Archive for October, 2009

Imagine there’s no Heaven

It’s easy if you try

No hell below us

Above us only sky

Imagine all the people

Living for today

Imagine there’s no countries

It isn’t hard to do

Nothing to kill or die for

And no religion too

Imagine all the people

Living life in peace

You may say that I’m a dreamer

But I’m not the only one

I hope someday you’ll join us

And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions

I wonder if you can

No need for greed or hunger

A brotherhood of man

Imagine all the people

Sharing all the world

You may say that I’m a dreamer

But I’m not the only one

I hope someday you’ll join us

And the world will live as one

In the world we live in we have shrunk our global neighborhood with the advancement of technology. We can reach anyone in the world via the internet and travel to any country we desire as easily as we travel through the United States. In many ways, this has been very positive. We have gained understanding of all cultures and enjoy many experiences.

But in a time that reminds me of the upheaval of the 1960′s I have to ask, are we any more tolerant than we were then? We see horrific war time drama played out in the news daily. Our country is going through growing pains again in huge spurts. This is not new. The other night I was watching a documentary of the 1960-1970s. We had three major assassinations (President Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King) within such a short time we didn’t have the ability to grieve them individually. Then we had riots in Watts, unrest at Kent State and Wounded Knee along with another “unpopular” war in Viet Nam. The daily news displayed the horrific drama of war and these are only a few highlights of those two decades. And when we today are unsettled by the gas prices I am reminded that in 1976 I was pregnant in mid-summer waiting in a gas line that ran for blocks hoping to get enough gas to fuel up. That gas station had a list of customers and if you were not on the list you didn’t get gas.

I started to fall into the fatalistic emotions that these are the “worst of times” when I realized we have been here before and grew and learned. And we will again. But this time I am more aware of the political unrest as now I personally know German nationals, naturalized citizens and find that my family and friends are a huge a melting pot of ethnicity and religion. So when I hear someone I know criticizing another group I wonder, why? When I was in Germany I sat in the home of friends and listened to them tell me all the things that are wrong with America. But when I wanted to talk about the affects of Nazism well, that was different because I was told they didn’t live then and didn’t want to be responsible for that part of their history.

Then I met naturalized citizens who have chosen to become Americans, took the oath, denounce their prior citizenship only they still have emotions about their “mother” (or father) country so dual citizenship in theory is harder than I understand. It started in the 1980s when I had people from Viet Nam in my home for dinner from there I met Japanese, Chinese, Greek, Native American and African friends along with the German friends we have gained. Now I have broaden that out to Pakistani and Hispanic and shoot I don’t know how many others ethnicities! Because it simply isn’t important, what is important is every person I am a friend to or related to I love them for their diversity and cultural differences. So why the discord, I think of my friends from Germany and how I do not want to be held accountable for things I did not do, decisions I did not make. Nor judge others for their beliefs. When I receive emails that are right wing, left wing I am not mad, I am thankful we live in a country everyone has a right to speak up and say what they want to. What I don’t want, what I can’t agree with, is blaming. Blaming has become the air we breathe, it has got to be someone’s fault so let’s blame someone, anyone.

Being the “old Hippie” I am I do believe that we can live in the world that John Lennon describes above. And like he said, “you say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one……..and the world will live as one.

Cultural Diversity, hmmm….

Today is one of those dreary October days when it is a little bit cooler and the sky is grey. I was feeling in a funk when I started out this day because I had to take care of some unpleasant business. And as the day got going I thought, man I am just going to go grab a comforter, a stack of magazines and my two Spaniels and troop off to drift into a nap.

Which I did quite happily and then as I was waking up and finishing my reading, feeling smug that my  dogs were coming awake in what I thought was much the same easy way as I was.  I was thinking we were going to laze about there for a while since we had only been there for an hour. I was hoping to waste the entire afternoon away. Then my little spaniel girl jumps back up on the bed sitting right in front of me with her long ears flowing like tresses on a little girl. That is when I made the mistake. I made eye contact. Eye contact is dangerous when it comes to dogs because they read so much into it. And just as I looked briefly into her eyes it happened, whammo! She leaped at me faster than a speeding bullet and decided it was play time, wrestling about, growling a playful growl and trying to grab my arm in her playful attack. So quickly it happened that I began laughing and that sent her right over to the dark side. Play time! I am sure that is why my human “mom” is laughing. She wants me to growl, grab her and leap about her head! Okay human “mom” lets tussle.

Well that just whipped me right out of my funk for this day. We went out and played in the cold October weather that reminded me that it has been seven years since I got this great place I live in. Reminded me of what is important. The cool air woke me up, shifted my mood and got my perspective back in place. There is nothing like the innocence of a playful pup to break a funk. So now I am going to take her for an afternoon walk and enjoy this moment, regain my balance and get on with the day. That was just what the doctor ordered!!!

Today I received my copy of AARP Bulletin in the mail (October 2009, Vol. 50, No. 8, bulletin.aarp.org ) and it took me on a ride on the information highway of resources. If you are an AARP member there are great benies to be had. If you are not, there is loads of information at our fingertips to make life easier to handle. For example, Reebok as well as other outlet stores work with baby boomers to give us discounts. October 7-18 they offer 40% off your entire purchase (daily it is 20%, www.aarp.org/reebok ) And I went to AARP for further information and it led me off to a great “mother lode” of resources at www.tiphero.com .

And what I really love is, it isn’t all about buying something either. It is about resourcing so we, women, can make more informed choices. Like here is one for you about retirement. That seems to be the “Nightmare on Elm Street”, right? There is a lot of negative stuff geared at hitting boomers but there are resources if only we know where to look for them. I was watching a commercial on Medicare Plan B and my confusion cycle began. What is Medicare Plan B I wondered, and is there Plan A or other Plans I don’t know about? Well sure enough there are four, Medicare Plan A (hospital insurance, Plan B (medical insurance), Plan C (Medicare Advantage Plans, like HMOs or PPOs) and Plan D (prescription coverage). And once again a resource to go to is www.medicare.gov and if you get confused they actually make it user friendly like the “retirement” information at www.socialsecurity.gov/. There are resources so that the negativity that is pumped at older Americans through the media can be fought.

Then if you need to really ask the hard questions about retirement AARP invites its members to view the Retirement Revolution series that was hosted by Paula Zahn for questions we have on retirement at http://www.wttw.com/main.taf?p=1,41”.

Why I bring these resources to your attention is because there is a lot of negative press about the fears of retirement and health care. As a baby boomer I do not want the dread of my future as depicted in the media to be the outlook I take on as my persona. I want the resources, the answers and so should you.

There is way too much negativity these days and we accept what we hear in the media as facts without realizing that while much is truth the “way” it is presented gives a “sky is falling” feeling. No, the weather has not turned into monster hurricanes. The hurricanes come every year but the urgency of televising it has made it a disaster filming daily. I don’t doubt we are in a recession, that international affairs are mess, or the environment needs our help. What I do doubt is that we have to approach these things with a doomsday mentality instead of a resourcing mentality. I was pretty excited finding more resources than I cannot possibly use in my life time and I will continue to update my resources but what I won’t do is buy into the negativity. I think I want to question everything again like I did the 1960s. And let us all find information that helps us not bog us down! Do you have resources you use you can share with me!

Words evoke emotions, memories, smells and sensations. Two words that mean a lot to me are the words, “Chapter One”. When settling down to read a book whether a hard bound book, I pod audio or book on Kindle nothing gets the arm chair traveler ready quicker to move from the present day into the world of a good book than reading the first two words, “Chapter One”. No matter what I am ready to read those two words transform me to a world that all the stress and worries of this day to day life cannot encroach upon.

Books can take you anywhere in the world or the universe. And I have found that the genre does not matter. If I am interested I travel to that distant land and find myself caught up in the murder mystery or history or  science fiction. And, what a surprise when you enter the writer’s world because that is their whole purpose for writing, to bring us the reader into their world, is it not?  

There have been books that have caught me off guard. For example, “The Sparrow” by Mary Doria Russell was not expected at all. This book came in the mail and I did not order it. I asked my husband if he did and no, he did not. I kept the book curious as how I got it and why and began my travel off planet. What a surprise when I opened to “Chapter One”. It transformed me to a world of science fiction that I do not usually travel. I was transfixed by this book that took me to a distant planet and the center of the human soul where a Jesuit priest and linguist, Emilio Sanchez leads a scientific mission. And I was so taken by this book that I decided to get the second book of Father Sanchez’s travel entitled, “The Children of God”.  

Then I found myself traveling to the world of children’s fantasy. Remember the movie “The Golden Compass”? Well little did I know that Philip Pullman started this book (the movie is based on this book) as the first of a three book trilogy. The Trilogy includes; “The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Glass” as we follow more of Lyra’s adventures.

If children’s fantasy and sci-fi are not your favorite genre what about picking up a book to read about history? It sounds dry I know but if you love history as I do it doesn’t take much to get started when seeing the words, “Chapter One”. I am reading a great book now entitled, “American Lion, Andrew Jackson in the White House”.  This book takes me  through the life of our seventh President and how he was instrumental in shaping our nation. I find myself traveling through time when a President could come and go from his home or work without an entourage of Secret Service. And I think about names of places I pass on the highway now and where they got their name.

I think most importantly when I go back to thinking about what gets me reading, those words “Chapter One” metaphorically are what puts me in my favorite chair, snuggled in for a good read. There is just nothing like a good book to get us away from the  cares of day. And it is one of those guilty pleasures we need to take advantage of. So what is your favorite book?  As this day to day grind keeps us plugging along why not take a break and visit another place, it all begins with two easy invitational words, “Chapter One”.