Today I’m thinking of duplicity. Two ways of thinking about things depending on the context of the subject. Getting up in the morning we can think, “what a wonderful day ahead of me” and be ready to face anything that confronts us. Or we can arise and think “O crap, why can’t I stay in bed all day and not have to confront life in general – where’s the coffee?” And every situation that we face as the day unfolds will have the same two ways of dealing with it. Positive or negative reactions are part of our attitude, and just having an open mind will eliminate the need for an instant decision about positive or negative. We don’t have to judge every person or every situation as it happens. We can call on “common sense” to help us slow down a bit and size things up or even table the reaction for a later time when we are more relaxed and capable of fairness or neutrality.

All of us have two sides to our personalities, a public persona and a private “the real me” personality. In most of our day to day living we could solve a lot of relationship problems by just keeping this in mind. Are we dealing with someone or something in a public way or a private way? By determining this we can actually smooth out the path ahead by not confusing public with private, professional with colloquial, play-acting with real life. Sort of like in a duel choosing guns or knives or fists or fly swatters. Our dealings are straight ahead rather than hopelessly convoluted. The above applies to our daily lives with people, shopping, tracking the UPS, phone, internet, etc, etc.

After our lives during the workday, however there is (usually) down time. We have some part of an evening to relax and be entertained. And entertainment for most of us means escape from the mundane work we just escaped from (usually). Let’s keep in mind that entertainment involves people who are visible and people who are behind the scenes in TV, movies, concerts, stage performances, recordings and many more possibilities. And also let’s keep in mind that these people are humans (with some exceptions), and being human they all have public personas and private personas. What we see most of the time is their public, entertainment persona that helps us to escape from the stress we are still carrying around. We do not care about their private thoughts and personalities when we are expecting to be entertained. This can be intrusive, irritating and stressful, the opposite of our expectations. The only time that the private lives and thoughts of public personalities are entertaining is when their lives turn into gossip columns in newspapers or magazines or talk shows and we get a peek into their daily lives and troubles, foibles and human or subhuman-ness. This is voyeurism although peering in at someone else’s troubles can also relieve our own stress at times.

So entertainment is helpful in our escape as long as it does not involve the real personality of the entertainer. Like listening to music of any kind. When we listen, we hear the pleasing vibrations of any mix of vocal, instrumental or electronic sounds and enter another dimension. Reading the seamy side of a composer’s life while listening would interrupt the pleasant vibes. Watching an awards show when the winner, instead of just saying “thank you,” starts a political tirade, rips you right out of the entertainment value of the show. Does listening to many years of the songs of someone and being entertained, then finding out the person is a serial killer or guilty of domestic violence change the music itself? Or not? Does the music itself still entertain, or does the private life-style of the performer invalidate the music itself? All of us are duplicitous. We all have a public and private persona. Does one or the other invalidate our own personalities? Or do we just need to be careful not to mix the two entities? Maybe watching others could make a big change in our own lives. Do we really need to constantly judge someone’s work either public or private?

I have been feeling increasingly that the freedoms of all of the citizens of the United States of America have been eroding.  This has been happening for quite awhile and, though it has been very gradual in the past, I think that the tempo is increasing.  Something like this is very difficult to recognize when it is gradual, but when it starts picking up speed, it begins to enter our awareness.  Also, the mere idea of freedom means different things to different people.  Freedom to what?  Freedom to travel, freedom to change jobs, freedom to get married to whom you wish and raise a family, freedom to think as you choose, etc.  This whole idea becomes complicated when freedoms conflict with one another.  Whose freedom takes precedence when I have the right of way and you also have the right of way?  How are these conflicts resolved?  When no one is willing to compromise, what is the last resort?  Does the person who shouts the loudest get the win?  Or do we rely on a judicial process for resolution?

When our lives are simple and uncomplicated, the above is fairly easy to deal with.  When the playing field is even, most everything is easy to deal with.  But complications inevitably ensue causing what should be simple to escalate into the “mountain out of a mole hill.”  And how do things escalate quickly and get out of control?  The media of all kinds are looking for the next story or situation to display before any others present it.  In a simpler time, the facts were usually checked thoroughly and witnesses vetted before any release.  When everyone rushes to get it out there first, facts and situations can frequently be slightly off or even incorrect.  But, hey, they can always retract on the last page or in small print or sotto voce (with a small fast paced runner below any other story).  This panic of presentation can cause the inflammation of any story or situation and cause it to escalate and become out of control.  But then, of course, there is another bigger story to cover.  For the media this is a win-win situation.  (High fives all around).  But what about the people whose lives are potentially ruined or who just become victims?  The media do not ever have to clean up the mess.  They just keep milking it until the next “breaking news” occurs.  What is lacking?  Responsibility, ethics, morals, fairness by covering both sides of any story. Who do the media answer to?  Anyone?  Who controls the media?

Your freedom ends where my freedom begins.  And what does this mean?  Compromise.  Activists of all kinds ignore compromise and responsibility.  They are just paid to disrupt.  (Otherwise, who has the free time to engage in uncontrolled disruption)?  And the media will air or present almost anything that does not include “common sense.”  Top themes are crime, disruption – including civil disobedience, religious issues, and anything al all that stands out against a tranquil society anywhere in the world.  What is this called?  Censorship.  What does this impinge upon?  Our freedoms.

There are segments of our society that are self-appointed censors.  They are paid to make sure that common sense does not intrude upon their issues.  They are supported by the media.  They are a beast that has risen several times in the history of our country.  They are bullies.  They spread hate and lies so loudly and so frequently that we, including the vulnerable and uneducated among us can’t distinguish the truth anymore.  Every country in the world that has experienced this unfortunate phenomenon has suffered and eventually crashed.  They are a virus.  They stifle education with their vilification of honest teachers until they just quit.  They infiltrate politics and proceed to dismantle  laws and attack the constitution itself.  And what can the vast population with daily lives to lead with common sense do?  Wake up!  We are experiencing “Idiocracy” (the movie), and the beast itself – socialism.  It starts with people who are doing good for everyone and morphs into government based on “wishful thinking” and slides into the evils of socialism which is the precursor to communism.  The solution is for the vast and silent majority to wake up.  There are a lot of really stupid issues being forced into our laws and our society.  The majority knows this but is too busy or too fearful to become vocal with it.  If they speak out they are castigated by paid activists and the media and the unfortunates who are dragged into the fray too deeply to get out.

Bottom line – do we have freedoms or not?  Do we as a society still want freedoms?  Are we still ready and willing to fight for them?  Hopefully the answers are a resounding “yes.”  And if this is so we need to get started now.  Today?  Enough is enough.  We are taking back our freedoms from the abusers.  Watch out media, here we come…!  Nuts!  Damn the torpedos, full speed ahead!  We shall return! We shall overcome!  “God Bless America”…..!!!

Well, here we are, one year from 2020, whatever that means. But it sounds science fictional at the least. I started reading science fiction in the 50’s and was fascinated from that point on with the extrapolations it presented into the future.  Especially the year 2000 and beyond.  A lot of the predictions became reality and a lot of them did not.  And some of them are still waiting to become reality. Our present way of life with computers and the digitizing of a good part of our lives was not imagined in the way we are now living. The conveniences we now have are somewhat close to the early predictions, but the actual surroundings are, for the most part, missing.

Seeing into the future is dependent upon the present being consistent, like a river flowing predictably.  However, even rivers have been known to change their course due to other unpredictable circumstances.  But, even so, just imagining the things to come can have a calming effect on our lives.  By seeing what is probably ahead, we know that our children, grandchildren and their families will have comfortable and productive lives.  Or at least a chance at this achievement.  It is, I think, our human (and feeble) attempt at controlling our lives beyond the present.  It is one of the illusions we create in our lives to keep us grounded, even sane at times.

This all being the case, what can we expect for our progeny to face in the next millennium?  What can we expect them to see in the year 3000?  Marriage.  Will they still be couples and raise their own families?   Education.  Who will educate their children?  Religion.  Will there still be established religions?  Government.  What form will the peoples of the earth use to keep order in their lives?  Jobs. What means will be available for providing for basic existence?  Technology.  From the macro to the micro, what new developments in communication, medicine, travel, and life in general will be in use?

We obviously don’t know any of the answers to the above, but we do know that all of the above will be different.  And speculating about all of the possibilities is stimulating to the creative part of our brains.  When we look back over our brief recorded history and see the changes that have taken place over the past millennia, we are able to get a minuscule idea of how the evolution of societies has proceeded.  There are very few constants.  Almost like a great cosmic “crapshoot.”  Although this is not very inspiring, it does give us a measure of hope.  And this is one of the main ideas that we have to keep us looking ahead as humans.  Hope.  It has motivated a good part of our literature and arts and music.  It has inspired our sciences and our experimentations and medical research.  It has kept us alive as the people of the earth.  And now we sing our hope into the year 2019 and beyond into the next millennium, the 3000’s.  May our hope be the song in our lives!

Many of the values that we espouse during the Christmas season are just that – seasonal.  A once a year explosion of kindness and cheer overflowing with magnanimity and good deeds; abounding in charitable actions.  Peace descends upon our towns and cities and love is expressed in a pervasive manner that calms the beast in each of us and soothes our frazzled nerves. And… what planet am I now on?

This is all wishful thinking and “pie-in-the-sky” musing.  There is definitely a spirit of the above that resides in the Christmas season, but it is not pervasive.  There are those that would do away with the whole idea of “peace on earth, good will to all.”  They would also do away even with the word and whole idea of Christmas itself.  Keep in mind that in order to have peace, we must first have tolerance.  And that is the most difficult idea to implement.  Tolerance.

When we drive on any freeway in long lines of vehicles practically bumper to bumper, most people will ease back and let you into the next lane if they see your light blinking.  This is tolerance.  However, there are people who will shoot you for interrupting their place in line and chalk it up to road rage.  Is road rage now an excuse for intolerance?  There are also many amateur and professional “robin hoods” who feel that it is their duty to redistribute wealth.  They take whatever they can get from wherever they can get it and give it to the needy, usually themselves and their need for anything, including drugs.  There are also those who will take packages from your doorstep with unknown contents just for the possibility that there might be something valuable inside, or just for the surprise factor.  Do we tolerate bad behavior in order to have peace?  No, of course not.  Tolerance does not equate with submissiveness.  Tolerance means that we allow for individual expressions, religions, customs, traditions and honest mistakes that occur in many ways, as long as they don’t including bullying at any level and in any way.

In a free society our lives are conducted using the honor system; as long as we live within the laws we have in place to help us to interact with others on a day to day basis.  Kindness, ethics, morality and individual responsibility are necessary in our lives, but do they need to be mandated or made into laws?  I hope not.  These need to be instilled in us by our parents and reinforced by our schools.  They need to be explained and shown to us by example why they are important by all of our forms of religion, our belief in a supreme being or creator of everything in the universe as we know it.  We learn the above ideas by listening and watching and hearing the ideas of those who have the experience of tolerance.  This becomes the path to peace.  Not to be mandated, but taught.

December and the Christmas season in whatever form are very important to our society and its continued existence as we know it. The ideas of goodness and kindness and peace are valid and need to be carried through the rest of the year.  In December this can become a magical feeling of rising above our normal harsh realities.  This magical feeling is good for us.  It gives us an overview that can carry through the rest of our lives if we can only remember what it was like to be a child and then to apply these feelings of wonderment and magic to our own existence at this point in time.  This temporary suspension of reality can provide us with a permanent feeling of tolerance and then to its logical conclusion – peace!   Let there be peace on earth!  But it must first begin with me, and us, all of us.   Have a magical, mysterious,  and very Merry Christmas…!

 This November two things stand out to me: Veteran’s Day on November 11 and Election Day on November 6.  Veteran’s Day calls on us to support those citizens who volunteered to serve our country for a period of time regardless of the hardships and consequences that may occur.  Many of them are living examples of these hardships.  They have lost arms, legs, hands and sometimes their minds and future lives.  Many are too broken to live with those who had supported them and are now homeless.

Election Day is highlighted by citizens who have strong opinions about politicians and issues and use the power of their vote to make our country stable, lawful and constitutional.  This day is sacred to those who care about their country and want to keep it free. This is a day when changes can occur that determine whether we either stay the course or change direction.  Both of the above days depend upon each citizen supporting the basic ideals of the country in which they live, and this in a word is Patriotism.

Most of us believe that we support our country.  We live comfortably, we vote, we pay taxes, we raise our families and we live and die in, and for, our country.  But, do we love our country?  Really deep down love our country?  I don’t hear this expressed very often any more.  Has the love of our country gone out of style?  Has it lost its meaning?  Have we forgotten our roots, foundation, and the paths we traveled to get where we are now?  Do we believe in, or have doubts about, the greatness of our land and the reasons it is great?  Do we love our country anymore?

The political left considers this unnecessary and even at times “silly.”  The media of all sorts tend to lessen the whole idea and even obscure it by various smoke screens like dutifully covering it with symbols and short clips and flag waving segments.  But this is superficial.  What is it that is missing?  In a word: Passion!  A passion which signifies a true love of our country and its original ideals and our firm foundation.  Cosmetic patriotism is rampant except in the military and some segments of law enforcement and even segments of our government itself.  But even in these,  the deep down idea of being unafraid to express our true love of country is sometimes superficial.  It is missing in our schools, so our children become unaware of the importance of this deep love.  It is also, unfortunately, missing in our colleges, universities, businesses and places of work.

Do we have deep feelings anymore when we see our flag displayed, our National Anthem performed or our Pledge of Allegiance spoken?  Does anything really move us deeply anymore besides movies and songs as superficial expressions of nationalism and patriotism?  True love of our country must be self-motivated and come from deep down in our hearts and psyche.  It should be felt when we are touched by the true meanings of those who have fought and died for our rights and freedoms.  Respect must be present in our love of country, and a profound understanding of our responsibilities to the land that protects our thoughts and our ideals.  Without our full participation and respect and realization of our responsibilities, a deep and true love of our country is not possible.

How do we wake up?

A large part of our love of country is made possible by faith in our system of government;  judicial, legislative and executive branches.  I first became aware of the office of the president when Harry Truman was in office in the 40’s.  In my own elementary way I supported him.  He was a wartime president with unimaginable responsibilities.  I respected the office that he held.  Thereafter from Dwight Eisenhower through Bush 1, Clinton, Bush 2, Obama and now Donald Trump I have supported that office even when I did not agree with decisions and policies.  I realized early on that I did not have to like the person, but I did have to support the office.  I still feel that way.  And this goes for all of those who hold elected office.  This is why our vote is so important.  We are free to use this power to express our own opinions and ultimately our love and respect for our country.

The existence of our country depends upon our true love and respect and support.  We need to retrieve the right to freely express our love for our country.  We need to respect our flag, our National Anthem and our Pledge of Allegiance. And we need to be able to show our patriotism and nationalism without reprisal or derision.  It starts with each individual citizen.  We will know that this is happening when we are unashamed to express our love openly and unfettered. We should all welcome this idea and crave it deeply for it will ensure our continued existence in freedom.  Say this clearly:  sing it……shout it……….!

“God Bless America!”

I am an American.  I was born here. My parents were born here. My grandparents, however, were immigrants.  In those days everyone who came to this country went through a process that made them aware of our rules and regulations and our way of life.  It made them proud to be part of such a great and powerful nation which was bursting with opportunities.  My paternal grandfather worked in a steel mill and eventually died while working there.  My grandmother initially found housing for those immigrants who came through the steel mill.  She became interested in this process and gradually started to help others find housing when they came from other countries in Eastern Europe to work in the same mill.  She didn’t work for the mill or officially start her own business, but she was able to help many people find housing by buying small houses for them to rent until they could buy their own places.  These immigrants became proud of this country with its securities and its opportunities.  All of this was based on responsibilities and an innate incentive to work hard and raise a family of responsible citizens.  When you invest your time and your life by assimilating, you end up loving the process that gave you the opportunity to live and grow and raise a family and help others to do the same.

At what point in our lives did words like patriotism and nationalism and Americanism become epithets?  The whole idea of America and its freedoms implies work; requires work.  Each of us must search for, and find and grasp opportunities when they appear.  They don’t find you and surround you. You must do the work.  You must become responsible and teach your children to become responsible.  Then and only then can you reap the rewards of our freedom and then become proud of the processes we live by and truly appreciate the country that made them possible.  At that point, after the toil and sweat in whatever type of endeavor, you become increasingly proud of our country and its freedom and opportunities.  Love of country implies responsibility and hard work.  Remember that this country has given you the opportunity to find your own way by working responsibly for your own life and its rewards.

There is a growing segment of our society that no longer adheres to the above ideas.  This growing segment increasingly turns ideas and practices and responsibilities upside down.  These people would like for the government to do the work for them, and to provide the processes and the research and the rewards for them.  Ultimately thinking “Why should I work? The government can, and will take care of me.”  This is backwards and upside down and very wrong.  Why?  Because the people who think this way are no longer invested in the welfare and health of our country.  They are only interested and invested in themselves.  They are no longer proud of our country, and they would like for everyone to feel the same.  They no longer believe in majority rule, the idea that what most people think about the rules and processes of our country is right.  This upside down approach has never worked historically and they fail to realize this. The wrongness of the government as sole provider is obvious to intelligent and thoughtful people. But there is a barrage of propaganda against them.  This has infected our educational system, our news media, our politics and our way of life.

This has to stop!

The vast majority of hard-working, thinking people must awaken as a united populace and say collectively that we have had enough of this wrong thinking.  We are proud of our country and its freedoms.  We are proud to be Americans.  We each have the power of one vote.  We need to be willing to use it to preserve our responsible way of life.  We are the people!  God bless us and may God Bless America!