"Born To Die"

When God did speak His Holy Word,

and came here as His Son,

Jesus Christ was born, to die -

He was the Chosen One.

And look at what He did for me,

while friends surrounding slumbered -

His hands and feet so cruelly pierced,

His precious bones were numbered.

This time of year I try to dwell

upon the cross He bore -

three times His wounded Body fell

and yet He rose once more.

My Lord, My God, you did this all

to wash away my sins -

Please help me not myself to fall

as the end of Lent begins.

csr

2/25/2004

Homeless Update

With all the problems already caused, this homeless man still doesn't understand he's just not wanted in the town he chose to "settle in".  The police, after arresting him on that vagrancy charge after he was seen daily outside elementary schools, could only hold him 72 hours before charging him.  He still speaks strangely, no one quite understands what he means.  But amazingly, many of these upper-class people have rallied to his defense.  This is what happened, according to the local news:

The judge took one gaze at the paperwork and decided since he'd harmed no one, he had a right to live his life anyway he chose - so long as he didn't interfere with the rights of others.  Unfortunately, he looks and smells pretty bad, looks and acts very out of place, wears rags, looks like a bum.  Most want him to disappear.  But no one can find any law that say he has to.  It's odd.

This has become a big matter now in the small, upper-class town I've been talking about.  I think that's the only reason they can't deal with the nuisance of a homeless person, who speaks strangely, begs for food, talks to little kids (who should know better), is because they're not accustomed to it, and that's why it's made the news at all.  They just don't know what's "pc" in this matter.  So most have decided he should be "escorted" out of town, let someone else deal with him.  He's just a bum, a troublemaker anyway, they figure, nothing to do with them. 

As I've said, he thinks he "belongs" in this town, it's his home or something.  But here's something else - that group who have taken time to chat, try to make contact, just attempt to be human to someone who otherwise is another big pain for the town to deal with, these people have decided to use him as a "cause celeb" to promote themselves, I'm not sure why.  They don't seem sincere.  But the cops sure do, they want him gone.

We'll see ...

 

"Faith"

I am with Thee

as Thou art with me,

adrift on this sea

of uncertainty.

Together we ride

this ocean's rough tide -

In Thee I abide

though I've cried, how I've cried ...

             Yet wherein lies my trust?

             If needs be then I must

             return into the dust

             that sustains.

I fear no ill-word,

'Tis now barely heard,

For Thou hast unloosn'd

my chains. 

csr

 

 

Patrick's Suunday Seven c/o Jude

"Name the last specific items you purchased at the grocery store" :

l.   Organic Soy Milk

2.  Cottage cheese

3.  Romaine lettuce, tomatoes, all salad fixings

4.  Saltless Saltines ("Tops")

5.  Skinless Chicken

6.  Steel-cut Oats

7.  a Milky Way bar

 

Let All Be Well With You

YESTERDAY is already a dream.

TOMORROW is only a vision.

             but

TODAY, well-lived, makes every Yesterday a dream of happiness and every Tomorrow a vision of HOPE.

                            LIVE WELL !

A Colorful Entry

I am breaking my Lenten outfit to make this "colorful" entry

I have this gorgeous, brown-eyed girlfriend, with yellow-hair. She just bought a beautiful sexy red dress, which turned me green with envy. I ended up with the worst case of the blues all day, just wanted to fall into a black hole. But thankfully, my grey cells took over. I put on some peach lipstick, a lavender silk blouse and dark-pink skirt. Naturally, I slipped into teal heels. I went over to her off-white Mediterranean manse with the saffron trim, and pressed the navy doorbell. When a blue-haired butler answered, he escorted me into the old amber library, where I waited. I was admiring a lilac-colored vase, when she entered. She wore a limegreen jumpsuit with wheat-colored go-go boots. Her wig was orange with blue-green hoop earrings. She had on about an inch of heavy torquise eye-shadow, surrounded by kohl eyeliner, coral lipstick, and not-quite-matching nail polish.

And that's when I realized that no matter how richly colorful you are, you can't buy class.

Soft Little Thought

Our thoughts become words, which become actions.  Actions become habits which become destiny.  If you make a habit of, say, lying, you'll be destined to be seen as an habitual liar.  By the way, this works for good deeds, as well. 

St. Thomas Aquinas, the great church scholar, once wrote that in praying for those we can barely abide, our enemies, the enemies of our loved ones - by praying for these do our intercessions become very powerful.  For, how hard is it to pray for someone who is decent and good?  It's easy. 

So pray for those who will make a habit of lying or being hurtful.  Pray for them before their acts become habits, and they are sealed in their destinies.    

Homeless Guy Update

The homeless guy has made the news in a big way now.  Maybe he didn't realize it, I don't know, but the worst thing he could've done was start talking to the kids around town.  He was spotted talking to school kids (to whom he would tell jokes it seems, they liked him) but of course, they were children forgetting the warnings of their parents.  When enough of those parents heard this, they stormed to the police station to see if he could be arrested on some charge.  They tried vagrancy, yet try as they might it would appear he hasn't harmed anyone - yet.  Sure, he's an eyesore and a nuisance, but ... He did, however, go off into some kind of seizure and completely destroyed part of one man's business front. 

Anyway, he's been arrested "for his own good" and they can legally hold him for 72 hours.  But in the meantime, it appears one mother claims her child felt "funny" being around him.  (Maybe she said what she thought her parents wanted to hear?  Kids sure pick up on the attitudes of adults quickly, and the prevailing adult attitude has been 'this one's odd')  After that, who knows.  He won't stay in shelters, it's a well-settled town, and no one is sure what to do about him.  He continues to talk in incomprehensible babbling, though he speaks well enough.  He just doesn't make any sense, that's all.

I have a feeling something's going to break, so I'll keep watching my local news. 

 

Burned Alive In The Bronx

Just an aside - you may've noticed I've been wearing the same color outfits in my entries.  It's the Lenten color and I just wanted to show my faith.  I'm not ashamed of it. 

========================================

Now I have something painful to describe, a true story of such hellish horror some may not be able to read any further, after a few lines.  But try - the greatest fear the human flesh is heir to is fire.  And this is a story about incredible fear.

The other day there was a horrific fire in the Bronx, New York, not far from Jersey here.  So we get the best newscasts and most frequent up-to-date broadcasts.  Pictures.  Sound bites.  Interviews with witnesses.  This was awful, oh Lord and so unnecessary.

A family of 22 people from the poorest country on earth, called Mali, in mid-west Africa, were living in a one-family dwelling in the Bronx.  22 people making up three families, mostly young children.  A fire started in the basement - it's origin seems to have been a space heater.  Why in the basement?  Men, women and children lived down there.  A woman tried to put out the fire as everyone ran upstairs.  She was overwhelmed so she, too, ran upstairs - but she left the door open and the fire started licking its way further up and up and up the dwelling.  Screaming women opened windows and pleaded for someone to catch their babies.  The fire was so close they didn't always wait for help - but I'm proud and happy to say neighbors came running as mothers tossed their babies out 30' high windows, many falls being buffered by the combined bodies of those people.  The fire spread so fast that the children inside were already dead or dying before the fire department trucks could even descend on the hellish scene.  All told, 8 children and one adult died in this inferno.  Many lived.  Two are critical, two babies.  They're not expected to last.  All the children were between the ages of 2 and 9 years.  They died in their cribs.  TheCOD for most was smoke inhalation.  Imagine coughing and choking for air, then feeling yourself burning, smelling your own flesh bake on your bone. 

The outpouring of grief is inconsolable, though many are trying.  People from everywhere  have come to help, including the newly-formed Emergency Relief, Inc., an experiment in corporate on-scene charity.  They've been giving out clothes, food, the Red Cross is there still, and the building smolders - it's said when you walk past the area, you can detect an unfamiliar aroma, a miasma of "something" not quite identifiable.  Except to coroners.  The mourning for the babies goes on.  I noticed no candles were lit and set before the smoking ruins.  Only flowers with personal notes, signs proclaiming all the prayers being said. 

Now comes the pain of those who survived the fire.  Your nerve endings have been exposed, there is no pain like this, none.      

They're rushed into the Burn Unit for debriding, the surgical removal of lacerated, contaminated and dead tissue.  While lying on a tarp on a steel table similar to one used for autopsies (for the drains) they gently spray water all over the screaming victim to cleanse the burns and wash away the singed tissue.  Now, these suffering souls have already been given as much morphine and opioids as reasonably possible, without killing them.  Some I noticed were infants, and children ages 2 to 9.  All, I know, suffered greatly and still are.  In addition to the skin grafts to come, they will never feel the same again.  They will never be without pain in their lives, these innocent souls.  Areas of their body will have no feeling whilst others too much.  Without continual pain medication they cannot move through the world.  The proximate amount of years of skin grafting for the badly-burned is 3 to 5 years.  Easily. 

Those with smoke inhalation damage go into the Hyberbaric Chamber to remove the toxin from their lungs.  Babies.  Young adults.  Breathing in so much carbon monoxide is said to be worse than if you'd been a life-long smoker, say 2 packs a day.  Their lungs are damaged but they'll be able to breathe again.  They can hear the wrenching screams coming from the Burn Unit. 

Now I talk of the everyday heroes, the neighbors who saved the falling infants and children, and lest I ever forget them, the unquestioning duty of the firefighters who enter hell without a second thought for their own safety.  They look for people trying to find the stairs.  They help them.  They saved them.  Everyday heroes. 

You might've been thinking about the law by now, the 22 people, 3 families actually, living in a one-family house.  The owner had only recently filed for a permit to convert the building into a 3-family dwelling.  Now you're about to become angry:  the complex maze of building and housing codes is boggling the minds of the city lawyers, as they search for the place to point fingers, lay blame.  The reason for their legal problems?  NO VIOLATIONS WERE SITED FOR THIS DWELLING.  It seems the Housing Authority in charge of inspecting, and insuring that the owner/landlord maintain such buildings, found NO VIOLATIONS on their last visit.  And yet:  There were no batteries in the smoke detectors.  There was no sprinkler systems found anywhere.  There were no stairwells inside, no folding ladders outside.  And of course, there were 22 people, mostly very young children, jammed into that one space.  No violations?  WTH??  I investigated this further, and it seems there is "no cap" on the owner's responsibility if he lives on the premises.  The owner lived on the premises. 

I ask of you, my dear Journal friends, all of who I've come to care for and who've taken the trouble to read my jottings, PLEASE!  When you set your clocks ahead this Sunday, check the batteries in your smoke detectors and if you have none, you can get them free from the Department of Human Services wherever you live.  PLEASE do this.  What's the sense of keeping perfect time if we can't keep babies from burning. 

Too saddened to go on.  Time to pray for the living and mourn the dead. 

 

 

   

 

Could This Be Why?

Okay La Gioconda, also known as Mona Lisa, I think I figured out why your smile is so enigmatic.  Aha!  It's because you have no eyebrows!  That's it!  DaVinci painted you with no true eyebrows, thereby leaving you with no real expression.  All we see is the shadow of your browbone.   

Same as with a dog, look at a dog and you'll see why he has that "look" you know the one - like you wonder what he's thinking?  No eyebrows!  Dogs don't have them either!  Just take a person's eyebrows away and have them smile a little, and voila!  Another Mona Lisa. 

Okay, mystery solved.  Someone inform the French.     

Boring But True - The Saga Continues...

Those who've been reading this Journal for a time know I have a post called "Boring But True" which started out back in May of last year and I updated 1/29 as More Tales From "Boring But True". I knew this might end up a continuing post, so I now give you the continuing saga of Boring But True:

A lightening bolt is hotter than the temperature of the sun.

The Chinese smoke alot more than us Westerners, yet have almost no cancer or heart disease whatever.

Another thing about the Chinese:  Their doctors are literally paid to keep you healthy.  For example, if you become sick, your payment goes down, you pay less. 

A mattress will double its weight after 10 years just from the amount of dust mites living in it.  Fact!

South American penquins "climb" rocky snowless mountains to find a nesting place.  They waddle slowly upward. 

All animals, including man, have either fur, hair or feathers.  The one that keeps the animal warmest?  Feathers.  (I think this may be due to layering). 

This is beautiful:  The electro-magnetic field surrounding the heart is 60% larger than that of the brain.  When we point to ourselves, we touch our hearts, not our brains.  Why are we drawn there?  Certainly it would be easier to just point to the thigh area which is closer to the hand - or the buttocks, which I think some people should point to when referring to themselves, but n'ertheless:  There's some connection to the large EMF of the heart and our instinctual identification of ourselves.  I'm not sure what but I'm most definitely finding out. 

The oldest form of vaccination against smallpox was practiced in the 11th century, and only recently ceased in rural sections of Afghanistan and Ethiopia.  The immunization consisted of - get ready - dried, powdered scabs taken from the bodies of infected victims which were - get ready again - blown up the patient's nose.  Invented by a Buddhist nun, it actually worked. 

Stay tuned for more episodes of "Boring But True" !

 

 

 

 

As It Happens - LUNAR ECLIPSE

I was seated at my window at 5:30, telescope at the ready, binocs around my neck.  Her Highness has so far been almost right on the minute, as predicted by astronomers. 

As you all know from previous posts, I've been watching this incredible orb in it's full lunar eclipse for hours now.  I saw it enter penumbra, and was so startled to see how quickly it became a mere slice.  A small cloud of space-dust keeps trying to block her, but she'll have none of it!  She continually pops back out in such incredibly blazing light it's one of the brightest I've seen, and I live in the city!  o my...

It is now 8:10 PM UT.  Exactly as predicted, save a minute.   

She had already entered umbra and in a matter of a half hour, I watched her disappear from view completely.  Within a very short span of time, she reappeared and started the reverse procedure, from a slice to a nearly three-quarter moon.  I just can't over the speed of this event, compared to the length of time a solar eclipse takes to reach totality.  As to which may be more stunning is impossible to gauge.

Excuse me, I want to check her progress.

Holy crapoli!!  Luna has left her final penumbra and has managed to brighten even more fully, now about seven-eights size.  Look how quickly she did that!  Only moments ago it was 8:10!  It's now 8:18.  She'll revert back to full size around 9:24.  And I'll be here ... 

So now we wait and watch as she gradually enlightens herself to full and glorious size - if you put your thumb up against her visage, it will cover her.  And yet - such a miracle to behold!   

 

 

 

The Fear Of Being Needed

Ever notice how vulnerable we feel at the times we're needed most?  What if we fail?  We want to comfort and assure our friend who's crying on our shoulder or over the phone that all will be well, but we can't help having those doubts.  How do you say with honesty, "It'll be fine, you'll see."  When someone puts us in the role of "needed person" our vulnerability is showing.  After all, aren't we blind to the future?  We have no idea if "it'll be fine".   

Most times we're up to the task.  Our pal hugs us and walks home feeling alot better.  We pat our swelling ego and think, gee but I'm a good person!  But what if we weren't up to the task?  Then it's "How dare someone put me in this position?  Do they think I can solve everyone's problems??  Not fair!"  So that tender, doubting side appears from within our very being, from the core, and we are now more in need than our friend.

If someone needed a dollar, I could hand it over.  If they needed $100 well, see now I'm vulnerable because I really don't want to give it up, even if I do have it .  Are we ever comfortable with the need in others?  And don't we sometimes fear they'll ask for more?  Interesting.

It's not quite the way a patient needs his nurse, who shifts gear into their training mode using all the skills they've learned to see to the patient's needs.  No, this is more esoteric, more primal, basic.  Like ancestral memory, when our first cousins gave a hungry cave-mate some seared meat instead of the usual cowering in a rocky corner, wolfing it down and growling if anyone came near.  The first act of kindness based on someone else's need.  The start of the vulnerable human.    

I always believed that every thought created by the human brain was a force of energy, and we know energy can't be destroyed, only metamorphed, changed into something else.  I'm happy to say that this is a quantifiable thing, measureable in many ways. Thoughts into energy.  

Since energy can't "die" but only mutate into another thing of energy, where does it go?  Where does potential energy go?  Like, if you took a Slinky (remember those?) and wrapped the springs in rubber bands nice and tight, then dropped it in a vat of acid, where would that potential energy go?  Provoking.    

I believe that every action, every thought, leaves its imprint within our world.  It continues through evolving time to this day and exists all around us.  This could explain why people, credible people, claim they've seen "spirit-like" lights, forms, ectoplasmic shapes that resemble people actually.  Has anyone ever seen the "ghost" of a squirrel?  Or a giraffe?  What about a tree?  Only humans, it seems.  And if reincarnation is, indeed, a fact, could we ever see the ghost of our former selves?  Would we recognize it?  That's why I say it's human brain energy that hangs around long after the animated body that held it in.  So, if you walk through a place in time where centuries ago someone strangled someone else in great anger, you may feel a chill, or actually see a form, some kind of light.  Even strangely-clothed people.  The imprint of the past energy from that incident.  I wonder what kind of imprints our actions are creating this very minute .... centuries from now, someone will walk through the space we are occupying and perhaps feel someone of what we feel right now.  Or even see a "ghost" of an oddly-clothed person sitting at a strange machine that taps out words on a screen.  Makes one think more carefully on what we do while we're here, I'd say.  Leaving negative energy is a bit like "spectral littering' - perhaps we should be more thoughtful of future life, in the types of "ghosts" we leave them to deal with?  Imagine. 

Didn't our early ancestors have emotions, however undisciplined?  Didn't they feel a kind of unwanted inadequacy when called upon for emotional support by a cave-mate, who may've just seen his friend gored by a saber-toothed tiger?  Allthat energy, still imprinted all around us!  Fascinating.  

It may explain something else - why the warmth of an outdoor fire at night beneath a star-studded sky will warm us more fully than some safe indoor fireplace flicker, under a roof rather than the stars.  

I want to have the ability to help in anyway when asked by anyone for anything, yet my ancient vulnerability makes me doubt my skill.  The fact that I know I could fail is my own conceit, for surely I am as flawed and needy as the one who needs me.            

Homeless Guy

I can't believe it, that homeless guy was in the news again this morning!   Most of the town is completely against him while a few are starting to hand him food, even talk to him.  He still rattles on and on, makes no sense whatever, sleeps wherever he likes, even in people's yards - that's not fair to the citizens.  They tried to get him in a shelter, but he wouldn't stay, mumbling something about needing to be "out and about", seems he thinks he has a job somewhere in town!  Poor soul, must be very deranged.  I'm as sympathetic as the next, but this isn't fair at all.  Won't be long before the police lose their patience. 

Updates to follow. 

Are You A "5" Person? Today's Your Day

In a simpler side of numerology, today is a #5 day, very strong for people who are #5 people.  It's 3-2-2007 which is 3+2+2+0+0+0+7 which is 14 which is 1+4 which is 5.

A 5 person is usually torn in two about decisions.  Although opinionated and sharp, intelligent and self-aware, they have trouble deciding on the small things as well as big.  Should they have steak tonight?  Or fish.  Or should they wear the old pair of sneakers today?  Or those new black ones.  It may seem to many a not very important thing, but to the #5 person, it's sometimes paralyzing.  The exteme 5s come to a point where, until they make their "perfect choice" they simply can't continue on to something else. 

Yet #5 people are also very prepared.  No matter what the occasion, they're sure to bring everything needed and more.  Being very aware of an inability to decide at times, they keep records, schedules, maps, they chart out family histories, write things down incessantly, and generally are the best kind to have near you if you've a bad memory.  Yet for all that, one tiny detail to decide can throw them into a spin.  That's why they bring everything they can, remember all that's possible, because they're very sharp and knowledgeable about themselves.  Their thinking is "better to have extra than none at all."  Also, analysis bears out that #5 people tend to be born in the middle of the year.   

One other thing about #5 people - they're misunderstood easily.  People need to take the time and trouble to befriend a #5 person, else they'll get a wrong impression.  It pays to be patient with them, because as you get to understand them better, the #5 person will always bring something of value into your life.  They also have an ability to make changes in other people's lives with ease, for some reason.  While a #9 struggles with their OCD and need for cleanliness, the #5 comes in and offers all the options to look at and decide from.  The only problem is, #5 can't quite make the decision themselves.

I enjoy #5 people because they have a great sense of themselves, and laugh easily.  They appreciate being happy and it's a contagious, comforting feeling when they pay attention to you.  

So if you're a #5, don't worry about which jeans to wear, today's your day and you should revel in it!       

Is This Necessary?

There's something happening in a State close to mine that's so frustrating, so unfair, it makes me want to pull my hair out.  And I like my hair! 

This weird homeless guy has been wandering around people's towns, and according to the news, decided to "settle" in this one place.  The people there are pretty set in their ways, but this guy's been annoying them with his babbling, digging in dumpsters, coming up to people and just being a nuisance.  I really do feel for the guy, but come on, these people live there, it's their home and here comes this odd-looking, smelly homeless guy who wants to stay in their town.  Alot of the citizens are really annoyed.  It just doesn't seem fair, to anybody. 

 I hear some of them just ignore the guy, they really don't care.  Others have even started talking to him, which is nice I guess, but he rambles on, I don't think anybody understands what he's talking about.  It's an odd situation which is how it got in the news.  So far, he hasn't hurt anyone, but you never know.

I'll continue to watch this story and keep you updated.   

Lunar Eclipse Saturday 3/3/07

Approximately 2-1/2 years ago, the moon passed completely into earth's shadow.  But if you live in Europe, Africa or the eastern half of North America, polish off the "amazing!" part of your speech center.  And get out those binoculars unless you have a telescope.  Either way, you'll see this, and never forget it. 

This lunar eclipse is one you can see from your own backyard, or window, or wherever you stand - it will be equally visible in all places where Luna is above the local horizon.  Even better, this marvelous event will happen in the early Saturday evening, making it quite visible to those in the eastern half of North American, that being Canada and the USA.   

The beginning and ending of a lunar eclipse happens simultaneously, unlike a solar eclipse, which takes far longer to reach totality (the complete eclipsing of the sun).  A small timetable - the moon will enter its penumbra, or time when there is only partial illumination, at 20:18 to 21:13 GMT, or approximately 4 to 5:15 Greenwich Mean Time.

For us in the east, totality begins at 5:44 PM EST and will end around 6:58 PM EST.  Not long, as with a solar event.  It will then leave penumbra around 8:11 to 9:24 PM EST. That's part of why a lunar eclipse is so special, unique. 

You might note that on Saturday when this occurs, the moon will always be in eclipse as it rises.  For those in the western USA and Canada, the event will pretty much have ended by the time you see the moon rise.  But not to worry!  The next total eclipse on 8/27 will favor that western area specifically.  You'll have the finest view.  Be patient, it's so worth it.  You'll have a telescope by then, right?  And of course I'll be here to remind you!

For this event, binoculars are recommended, and certainly use your telescope if you have one.  If you don't, think of all you've missed, and decide if it's worth it for you to invest in a simple one.  Peronally, I enjoy the details surrounding past lunar eclipses and how they became part of ancient and mysterious superstitions, many of which we continue to keep alive today.  Our Luna Maria has always pulled at us, we can never escape our fascination for her existence, there in our outer sky, gazing down at the tiny mortals rushing to catch a better view.  We've walked upon her dusty skin.  We've taken material from her body.  We've plunged our flag into her side.  Yet she sits patiently and without equal in our world of wonders.  Why is she alone?  Why does earth have but one satellite?  She originated from this very land, the one piece that flew out into space and lives content and quiet in her singular orbit.  Yet she has the power to activate the whole world into directing their giant telescopes her way, when such an event as this occurs.  

When I watch this Saturday, I'll once again be reminded of how small we are, how much we still don't know, how simply incredible is this thing called space.