To thine own self be true

(with apologies to Percy Bysshe Shelley)

I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Trump, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

Things no longer guaranteed in the external, melting-down, deconstructed, widely corrupt, destructive, greedy, largely unchecked political, economic, and social worlds.

Where will you find the four values mentioned in the title? Certainly not in Edmonton, Canada, or the States. Instead, there, only madness, unchecked political leaders, even flagrant hypocritical sexism and racism.

No, one has to look, increasingly, to the examples of great men and women, the lessons and beauty of Nature, the Arts of olde, and the collected wisdom of the best that has been said, done, and written in the past. These truly inspire and epitomize the highest milestones of human history, democracy, and civilization.

It is in and from the past, such as the funeral tributes to Bush 41, that one will relocate and rediscover decency, civility, common sense, perspective, compassion, and that elusive term–humanity. It is in and from the past that education will regain valuable purpose and significant depth. It is only in and from the past that individuals will be able to make any sense of what has happened and been happening the last two years. In that, bearings, focus, and true perspective of fully conscious life and living.

Dogs.

Bush was a big dog lover. He was a Real Person unlike subhuman Trump.

shows a guy parking his convertible on a downtown street. As he parks, he notices pigeons and their droppings everywhere on the street around his car so he decides to move ahead into a construction zone. After he’s left his car, a massive bucket of cement swings over it and dumps its load directly into all parts of the open vehicle. The punchline is the bird splat on top of the cement.

Life can be like that. No matter how careful and cautious you are, you can still get literally and figuratively dumped on.

Currently listening to a special CD edition of actor Michael York sensitively reading aloud the entire text of Alan Lightman’s brilliant novella Einstein’s Dreams. Here is the way Part 1 ends:

“The tragedy of this world is that no one is happy, whether stuck in a time of pain or of joy, The tragedy of this world is that everyone is alone. For a life in the past cannot be shared with the present. Each person who gets stuck in time gets stuck alone.”

Strikes me as one of the truest things ever said about individuals’ life-experience, consciousness, and basic alienation.

again this morning as an asteroid whizzes past Earth about 11:20 am (our time) between us and the Moon. How could anyone conclude otherwise?

The Earth has long been a tentative exercise at best and has been lucky thusfar on a cosmic scale. People kid themselves if they dwell in the illusion that everything might not come to The End within a few short helpless hours despite all our brave new technology. Many of us dwell in doubt-less, blitheful, ignorant joy. And why should that be any different given the human penchant for hope and optimism, even in the darkest of human circumstances?

If there’s one thing human beings have it is Choice. We can choose to see the glass as half-full if we wish. There is a lot to be thankful and grateful for, and much to be appreciated. If there is something we can all control, it is our choices even when they themselves are very limited. We can always choose how we will respond to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. But…

As in this morning, the reality remains that our fates are often in other hands especially in big picture views and contexts of Nature and physics well beyond our/mortal control. To say nothing of, simply stated, the fact of universal Death. As one of my doctors used to say, “We are all going to die. Some of us today, some tomorrow; some next week, some years from now.”

(Above image:”In the midst of life…”,  found art by RD)

A free annual ATCO furnace inspection you can phone and make an appt. for. Keeps you updated on any potential problems. Good time to do? Spring or summer.

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May Is Getting Married

(Edison’s phonograph for playing recorded music was one of the 40 most useful, indispensable, beneficial technologies)

Medicine
-birth control
-autopsies
-cancer radiation
-artificial insulin
-penicillin and antibiotics
-vaccines
-aspirin
-Prozac
-artificial heart and other organs
-syringes
-band-aids and bandages

Communications and Transportation
-printing press
-telegraph and telephone
-typewriter
-photocopiers
-photography
-motion pictures
-bridges
-sanitation technology
-World Wide web
-traffic signals
-roads and highways
-seatbelts
-elevators

Industry
-steam engine
-jet engine
-hammer and nail
-assembly line

Science and Electronics
-modern numbers
-computer
-transistor
-microwave
-radio
-television
-phonograph
-calculator

Everyday Items
-drinking fountain
-toilet paper
-disposable diaper
-batteries
-lightbulb

(Adapted from the interesting National Geographic 101 Inventions That Shaped the World)