RANDOM RAMBLINGS

  Upon reading the news feeds of the day, I just heaved a great big sigh and said to myself how tired I am of all this crap that hits the streets every day, day after day. We all seem to have lost sight of the facts and concentrated on emotions, on subjective judgements and consequences of those judgements. We have become the executioners of those we feel deserve it, or cheer on others who do so. We are as a nation of Rip van Winkles just awakened from a  long sleep, confused, not knowing how to behave with others, the simple and basic rules of daily life, beginning with courtesy. 

We recently flew back from  a visit with the kids and had perfectly fine and polite flights. All wore masks, no arguments. All cleaned up. All sat quietly when told of a longer flight due to turbulence. Perfectly fine, polite, with laughter here and there and flight attendants doing their jobs. Most important, passengers who allowed them to do their job. But recently some flights have apparently been originating in hell. Fights with flight attendants doing their job, even to the point of knocking out two teeth. American Airlines reported a fight wherein passengers, not all, only the visitors from hell, appeared to have forgotten that deep down they are still human and supposed to remain so. Calling names, insulting with personally targeted insults - what the hell!!!Why is it so difficult for people to understand that you pay your money, you take your seat, you sit quietly, be it reading, sleeping, playing with the baby, talking to a new acquaintance, or merely staring into space. No fighting. No suspension of human behavior and the rules of courtesy. Apparently I am wrong.

Members of Congress, both Houses, also have gone off track. The name calling rivals the toughest schools. The loss of patriotism, with Federal and State level officials allowing in, facilitating, the invasion of rebels, geared for revolution and harm, directly into the buildings. The attacks based on open hatred and prejudice, and yes, the reaching to new heights, or should I say depths, of anti Semitism from members of a group of vicious wanna be Alpha Girls. Their aggrieved response, claiming anti Moslem memes and tropes - and 'all' they did was to compare Israel and the US to the Taliban and Hamas! Only. The backbiting. The turns of those like Sinema and Manchin. The lack of attention paid to constituents and their desires rather than the at times perverse wishes of their own. The actions of these self same representatives of the people. As if!!

A nation of sneaks and more sneaks. Perverting the laws because they are inconvenient. Actually rebelling against this country, its government because they do not like it, well, toddlers do a better job of dealing with frustrating situations than these supposed adults do. Dressing up to resemble the 'tough'  look they imagine frightens people, rambling, rampaging through official buildings, shouting threats of murder, schoolboys on the loose at end of year release time, only these 'boys'  had murder and death at the end. Not a good ramble.

I believe that we have lost sight of proper behavior and management of our own wishes. We have forgotten, or now deem unimportant, the needs of others, how to negotiate, physically, psychically, emotionally, with others; hence, the violence upsurge and the excuses, the oh so righteous denial of its oh so 'wrongness'!

Locked up for over a year, given orders some did not like. Never mind that those orders saved lives, including theirs, even as over 600,000 died and close to 4,000 more are dying everyday. They did not like them, felt affronted and insulted. Like infants! We became antsy. When allowed out of the house, our quiet time out session over, we went wrong. Badly so. We were impatient beyond words. We pushed and shoved in any manner or form. 

We yelled,  threatened those who dared to think otherwise. We became followers of dictators and their hateful philosophies. We went on rambles with dangerous endings and plans. We simply lost sight of courtesy. Of social behavior. Of the interfacing of the crowd and the individual. We grew selfish, plain and simple. That selfishness has only grown in intensity and coverage, with expected results, exacerbating the situation even more.

What is the end? What is the cure? Is there a cure? Who the hell knows. All I know for sure today is that I am oh so tired, very tired of this, of all of this, and wish people would grow up, remember the lessons of their kindergarten teachers, their parents, their religious leaders who were truly religious. So tired.  

Thank the Lord above for family and friends. Think for yourself. Think again. Reevaluate before acting. Put on the shoes of others before taking a walk down a path that should be blocked off. Be human! Be humane! Be a thinking being rather than a simply reactive one. Understand consequences. Do not blame others for one's own faults.

Again - be human!! A good person. Simple, yet so apparently unachievable. A great shame. Dangerous, as well. Maybe we should all Rip van Winkle again and wake up,  this time in a better mood. Maybe.