culture | Bertram's Blog

Freedom Vs. Security

October 13, 2020 — Pat Bertram

I spent much of the morning researching identity politics because it’s the hot issue of our time (one of them anyway), and I figured I should know what it is. From what I can figure out, after distilling what truth I could find in the midst of all the rhetoric is that some people believe each special group deserves special consideration. Each group, that is, besides white Christians and white males. Those two are fair game. Otherwise, the issue is about equity, not equality. Equality is about treating everyone the same regardless of their group identity. Equity is about treating everyone unequally, depending on that identity. A simplistic definition, I know, but that seems to be the basis of identity politics in a nutshell.

To many people, equality is the way to achieve . . . well, equality. All people are equal regardless of race, color, creed, gender, whatever. While to others, equity is about achieving . . . I don’t know exactly. Inequality, for sure since some people are more favored than others. But it’s also about racism. Instead of a color-blind society, we are moving toward a society that is divided ever more by race, creed, etc.

At one time, we in the USA all wanted the same thing — equality, prosperity, freedom — or at least most of us did. The party lines were drawn by the difference in how people wanted to go about achieving those ends.

Now the division is created not in trying to come together to achieve the same end, but in trying to achieve completely different ends. In my life, I’ve never seen such a division in the goals between the parties. I’ve never seen such blatant Marxism being bandied about. Never seen a lot of what’s going on, that’s for sure. I’ve especially never seen so much suppression being forced on us in the name of freedom.

I don’t know what got me started on this — I actually came here to post another excerpt from my book that’s coming out in a week (October 20!). I suppose it makes sense that I’m thinking of freedom, because that’s the underlying theme of Bob, the Right Hand of God — how much freedom we’re willing to give up for security, and how much security we’re willing to give up for freedom.

If I were to write the book today, I’d have to add a third theme, about how much freedom we’re willing to give up for the sake of equity, because that seems to be one of the themes of our time. Maybe I will pursue this third theme if I ever decide to write a sequel to Bob, the Right Hand of God.

For now, the theme of freedom vs. security is still a good one, especially considering all the freedoms we’ve given up in the attempt to save us from disease.

If you are planning to get a Kindle version of my new novel, Bob, The Right Hand of God, you can now pre-order on Amazon, and the minute the book is published, the book will appear in your Kindle. Click here to purchase: Kindle version of Bob, The Right Hand of God.

If you wish to buy a paperback copy, click here: Bob, The Right Hand of God, sign up for email notifications, and Amazon will let you know the minute it is for sale.

I truly hope this book will amuse you, entertain you, make you think and perhaps even dream a bit about what it would be like if God decided to recreate the world.

Posted in culture, fiction, writing. Tags: Bob The Right Hand of God, equity vs equality, freedom vs security, Identity politics, Pre-order kindle book on Amazon, sign up for email notification on Amazon, What if God decided to recreate the world. 2 Comments »

Being Reminded

October 11, 2020 — Pat Bertram

It was too windy for me to go for a walk today, so I worked around the house — dusting, dry mopping, wet mopping, and various other chores. What struck me as I was pampering my house is how many people contributed in one way or another to my being here, through small inheritances and other legacies, furniture donations, help in fixing up the place, in oh, so many ways. I don’t like thinking that people had to die for me to be here, but the love they left behind is something I do like to think of. At times, it feels as if the house wraps me in comfort and safety, which I particularly needed to be reminded of today.

Elections don’t normally affect me one way or another, but this one has me scared for what it portends for our country. I’m particularly aware of the revolution going on that will upend the core beliefs of many of us and make the world a lot less safe. With potential new taxes, with new mores, with the lack of any desire on the part of some leaders to stop the looting in various cities (in fact, some nominees actually approve of looting and want to keep it going), there will be no way to keep what we have from the grasp of the various powers if they want to take it. (Not that this is anything new. It’s just that I never had anything before to be taken so it never seemed personal.)

Although I knew this revolution was going on, and has been going on for many decades in one form or another, I never thought to see it gaining ground so rapidly. I figured I’d be gone by the time this country became unrecognizable. Luckily, I live in the back of beyond where people still believe in accountability, responsibility, family, equality, freedom, law and order, less rather than more government, and all the other strengths of a stable society, so maybe I won’t feel the effects as much as I fear.

But whether those big changes come soon or are still several years away, for today, I am surrounded by all the love invested in this house. And that’s a great place to be. And a wonderful thing to be reminded of.

And speaking of being reminded, let’s not forget that in nine days, my latest novel, Bob, The Right Hand of God will be published! If you would like to be notified by email when the book is available, click here: Bob, The Right Hand of God, sign up for email notifications, and Amazon will let you know the minute it is for sale.

Posted in culture, home, life. Tags: afraid of this election, Bob The Right Hand of God, lack of law and order, looting, revolution, the back of beyond, the love invested in my house. 4 Comments »

Learning the Tarot

October 6, 2020 — Pat Bertram

I’m still doing my one card a day tarot study, though I’m not sure if I’m learning anything. The whole thing confuses me — if the card tells me what I already know about myself, then it seems unnecessary. It it’s supposed to help me see where I am going, then that too seems unnecessary since I will know what I know when I get there. And if it’s about delving deeper into my psyche and coming in contact with my higher self — well, so far that hasn’t happened.

It’s possible the lack is in the tarot itself. After all, the tarot is only a deck of cards — specialized cards, but still just cards. Although each card is assigned a meaning of sorts, a core truth, the cards are open to interpretation, so whatever a person thinks the card means that particular day is the meaning, and that meaning can be different on a different day. This all seems too imprecise and ambiguous for my logical and concrete mind.

It’s possible the lack is in me, not just my inability to intuit any meanings, but my inability to connect with any particular deck. It’s possible I’ll be able to find such a deck — after all, I have dozens of them. Each month I use a different deck, and so far, the ones I’ve used are off-putting. The artwork doesn’t speak to me, and the symbolism of the artwork seems specious at best. Still, I’m sure I will find an affinity with at least one, and then we’ll see if my studies take a different turn.

Having said that, I’ve been keeping track of my daily card, and I do see a pattern to the cards I pick, vague though that pattern might be, because the same cards seems to show up again and again. For example, the king and queen of pentacles show up at least once every month, sometimes two or three times. Since I pick a card randomly, this repetition seems to indicate that more than mere chance is at work. If I used the same deck all the time, I’d think that perhaps the card hadn’t been shuffled well enough or was sticky or had some sort of defect that made the card stand out, but I use a different deck every month.

These two cards do seem to be a reflection of my life. The queen, in a few words, represents someone who is secure in her personal possessions and in her place in life, and the king refers to stability and not having to prove oneself. Since the cards are open to interpretation, and since every tarot writer has assigned various meanings, these few words don’t tell the whole story, but they suffice for the purposes of this article.

Another and seemingly opposite card that I get frequently is the ten of swords which spells ruination, disaster, calamity, though this seems to reflect my thoughts about the current USA situation rather than my own. The card is also a reminder that though I can’t change the actions of another person, I can change how I respond, which seems a timely reminder, for sure.

The cards I pick are mostly swords and pentacles. Very few cups or wands. Very few of the major arcana, though The Tower shows up periodically, which among other things, points to changes — a release of tension that has been building up, a flash of sudden insight, or maybe a warning.

So does any of this mean anything? I don’t know. My daily card pick is helping me get used to the tarot, and it is getting me familiar with the various way experts interpret the cards, so that’s something. The card itself sometimes seems to refer to me, sometimes it seems to refer to what’s going on in the rest of the country, sometimes it seems to be a reflection of my worries. But does it add anything to what I know? Not that I can see.

Sometimes the cards tell me I am more intuitive than I know, other times they seem to think I rely on my intellect. Either way, does it matter?

I do try to find a bit of advice in the daily card, as I did with the ten of swords mentioned above, but these are merely reminders of what I already know.

I suppose it’s possible that after years of study, I might find . . . something. But then, that’s not the point of my studying. I have the cards, and I do find the array of the different decks compelling, and if there is any esoteric knowledge hidden in the cards, I’d like to know what it is. But more than that, it’s about connecting with my deceased brother, the one who collected the cards. “Connecting” might be the wrong word since I’m not trying to connect with him in any psychic way. It’s more that I am connecting with my memory of him, with the private person buried beneath his polarizing personality, the beloved brother I lost way before his death.

That connection, if nothing else, does give my daily card reading a meaning.

***

Pat Bertram is the author of Grief: The Inside Story – A Guide to Surviving the Loss of a Loved One. “Grief: The Inside Story is perfect and that is not hyperbole! It is exactly what folk who are grieving need to read.” –Leesa Healy, RN, GDAS GDAT, Emotional/Mental Health Therapist & Educator

Posted in culture, life. Tags: coming in contact with my higher self, connecting with a deceased brother, daily tarot card, death of a brother, interpreting the tarot, king and queen of pentacles, learning the tarot, tarot. 10 Comments »

Rigor Mortis Setting In

October 3, 2020 — Pat Bertram

I seem to be switching between the effects of rigor mortis inching into my life and my gradually healing knees. The change is as pronounced as dark and light. Oh, wait — the change is all about dark and light! Or rather, the relative inactivity of night and the relative activity of day.

Sometimes when I have to get up in the middle of the night, I am so stiff, I can barely inch along using the wall for balance, and I wonder if a walker is not far behind. I have gotten in the habit of stretching a bit before I get out of bed, which helps, as well as making sure my legs can hold me before I start making my way to the bathroom.

And then, the daylight comes, and I wonder why I presumed there was problem. As long as I don’t sit too long in one position, I’m fine. Actually, more than fine. I walked almost five miles today, something I haven’t done in a very long time — maybe a couple of years. The last quarter of a mile today was a bit draggy, and I expected to feel sore the rest of the day, but apparently, my body is waiting until tonight when the rigors of mortis will once again make themselves felt.

I do know, of course, that one does not “catch” rigor mortis while one is still alive, but aging does make it feel as if death and those rigors are slowly creeping in.

I’m hoping, of course, that the nighttime stiffness will eventually dissipate a bit as my knees continue to get stronger, but even if the status remains quo, I will still have my daily walk to sustain me.

I think it helps, in a way, that I live close to an assisted living facility as well as an unassisted facility for older folk because I see so many people using walkers. It keeps me walking a bit more than I would normally feel like doing, perhaps in an effort to store up that feeling of independence in case I get to the point where I’m unable to depend only on my own legs. And, of course, it reminds me that using the ability to roam while I can will help insure that I will remain ambulatory into my elder years.

But what may or may not happen later on isn’t important. What is important is that today I walked. Today I was able to challenge myself.

Today I lived.

Hopefully, that feeling of living will be something to remember tonight when I am slowly creeping through the dark hall, like some sort of half-dead ghoul, in answer to the needs of my body.

***

Posted in culture, life. Tags: catching rigor mortis, needing a walker, nighttime stiffness, not needing a walker yet, old age feels like slow rigor mortis, stretching before I get out of bed, walking while I can. 8 Comments »

The Joy of Discussion

September 28, 2020 — Pat Bertram

I talked to a long-time friend yesterday. It was truly wonderful to be able discuss all the topics that confound me about today’s world without either of us once raising our voices. (Though I’m ashamed to admit, I did interrupt her more than a time or two.) We didn’t always agree, but we didn’t need to agree to disagree, either. That went with the respect and intelligence we both brought to the discussion.

One thing we both find shocking and appalling is that many of the issues concerning people today, such as the whole systematic racist thing, we thought had been settled long ago. And it had been. In our laws (though perhaps not always in individual cases), all people have equal rights, except when they don’t. Any equality in law (again, not always in action), tends to favor minorities with the various programs aimed at giving people equal representation in government and business.

And yet, here we are — decades after the war on poverty, decades after affirmative action, decades after billions of dollars have been spent to mend some of the discrepancies in our society — and the grandchildren and great-grandchildren who should have inherited the benefits of these programs are worse off than their progenitors. Not all, of course. I’d be interested in knowing what’s the percentage of blacks who have been assimilated into the wider culture of the USA vs. those who have clung to the inner-city culture. I bet there’s a greater percentage than the rhetoric we are being fed would lead us to believe. (It must be appalling to these successful and law-abiding people to be lumped in with the rioters and law-breakers, to be constantly reminded of their victimhood when in fact they don’t believe they are victims of oppression.)

My friend and I didn’t just stick to this topic, of course. We swept through the whole gamut of issues. From MeToo (and the problems of both supporting the movement and yet worrying about how all this hatred toward men will affect boys today and the men they will grow into), the upcoming election, The Bob, and all sorts of other concerns.

But the main topic (at least for me) seemed to be the protests, the riots, and the destruction of lives. (If you destroy someone’s livelihood, if you burn down everything they hold dear, you destroy their life.)

I left the conversation wondering if any of the local rioters ask themselves what they are gaining. (I say local rioters because those coming into various cities to do damage know exactly what they are doing.) Do the local rioters truly want anarchy? Do they really want a city without a police force? Do they really want to bring down this country? Do they really think that destroying small businesses is advancing the cause of minority individuals rather than serving corporate interests? (People are starting to ask who is funding the riots, but that’s no big secret. All you have to do is run a quick search to find out what corporations are contributing to what cause.)

I also realized why all this confuses me — I don’t have all the pieces of the puzzle. For example, last night I read an article mentioning that a Duke University professor had been fired because (among other reasons), some students had complained about his handling of a discussion on race. The complaint? The professor had presented various points of view, which distressed those students who thought there was only one way to think about things.

How was I supposed to know problems such as this exist? I did know most people cling to their opinions without giving credence to anyone else’s. I did know there are those who try to manipulate people into believing that their side is the right side. What I didn’t know is that a certain segment of society simply cannot believe there is another side.

Which is why it was nice talking to my friend. We are both lifelong readers, so we have both lived myriad lives, experienced myriad points of view, cried over injustices. We see sides that others ignore, try to see through other people’s eyes (because that’s what reading does, shows us a different way of seeing). Unfortunately, neither one of us can see a peaceful resolution of this current mess.

But we were able to discuss, to question, to see perhaps a bit of order to the chaos. And that is a rare joy, indeed.

***

Posted in culture, life, relationships. Tags: benefits of reading, discussing the issues of today, metoo and hatred toward men, only one way to think, presenting myriad points of view, seeing different points of view, what are the rioters gaining by destroying property. 1 Comment »

Who Visits My Blog

September 25, 2020 — Pat Bertram

Someone asked me yesterday if anyone reads my blog. She seemed shocked when I told her people all around the world have visited this blog. Most come from the USA and other English speaking countries. Others come from countries I’ve never even heard of, and yet, someone in those countries has heard of me. What an amazing thing the internet is!

Here is a map showing where my visitors originate:

Pink shows visitors, and the darker the pink, the more visitors. Apparently, if I am reading the map correctly, the only places from which no visitors have come are Svalbard, Turkmenistan, Western Sahara, Guinea-Bissau, Chad, and Central African Republic. I find this utterly astonishing. Not to be disingenuous, but I simply can’t imagine being interesting enough to attract so many different people.

Here is the incredible list of countries where visitors have come from. (The number represents visitations only, not views, since often people click on more than one blog entry, and each click is a view):

United States	400,695
United Kingdom	71,399
Canada	47,758
India	43,550
Australia	27,431
Philippines	8,063
Pakistan	7,222
Ireland	7,190
South Africa	5,205
Malaysia	4,555
New Zealand	4,548
Singapore	4,230
France	3,868
Germany	3,578
European Union	2,706
Indonesia	2,385
Netherlands	2,166
Brazil	1,754
United Arab Emirates	1,670
Italy	1,574
Hong Kong SAR China	1,434
Spain	1,381
Russia	1,358
Norway	1,297
Saudi Arabia	1,153
Thailand	1,140
Nigeria	1,,136
Denmark	1,130
Sweden	1,102
Japan	1,095
Vietnam	1,089
Bangladesh	1,075
Turkey	1,015
Lebanon	987
Belgium	966
Romania	935
Mexico	901
Kenya	882
South Korea	839
Switzerland	803
Greece	772
Poland	761
Argentina	706
Nepal	682
Israel	630
Egypt	613
Sri Lanka	601
Portugal	577
Jamaica	574
Finland	500
Trinidad & Tobago	473
Austria	462
Taiwan	433
Qatar	405
Hungary	383
Ukraine	362
Malta	351
Jordan	349
Ghana	343
Cambodia	332
Serbia	329
Czech Republic	314
Mauritius	312
Bulgaria	310
China	291
Morocco	278
Kuwait	275
Croatia	264
Slovakia	242
Puerto Rico	236
American Samoa	233
Colombia	232
Bahrain	219
Slovenia	216
Oman	196
Iraq	186
Tunisia	186
Albania	181
Algeria	176
Tanzania	172
Chile	170
Cyprus	160
Bahamas	158
Uganda	149
Zimbabwe	149
Palestinian Territories	148
Myanmar (Burma)	148
Lithuania	147
Estonia	135
Georgia	126
Iceland	124
Latvia	124
British Virgin Islands	123
Peru	117
Macedonia	107
Ecuador	106
Costa Rica	106
Venezuela	104
Guyana	103
Botswana	102
Brunei	98
Bosnia & Herzegovina	98
Belize	96
Panama	93
Armenia	92
Isle of Man	90
Jersey	86
Maldives	83
Barbados	83
Fiji	82
Bhutan	75
Luxembourg	75
Azerbaijan	74
Namibia	71
Afghanistan	70
Dominican Republic	67
Zambia	63
Syria	62
Kazakhstan	61
Yemen	59
Antigua & Barbuda	59
Ethiopia	58
Moldova	57
Grenada	56
Guatemala	55
Papua New Guinea	53
Malawi	52
Guernsey	51
Belarus	51
Macau SAR China	50
Bermuda	50
St. Lucia	49
Uruguay	48
Cayman Islands	47
Guam	46
Cameroon	46
St. Vincent & Grenadines	45
El Salvador	43
Libya	38
Senegal	38
Laos	34
Lesotho	34
Curaçao	33
Rwanda	32
Montenegro	31
Gibraltar	31
Bolivia	31
Honduras	31
Paraguay	29
Mongolia	27
Aruba	27
Nicaragua	27
Swaziland	26
U.S. Virgin Islands	25
Mozambique	24
Monaco	24
Suriname	21
Sudan	20
St. Kitts & Nevis	20
Dominica	19
Côte d’Ivoire	17
Seychelles	17
Northern Mariana Islands	16
Somalia	15
Kyrgyzstan	14
Åland Islands	14
Uzbekistan	12
Congo – Kinshasa	12
Angola	10
Vanuatu	9
Madagascar	9
Réunion	8
Anguilla	7
Liberia	7
Guadeloupe	7
Djibouti	7
Solomon Islands	6
Caribbean Netherlands	6
Faroe Islands	6
Sierra Leone	6
Turks & Caicos Islands	4
Cook Islands	4
Haiti	4
Benin	4
Liechtenstein	3
Burundi	3
French Polynesia	3
Iran	3
Gambia	3
Gabon	3
Cuba	3
Martinique	2
Sint Maarten	2
Tajikistan	2
Timor-Leste	2
Mali	2
Micronesia	2
Falkland Islands	1
French Guiana	1
St. Helena	1
Vatican City	1
Samoa	1
Burkina Faso	1
South Sudan	1
Mauritania	1
Netherlands Antilles	1
Niger	1
Congo – Brazzaville	1
Cape Verde	1
Kiribati	1
Marshall Islands	1
Montserrat	1
Greenland	1

***

Posted in blogging, culture, internet, life. Tags: blog stats, blog visitors, list of blog visitors, list of countries who have visited my blog, views vs visitations, who reads my blog. 15 Comments »

100 Days

September 23, 2020 — Pat Bertram

There are one hundred days until the end of the year. What are you going to do with those days? Will you finally get around to the New Year’s resolutions you made and promptly forgot? Are you going to slack off, giving yourself permission to take a break from the breakneck speed of your life? Are you going to get going on that novel you wanted to start, continue, finish, or edit? Are you going to make inroads in the pile of to-be-read books on your nightstand, or finally read some of those ebooks you downloaded? Are you going attempt the photography project you always wanted to do? Are you going to blog every day?

That’s what I’m going to do — recommit to blogging every day. I’ve been blogging every day for the past 365 days, and I intend to extend that commitment to the end of the year. (I’ll try to make the blogs interesting because posting something just to post something sort of negates the “challenge” part.) Feel free to join me! We can help each other, offering encouragement or topics when the will begins to wane. And it does. When I was grieving, it was easier to come up with topics than it is now when I am in a more comfortable situation. It’s hard to find lesson in being at peace. I suppose peace is a lesson in itself, but what can you say beyond that you’re at peace?

Still, I do manage to find something to write about. My sincere apologies for the more mindless posts and my eternal gratitude to everyone who reads what I write. A special thank you to those who comment, and a heartfelt appreciation for the thought-provoking responses. It’s always good to have more thoughts in my head than simply those I put there.

Even in a year as difficult and as slow as this one, the days do pass. And in 100 days it will be over. I have no great belief that next year will be better, so it’s not as though I’m counting down to the end of the year in order to get rid of this one. It’s more about taking something besides fear and isolation out of this year. It’s about making this year count, or at least making the last 100 days count. How are you going to make your days count?

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Posted in blogging, culture, life. Tags: 100 days of blogging, being at peace, blog challenge, daily blogging, last 100 days of the year, making the days count, renewing New Year's resolutions. 11 Comments »

Keeping The Faith

September 13, 2020 — Pat Bertram

I’m one of those who keeps the faith with language. I say what I mean and I try to live by what I say, though sometimes it’s hard because the inner voice of truth that comes out when I am speaking or writing is often wiser than I am.

I prefer other people to use correct language too, though I realize that’s an old-fashioned concept.

I just read an article that talked about Trump supporters spreading hate because they were getting in altercations with the protestors. So we’re supposed to believe that only Trumpers hate? That the self-proclaimed Marxist protestors who are burning and looting are doing it out of love? Oh, for cripes sake. Has the world lost its mind?

Words no longer mean what they once did. Peaceful once meant . . . peaceful. Free from disturbance. Tranquil. Not burning and looting, not screaming, not blocking emergency entrances at hospitals and chanting: “We hope they die.”

Words have always been plastic, meaning that they can be easily molded or shaped, not the way the word is now used, meaning something hard and indestructible. It seems words are even more plastic than I realized in this gaslighting era, where what we are told is the exact opposite of what we are seeing. For example, I had the misfortune to watch a television news broadcast the other day. They showed someone saying something, and then immediately afterward the newscaster told us the person had said something completely different.

In many cases, I’m one of last to keep the faith when it comes certain words. I say vegetables instead of . . . gag . . . veggies. I never use the outdated and so very sexist term “co-ed.” I don’t use permuted words like “styling,” whatever that means. (I assume it’s good because the other day someone told me my hat was “stylin.” Though with the plasticity of words nowadays, for all I know it could mean that I was wearing the ugliest hat the young woman had ever seen.)

I especially don’t say “love” when I mean “hate.” And I don’t say “peaceful demonstrations,” when I mean that people are rioting. I don’t say “taking what they need,” “expropriating property,” or “reparations” when I mean stealing. (Looting is stealing. To a person with a passing acquaintance with a dictionary, looting means to steal during a riot, and it’s a crime no matter how many people defend the act.)

It’s possible my adherence to words in their proper form and proper meaning is due to the intransigency of age, but it still doesn’t make the actions hidden in these plastic words palatable to me.

I think it’s time for me to pull in my head and channel my inner turtle for a while.

***

Posted in culture, life, writing. Tags: channeling my inner turtle, looting is not a good thing, looting is stealing, peaceful demonstrations that aren't peacful, styling, veggies, words are plastic. 5 Comments »

Signposts of Time

September 11, 2020 — Pat Bertram

Last year sped by so fast that by the middle of January, I was already seeing the end, and within another month, the year was done. Or so it felt.

Not so this year. Slow. Slow. Slow. The year is progressing so slowly that something as unseasonable as an early snowstorm — not uncommon in Colorado — has thrown me off track. We went from almost a hundred degrees to almost freezing in a single night, and the rain turned to snow. Although it’s supposed to heat up to the eighties and nineties starting tomorrow, for now the dreary days are continuing.

I have an urge to dig out my Christmas decorations, especially my bowls of light and other lighted things like my small tree, because I keep thinking Christmas is almost here.

What a shock to realize that particular holiday is still one hundred and five days away! Halloween and Thanksgiving haven’t even come, and it’s too early to decorate for those days, too. Not that I celebrate any of these holidays — since I’m alone, one day is much like another. It’s more that they are signposts that time is moving along. (I did celebrate Christmas last year, or more accurately, I celebrated having my own kitchen and oven, but I doubt I will do the same this year — although I have been especially careful with my diet the past several months, I still haven’t been able to lose the cookie weight from last Christmas.)

Luckily, the sun will come out again, and though the brightness will dispel my feelings of an imminent Christmas, it won’t do much to speed up this interminable year.

My only choice then, is to take the days as they come. To look at the small picture and focus on the short term (even though my tarot card today told me to look at the big picture and focus on the long term). To enjoy the respite from the heat, and when the heat returns, enjoy the respite from the cold. Because truly, does it matter if last year passed in a flash and this year is moving at slow speed? What does another year get me except another year older and a completely different number for my age?

Come to think of it, that’s the number I don’t particularly want because it’s the one where a person can no longer pretend not to be old. So perhaps, after all, I’ll keep the Christmas things packed away. No sense in hurrying things along.

***

Posted in culture, life. Tags: celebrating having my own kitchen, enjoying the respite from the cold, enjoying the respite from the heat, looking at the short term, taking the days as they come, the year feels as if it is moving too fast, the year is moving slowly, trying to lose weight. 3 Comments »

A Relative State of Ignorance

September 9, 2020 — Pat Bertram

A friend texted me yesterday after reading my blog post. She seemed to take exception to my final sentence (Besides, nothing in this new world is more redundant than an old woman, no matter how perspicacious her thoughts might be) and sent me information about Maggie Kuhn, the woman who started the Gray Panthers, as an example of how important an old woman’s ideas can be.

My response? “And yet here we are, still redundant.”

I went on to say, “Actually, I should have qualified my half-facetious closing remark to refer to what’s going on today. In a war for the hearts and minds of the young, the old don’t matter. By the time their brave new world is operational, I’ll be dead.” Though, come to think of it, with the way things are changing so rapidly, I might still be alive enough to be affected by that world. Not a pleasant thought!

I also told my friend: “I have a hard time dealing with things today that I thought were taken care of in my youth, like civil rights, women’s rights, elder rights, environmental issues, and Russian conflicts. It was really a shock after living in the cocoon of Jeff’s illness and death and my grief to come out of it into a world that seems to have regressed tremendously. Russia an enemy? Really? What happened to Glasnost? And civil rights riots? Really? I thought that things had improved, but according to some sources, it’s even worse now than in our younger days.”

She responded: “I couldn’t agree more. The cultural information is not being passed down, I have felt for some time. And each newly read or watched program feels like another piece of who I thought we were as a country and any good memories I do have are taken away. So very hard to put it into words. And never have so many marched for so long in my memory and then I realize they can — because of the pandemic they are unemployed.”

My response: “Funny. I just came to that very same realization yesterday about protests and the pandemic. It’s hard for me to try to refrain from putting a conspiratorial slant on things.”

Her brilliant comment: “Isn’t it? The only thing that saves me is the thought that if we could work together to put on a worldwide pandemic successfully, SURELY we would have made a better world.”

Me again: “What worries me is that this is exactly the world we (they) want.”

The more I think about it, the more some sort of conspiracy seems to be a real possibility, and that the riots (oh, excuse me, the “mostly peaceful protests”) were spontaneously on purpose scheduled for this very time.

Beyond that, it’s not just about the information not being handed down or being unheeded. It’s not just that we thought things were progressing on all the various “rights” fronts and so we forgot about it.

There’s something more at work, and the only thing I can think of is that social progress was not just stalled but undone. Apparently, it’s hard to keep building a power base on the backs of the oppressed if the oppressed are no longer oppressed. So the plan seems to have been to re-oppress people so they can be re-unoppressed. Hence the déjà vu times we are living in. (Déjà vu to us older folks. Something brand new and radical to younger ones.)

Whether I’m right or way, way wrong, I’m beginning to see a bigger picture, big enough maybe, that I can stop thinking about all this, put it to rest in my mind, and go back to my relative state of ignorance, which isn’t as bad as it sounds.

Benjamin Hardy PhD believes that selective ignorance is a good thing. “It’s not the avoidance of learning. It’s also not the avoidance of getting feedback. It’s simply the intelligence of knowing that with certain things and people, the juice will never be worth the squeeze. It’s knowing what to avoid.”

And to me, a lot of what is going on the world today is best avoided even in my thoughts.

I just hope I can act on this resolve for ignorance!

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