Eulogies

Honoring a person for achievements in life obviously is a loaded business.  So few humans are totally worthy of adulation . . . or admiration, or have uninterrupted credentials of fineness with few or no seams , , , whether or not they are showing.

The fact is that we have idols of different colors, strokes, idealistic fervors.  What speaks to me of bravery or accomplishment may leave others completely cold.  So many of the mom, apple pie and love for country myths have been shot through with disappointment, exposed as mostly marketing ploys to accomplish a political agenda . . . our rock-solid faith in the stellar character of our political leaders seems to be largely misplaced, a product of our own blinded imagery.  We can no longer simply believe in what we are told . . . our survival depends on sifting through lies, misrepresentations, abominations of all kinds and deciding for ourselves if an action is valuable and right.

Entertainers have existed since the dawn of time within the human race.  Adored, reviled, envied, idealized, they are people - who spend their lives extending pleasure to many others . . . giving of themselves so that pleasure comes to people who may need reassurance, support, or just a song which seems to speak to their needs.  It is also a public service, no matter how much some may want to discredit it.  They are not drafted, not placed into servitude for others to use, not indentured servants who must pay out their passage into society, or serve a cause which they did not create.

Are we becoming a nation of predators?  Angry attacks, denigration, name-calling, slandering - in order to judge and discredit any group of people who do not fit our ideas of rightness?  A blues song entitled "What's Done in the Dark Will Come to the Light" sets out the danger of the double life -- not just to the perpetrator, but to those who believe in and support the deceit.

Realize that no matter what perceptions we may hold - someone else has different ones.  Those are fully as important, as real, and likely as valid as any others.  No act commited by someone with views different from our own will ever diminish acts of courage, valor and dedication by those we love and venerate.  Believing otherwise is in itself dishonorable.

Staying Put

Same place, city, street, neighborhood.  For many years -- you know the postal worker, what time the paper will arrive, who leaves at what time for work, the people two doors down who retire early in the evening.  Familiarity, sameness.  The local grocery store is four blocks away . . . your long time dentist's office is less than one mile.  You have worked at the same job for more than 15 years and expect to retire from there.  The house will need a new roof in a year or so, and recently there was major plumbing repair which had to be done.  Your Christmas present from your husband this year, you hope, will be a new living room suite, and you have already chosen what you want.  Occasionally you purchase a new table or picture for your home, and you are struggling to keep the children happy when they want the newest games and electronic gadgets.  You bowl on Friday nights and play Bunco pretty regularly with some friends.

You have now acquired the three M's . . . mortgage, maintenance, and moldering.  Home ownership, settling, putting down roots, the American dream.  You're there -- and that's pretty much it.  Once per year, everyone coordinates a week and makes a trip somewhere . . . blowing the budget and exhausting everyone.  Then it's back to 'reality' - but whose would that be?

This kind of life is, well, admirable.  Or not.  Those who live it will not really notice one way or another.  Acceptable, expected, and definitely headed for extinction.