Going to a more genteel place

[Poppygail]

I didn’t mean for it to but this seems to have gotten a little dark at times but does eventually come back to a lighter place. I apologize in advance.

Reading Jeff’s post from earlier today gave me a great deal of comfort. That was an extremely thoughtful, well-written reflection. To be honest, I had tried to not give that phase of my life a great deal of thought. In the back of my mind I think I just assumed the worst so I kinda put it off. Then I read his post. It caused me to do a great deal of serious thought and I found myself coming to see the merits of his thoughts and finding a sense of well-being in those words.

I really needed this pick me up. Earlier in the day my mood had soured at the firing of Rex Tillerson, our Secretary of State. It’s not that I cared one way or the other whether Mr Tillerson is our Secretary of State, it’s the way he found out he was fired, by Twitter. Granted, he did receive a personal call later but that beside the point. It’s inexcusable to fire someone in this manner. It’s publicly humiliating and beneath the office of his boss. You could say this was a mistake if it were the first time it had happened but it most certainly is not.

When you consider actions such as this are the norm for our current leaders, that our congress as a whole is polling favorably in the teens, our president is polling favorably in the mid to upper 30’s (and has been pretty much since he entered office), no one in government seems willing to be seen crossing the aisle to work with someone from the other party, constant lies and bullying and sexual harassing are dismissed and condoned as locker room talk and they’re from a different time. That for for the 8 years of the Obama administration the republicans openly admitted that if he said the sky was blue they were going to swear it was azure. And now it appears the Democrats are going to repay them with the same actions as long as they control the White House. Congress and our president are shirking their responsibilities in passing responsible gun control laws and placing them on the shoulders of 18 & 19 year old high school shooting victims. Who, by the way, seem much more capable than our current leaders. Awesome way to try to govern a country isn’t it?

Then this evening, I heard the news that Stephen Hawkins, one of the worlds greatest minds, had died today. Knowing a little of his life story and all that he overcame, his dearth only served to deepen my sour mood. I realize he accomplished more in his lifetime than the majority of us put together ever will, most after he was confined to a wheelchair and could move little. I mourn both the man and all the knowledge that has been extinguished from the world with his passing. No matter how much he was able to commit to “paper”, nothing will ever compare to his original thinking.

This sour mood had gotten me to thinking that when the day came that I became a houseplant, maybe it won’t be as bad as I thought. At least I wouldn’t continue to know how fast the world was deteriorating and the fate that lays in our children’s laps.

Then came Jeff’s post. It was a real mood lifter. Those original, reasoned words soothed my spirit dramatically. No longer did I see myself withdrawing into a dark, unforgiving world that I did not know. But rather I may be finding relief in a much more relaxed place. A kinder place. A genteel place.

Take care,

Randy

[jeffcobb Ambassador]

Randy; your response was heart-felt as a general thing but was an absolute hat-trick for me. Thank you for your words; why I consider it a hat trick (three scores in hockey):

1. I have impressed people at odd points in my life but one truth I have known to my core is that it is very simple to impress someone you have never actually met but by the same token, nearly impossible to inspire that person. Since it looks like you may have gained some inspiration from that, this is a first for me as far as I know. That it is by providing an alternative to a normally dark-looking path, so much the better. That made me so happy, it really did. Ask Beth; she could not figure me out at first this morning.

2. You get it.....you really get it. You have no idea how relieved I am. Most of the time I can work and work on stuff and never be sure I said the right thing to make the idea clear to the reader, it always seems blindingly obvious or endlessly obtuse to me. But you get it, and now that you do, here is something that might REALLY bake your noodle: Assuming the undiscovered country or something close to it is real. Well, you know. If it is, then it is not entirely illogical to think it will be what you make of it. If that is the case, it may well be your personal undiscovered country is whatever you bring with you from this reality. For example, say you are into religion and your religion says you might go to heaven or hell, and for whatever personal reasons you want to go to heaven but are concerned you might end up the other place...that may just be what dictates your reality; limbo, purgatory, heaven, whatever.

And then if THATS the case, then maybe the dementia is simply a waiting room for where ever you wind up? OR.....maybe the afterlife is in fact simply one long extended dementia.....

And not to just pick on one set of religions, say you believe with your heart and soul in something like, say re-incarnation...upon arrival to your reality, it would allow you to "live" being someone else (from your reality)....and in your heart and mind, if you believed it enough, you might actually feel like you have done it, experienced your religions ultimate experience...

Me, I will probably find myself on an island with 1001 puzzles and no instructions....

3. You taught me something! I have always been into learning be it big or small things, and before your post I honestly had never known the word "genteel" before, had to look it up. Now its mine to use, so thank you very much for that.