Month: March 2024

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Banned Books

I confess, when I was young it was not only OKAY to read books, but they were part of our school studies. We were encouraged to read everything.

Imagine that, we could read whatever we wanted.

And we did.

I remember books and the subsequent classroom discussions of them that had a huge impact on me. That made me THINK.

That is what the written word does. Makes you think.

Some of those books would never be in schools today. In Cold Blood. Catcher in the Rye. To Kill a Mockingbird. Of Mice and Men. Flowers for Algernon. Twelve Angry Men. Romeo and Juliet (Our teacher even took us to the theatre to watch Franco Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet, where, gasp, there was brief nudity).

The list is extensive. I was fortunate to have teachers not only present us with these, but discuss them as well, and let us decide for ourselves what we like or don’t like.

My parents had a huge library of books and none were off limits to me, from the day I could read. I read Benton’s Row. A Clockwork Orange. Valley of the Dolls. There were also lots of non-fiction in my house, Time Life Books, Reader’s Digest, National Geographic, and a plethora of physics, mechanics, biology.

At lunch time at school I used to read automotive mechanics. Can you imagine me doing that today?

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Justice

One thing I have learned about the justice system is that it has very little to do with justice.

That statement is probably obvious to a lot of you already.

However, the depth of the above observation is unfathomable.

I took a course on Environmental Law, what an eye opener. It had little to do with the fate of the environment until the EPA was developed. Even then a lot of greed and ignorance reigned.

I read a book recently about what it will take to convict trump and it has nothing to do with accountability, obeying laws or righting wrongs. It made me sick.

I contemplate the Lady Justice statue and see how correct her depiction of justice is.

It ain’t pretty.

Why is it everything man touches is so complicated?

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Debates

When I was young we had, what probably no one has heard of today, debating societies.

In school we would have contests to see which side could give the most convincing argument either for or against a certain topic or idea.

It gave us a chance to see important points on both sides of the street, as it were. These debates never, as far as I knew, caused trouble.

There were no murders or personal or cultural cancellations. It gave young people a chance to explore other opinions and ideas without fear. It made people think about issues and formulate their own opinions.

The debates never involved personal attack. No one was belittled or condemned for a point of view. It was all about facts and presentation. You might not be swayed by one point of view, but it made you think more clearly about issues.

To shake things up, a teacher would assign you, regardless of your personal opinions, to present a case often against what you believed in. This forced you to use your brain, to do research, and to see that often things are not as black and white as you previously thought.

This is what a good education is suppose to do – give you critical thinking and expand your mind.

Sadly missing today. Today, everything is about emotion. Just react to everything without a thought. It’s all about ME ME ME.

I’ve had all the emotion I can handle for a life time, thank you. Can we please just have interesting debates instead of out and out fury?

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Navel Fuzz

To believe your life is no longer worth living is one of the saddest things.

Life will throw a lot of things at you, but if you chose to give up the fight, you have lost an important truth.

Life is a gift. It is precious.

I know this appears to be a trite statement. But I have found that these words are on a much higher level than I realized.

You don’t need to have a purpose, or meaning to your life, I certainly don’t.

You don’t even have to make a significant contribution, or have much realized impact on the world around you. I never have.

It is not about your title or position or what people say and think about you. I’ve found no matter how hard I strive, most of my efforts are ignored. I’ve spent most of my life feeling unworthy of any good thing.

Yet. I. LOVE. LIFE.

It seems like a contradiction to write that, but it is true.

I don’t love all of it, there are things that I hate, detest and make me very angry.

But I consider it ALL to be a process of my life. The good, the bad and the ugly are what makes me, me. This is what life is. You are not special because you suffer, we all suffer. Grant it some more than others. Life is NOT fair, ever. Count your blessings when it is fair to you.

Being alive is a blessing given to you.

This sounds yawn worthy, but there is a deeper message in that. Take your nose out of your navel and look around. See the big picture instead of your own navel fuzz.

Before you become bitter about life, consider what is worth staying around for.

You’ll find it has nothing to do with you at all.