To thine own self be true

Well, everyone needs a holiday because of this context. Below, just some of the things going on via media check-ins the past two weeks.

A 94-year-old Nazi convicted of helping to send 170,000 concentration camp prisoners to their deaths gets five years which he apparently is likely destined not to serve.

A 94-year-old outstanding Canadian war hero being grinched by our bullying, ‘caring’ PM, who mercilessly refuses to blink and let this abused veteran get into a military hospital to spend his final days.

A 4-year-old who drowns in his grandparents’ swimming pool.

Another young boy eaten by an alligator in a Florida amusement park.

A man bitten by a rabid bat in an open car on the road near Airdie.

On the highway, watching Mack trucks tailgate and bully other drivers at speeds of 110-120 kms.

Yesterday in Edmo, watching a guy in a car deliberately tailgate a student driver for several blocks, then pass with ease when his sadistic pleasure wore off.

On Katzville roads, noting easily over 50% of drivers texting or talking on cellphones despite the distracted driving bylaw.

No, one does not have to go far to see how many nutcases are out there or how dangerous our brave new world is out there on a routine basis. A lot of what passes for daily strange reality far exceeds fictional reading. In a sense one does not need to read fiction if one is looking for strange subject matter. There is enough of it to go around all around us these daze.

…………………………………………
Well, a good reason to stay focused on one’s own immediate health, significant others, family, and whatever bliss one choose to follow as far away as possible from the madding crowd.

Holidays and getaways are important refreshers because the larger world is, seemingly, getting crazier. It is important to treat oneself and those closest to one. Otherwise, what is the point of money, for instance?

If we choose common sense, sanity, decency, respectfulness, kindness, generosity, love, etc., all the more power to us. I’ve said all along in this blog that it is important not to be distracted by the limited, conventional choices of the hoi polloi, and to stay true to oneself amidst the numerous dumbing-down or crazy distractions.

I would still hold with that today, this morning. One certainly can’t expect the world to necessarily get saner, smarter, kinder, fairer, more just, safer, less unpredictable, and less absurd. Likewise, for people at large to become more courteous, respectful, and responsible.

On my morning bike ride, spotted a big pile of toxic cigarette butts on the street. I guess the smoker figured Mom would pick them up, or kids, or pets.

Read Robert Fulford’s insightful “Is the future going out of print?” in National Post, June 6, 2016. (Just Google the title to get to it.)

We walk the battlements
like Othello and Iago
after the last invasion of
armed tourists.

We peer through
the interstices
where cannons once
protruded,
the wake of a yacht
cutting across the deep blue.

The waves break on
the rocks below
as we gather our thoughts
on war, history, and peace.
Fortifications to keep
the enemy–us–out.
And some lost purpose
of the long-gone dead.

(Place de Dublin, 2016, beyond Caillebotte)

City of Light
the famous corner,
park across the street
stone fountain gushing
absurdly in the rain.
A 20ish waif in
pale short coat,
blonde hair wound
onto her back,
bare legs reaching up
from black shoes
walking slowly, purposely
on the wet sidewalk
as vans and cars
come and go
at the changing lights.

She puts both hands
under her coat
at the sides
lifting them up suddenly
flashing any men
who care to see
what little she wears
underneath in
her secret life.
It’s just her way.

A mature woman
fully clothed with
a blue umbrella
clicks her tongue and
looks the other way
as she jaywalks
behind the girl.
A student garbed
in black plastic
with a duffel bag
is stopped as she
turns to greet him,
hands dropping her coat
so he only catches
a glimpse of what
the morning might offer
unexpectedly.

No sale or no time,
he walks on as
a tarped motorcycist
slows down to take
a closer look.
The umbrellas continue to pass:
blue, red, black, and yellow.
An old man with
a purple shopping bag
crosses with his
diminutive wife.

Everyone it seems
has somewhere else
to go as the girl
checks her phone
in both hands in
front of her.
No calls yet.
The traffic moves on
and still no birds
have come to
this forgotten fountain.

Front page of Edm. Sun this a.m.:
Green Drop ad proclaiming–

“Your Lawn at It’s Best”

(spelling/punctuation: another one bites the dust)

‘Cato’ in the Pink Panther movies/Burt Kwok. 85.

The unnecessary zoo gorilla death story.
One can’t assume that all those who have kids are not ignorant, mega-irresponsible, careless, and a danger to their own kids and others, including animals.
I have seen myriad cases and stories of this kind over the decades. Dangerous stupid people causing unnecessary harm to their own unsuspecting kids and innocent others.
No, I think a parenting responsibilities course has become a social necessity in North America. (Schools don’t cover this or much of anything that’s likewise basic or common sense.)

King Tut’s dagger included meteorite matter.

Hundreds of Roman tablets unearthed in London.

No doubt more revelations and info to follow.

One male patient in a Stryker frame bed (flip kind). He was a teacher at St. John’s-Ravenscourt. He needed to have a BM and I helped him while he regaled me with language the boys used on camping expeditions to describe toilet paper. He first mentioned ‘crap wrap’ (which I thought was fairly clever) though he thought the boys’ choice of ‘bum wad’ was more aesthetic-sounding. Funny what you remember almost 50 years later.