MAX-isms

Youth is always surprised by the elderly...as if we were created differently. Just smug self-absorption.


Surprise! I just might understand. At my age it's quite possible that I have already "walked in your shoes", however, you may not have been in mine yet.


As a child I learned that the good guys wore "white hats" and the day guy wore the black ones. Now they just wear backwards baseball caps...there are no good guys.


My Mother sent me to the store to buy the following items; Bread, milk, cereal and jello. She gave me a dollar. I brought back change! Don't you love progress?


Life is a learning experience. Happily, I have suppressed much of what I KNEW at age 17!


As a professed vagabond, is it possible to have a "comfort zone?"


Television is older than me, but came "of age" during my life. With all the new networks, why do I yearn for the old "test patterns?"  They made more sense?


Why do we have a shortage of Doctors? Because everything we thought of as "our problems" are now "specialties" and prescriptions being issued.


In the same vein, "accountability" has been supplanted by "plausible deniability."

All this time...

We, as parents, have been saying this for a long time, "it's only a game!" Not anymore. The modern day warrior is a "couch potato warrior!" Sitting in a upholstered lounge, watching a video screen and able to destroy entire cities from thousands of miles distant...via satellite! With a "Joy-stick!" All the precepts that we believed in are gone. 

How do you, as a parent, teach your child right from wrong? Ethics? Morals? Our world is at best totally skewed! We did manage to solve the debate about women in combat though! Now no one is on the firing line...except the casualties. Did George Orwell write about this?

When, all those years ago, I joined the Navy we were told that we honored the uniform when we saluted someone. Not who was in it. The symbolism of that was important because so many of our young people had served, suffered, died or been maimed to earn that respect, that honor. And, still they serve. They have returned to parades. They have returned to spit and disdain. Worst of all, they return damaged. Trained to kill, but thrust back into civilian life with a push and, perhaps, a pat on the back. 

What do we tell these new modern "game-boy warriors"??? Hell, they may never even leave home...just change "joy-sticks!"

Some days I relish being too old!

Neil

Long ago, Thor, Mars and Odin were gods. Now they are comic book or movie "super heroes." Really not sure whether that is a positive, negative or lateral move.

Throughout history mankind has had a fondness for invisible, omnipotent beings...gods. Each culture, from Aztec to Zorastrian has had a polytheist, usually warrior-like or monotheist, sometimes less warrior-like plethora of them. The more learned we became, the calmer our "gods" seemed. Or, at least until HAL in 2001. The more unschooled we were, the more "terrible his vengeance."

But, once we get past all the wonderful concepts and beautiful words the tragic truth is, more humans have been killed in the name of "God" than any other single scourge. While we and all our governments expend every ounce of energy to eradicate cancer, Heart disease, Alzheimer's. etc we not only condone the number one killer we subsidize it. So, I propose new laws be enacted. Let's put the world's two oldest professions on equal footing. Legalize the one and tax the both, thus creating more revenues and a safer workplace for many.

As for me...if I want an invisible friend there is always, Casper...Harvey...or my personal favorite, Topper's martini sipping St. Bernard, Neil.

...the stone

A clinical definition by Webster of the word romance leaves me cold. It's a noun, no it's a verb. It's a group of languages, a book, a movie or even a medieval story. All that and more...and it woke me this morning at 4:30 to think and write about it.

Here's what I came up with. Romance is the act of changing the concept of love into an entire culture. A culture of different nations and languages. Languages I can not speak, yet, they not only speak, but they sing to me. Most assuredly the lyrics, but the notes as well. Piaf, Boccelli, Segovia, glorious sound floating in the air. "Romanza" on the tour bus, "Ave Maria" in the Parc Guell and Segovia anywhere.

Once, if anyone had called me a romantic, my reaction would have been bemused amusement. But, I have been to Roma, the birthplace of romance and understand that I have changed.

To "romance" another you must try to convey your passion, your care, your love. Perhaps you have been romanced by a place, seduced by it's splendor, it's beauty, it's presence...I certainly have. And, soon, I return. Allora!

Watching...wandering

As I prepare to "go a'wandering", leaving my house and downsizing into 36' of mobile practicality, what do I find myself watching on TV? DIY...HGTV...so, now I can fix the very thing I am leaving! If only, Nicole Curtis had been around earlier!

MAX-ims!

"Just say no" failed miserably as a way of life. Could we do much worse trying the opposite approach, "Just say yes?" It's certainly a more positive slant.


I hand out the treats. All children are not perfect...yes that's a reference to parental guidance, or, not!


My posts, for the most part depend on my memory...just sayin'!!!


The bigger the organization, the more diminished the individual.



The kids in the booth behind me are named Mercedes and Ford...do they have the same Father?


The little charmer in the carriage in front of me is named Ozzie. Yes, he's screaming!


Speaking of names there are plenty of Aprils, Mays and Junes. What about Decembers? Januarys? Even Octobers?
Any thoughts?


Anyone know a child named Oops, or Noon? You know it's a fact. If you can name the kid "Skye" why not admit the rest of it? Why not "Skye Noon October", perhaps you could add Florida just for veracity!


How do we kill off the phrase "Living the life?" Sounds so Pollyanna, but inflection takes it all the way to the right. Trite, banal and boring!


Morale as well as morals and loyalty start at the top.


Strictly by the book filters out bad employees, but only long after the good ones.

Home for the holidays

The following excerpts are from the introduction to a guidebook to Rome, written by Fred Plotkin...verified every time I return.

There is a particular malady-not quite an illness but more of a chronic condition that afflicts anyone who has ever visited Rome. In fact, it is an immediately recognizable ache shared by all who suffer from it.  Perhaps it began when you turned your back to the Trevi Fountain and flung your arm high over your head to launch an old hundred lira to ensure you would return to the eternal city once again. The little twinge you still feel, your Roman ache, is there to remind you that there exists a place where life is lived to the fullest.

The secret to doing as the Romans do is to awaken your own dormant humanity.

And everywhere in Rome there is something gorgeous and often timeless to touch.

He said it, I'll vouch for it and for one further quote, paraphrased...you can search all your life trying to discover that one elusive thing...one's self. It's in Rome.

My return is approaching, my anticipation growing, my hopes returning. The phrase,"To do Rome", is a slur. After many visits I have seen a great number of the "major sites" and so many more of the "lesser" ones. Each trip has been magical, better than the last so I always expect nothing but joy. And, I have never been disappointed.

This trip will put me where I belong, when I really need to be there and among so many wonderful friends that make me feel included and valued. Perhaps I will be able at some point to show some of them the beauty we take for granted. The Southwest, the Pacific Coast, the Rockies...perhaps.

I have started my countdown and now I will wait while "time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin' into the future.