Penultimate Month Musings

November 1, 2015

The beginning of the penultimate month of the year seems a good time to consider ideas that have worth for oneself and one’s community, especially if it is a rainy Sunday afternoon.

I believe I am a pretty difficult individual with an abundance of stubbornness and personal opinions.  This is not a major problem for me, but I think it makes others rather uncomfortable often.  I don’t intend to make others uneasy, but I feel compelled most of the time to say what I think and do or not do what I choose.   That said, I do get good things accomplished, have friends, and feel generally respected most of the time by those who matter most to me.  I’m not sure how much of the way I think is a result of being raised in a lower-middle income home, being the oldest, being a baby-boomer, or collecting a particular batch of DNA. 

So, perhaps I will start by talking about animals as it is raining cats and dogs around me.  A majority of people I know have cats, dogs or both.  This has always been true, but these days the attention focused on pets is demonstrative.  I grew up with out-door hunting beagles.  They were well-fed, lived long, and helped put food on our table.  We liked our beagles, but we didn’t sleep with them.  Now when I am around family and friends with cats and dogs, unless you know they are talking about cats and dogs you would assume they are adopted children.  They are psycho-analyzed and cared for as closest loved ones.  I don’t really mind unless they jump on me or there is some expectation that I should kiss them.  I can’t pretend to deeply love them or wish to remember their birthdays.  I have watched what they sniff and don’t really want to join lips.  They also are a source of regular funerals and grieving events.  That said, I do love Cosmo, who is seen walking with his mistress, Jane, at the Veterans’ Park.  He does seem to have fine insights about life.  I did love Lassie, too. I do find it difficult to watch people picking up dog poop delicately.  Also, I don’t care for cockroaches and mosquitoes.

(gives a new meaning to "kiss my ass")

I’m overwhelmed with the number of organizations including some to which I am very close wanting larger and larger annual donations.  There is almost an assumption that I will give just what they ask.  I like giving to groups who don’t ask.  The Town and Gown is a good example.  And you really do get a great ROI.  I like being able to help my immediate family, many of whom have tremendous needs.  I’m not about to give an organization more money than I give to a family member who lives barely above or below the poverty level.  Just won’t happen.  So don’t ask.  Thanks.

I am completely perplexed by many close friends who have trouble sitting still/alone for at least a day.  While it is great to assume that these people really love other people, it does make me wonder that they never accomplished much if anything in the way of intrapersonal intelligence.  I don’t think they know or perhaps they don’t like themselves well enough to cherish time alone.

That said, I don’t comprehend the thinking of people who don’t consider the needs of their larger communities in their giving and decision-making.  I come unglued when people say things like, “I only care about what happens for my children.  The hell with the rest of you.”  I think many of our problems in the United States are because we have people who have independently focused so much on their immediate families and not the meaning of the welfare of the larger community.  I am perfectly aware that what happens for all the children in my community matters intensely for all of us.  I don’t believe in walls and gates.  

I think we have too many people medicating themselves into oblivion, not getting regular free exercise, and talking “at” their cell phones.  Definitely they feed industries and provide jobs for others.   I just thought on the first day of November, I would say what I think.  You don’t have to read it.