Sunday, July 18, 2021

in memory of FH -- A FIRE WAITING TO BE LIT

I'm a Quaker.  My meeting just had a hybrid zoom/in person memorial meeting for one of our former members. During quaker memorial services, everyone is encouraged to offer comments on the life of the decedent.

I haven't seen FH in a long time. Unfortunately, what I remember about him is that he was quick to anger, and that I was uncomfortable with that. I didn't feel comfortable sharing about it. I'm not even comfortable using his full name here.

Other people gave wonderful messages about how kind he was -- generous, gentle. One friend gave a very moving message about how FH basically saved his life, by taking over care of his mentally ill mother, who was driving him insane.

One good thing about the zoom meetings is that I can take notes -- or journal -- into the text program on my Mac, while attending, inconspicuously. I did write something about him.  I probably should have shared it, but didn't quite dare. 

This blog is often a way that I can share things so that no one who I know is likely to see it -- and in fact perhaps no one will see it at all -- a way of burying things in public. 

This is what I wrote:

What I remember about FH is anger

That’s relevant to me, because I have anger issues as well

Quakers tend to not relate too well to anger

Curiously, in the Bible, God is also described as angry in the Bible, in some cases

BA  talked abut Fred laying a fire in the meeting house before meetings  — a fire waiting to be lit

fire is a symbol of anger as well 

a fire waiting to be lit



That last line sticks with me


A fire waiting to be lit


Yes, anger is a fire, but so is spiritual passion, eagerness to be of service, and even revolution.  There are many kinds of fire.  My latest twitter profile cover shows my anger at a political situation using fire





FH: a fire waiting to be lit



Tuesday, July 6, 2021

new anti-trump meme

 "A day in the life of Sue the Trump supporter…

Sue gets up at 6 a.m. and fills her coffeepot with water to prepare her morning coffee. The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards.

With her first swallow of coffee, she takes her daily medication. Her medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to insure their safety and that they work as advertised.

All but $10 of her medications are paid for by her employer's medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance - now Sue gets it too.

She prepares her morning breakfast, bacon and eggs. Sue's bacon is safe to eat because some girly-man liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.

In the shower, Sue reaches for her shampoo. Her bottle is properly labeled with each ingredient and its amount in the total contents because some crybaby liberal fought for her right to know what she was putting on her body and how much it contained.

Sue dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air she breathes is clean because some environmentalist wacko liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air.

She walks to the subway station for her government-subsidized ride to work. It saves her considerable money in parking and transportation fees because some fancy-pants liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.

Sue begins her work day. She has a good job with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some lazy liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Sue's employer pays these standards because Sue's employer doesn't want his employees to call the union.

If Sue is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed, she'll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some stupid liberal didn't think she should lose her home because of her temporary misfortune.

It's noon and Sue needs to make a bank deposit so she can pay some bills. Sue's deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some godless liberal wanted to protect Sue's money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the Great Depression.

Sue has to pay her Fannie Mae-underwritten mortgage and her below-market federal student loan because some elitist liberal decided that Sue and the government would be better off if she was educated and earned more money over her lifetime.

Sue is home from work. She plans to visit her father this evening at his farm home in the country. She gets in her car for the drive. Her car is among the safest in the world because some America-hating liberal fought for car safety standards.

She arrives at her childhood home. Her generation was the third to live in the house financed by Farmers' Home Administration because bankers didn't want to make rural loans. The house didn't have electricity until some big-government liberal stuck his nose where it didn't belong and demanded rural electrification.

She is happy to see her father, who is now retired. Her father lives on Social Security and a union pension because some wine-drinking, cheese-eating liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Sue wouldn't have to.

Sue gets back in her car for the ride home, and turns on a radio talk show. The radio host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. He doesn't mention that Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Sue enjoys throughout her day. Sue agrees: "We don't need those big-government liberals ruining our lives! After all, I'm self-made and believe everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have."

- Kay Dee posted by Joan Stanley