NOT A CLUE!

     And that, my friends, is how I sat down this morning to write the daily blog. I had not a clue as to what I wished to write about. Should it be personal? Should it be about Trump again, but I just could not stomach him this morning. So what?
Not a clue.
     Suddenly I began to think of the surreality of it all and then I wondered if there were even such a word as surreality. So, I looked it up. Guess what? It is a noun. It exists - so why is my computer telling me that I am misspelling it! Another morning like the other day? Uh oh.
     So what is the surreality of it all? Well, we have the standard situation of the country and the world today. A giant of the generation of giants is buried, with honors, and yet the President of the country, of the same generation, is not there and the two living presidents who spoke at the rites did not mention names, but all knew the point of their eulogies and that of all the rest. It is surreal that we are at this point today.
     It is surreal that we are at a point where violence in the streets, a more horrific violence than the riots of the late 60's and 70's, might happen, this time with arms and weapons of all types in plentiful supply. If that is not a bad state of surreality, then please find another for me to replace it.
     It is a state of surreality when I think of all that is hidden from us and the fact that what we think is real, is not. Just dozing on and off this morning, too tired and too lazy to get up, I began what I call the "shiver shakes". Now that, my friends, is surreal. The whole body shakes, as if with the cold, but there is nothing to be seen on the outside. The only way another would know is if a hand would be placed on a leg, perhaps, and feel the movement from within. To say it is weird is to be highly understating the whole sensation.
     So we all need to return and keep and understand reality. Do we like the reality we are living in or do we find it surreal and that surreality uncomfortable. Can we do something about it? Do we make changes NOW or do we wait and do it gradually and perhaps never see the end of it, or the benefits of it. Do we ignore it? Do we go it alone or do we find allies? Is there hope in or for or with our efforts? Finally, the reality of the nation is not necessarily the reality in the personal realm and one has to find a point of compromise.
     I know that I have had to make major changes in my life, my personal issues taking up far more a greater percentage of my life and the demands upon it. I have had to sacrifice time with friends, recreation time, quiet time, for periods of deep and intense exercise, of exercise for several hours every day, learning to live with the knowledge that this is now the reality, not the surreality, of my life.
     But I cannot, for the life of me, lose all that made me and still makes me who I am. So I rate importance and severity and thus, dear readers, I concentrate on the state of the world, on the plight of countries where violence is rampant, or have been invaded, as with the Ukraine, on places where the horrors of right wing extremism and hatred have returned tenfold from the past, or when my own country still holds children hostage, have lost their parents and continue with this policy, never mind their denials.
     So it is a balancing act - and sometimes that balancing act is quite physical, believe me! It is learning to rethink priorities, necessities, ways of life, methods to do things, and to shout out to the world what I can about what the dangers are, the terrible things that are happening. Why? Is it not surreal that I think I can make a difference, one lone, mostly unknown voice in the world? Perhaps. But the fact that it helps me, the fact that there are readers from all over the world - and that just blows my mind (sorry, I am a child of the 60's and 70's) and if I can change the mind of one person, or encourage one to think about the facts of life as we know it - then I have done well.
     Surreal. Surreality. Reality. In today's crazy world, a world where we use Newspeak, where peace is war and war peace, when hate is love, when truth is not truth - is there a difference? I am beginning to think not. So does anyone out there have a clue?