WHO CARES?

In some ways, I can't believe I'm actually "blogging" about this.  However, there's been enough "buzz" on the internet about a variety of these issues, I couldn't help but throwing my 2c in.  Maybe it's out of wisdom or a bit of senior discernment (which could actually be wisdom) and the fact that as I've aged, what used to be important to me no longer radiates any significant value in my life.  Or, maybe stuff, and this is what it actually is-stuff, see no visible, intrinsic, or moral value in it's effect on me.  I guess I actually challenge those people who find it of value to ask themselves, "are you going to be a better person for knowing this?" But we live in a technocentric world (I think I just made up a word) that ransoms us to certain capricious and modulated bits of information.  For me, I don't recall (sign of age) when I was younger if this kind of "stuff" ever intrigued me.  I'm speaking right now of the latest and most egregious use of "air" time....."Did Beyonce lip sync the Star Spangled Banner at the Inauguration?"  In light of my attempts to keep this blog at a family valued interest, I will simply say, "who cares?".  Although, you know what I'd really like to say.  I have to think of how slow the news day is at some of our nationally syndicated networks that they even give this consideration.  And, sort of shame on me for putting this on my blog.  But, I'm trying to make a point here in that I'm trying to get one to find out and learn about themselves the value of information that we feed upon and is it really that important.  My other "pet peeve" is the Kardashian family news.  It is abhorrent that the antics of this so called nuclear family is given attention.  However, Ryan Seacrest sees a good thing when he's got it, and the amount of money that is generated for his network, himself and this family is my opinion, sinful.  But again, when I say, "my opinion", that's what it is exactly.  I guess, I just wish more people would redirect their energy, interest, and adulation to more prodigious events.

IS IT REALLY NECESSARY?

"Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach". ~Clarissa Pinkda Estes

I must admit and somewhat cynically that I'm not one for pomp and ceremonial pageantry.  It is the thing of kings and artisans and in my estimation, terribly intemperate.  I often look at such experiences as to whose benefit are we doing this?  Certainly not mine and the amount of money that exceedingly goes into such events is shameful.  I'm mainly speaking of the Inaugural functions that have occurred in the last several days.  Yes, I know we've elected a President and yes, I know there's "supposed" to be ceremonies that are by right-traditional.  But, really, does one really care what designer Michelle chose to make her dress?  Or does anyone really care whose shoes she and her daughters are wearing?  I believe the sad thing is, the answers to these questions are sadly a resounding Yes.  I look at the amount  of money that has been spent on these ceremonies and look more disgustedly on who's footing the bill-Me and about 200 million other Americans.  I look at what we could have done with that money and how many homeless shelters could have been built, or how many other bills could have been paid and how much could have been cut into our so called Fiscal Cliff.  Mind you, I am being cynical here and  my wonderment in how we got ourselves into this trillion dollar debt is only answered by the exorbitant amount of government waste we spend each day.

Oh, by the way, its now been 27 days since Christmas, only 338 more days!!

"The Man"

Living in a city that is so richly steeped in sports history and tradition, I often take for granted some of our true sports heroes.  And while I don't consider myself a "die hard" fan of baseball (well, as of the last 15-20 yrs. or so), we do have one of, if not the greatest baseball player living in our city.  For a man who had been bestowed with such extraordinary skills he was uniquely humble.  In this day an age of sports legends this is such a rarity.  He did not have the brashness of a Jose Conseco, or the arrogance of a Michael Vick, or the anger of a Lawrence Taylor.  He was a simple man from simple beginnings who married his childhood sweetheart-Lil, and stayed married to her for 72 years; something unheard of in today's standards.  He was never sullen or abrupt with the sports writers.  He always had a good word for them and his fellow players.  Never refusing an autograph or an interview, his words were always of a kind and gentle nature.  When his latter years witnessed the dwindling of his skills he took a pay cut in his salary.  Imagine an Albert Pujols, or Alex Rodriguez agreeing to such a situation.  His final year of playing, he made $80,000, a rather paltry sum by today's standards.  Years ago when the premier relief pitcher-Bruce Sutter pitched for the Cardinals, his salary was so exorbitant that it was determined that with each pitch, he was paid some $43,000 for each one.  When he first started out in baseball, his salary was a mere $4,320 and he thought he might have to leave baseball because he and his young wife-Lil couldn't afford to live on this amount.  The manager of the minor league team he played for took him and his wife into his home to live.  In 1958, he bought that manager a new home in Houston for $20,000.

Growing up in St. Louis and having been afforded the opportunity to attend Cardinal baseball games with my Dad was such a treat for me.  At the time, his impact on me, and what I was witnessing each time I went to a Cardinal game certainly wasn't something I understood then.  Only now, I can look back on those days in the 50's and 60's and cherish the boyhood excitement of walking through the gates of the old Sportsman Park to watch my hero.  And, during a "Meet the Cardinals" event one day, I was able to shake hands with my childhood idol.  I remember that day as if it happened yesterday.  I remember the smile on his face and the warm embrace of his hand as he asked me my name and autographed a baseball for me like he did for thousands of other kids who went and came after me.

Playing his entire career with the St. Louis Cardinals had its drawbacks in some ways.  He was never afforded the "press coverage" of say a Joe Dimaggio or a Ted Williams.  His name never made the society columns or had a scandal attached to it.  He simply compiled some of the most long standing records that the sport has ever seen.  He played for 22 years and for 22 years he was named an All-Star.  Recently he was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama for his outstanding achievement and contribution to humanity.


"Stan the Man" Musial died yesterday in St. Louis at the age of 92.  He is survived by 4 children, and countless grandchildren and great grandchildren.  He now joins his beloved Lil who passed last May at the age of 91.

It's Getting Closer

  “Come clean with a child heart
   Laugh as peaches in the summer wind
   Let rain on a house roof be a song
   Let the writing on your face
  be a smell of apple orchards on late June.”
Carl Sandburg

                                       

"What is this Illusion"

"What is this illusion we call the innocence of youth, maybe only in our blind belief can we ever find the truth".

This is a line from one of my favorite Christmas songs, "My Grown Up Christmas List" and I look at this photo of this very young boy with childhood dreams in his eyes intently gazing with that "innocence" of his youth.  These words echo in my heart today and I wonder if his "blind belief" in a fantasy world without wars, where every man would have a friend, and right would always win can a dream still come true.  He sits there with a hope maybe that as he wishes for a new train set, or baseball glove, that a co-existence of all humans, Jews, Muslims, Christians become dependent on their mutual love for life and embrace the diversity in each.  I would hope his young mind would absorb the frailty of the human condition and understand that innocence doesn't have to be "blind" but that his and all men can have that faith to "make right always to win".  I always rely on one of my favorite quotes to bind this faith together: "Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies".

One More Day Closer

The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another. ~Thomas Merton

No, I haven't abandoned my notion of keeping the Christmas theme throughout the year.  It's just that I've had a liking for the works of Thomas Merton and came upon this quote early today, or actually yesterday as I'm looking at the clock and realize that as I'm typing this, it's Wed. morning.  Yikes....where, and how did I let the time get away from me.  That'll be another discussion for another post at another time.  But, as I read this quote and was applying it to a situation that I was faced with late in the afternoon with one of my students, the idea of compassion and the interplay of ALL people sort of struck home.  And, while my student and his interaction with another student was foremost in my mind, the harmonious bonds that our people in our country and the world should allow to ferment became very clear.  So, in keeping with the Christmas theme, I leave you with those famous words as he sprung into his sleigh...."Merry Christmas to all, and to all a goodnight"

23 Days

My most recent posts and theme has been associated with Christmas and it's relativity to light, space, time and how far we move away from Dec. 25th and/or how close we'll eventually get to it again.  And the title of this post would lend one to think in terms of 23 days from Christmas Day.  But, it's hasn't been 23 days from Christmas if we do the math.  It's actually been just 13 days.  So, where is he coming up with 23 days?  I'm looking at 23 days from the Sandy Hook Tragedy.  The shock and sorrow of it's occurrence hasn't left me yet.  We returned to school this week and seeing the faces of the kindergartners in the room I'm assigned to has brought it all home.  I think of the parents of those 20 children so mercilessly slaughtered in what they so innocently believed was a safe haven, creates for me such a moral injustice that defies description.  I think of their worlds so disrupted in the blink of an eye, the stir of a moment, and how they're defining life (and death) in these last 23 days.  But life is a continuum and not matter what direction it occurs, they're sorrow and grief has been confirmed.  Words of consolation, prayer, discussion, and the absence of their children unfortunately does not minimize what has happened.  It's only been 23 days.  When my best friend died several years ago, I attempted to  chronicle his death by defining it in terms of the days since he had died.....10 days.....25 days.....60 days....  It was a bleak register of telling myself when that grief had occurred and how my life was progressing (or not) from it.  And even to this day, I can think in terms of Feb. 15, 2011 or Aug. 16, 2011 at being well over 800 days.  And while the time has certainly left me, the sadness and it's impact on me has not.  I think of these parents and how they may look upon next Dec. 14th, 2013 with the misery and anguish they will come to feel then; and not just on that day, but how they will discern this each day of their lives.

I know there has been an out pouring of compassionate and empathetic response for these families and the community of Newtown.  Here's mine.

A SOALIN'

It has been several years since I last decorated my house at Christmas.  The last two years were somewhat beleaguered and the mood wasn't supported by general festivities that usually accompany Yuletide joy.  However, I felt somewhat intimidated by neighbors efforts at fun and frolic this season so I joined in the decorative spirit.  The practice of putting up decorations at Christmas has a long and storied past.  In the 15th Century, London custom showed every house to be "decked with holm, or ivy," (hence, where we get the song "Deck the Halls with boughs of ivy") and the custom of putting lights on our homes, it is thought to have originated with a Roman Emperor who was of the Invictus Sol religion which worships the sun, and the winter Solstice was their greatest celebration.  Many cultures that were subject to deep darkness and cold, would light candles, or build fires, bonfires to lend strength to the waning power of light....to help light triumph over darkness.  The idea of putting a candle or light in each window lends to the Judaeo/Christian belief that Christ as the light of the world will triumph over evil or sin.  The time frame when the lights will come down was typically the 12th Night after Christmas or Jan. 5th.  So, I guess I have until the weekend to decide.  I know as I look about my neighborhood, that most of the lights on homes have already come down, but there are a few of us "holdouts".  

I'm also including in this post one of my favorite Christmas tales.  Well, it's not exactly a Christmas tale but a traditional English song popularized by Peter, Paul, and Mary.  The song is called "A Soalin'" and the soul cake was traditionally made for All Saints Day or All Souls Day to celebrate the dead.  The "cakes" were simply referred to as "souls"and were given out by mourners-typically children and the poor would go from door to door, not on Christmas, but on Halloween singing and praying for the dead.  Each cake eaten would represent a soul being freed from Purgatory.  This practice of giving and eating of the soul cakes is often referred to as the origin of Trick or Treating.  The video I've posted here is the version where Paul does his now famous comedy routine about American children and their "custom" of trick or treating.  Enjoy

357 Days Until Christmas or Wed. Night-Jan. 2, 2013

As I sit down at the "pearlie whites" and get into a fierce debate with myself about what to write for my next blog post, I question my rationale in how long I'll be able to keep up this pace in keeping this Christmas theme in my posts.  The local radio stations have abandoned the Christmas music already.  Odd in that most of them started their "theme" music just before Thanksgiving.  I always scoffed at this as I tended to bastardize this idea believing it would become ad nauseam far to early and that by the time Dec. 25th rolled around, listening to "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer" would lead most of us, including me, into serious reflection on how much cymbalta it would take to bring us back to reality.     And surprisingly, (at least this year), I haven't felt that way at all.  In fact, I continue to listen to several of the Christmas CD's I made as they're in my car CD player.  I mentioned in a previous post that a couple of songs have or are my favorite Christmas tunes, "My Grown Up Christmas List", "Where Are You Christmas?", and "Mary Did You Know?".  And the theme or message in these songs aren't just for this time of year, but for the remainder of the year as well.  I think of the words in Grown Up Christmas List and how can one not be absorbed by the words, "not for myself, but for a world in need", no more lives torn apart, that wars would never start", or as Faith Hill charms us with, "where are you Christmas, why can't I find you, why have you gone away?" Christmas doesn't have to change as long as we validate in ourselves that this spirit must refuse to die.  "Christmas is here, everywhere, Christmas is here if you care, if there is love in your heart and your mind, you will feel like Christmas all the time".  This is the theme I refuse to let go.  Whether I'm 357 days until Christmas, or 45 days until Christmas.  I know this particular post is very similar to my post a few days ago as I use this same song.  For me, it's about the impassioned precept of not just a world where we can live in peace, but in your neighborhood, your workplace, your home. Please join with me in sharing this love with each other.  In light of the horrific tragedies that occurred so close to Christmas this past year, or even the shameful behavior of our governing bodies, I think of all people-Rodney King may have said it best, "Can we all get along"?