bases as good as kids I used to play pickup games with.

So we retreat, further and further into a cocoon spun of ennui and paranoia, a less than fine madness. The solution? Well, things can go 3 ways. You can shrink and shrink, numbing yourself with inane activity and various combinations of alcohol and prescription meds, until there is nothing left but a dry husk of a corpse. You can continue to retreat, letting all the insanity build until, one fine day, you explode and find yourself joining in some irrational political terrorism or running the streets as a lone nut.

Or, you can change the course of your lunacy, put down the credit cards and TV listings, turn off the overpaid and under talented athletes and celebrities, and let your fancies blow. You want to travel, write poetry, sing opera at the top of your lungs, learn Swahili, dance in Bali or climb mountains, go for it and, as long as you're not hurting others, who gives a damn what anyone thinks. You want to walk the woods where bears still roam or visit the wolves in the Arctic? Fine. You want to seek vampires in Transylvania, dive for giant squid in the Pacific or build a receiver to listen for messages from outer space, why not?

If you 14 or 84, it does not matter. If you cannot, due to physical or economic limitations, do what you want, then let your mind roam. Read, look at pictures, listen to music, talk to travelers in the strange lands and then let your mind go free. Your daydreams are far more important than shopping at Macy's and catching up on the Kardashians. Go crazy. Nothing wrong with madness as long as it is the madness of your choice.