Monday Musings...
Where to begin today, right?
I mean we're BARELY into the new year and it would appear that someone bought a really LARGE fan to catch all the sh*t that's being tossed at it.
Well, as an old elementary school teacher once told us:
"The best place to begin...is at the beginning."
So here goes...
*** We drove down to Portland to attend Uncle Leo's funeral on Saturday, and suffice it to say, it WAS an adventure.
And not the type you look forward to, either.
We had some weather to deal with, and there were spots along the journey where our top speed was like 35 MPH, due to deteriorating conditions, snow showers, and the like.
I told Wifey that this ranks right up there with some of the worst weather I've ever had to drive in (and I've driven in full-blown BLIZZARDS), and for ME to say that, it must have been bad.
(which it was)
It started out fine enough, but as we went farther south, the storm fronts must have homed in on OUR car, because it was a real CHORE.
Add to that the fact that the Wifeymobile decided to stop putting out WARM AIR from the heater (probably a stuck t-stat or a clogged heater core - an easy fix in either case). So, I was busy AND cold (but still well-dressed).
The funeral went well, but it was decided NOT to hold a graveside service, due to the (you guessed it) COLD weather, which was okay, I suppose.
At least we made it DOWN there in one piece.
Getting back became the challenge now.
So, after chatting with family members and saying our goodbyes, we decided to NOT stop at the Ponderosa with the others to grab a post-service meal...that would have put us back in Fort Wayne about sunset (if not later), and in THIS weather, daylight driving was plenty to handle. Didn't want to compound an otherwise bad situation, as it were.
As we headed back, the skies cleared considerably, which made visibility a LOT better (I could finally see farther than a quarter mile for a change).
We arrived back in Fort Wayne about a half-hour before the sun got low enough in the sky to deprive us of much-needed daylight, and the first thing we did was GET WARM (again)!
Then we ate, and after 2 homemade Reubens and a Sam Adams ale, I crashed!

I was DOG-tired.
Driving is much like working, and my Dad always told me it was "your second job".
I felt as though I logged some major O/T that day...but the pay sucked, unless you consider making it down and back intact payback enough.
And with GOD as our co-pilot for this trek, that front seat got pretty "crowded", but not any warmer.
Had I a heated garage with a drain, I could very likely take care of the "lack-of-heat" problem in the Wifeymobile, but since I have NEITHER, we'll have to relegate this job to those with such amenities at their disposal.
You never know how much you come to appreciate such things...until they're not available.
On the UP side, I did manage to successfully pass THREE Amish buggies (in the rotten weather) on the way down and back...
(that's a personal BEST, by the way - didn't spook one single horse, either).
*** Next is the horrific shootings in Tucson, AZ.
And I best not hear anything about more GUN CONTROL, because that was NOT the problem with this highly disturbed individual that killed and wounded all those people. We all know what the REAL problem was, right?
This boy had a sh*tload of bad wiring between his ears, and it culminated in this act of violence.
In times past, this boy, because of his previous odd behavioral nuances, would be placed in a "facility" that dealt with such people...
We used to call them ASYLUMS.
And long before that, his behavior would precipitate the need to have him labelled a witch and be burned at the stake, or at least hanged.
We called that "removing the undesirable element from society"...and by God, it worked, didn't it?
But we're not as "barbaric" these days, are we?
We seek to "help"...to understand these people, because after all, they ARE human too, right?

Well, that's a bit on the debatable side.
A "civilized" society, so highly "evolved" as WE are, would certainly have no place for the arbitrary cessation of life, no matter HOW "disturbed" an individual might be. They can always be "rehabilitated" or at least mainstreamed back with the rest of us.
That's the "proper" thing to do, isn't it?
Well, try convincing the families of the victims of those Tucson shootings of such tripe.
There always have been and always will be certain people in our society that will be on the outside looking in.
They don't want to be helped in many cases, for they feel THEY are the ones who are "correct" with their beliefs.
Hell, they don't even think they're disturbed in ANY way.
It's like I've said time and again about ANY city...or for that matter ANY society: "Is ONLY AS GOOD as it's WORST representative!"
That doesn't say much about us now, does it, in spite of the fact that such individuals as this shooter (and others like him) are always among us still...walking our streets, going to our schools, roaming our malls, and shooting OUR citizens over some skewed sense of what THEY believe is "right".
There DOES need to be a lot more JUSTICE in our world (and our nation) today...and a lot more PUNISHMENT to those who truly deserve it.
And such punishment needs to fit whatever crime has been committed...period.
There used to be that marvelously quaint notion of "THE LAW OF THE LAND"...
Where is it in action TODAY?
Have you seen evidence of it, because I certainly have not.
Our schools find it perfectly acceptable to mainstream "problem" children among the normal students, instead of placing them in educational facilitates that can better address their specific "issues". And we wonder why achievement goes DOWN with such disruption in the classroom?
Our society attempts to rehabilitate career criminals, turning them back onto our streets, as a sign of our "understanding them" and wanting them to become productive citizens. And we all too often see the results of such flawed intentions in the repetitious nature of their criminal activity.
Our government does all it can to reward bad behavior among the lazy of our society through entitlement programs, instead of imbuing them with a much better sense of self and worth, allowing them to EARN their way in life, like everyone else.
And the rest of us wonder WTF went wrong and why this isn't working out as we were led to believe.
Perhaps the time is ripe for an epiphany of sorts...a revelation...an enlightenment of a return to a much better value system.
The type we seemed to have once...long ago.
Why is it so difficult for all of us to get on the same page when it comes to such fantastic principles as MORALITY...and CIVILITY?
Many of us already "get it"...and have been getting it all our lives.
When did it become agreeable to accept damn near ANY type of behavior as OK, when we knew in generations past, it simply was NOT a manner in which a person conducts themselves?
When did it become almost acceptable to terrorize those whose only guilt was living a decent and honest life saying it's "the sign of the times"?
And when did we think it fine to just toss these perpetrators in the slammer for a decade or less, believing that when they BS their way back out, everything will be all sunshine and lollipops for the REST of us?
The statues of JUSTICE are blindfolded for ONE reason, and ONE reason ALONE.
It's to judge ALL EQUALLY...no bias, no discrimination. EVERYONE is judged the SAME.
(or so we used to think)
I contend that we have taken the ability to SEE PROPERLY from the concept and practice OF JUSTICE.
Otherwise, we wouldn't have to be dealing with such things.
What this nation needs is a MORAL ENEMA!
We have to get back to such things as ETHICS, RESPONSIBILITY, CIVILITY...and that's just for starters.
It doesn't come down to legislating MORE rules, regulations and laws...it's just that the ones we already have IN PLACE need to be READ once in a while...and FOLLOWED...by EVERYONE in like manner, or they mean less than the paper and ink used to write the damn things.
If we consider ourselves such an "evolved" society, then this should be an EASY task for US ALL.
We hold certain TRUTHS to be self-evident, as was said in our founding documents.
Among them are LIFE, LIBERTY, and the PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS.
I submit to all of you that OTHER truths such as ACCOUNTABILITY, MORALITY, and INTEGRITY are just as much self-evident...or they SHOULD be.
This nation has always set a high standard.
Trouble is, we lost our way falling all over our evolution and so-called progress.
We need to all find our MORAL COMPASS and get back on the RIGHT TRAIL, because the path we're on right now can't be taking us in a good direction.
In the meantime...
Be well, make a difference to someone, and
Stay safe out there, America.