Random Thoughts - June 26

Ted Reads Random Thoughts

10:33

I was sitting outside with a friend in near total darkness. There were frogs and birds talking much louder than during the daytime. That caused me to wonder if they talk louder at night because they have to.

 Duck, Duck, Goose. The game kids play. A friend has adapted that with the kids she works with to Blossom, Blossom, Flower. Giving the poor animals a break. How about Mouse, Mouse, Cat? Or Apple, Apple, Peach?

Another friend sent me a note about how he “laughed his butt off” (though he didn’t use butt.)  What would that look like? Would it be considered a disaster-her or a disaster-him? Made me think of the question, what do you call the incident where the cow accidentally backs into a spinning airplane propeller? Answer. An “Udder disaster.”

I said to a friend “I have ants in my pants,” waiting for news of a to be grandchild’s gender. That got me to wondering. Would “urchins in my undies” or “crickets in my crotch curtains” or “dung beetles in my drawers” or “skeeters in my skivvies” or “pill bugs in my bloomers”

describe the phenomena as well?

Everything is everywhere all the time. I know that is not a new thought. But it came to mind as I was philosophizing to myself the other day as I was sitting on the throne in my house.

Read this in a study that was released the other day. The more hierarchical and authoritarian the society, the more play among adults, tends to disappear. This is the main finding of an international study coordinated by the University of Pisa. This study showed “that the level of social despotism is the key factor in determining the presence or absence of play among adult primates, regardless of their evolutionary history.”  Maybe this should be in the political section of this blog?

I awoke to this thought the other day. The beautiful piece of music, one of my favorites, the “Ode to Joy,” has both an Antagonist and a Protagonist. The absence of either would disallow the existence of the work of art.

Where would I find the Stream of Consciousness? How might I access that?

What would make us wonder why a little one might not want to take a bath when we use a term like “There it goes, down the drain,” or rush to see what happened when they hear, “I’d like to, but I’m all tied up.”

I was wondering (as I was eating some at a great Mexican restaurant) if sales of sour cream would increase if they called it “special cream.”  I was wondering the same of “clotted cream.”  Having intimate knowledge of blood clots, I still can’t eat it. The same thing for me with “Cheesecake.”  The words cheese and cake, combined in one dish kills any enthusiasm I have for dessert.

A friend asked me how old I was. I told him. There was a long pause, then he says, “Please don’t become a comma.” I think he meant half of a parenthesis, but maybe not.

Some things, it is said, come from out of the blue. Others come out of leftfield. While others may be found in right-field. Hmmm.

What’s with “Cat got your tongue?”  Is it such an important thing that we need two different ways of saying the same thing? Clammed up is not enough, we have to bring in cats to say the same thing?

An El Salvadorian friend says that in their language, it is a rat, not a cat. We could just say, “You’re being really quiet” couldn’t we?

“It’s raining cats and dogs.” (“Lizards and snakes” in the El Salvadorian version.)  How about “it is raining really hard?”  And why the need to say that “The rain’s really coming down”? Other than sideways is there any other direction we might expect it come?  And why do we pick out dogs to let people know that we are really, really sick? Why not cats? Can anyone explain to me why it makes sense for us humans to use animals, reptiles, and insects (“fly in the ointment”) this way?

WARNING POLITICAL COMMENTARY TO FOLLOW

A fair number of politicos were interviewed after the incident at the correspondents’ gathering. Many of them talked about how shaken, scared, and terrorized they were. I was left wondering if they understand that is what kids in schools feel every day, as they are trained in what to do and what not to do in the case of an armed person coming at them. I am wondering how many of them would be thinking about changing their position on gun control having lived it. I know that answer. Nada. Kids don’t have secret service people. Speaking of such things I found it fascinating how and why that amendment came to be. It’s not as I was taught in school.

I was wondering how many lives could be positively impacted if the people who are making the private donations for remodeling the White House, refurbishing the presidential golf course, and other pet presidential projects instead donated to provide food, medicine, shelter, shoes, and coats for kids. I understand why that doesn’t happen. Our economic system is not based on that.

At the same time, I have a friend who is using her wealth to buy a Christmas present for every student at an elementary school in an economically challenged city, using tens of thousands of dollars to make it happen.

Another friend, who having discovered that part of a community center’s goal was to provide one warm meal a day for their highly distressed area and seeing the equipment they were using, recently fitted out their kitchen with commercial grade equipment. Another who makes sure that there is enough food to cook.

And yet another who will make sure that everyone in her community will receive a Christmas present.

The difference, I make up, is having a working soul or not. A business mentor once told me that the secret of business was to “find a need and fill a need.”  I think that applies to those of us who have more than we need. That’s how we got here, way back when. For the most part we lost that. And we are paying a moral price, while those who have so little are paying a much steeper price.

The country I grew up in seemed to play the role of being a shelter from the storm. Lately it seems to me my country is back to being the storm itself. 

I am often criticized for saying things about what I see is going on in our country today. There is a part of me that wishes I didn’t notice, like so many others seem to be able to do. I think some of us are cursed, in a way, because we cannot, not, see.

Politically I see the house on fire, while others suggest it is just smoke coming out of the chimney or refuse to even look in the direction I am pointing towards.