Monday Musings...

If you DON'T think it's cold out today, there is definitely something wrong with YOUR thermostat.
Right now, it's only ONE DEGREE, but if you figure in the wind-chill, it's MINUS 21 degrees F.
Great if you're using the tool shed to hang slabs of meat.
Welcome to an antarctic version of Monday in Indiana.
Our Hoosierland weather will see us with temps rising from the SUB-zero all the way up to a mere TEN degrees. (yeah, how about that global warming?)

Yep, it's THAT kinda cold outside.

Skies will be mostly sunny today (for a change) like that will matter in THIS cold, with some light breezes (naturally).
So stay inside of you can, and bundle up if you must go outside.
Frostbite can (and will) occur after just 30 minutes out in this stuff,. so don't ask for trouble there, right?
Now, go get the nice HOT cup of whatever you're drinking as we see what's been going on elsewhere...
*** First off of the glacier is our "What the hell happens today, Bob?" feature:
January 18 -
---Today is MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY

(more about that in just a few...)
---It's also NATIONAL PEKING DUCK DAY

(not good if you're a Peking duck, though...is it?)
---And, it's NATIONAL WINNIE THE POOH DAY

(not to be confused with monkeys that fling poo)
*** Next, Wifey and I had an "interesting" time grocery shopping this weekend.

As usual, we stopped at the Kroger on Bluffton Rd (the one where the purse-snatchers got busted last week), and it went well...until we got to the deli area.
I'm what you call a "people-watcher".
Been one for a LONG time (blame that on a police family a couple lifetimes ago), so I tend to notice when someone looks a bit on the "hinky" side.
There was this tall black guy, wearing brown plaid "pajama" pants, black boots, black jacket and black knit hat, who was just milling about the same area. No shopping basket, cart, or items in his hands. Hmmm...
And he was walking slowly in the deli area.
Wifey said he walked past her and was checking out her purse.
I had told her a couple minutes before (on the Q.T.) to "watch your handbag - keep an eye on it AND this guy".
I walked about, getting things on our list, all the while watching HIM as well. He never made eye contact with me. That also told me something about him.
When we got up to checkout, we told  store personnel about this rather suspicious person.
Now, maybe he was looking for some fast cash, credit cards, or whatever, but we had to say something.
I don't know what the final outcome was, but the manager was alerted to this guy.

We just left the store and felt good about reporting it. Wifey was a tad shaken by the experience. People like that tend to creep you out. I told her "you get used to it."
Never heard anything on the news, so maybe the guy took the hint (from the manager) and just left...works for me.
You go there to SHOP...and NOT to walk around looking in women's purses...simple as that, right?
*** Next up,  as can be expected, here is a story about this COLD weather and how city offices are taking steps to alert us about it (like we can't stick our heads outside and feel it?):
http://wane.com/category/weather/winter-weather-be-prepared/

Nice to know that some people are hard-at-work protecting their jobs downtown...lol.
Overstating the obvious DOES have it's uses, does it not?
(especially in government)
*** Next up, yes, today is the day we celebrate a great man - The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

First, here is his WIKI:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr.
And here is the story behind today's commemoration:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr._Day
(actually marks his birthday, which is January 15)

As you may know, I am a staunch believer in the words of Dr. King, and with good reason; he was a man dedicated to something our current president has lacked from childhood - a desire and need to bring people TOGETHER.
Dr. King proposed a truth that had been enshrined on at least one monument in our nation's capital, and contained words that have echoed since they were first uttered... "...We hold these truths to be SELF-EVIDENT...That ALL men are created EQUAL, and are endowed BY THEIR CREATOR with certain unalienable rights..."
Now, these words are from our Declaration of Independence, penned by our Founding Fathers.
Since Dr. King's assassination in 1968, there has been progress made in the black communities, and many people, following the teachings of Dr. King HAVE indeed elevated themselves from the dregs of poverty and inequality to achieve that which their ancestors could only dream of.

Sadly, Dr. King's message to EVERYONE has fallen on too many deaf ears, and that's a poor show for words so endearing and lasting.
There are the streets named after Dr. King, as well as all the schools, and the statues in his image, ALL designed to not let us forget what he did FOR this nation and ALL her people. You'd think after all this time, such reminders would galvanize subsequent generations into action which would all but do away with suffering in minority communities.
Well, doesn't look that way. Such suffering has been on the INCREASE.
Dr. King never thought that OTHERS should pay the way for his people. In fact, he believed that if there was a way to "best the white man" (A term that he would not use even today) would be to become a better white man THAN the white man, and if by that he meant overcoming prejudices through education, acting according to the law, being courageous in words and actions, and not resorting to burning your own neighborhoods to the ground if you "feel" slighted, then so be it. THAT is something ANY person can do, regardless of skin color.

Dr. King would not approve of the "methods" used by blacks today to "get what they want".
He would be more concerned with what people NEED...first.
Wants come when all the needs are taken care of, and ONLY then.
And as to being treated "fairly"?
Well, Dr. King said it best when he stated that "You don't judge a person by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
I think Dr. King would be concerned about the "content" of many peoples' character these days, were he alive to witness the way people have taken his dream and turned it into a societal nightmare.
I can only speculate of what Dr. King would feel.
This is based on his teachings, his speeches and his beliefs.

And I'm only a white guy looking at this from the viewpoint of the outsider - a position that has a lot more OBJECTIVITY than than those within the community itself, who SHOULD have been doing a lot more to follow what Dr. king said to them decades before.
*** Last back to the frozen pond...I believe that the dream of Dr. King IS still alive...in those of us who WANT (make that an honest NEED) to believe in it. It has to be.

How can you not want unity and equality for all in this country?
(some prefer to be MORE equal that others, and that's a problem for everyone.)
We've proven so many times in our past that TOGETHER, there's little we cannot accomplish.
But the question these days still remains, and it's a question that, in generations before, never needed to be asked:
"What the hell is taking all of us SO damn long to get with the program, hmm?"
Just something to think about, right?

Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay SAFE out there, America.