We are finally opening up slowly from our pandemic lockdown.  This has been an unprecedented and very unnatural few months to get through.  But I think that we all have made it.  There is still an unknown factor in this process with the Covid-19 virus itself.  Will it disappear?  Can we control it with an as yet undeveloped vaccine?  Is there an ever-present chance of re-infection on a mass scale?  No one knows. We can only hope for the best.  The style of living has changed drastically for all of us.  Our daily lives have slipped back to a time when life was simpler.  Our present technology is still with us, but everything else has slowed until it seems that we had less choices, especially in events outside of our homes.  Some decades ago we didn’t go out as much to restaurants and for shopping and for entertainment.  We went out, but not nearly as much as we have now experienced.  I was born in 1941, so I remember those times.

Even though I was very young I remember living through the Second World War.  Times were tough.  Necessities weren’t always available when you needed them. Everyone lived more in a day to day existence. The time passed with work schedules and mealtimes.  The technological advances we now have were non-existent, at least in their present forms.

I remember when I dialed the rotary telephone, the ominous busy signal and the lack of an answer machine.  In fact, when we lived on a farm for a while, we had a party-line crank phone.  You cranked it to get a dial tone that alerted an operator who would place your call (or not) if the line was busy.  And when you did get through there might have been people listening in to your conversations.  It was just something that entertained the bored or the busybody.  Listening.

I remember when the ice-man brought blocks of ice for our ice box.  It worked until it started melting and the drip pan had to be emptied and you needed more ice.   The ice man would return.

I remember when the coal man brought a load of coal to our basement window and dumped and shoveled the coal into the coal cellar.  Coal dust everywhere.  And then someone would have to shovel the coal into the furnace and shake the rods that held it and hope there were no “clinkers.”  These could be a real source of frustration.  Also, the ashes had to be shoveled out of the furnace periodically and taken outside to a disposal.  All of this meant that you had heat in the house, and hot registers that the heat came out of into each room.  Careful you don’t burn your feet.

I remember when the junk man came in a truck to empty the trash cans.  Not much different now except for the disposables like paper products.  Most people had large cans or steel drums that worked as incinerators.  Outside, we burnt these disposables periodically in a place that was safe from setting fire to something else like a garage or shed.  There were a lot of ashes in the air at times, especially when the dry leaves in the fall were raked into large piles and set on fire.  Safely, usually.  An alternative to trash pick-up was to dig a large hole in your backyard and insert the trash and cover it up in layers. When you got to the top, plant grass or plants of some kind.  They grew very well.

I remember when most people had gardens with many vegetables, fruits, and herbs growing seasonally.  This was followed by canning parts of the harvest for the winter months.  This process of growing and harvesting and canning took a lot of time but it also saved a lot of money.  The local grocery was for meats and paper goods unless you were lucky enough to grow chickens (for meat and eggs), ducks, turkeys, etc.  But someone had to prepare these fowl for the table. A messy process.  Trees were also important, and their fresh fruit was always delicious.  Apples, pears, peaches, cherries, etc, were great for pies, cobblers and canning. We baked.

I remember when we had a cornfield which took up maybe a quarter of an acre.  Great fun as a playground when you are young.  And again, the corn itself was delicious.  But also a lot of work like all of the above.  Our time was allocated differently toward different priorities.  Day to day survival.  And there is so much more to remember about those times which were simpler but sometimes just as stressful as now.  What kept us sane then?

I remember the big bands that entertained on the radio and at dance halls.  They thrived through the war years.  Their recordings were listened to on 78 rpm records.  And these same recordings with the bands and instrumental soloists and singers are still listened to today.  The musicians are mostly gone, but their music which was romantic, entertaining, nostalgic even then, and even inspirational lives on.  Songs that were written then are still meaningful even now.  As we once again regain our way of life we will remember years later these times and the music that coincided with them. It still keeps us sane. Music.

In a global pandemic there seems to be more time to think, and to think clearly, uncluttered and unfettered.  When the the days run together into weeks and months, most of us tend to lose track of time in our traditional way of dealing with it.  In this situation, instead of being clock oriented, with minutes and hours, we become meal or stomach oriented.  Our days become divided into breakfast, lunch, dinner and bedtime.  And the days blending into weeks become divided by our pill boxes and our TV programming and scheduling.  Everything else is randomly fitted in and around the above.  The earth’s rotation, the circuits of our sun and moon and our four seasons bring us yet another division in our perception of time and the way it affects us.

What would our lives be like if this present situation continued?  How would our perception of time change? How would it change our lifestyles? In our past fast-paced lives when we were slaves to our clocks there was no way to think out of that “time box.” We just accepted it and dealt with it accordingly. We grew into it from birth.  Then we physically matured but mentally still became unavoidably attached to the tyranny of the clock. Has this held us back mentally and stunted our mental growth? Would the expanded time that we either have or could simulate reverse this tendency? Or would there be no noticeable difference? So the question becomes: Do we really mature in time? Do we at some point become whole, both physically and mentally?  I believe that generally the answer is “no.”   I think that “yes” we mature on the outside, but in our inner core we stay the same undeveloped personality that we have grown to become.  The “Peter Pan” syndrome whether male or female.

We show our outer shells to the public, but our inner core only surfaces from time to time in unguarded moments when we forget that this core is supposed to be protected and hidden.  This duplicity gives us a refuge, a place in which to retreat when we are hurt or lose confidence or lose our way on the highway of life. But, we are here on earth to grow and fully mature in both our outer shell and our inner core.  And when this is finally accomplished, we are then ready to move on to our next level, our cosmic home.  Unfortunately, I don’t believe that many of us actually reach this ideal state, and even with unlimited time, there are many who would not even get near.  Most of us, in our own timeline of life, do make an attempt at intellectual and spiritual growth and usually show outward signs of this progress, but our allotment of time is finite, and it is within this time limit of our lives that resides our own personal gauge. Our meter of accomplishments relating to our personal growth.

Physical growth is relatively easy and easier to track or measure. Mental growth is intangible. It is only noticeable when there is an aberration.  Otherwise we become accomplished at disguising our real selves and personalities.  This is why marriages can fail and jobs not fit us or the company and there are inevitable drop-outs from society.  Bad market-research, both personal and whoever is on the other side of us. Mental growth needs time.  Time to absorb information and to digest it; time to think, both of the past and the future.  Our congested lives rarely permit this.  We have to find ways to permit this very necessary access to our imagination and our subconscious.  We need to find quiet time.  Not easy.  Headphones can be a help if what you are listening to is fairly innocuous and doesn’t inhibit the thought process.  The sounds of wind or rain or the ocean. Or music.

Music has the ability to alter time and, if we use it judiciously, we can create time for introspection and self-assessment.  And it is this time adjustment that can help us re-evaluate our direction and reset our inner clocks, and ultimately make our much-needed growth possible.  Music of a certain kind can help us to use time to become a better person. This is worthwhile and worth considering, but time must actually be allotted for this purpose.  It is quality time that is most important, not quantity.  A few minutes of quality time is infinitely better than hours of meaningless quantity.  And, reverting to our attachment to the clock, we realize that in the pace of our daily lives there is never enough time.

So let us use music to our advantage in altering time for our personal growth.  The music needs to be classical in style and instrumental in type. This minute organization of frequencies, uncluttered and unfettered by the specificity of text can be the most helpful in our quest.  Given time it can inspire us and motivate us to seek a different level of consciousness which can make possible our wholistic growth.  Music can give us time to think. And thinking is definitely one of the most important aspects of our lives. Take the time for it. Let us all grow to our full potential. In time…!

A whole generation or two have been born and grown up not knowing what our country and our world used to be like.  Some of this is a very good thing, but there are other aspects that are not so good.  We need to remember at times what certain things were like.  For instance, most of the younger generation have never known “want”,  being without something with no chance of getting it or replacing it.  Most of the time this is fine, but on the other hand we tend to lose a perspective in our daily lives that is sometimes blurred or surreal.  This might be somewhat like thinking that money is a permanent part of our lives or that food is always obtainable and that water is always fresh and plentiful.  An expanded perspective can give us a realistic knowledge as to where and why and how these things come to us.  This could be a very healthy addition to our collective maturity.

I think that a simulation of want has happened to us in this most affluent of countries during the month of March and possibly continuing through the month of April.  This can be a learning experience for all of us as to what things “usta” be like  in the olden days: the 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s.  The people who lived through those years had things, but not everything that is available to us now.  Toilet paper is now in our consciousness as a luxury item.  We no longer take it for granted.  As are the toilets themselves.  I remember when outhouses were ubiquitous and there was never any toilet paper in them.  The most pervasive item to use was a Sears Roebuck catalog.  With glossy paper.  Think about this.  And the most characteristic memory about this whole process, as with a lot of other situations was the smell.  We don’t think about unpleasant smells as being a part of our lives anymore.  But we are no longer an agricultural society.  We are the city folks.  Far removed from the barnyard and the pasture.

In an agricultural society food takes on a whole new characteristic.  Now we have the supermarket. And in some places the farmer’s market.  But both are sanitized and healthy. Everything looks good and the smells are innocuous.  In the olden days of our ancestors even as recent as the 40s and 50s this was not the case in many places.  Many people had gardens with fresh vegetables and fruits and trees and flowers.  Beehives for honey. Large pens for chickens and ducks and turkeys and guinea hens and pigeons, and hens who laid eggs regularly and lived a comfortable life until they were selected for dinner.  Then someone had to end a certain comfortable life, remove the feathers, clean and prepare the carcass and then, only then cook the meat for dinner.   Youngsters then learned early not to think of these animals as pets.  Also in this area were the hunters who would bring home squirrels, rabbits, pheasants, etc., and then expect them to be prepared for dinner.  Always a messy process.  Even if it was a catfish or trout or a bluegill.

During this month of April when we are to be sequestered for thirty days, it might be a good time to reflect on the above.  This could be a wake-up call as to what could happen in a real crisis: an earthquake, tsunami, tornado, asteroid crash, etc.  Can we actually be prepared for any eventuality?  How?  What would happen when a situation occurs that means that we really can’t get food, water, medical supplie or even…toilet paper?  How we could have prepared would be meaningless at that time.

At that point in time we are no longer “entitled.”  The entitled category gets immediately buried in reality.  Can thinking about this eventuality help our young , our millennials, and those people with totally unrealistic outlooks face reality?  Would they be ready and even able to handle the intellectual shift necessary to survive?  In a crisis individuals must act in order to survive.  No one can rely on someone being available to do things at their beck and call.

The good old days meant that life was based on reality.  Pay to play.  Participate or leave.  Think before you act.  And “Be Prepared.”  Scouts understand this and so should we. Let us use this month to prepare ourselves mentally and physically and spiritually for whatever eventuality comes at us.  And let us unite as the great nation that we “usta be” and still are. Let us all sing “God bless America” with a gusto that comes from deep down in our hearts…!

There have always been naysayers, doom-and-gloom people, always negative, nothing-ever-right: “The world is going to hell in a hand basket,” the wheel will be the downfall of civilization, the devil is in charge and we aren’t, the glass is half empty, etc.

If we had listened to these people at any stage of our development from the beginnings of civilization, there would have been no civilization or countries or societies.There was a very old cartoon in the fifties, black & white, primitive animation, that said over and over “I’m happy when I’m sad, I’m always feeling bad.”  If we had taken this as truth at the time, those of us who saw it over and over might have become the negative personalities that we see and hear even now.

Nothing is perfect, but negativity is destructive.  It stunts our growth and has the ability to rot our brains.  Negativity is an anchor that abhors progress.  It fears the striving for perfection, and the upward climb toward the betterment of anything.  Negativity is death both personally and as a society.  We have many leaders in different aspects of our own society whose outlooks are primarily negative, and we need to have the will and the strength to replace them with forward thinkers.  Left in place for too long they can do lasting damage to our way of life and our system of education, and our system of education is the foundation of our society, and any society. When negativity is in charge, nothing can be accomplished.  Nothing can move ahead. Nothing that has any value can even be initiated because negativity obstructs and inhibits and must strive to have everyone think the same way.  The more the same we are, the more negativity feels a sense of accomplishment.  Everyone and everything must be pulled down to the same common denominator.  Think for a moment of the lasting effects of such an agenda.

The bright side of all of the above is that we have a choice in every instance.  We can choose dark or light, life or death, positive or negative, up or down, progress or stagnation even though the dominant thinking is the reverse.  We always have a choice.

In our present society, making a choice can become a challenge.  It may seem that at every turn we are faced with negativity.  Most of our media: newspapers, magazines, social media, chat rooms, television, movies, etc., are filled with either social negativity or a negative agenda that takes over our minds while watching or listening or reading.  So the challenge becomes sifting through these so that we don’t become infected with a negativity virus that can cloud our thinking.  This is definitely challenging. But if we are to keep some semblance of our sanity, it is a necessary challenge and definitely worth the effort.  Clear thinking involves going against the mass of information we are faced with at every turn like a salmon swimming upstream.  But the reward for a positive person is peace of mind and knowing that we are supported by other like-minded people from every age in history.

Everything that has worth involves a challenge:  Invention, innovation, creative writing, composing music, art, research of all kinds, any aspect of leadership, and anything for the betterment of society. All are challenging but not always rewarding.  There are no guarantees except self-satisfaction.  Knowing that we have done our best work in reaching our personal goals which are the challenges that we have set and achieved.  Even more satisfying is finding other like-minded individuals who are facing their own challenges or have achieved some success in their endeavors.  Positive thinking in itself has become a challenge. But we embrace it.  It is what we live for and the reason that we exist.  Conflict and resolution are the essence of the arts and of life itself.  Let us challenge ourselves daily throughout our lives.

Coins all have two sides, two aspects, a front and a back.  We accept them because of their nature and usefulness in our daily lives. We don’t question either their existence or their validity.  They just are.  There are many other things in our lives that are similar to coins.  Some of them animate and some of them inanimate.  And, again, we don’t question them.  They just are.  All of our money has a front and a back. Credit cards have a front and a back. books and magazines have a front and a back.  Cars have a front and a back.  And we accept all of these.

People are in a whole different category.  We take them at face value.  Mostly we see only a front both physically and mentally, as they see us. But when we think about this, people also have a front and a back.  A professional life and a private life.  An at-work life and an at-home life. It is normally only in family life that we see the flip side of someone or both sides.   And depending on personalities this can be a good thing or not.

When a person is a public figure we normally only see their front side. We hear their viewpoints pertaining to their work or their workplace. Nothing else is needed in order to appreciate the person’s value to society or to their accomplishments or their successes or failures. Their persona is complete and understandable as reported in any kind of medium of communications.  They are one of the inhabitants of our personal line-ups that are judged and categorized and filed in our own personal up or down lists.  Front side only.

But, we just don’t like the person. Sometimes this isn’t based on logic or factual information, but only our own viewpoint based on a personality conflict.  Most of the time this is inconsequential. We mentally file the information and go about our daily lives.  But sometimes through an incessant barrage in the media this can become an obsession, even a personal campaign to devalue the person or even actively disparage their image or personality at every opportunity.  Through a personality conflict.  This negativity, like any kind of negativity, can be destructive both personally and publicly.

We also may not like the ideas that a particular person is proposing or their improper dealings with others in their field or society in general. In a free society we have the freedom to speak our own minds, but when these ideas or distorted or mean-spirited or destructive, we have the right either to ignore this or actively set the record straight with factual information.  Personality conflict is much different from disagreement based on factual or even debatable information.  Everyone has the right to be an idiot.  Most of us, however keep this hidden on our back side. Some on the other hand just can’t resist displaying this lack of intelligence at every opportunity.

In order for personality conflicts to become extreme we must objectify the person or persons.  We must see them as an object to be despised or defiled or even destroyed.  And, at some point in this process we must begin to realize that we are wrong.  Either through inwardly thinking things through or from outside information leaking in to our thinking we must wake up to the fact that we have gone too far down the wrong path.  We have lost our moral compass.  We have lost both self respect and respect for others no matter who they are.  Any number of faith expressions can help pave the way back to normalcy and fairness and respect.  And this can lead us back to kindness in our thinking and in our dealings with others in our lives.

This leads us back to the fact that we all are coins with two sides, two faces.  We all have opinions.  Some of them are decent and helpful. We do not, however have the right to force our own thoughts into the thoughts of others from an undeserved platform or stage or opportunity. We do have the obligation to check our sources of information for validity.  We also have the obligation to use fairness in our interactions; respect in our lives, especially in our relations with law enforcement and government; accuracy in our assimilation of information and in passing it along to others.  We need to remember that it is possible to disagree with kindness and respect.  We need to remember that we are all humans with two sides.  We must tend to and nurture both sides.  Listen to Judy Collins as she sings her song, “Both Sides Now.”

We work until we can’t work anymore, then we think.

Many people can’t handle the process of thinking.  It is sometimes too painful.  The past contains ghosts, the future contains the spector of the unknown.  They are both trapped in the present with nowhere to go.  It seems that the only course possible is to block out the reality of our own existence.  This is the time when this blocking invites the addictions of drinks such as alcohol and anything else that will blur or even eliminate the reality of the present time.  Anything that will allow us to just remain suspended in time and space.  This can happen at any time and at any age.  Any time there is no longer any hope, no one to understand, or no one to help in any way. Rational thinking is blocked.

Then comes the ultimate thought process:  What am I doing?  Why am I here?  Where have I been and where am I going?  Have I had enough of everything since nothing makes any sense any more?  Have I exhausted all possibilities?  Is this, then, the end?  If so, why not take the leap forward into the vast unknown?  How quick and painless would this be to ultimately find lasting peace and unconditional love and rest from all of the uncertainty of life here on earth? Is there an answer for those people in this circumstance that makes enough sense, and a powerful enough case to make in order to change their thinking?  Is there anything at all that will deter anyone who is in such a downward spiral?  This is one of the most vital and important communications that we can make to another person.  A compelling reason to justify their existence.

Prayer, promises, logic, intellect, books, films, TV, radio, streaming.  None of these can penetrate as deeply as music with its myriad of styles, moods, feelings and emotions.  But, in order to reach deeply into any psyche, the text must be eliminated, for it forces us once again into the present.  Only with instrumental music can we lose our our perception of reality in the present time and begin to reach the deep recesses of our minds.  Only with instrumental music can we combat the feelings and emotions of the illogical and restore the balance of our earth and universe with its natural laws.  Instrumental music obeys these laws by the sounds of order and disorder and then re-order. Instrumental music is uncluttered with daily life and the past and the future.  It exists only in the present, only in our own space and time.  It allows us to think more clearly and more deeply.

If we could only experience this concept, it might be possible to communicate it to those who need to be rescued from the brink of their own extinction.  This, however, is a process to be learned first by ourselves and then passed on to our children who can then have the capacity to understand the process among themselves and then to pass it on to future generations.  This could possibly save our society and all people,  in contrast to the superficial “causes” and “fads” that we are inundated with by an incessant and even immoral media.  Maybe this could even change the basic thinking and reasoning for all types of media who ostensibly have no collective conscience. This could cause a freedom unknown in recorded history, honesty in the reporting and communication of events as they occur without editorializing before and after.  A media that thinks before acting.  Everyone would benefit.

We can only hope that we all actually learn to think independently and to listen instrumentally.