Another two for the price of one

Two topics are racing around inside my head these last couple of days so I thought I would try to be succinct on both of them and combine them into one post. The second portion of this post will be about the Press and Donald Trump and the Press.

The first post is about the open carry law here in Texas that starts January 1, 2016. I have to admit in my past I have gone skeet shooting, duck hunting, and some other general back forty shooting so I understand wanting to have the ability to own guns. What I do not understand is the need to display guns in public.

And maybe I should have spoken up sooner or actually written a letter to a legislator or something because I fear this is going to be a real problem. And my fear is somewhat rational for most people I think.

First of all recent headlines show how dangerous this could be such as from the terrorist shootings in California to the police accidentally killing a third person while trying to apprehend and then shooting two suspects in Chicago. Imagine people with guns at hand being involved in these situations.

There is so much talk if people had guns then the shooters in California could have been stopped, uh a big maybe at best and how fast could others shoot them. And obviously now you have multiple people potentially shooting at each other and the probability of more innocent victims getting hit goes up. Or people who see police shooting deciding they need to “defend” themselves and a full fledge gun battle breaks out. How many innocent victims will there be now?

And then there is the usual road rage scenarios, people getting into an argument, public fights, etc and the easier a gun is to access the shorter amount of time you have to think about what you are about to do. Or just seeing someone else with a gun may make you think you have to have yours.

I hate to think or even mention, but sooner or later some real serious disasters are going to happen. It doesn’t take much for some idiot who really cannot shoot a gun to go crazy in public trying to stop a robbery or something and a whole bunch of people get shot

.

And like I mentioned I should have spoken up sooner and I will throw others under the bus, such as anyone else who perceives how dangerous this could be, and didn’t speak to our elected officials to stop this law from happening. This is one problem of people not voting. State Legislatures are not well attended elections hence a small group of people can have an undue influence on the outcome of legislation so this looks like the legislatures made all their hunting buddies and a few crazy groups happy with this dangerous law. If we had larger turnouts of people voting then maybe more common sense could have ruled when this came up for a vote.

I hope I am very wrong about my predictions, but if something does happen I hope every legislative person and the Governor have to answer for allowing this to come into play. There has to be some accountability for not governing for the betterment of the whole of society instead of the advantage or liking of a few.

So what is my beef with the press and my beef with the press and Donald Trump.  I have previously posted about the failure of the fourth estate so this isn’t new.

I am going to be a tad more blunt this time.

First the rise of Donald Trump is because the press is showing how and lazy and profit driven they have become. It is easy to write stories about him. And he gets readers.

Forget trying to write and compare how all the candidates compare on the issues. This takes work and it seems no one read these stories in mass compared to the name calling Mr. Trump does to excite the masses. Yes I know there are a few articles attempting to try to get an audience for a better discussion etc of the election and candidates, but the vast majority of what you read and see is what Trump said and what people are saying about Trump. Not too many stories on what does Mr. Trump mean and how he actually proposes to accomplish his rhetoric.

And it is partly the Press’ fault for this madness. They have been headed in this direction for a very long time. Yes you can say it is because the Press is owned by billionaires only looking out for their profits and this is one aspect of the problem. In some ways our friend Rupert is receiving some comeuppance now. There is no need to write anything people do not want to read because it does not make money. So we read about the Kardashians, or stories of corruption or sexual scandals in politics or sports figures gone bad as lead stories because this is what “we” want. Reading about others’ misfortune is fun.

Another fault is what our politicians did to education; or did not do for education. No one wants more because we are taught not to expect more. Or that we are unable to understand that the shallowness of modern news is unhealthy and reflects and unhealthy society overall. Our politicians want this because other than them getting caught with their pants down most people do not pay too much attention to them. Or at least until election time, then we vote in the people we know because we do not spend the time getting to know them better. ( I think someone else said something similar before).

And then the Press does not want to push any buttons on these people or help us understand our problems because they benefit from the status quo. It is easier to fact check a debate than dive in and look at what they are saying in depth. Keeping the Democrat’s and Republican’s institutions means they have the news hand to them from people they know. They aren’t forced to actually gather information. They can sit in their office and write opinions based on their own bias instead of examining whether what elected officials are doing is what is best overall.

Historically the Press has always been influenced by their opinions, but there is a difference between what some of the Founding Fathers wrote in the Federalist Papers and other publications trying to sway opinion vs. what modern writers do with trying to tell us who we should vote for and why we should hate so and so.

And the Press has been a profit driven business over the course of our history; so how different is it nowadays? To me, quite a bit. Yes, in the past there would be sensationalist stories, coverage of scandals, even gossip, but the press would go out and work to get their stories, they would dig, and even opinion pieces were based on long standing work. There was much more original work.  Today you still get some of that, but overall people write quick hit articles for the internet, many stories are reprints of something from the associated press. Sometimes you get the same article four or five times just with a different headline. Looks like there is four different stories, but nope. Everyone is trying to capitalize on what someone else did and this leads to shallow coverage. The less depth we have, the less we expect and over time we, the readers, become accustomed to this drivel.

And I could go on. The Press has never been perfect and you may remember terms like yellow journalism and muckraking, but what is going on nowadays is different, but just as bad. The Press is shirking their responsibility to a healthy democracy. They were given great freedoms by our Founding Fathers and are now completely abandoning why they were given the freedoms and powers that fall upon the press of a free democracy and republic.

One result is Donald Trump dominating the headlines because he gets readers and only because he gets readers. Look at the amount of coverage he receives versus Bernie Sanders. Mr. Sanders is taping into another group of dissatisfied voters as Mr. Trump, but receives nowhere near the same amount of coverage. Why? Mr. Sanders tries to do what he is suppose to do and tell the people his goals and how he would like to achieve them. Mr. Trump just tries to stay in the headlines with bombast and ridicule. And yet the weaker message is the dominant message.

Remember the phrase: you get what you pay for? Nowadays we are going to pay for what we are not getting.

Oops forgot something important

Well, it is important for my political bent and the people in Spain.  

Anyway how could I be so remiss as to forget to talk about the elections last weekend in Spain. I talk so much about wanting new parties here and Spain just had two new parties make a significant showing. I do not know how much I would agree with the actual party philosophy and platform, but from the little I read I might have some affinity to one, yet I want to say congratulations to both parties.

Spain was primarily a two party system till last weekend so this is great news for independents like me to hear. Again congratulations to all the people in Spain who worked hard to make that happen. And to all the people who voted in Spain to make this a reality.

We are so stuck with our two parties and no one seems to have an interest to actually move forward from them. This is exciting news and gives one hope.  So if you read my blog regularly I hope you see it can be done and we can work to make positive changes here.

Traveling quips, tips, and musings

Just got back from a fast trip to El Paso. Saw some friends close as family and some other people I met for the first time.

Interstate 20, probably as with all interstates, is heavy with Police. Some 10 mile stretches had four or more cars giving out tickets. And yes in Texas there are areas with 80 MPH speed limits and people were still getting tickets. Be careful out there if you are going to be traveling over the next two weeks.

I hate to say it, but I was very unimpressed with Motel 6. We left late so went ahead and spent the night on the road instead of going straight through. We stayed at a Motel 6 and was seriously under impressed by the customer service, attitude, room itself (the bedspread was covered in grease so we slept with our clothes on), beds were weak, and cannot say much more. We didn’t even stay in the morning. We just got up and left. And in today’s world amenities are important and they had none. No ironing board, no breakfast or continental breakfast, no shampoos etc… Maybe Motel 6 was significantly cheaper in the past than other chains or maybe times have caught up with them, but they were almost as expensive as the hotel we stayed at in El Paso and we felt we got a good deal there and paid about $10 more for the night. And it included breakfast which since there was four of us is well worth the extra ten by itself. It was an older La Quinta and you could tell, but it was clean, customer service was great, people were nice. Strange how big of a difference.  Anyway I am frugal, (kids say cheap) so I watch out for things like this and usually we plan ahead, but the Motel 6 experience should not have been as bad as it was.

I will be posting a very few set of pictures on my facebook page from one El Paso Christmas scenario as soon as I find the cord I can run from my phone to the computer.

And boy there is a difference in where you are located on planet Earth nowadays. We went to a full restaurant for dinner Saturday night with friends and the prices were impressive to me especially since full meal. It was mainly Mexican (Tex-Mex), and tasted fairly well, but the prices compared to Dallas were about ten to twenty percent less. Spent with tip $18 for two meals and one beer. Place called Ventanas Bar and Grill at the Racetrack Casino in Sunland Park. I won’t say great food, but definitely worth going for the price. The chips weren’t that great, but the chili had a fair kick to it.  I hadn’t been out there since they built the Casino and added all the restaurants and Night club. I did go to the Race track many many years ago so was pleasantly surprised, not overwhelmed.  We left for other endeavors right after eating.

El Paso always seems to be in need of renovation. I lived there for 6 or 7 years once upon a time and it still seems the same. Well larger, but it looks the same. I mean certain areas of town haven’t changed a bit. And when I say renovation I mean it looks like someone needs to come along and fix up something. And this is the way it always looks. I like El Paso and have many friends there, but somehow or another that city just grows within a time bubble. New businesses or developments come, but they quickly fit right into this scenario of someone needs to come along and fix something that seems to be falling down. There are some real nice places and there is definitely great food if you know where to look, but it just has this “if someone would come along and do that and that” then it would be great feel to it.

I have been all along the US Mexico border my whole life off and on and El Paso-Juarez is definitely its own world. And I want to quit mentioning a certain person running for President’s name, but you can tell this person has no idea the wonder of the Southwest. For people who have lived in this area for generations there was no border for the longest time. Yeah there were signs and bridges, etc, but border, no. As kids we use to follow the migrant farm workers out into the fields to gather what was left and no one thought twice about it. Now all the modern retirees that moved out here have no idea the history nor la familia (even with all the wars and skirmishes over three centuries) of how people, the real people that is, have gotten along. I wish people would concentrate on the real problems and unfortunately there are some serious ones instead of demonizing what was once a very calm and peaceful place to live. Honestly it wasn’t perfect, but what this one person is saying about one issue is discounting what is a wonderful, vast, beautiful place to live and play. If you get the chance you need to visit the American Southwest. I have crossed the deserts many times and enjoy it every time.  (just make sure you are prepared before you go out)

Anyway enjoy your holidays, be safe, if you travel take the extra moment to make sure you are ready, and I hope you have great times with family and friends these next two plus weeks. Remember Christmas doesn’t end till Epiphany, not three o’clock in the afternoon on the 25^th.  Take the time to make the most out of all your days throughout the year, but it never hurts to spend some extra time enjoying the Joy of the season.  It helps if you don’t spend the whole time in the stores, but with people you love and I hope you get/make the opportunity.

And no matter what you do, do not go the bathroom and start remembering old Ghostbuster lines. Embarrassing as hell to start smirking at that time.   “Don’t cross the streams”   oh &^%$ my brain is losing it. Yeah some ole fart unable to spend two minutes in a restroom. sheesh

Some more of that “just saying”

If the Republican establishment really wants to get rid of Mr. Trump they need to convince people he is one of them. Part of his popularity is because he is an outsider. Well, maybe they should convince all his followers that this was the plan along and he has always been an establishment guy. I mean he is a billionaire and all, it might just work.  Couldn’t be any worse than anything else they are doing.

Was watching CNN with the sound down because I had no control over the situation. One of the headlines was that there was a school doing the Charlie Brown Christmas special as a play and were taking out the biblical verses and the one song. I am presuming they mean the ending rendition of “Hark the Herald Angels Sing”. So the only commercial Christmas show that even mentions God/Jesus is going to be edited in a play version because why????? I guess it will be called the Charlie Brown Winter Holiday special. Whether you believe or not, you must agree if you are going to be talking about Christmas you have to have Christ or it is absolutely nothing. Bad enough we are subject to two months of commercialism for the birth of someone that represents Joy and Love.

And the flip side of it all: Walmart represents everything gone wrong with the crass commercialization of  Christmas and maybe retail completely. I was shopping with my wife. Her work had given her money to buy toys for some children that were struggling in life. The store we were at didn’t have the toy one of the children had put on his list. (Actually we only found two of the toys on the lists at two separate Walmarts even though they had looked at either the website or something else from Walmart to make the lists.) I went to the customer service desk and asked if they could call another Walmart to see if they had what we needed at another store. The clerk just looked at me. She didn’t give me any other direction or suggestions. Finally she took my paper and walked off and was gone for about ten minutes while I stood there. No idea what she did, but came back and said no.  I do not know if the no was for cannot call or was not at another store. I didn’t ask.   So here we were trying to do a small part to make some children happy and the company who makes the most money for this season was completely apathetic.                         I will say every now and then I do find a very helpful person at Walmart, but the attitude of the corporation is very indifferent to their customers.     Boggles my mind how they can stay in business. They really aren’t that much cheaper and even though it seems like they have a large selection in general, they don’t have many choices within a category.

What if Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders both ran for President as independents? I have been waiting decades for something like this and I couldn’t vote for either. One of them scares me and one because I have virtually no agreement with policy. Some goals maybe, but the policy and politics of getting there are just completely wrong to me. Go figure the luck.

Which leads me to this thought, finally the rest of the country is ready to make a change, but I never thought it would be to drive off a cliff.

So lets be positive. …………………………………………oh well I tried.  And actually I had some more thoughts, but by the time I sat down, they had crawled out the side of my head through my ears and ran down the street.

Have a great weekend everyone.

The real problem with Donald Trump and Islam

Yes the hoopla continues as we head into the next debate. Donald Trump still proves he can find the most outlandish thing to say and walk away successful.

Is Mr. Trump wrong to say that we should bar Muslims from entering the country? Of course he is, that has been discussed in length by the press, various bloggers, political pundits, entertainers, and a host of other people.

What I do not hear anyone discuss and maybe I have missed it was the second half of his sentence. “Maybe we should bar Muslims from coming into the country until we figure this out.”  ..until we figure this out?????  Dr. Kissinger couldn’t. And for now even if we did ban Muslims from our country it doesn’t guarantee we won’t have problems.

Mr. Trump we have not figured out Islam and from the way things are going we may never figure out Islam. And I do say that in partial jest. I think there are many scholars in the West who have studied the history etc… but what makes it more difficult is how much Western influence drives the feelings of everyday Muslims. And I am talking about going back over the last hundred years or so. And yes there is actually a 1500 year period that people and groups from the West have interacted with Muslims. And usually it has not gone well.

For now though, the recent history is enough to cause confusion for us and the Muslims. And I do want to stay away from a blame game for either the West’s recent manipulation along with a certain royal family of an oil rich country of Middle Eastern politics or the current head in the sand or denial of everyday Muslims of the extremism coming from their side of the table.  And there is a wide array of extremism being played out by various factions also.

And now we have this interesting multi proxy war in Syria that is shaping up to be one of the wildest situations in Western-Middle Eastern-Near East affairs. There are so many players with so many competing interests it cannot end well or worse just not end. This could be another Vietnam for us, the Russians, the Saudis, Iran, Turkey, Iraq, the Kurds, Hezbollah, a host of other potential players, and of course Syria. And you might have noticed I didn’t include one not so popular barbaric group of people trying to call themselves a country.   So Mr. Trump…  just how do we figure this out?

And you are probably saying to yourself, we aren’t are we? Well we might, but not anytime in the near future. The quagmire going on right now is going to lead to decades of problems even if we get rid of Daesh. Generally people in the West just do not understand the Sunni v. Shi’ite or Shi’a problem. The history of this conflict goes back over a millennium so trying to understand everything involved in Syria is dangerous. And then you throw in people wanting power, despots, historic regional differences, historical power struggles, the created country called Iraq, ignorance, poverty, wealth disparity, and Mr. Trump you want to wait until we figure this out.

This leads me to believe you are a genius because you know we will never figure this out and can keep Muslims out of this country perpetually or your lack of understanding is insanely dangerous for someone who wants to be President. I fear the latter. And it is too late for you or your followers to claim the former. 

Mr. Trump there are solutions to the problem, but just getting started on a positive path will take decades. And that is to get us to a point where we actually can get started. None of the players currently in the power struggle for all of the Middle East being played out in Syria do not want to give in to anything. All the groups mentioned above are trying to have a dynasty or have influence on one.

I always try to find an optimistic answer so I have thought of a few, but even my humble opinion needs work so I am going to spare the readers for now a litany of thoughts. It is going to be interesting to see what can be done just to bring an end to the fighting in Syria. Once that stops do we begin to bring in all the regional players and put the onus on them to work out a framework to begin a peace process.  It isn’t something that has happened before. 

So does the United States need to stay involved in Syria, in the war against Daesh, In Iraq, supporting Turkey in NATO? And the list goes on. Right now I do not think even we have a good handle on what we want out of the Middle East or how we are going to define our relationship with all of the Middle East going forward.

So I will try and stomach the disaster called the next Republican or even Democrat debate to see if anyone has a new rational idea.  I am not expecting one, but not because there may be some players on either stage who have or do not have the capability to try and work out something. I think this because we, as a country, have no idea what we want from the rest of world or what we want to give the rest of the world anymore. 

I think we need to sit down and reinstill within ourselves our values and what our founding Fathers gave us. Once we come back to our roots of understanding the idea of what life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness means; what it means to have representative government; what we have learned from our mistakes everything from slavery to Vietnam to economic crisis; defining what are equal rights; understanding the bill of rights; and a host of other values that are hijacked by elitists will we be able to project ourselves upon the rest of the world and receive the respect we just automatically expect everyone to give us.

Mr. Trump we are a great country, but we cannot make rash decisions no matter how popular it may be that doesn’t preserve and protect the values our forefathers gave us that made us great in the first place. So Mr. Trump when you have this figured out, please let me and everyone else know. The world is waiting. 

So far so ???? and THANK YOU

“An author is a fool who, not content with boring those he lives with, insists on boring future generations.” Charles de Montesquieu

Well 12/10/2015 is a special moment in this here blog ya’ll.

I started writing this blog five years ago today and wow “what a long strange trip it has been.”  Grateful Dead

I wanted to thank everyone who has managed to stumble upon my little bit of craziness in this world and taken a moment to read.

I am pretty sure some of you were looking for information on Dallas, or maybe planning a trip and didn’t know what you were getting. Some may have heard about if from friends. Others may have been forced here by computer virus. I really do not know what brought you here, but many of you keep coming back and I appreciate your consideration of my opinion on what happens here on planet Earth.

There has been thousands and thousands of page views and clicks and as best I can tell people from 30-40 countries have also stopped by. And what is amazing or scary, take your pick, many come back.

It has been strange to see who creates links or points to my posts or even when someone in another language makes comments in their language, but leaves my post in English.  I have no idea what they said, but hey it feeds the ego a bit that they said something.

About a year and a half ago I started posting the same posts to Wordpress.com and then Tumblr.com under the same name and garnered a few more people checking out my ramblings. I created a fake face book page under the name Matthew John with the birthdate 10/24/1929 and basically get nothing. This is different information and I try to include my comments to stories from a couple of online sites, but basically forget to click on the button that says post to Facebook. So this is a bit of a fail.

 One thing different for my Facebook page is I add a few pictures of Dallas every now and then. The camera on my on my phone is not too hot so these are just glimpses into events around here. If you have tried to friend me on Facebook and I didn’t respond I am sorry. At first I had no intention of having friends, but lately I may be rethinking this especially if you come because of interest from my blog. I should open all this up more. And especially since I keep writing about we need a new major party to replace the current ones.

I have a twitter account under dallasareaopin, but rarely us it. This evening In an experiment I tweeted to @ realdonald trump “do you prefer sunni or shi’ite?” And yes this is a trick question, but I doubt he will answer it. If he does, this could be some real interesting fun.  Whether he answers it or not, if I get my act together, the next blog is going to be titled “The real problem of Donald Trump and Islam”  And it will be one of my attempts where I try to be a bit serious and discuss some deep rooted issues. I thought about it today, but remembered I wanted to post about this fifth anniversary. By tomorrow I may have forgotten all my “wonderful” ideas and oops.

Wait you say, maybe you should write it tonight and then post it later,  oh    oh  stop, my gut is hurting from laughing so hard. Me, actually be productive or efficient,,,,, oh the tears from the laughter won’t stop.

One thing I am somewhat proud is I have managed to partially follow through on what I said I would do in my inaugural post. I did post a header that I changed. Too bad I didn’t keep the original for posterity.

And every now and then I will try and do something different. Well I will try. I liked my story idea, but I think I dragged it out a bit too much. I wanted to paint a full picture, but hard to maintain consistency when you write it sporadically. Somehow though I think there is something there where you write for the moment on the same idea. Who knows?

There is one story still on Smashwords and I am about to add another one. I just need to find someone tech artistic to teach me so I can create covers that meet their requirements for size etc so I can get on the major ereader retail platforms. I was told to try Gimp I think.

So again thank you very much and I hope I can be entertaining enough or thought provoking enough or just plain crazy enough for you to continue to come back regularly or just every now and then. You are always welcome to email me at dallasareaopinion@gmail.com.

It is way too beautiful outside here in North Texas these last few days and will continue for a bit more. Yes it is Texas so we get Spring in December occasionally. I hope there is a bit of some beautiful weather where you are, even if it is a snow covered landscape and not too freezing (or just plain icy).

And please remember no matter how you believe we came about, think about the wonder of who we are and what we can do if we put our minds to it. And whether you believe or not remember wherever you see an unselfish act of love you are seeing our Creator.   Santa Claus does exist and he does for 365 days a year not just one.                             Peace Love and Joy to all.

Also something I know nothing about is cookies, but apparently the Google people say I have to tell people in the EU there are or might be cookies. Heck I do not even know what I am suppose to say, but I can say I haven't added anything beyond whatever crazy amount of cookies Google has on their sights and this is technically on one of their sites. 

arrrivederci, adios, auf weidersehen, au revoir, adeus, do widzenia, прощание, הֱיה שלום okay I am going a bit crazy

A Loss for Words conclusion (finally)

She ate well, did minor exercises, walked, and generally kept in shape. This kept her healthy so she started to age gracefully. And this helped her from having to visit a Doctor. Medical care had diminished so much that people had to fend for themselves for most healthcare. And yet everyone still was required to pay some type of insurance premium for their healthcare. It really wasn’t nationalized for now. It had been in the past, but the conservative party won the last set of elections so certain things changed and she was smart enough to know this was in name only. Nowadays it was private care, but she knew the premiums all ended up with the same company anyway no matter which party was in office.  She flew under the radar so much that she hadn’t paid in years so all this didn’t matter too much to her. Unfortunately though there came a time every now and then when she did need to seek medical care. Since she could pay cash the doctors she did know never really reported she had been treated. This worked for her. What she didn’t know was that her medical history was still reported and the person who needed to know everything even knew her.

So she went to the doctor and learned the general aches and pains she was experiencing was arthritis.  She was glad it wasn’t rheumatoid arthritis. This made her happy, well at least as happy as she could be. She still enjoyed gardening and her backyard while still not viewable by the rest of the world was a great joy for her to see each day.

The children that did stop were able to see it. And they were always astounded. No one in their world took the time to create and maintain anything like it. Occasionally someone might try to grow a flower because they ran across something in the wild or one grew up in the weeds that filled most empty lots in the neighborhoods. Overall though, most children never saw the best nature can offer. They grew up in depilated neighborhoods and the only color they may see is the ads on bulletin boards and graffiti covering the older buildings and shops.  They had TV, but even TV was bland. It didn’t take much to entertain people so there was no need to create vibrant programming. Films were not much more with horror movies and fight films dominating the box offices. And this was not what it use to be. Many people did not have much money for entertainment. And any concept of the arts was long since forgotten except for a very privileged few. Most people had to be entertained with the nightly fights on TV and the shows that revolved around the families that everyone wished they were like. Even the idea of shows depicting any type of hero was definitely long gone, the powers that be did not want to give anyone any ideas. The goal of taking away creativity and introspective thought was extremely successful.

So only a very few children saw that there was much more than anything that was in their day to day lives. She always tried to have more children come, but as the time went on, there were just fewer and fewer who could either convince their parents not to be afraid of the lady or flat out just hide from their parents they were stopping by. The neighborhood grew rougher and rougher each year.

She kept trying though. This small fight kept her invigorated in its own way. She had no inclination that she might be fighting something bigger. She was just trying to keep children in touch with a much more engaging world in her small corner of it.

It was an excuse, but it was one they finally decided to use. The car pulled up, two men got out and approached the door. She sensed the danger immediately, but these were not gang members or the local police. There was something different about them. Something much more menacing. She knew getting her gun was not going to be the answer. She had heard the door shut so she was watching them come up the walk. They knocked on the door. She toyed with the idea of not answering. Inside she knew this wasn’t going to work. She watched them for a moment. She could tell they were examining the house. And doing so with a very critical eye. They had figured out the house and what it would take to get her out very quickly. And very quietly.

She answered the door, but did not open the locked screen. They asked for her. She acknowledged herself. They mentioned they were from some agency, she really didn’t hear. She knew this was bad and was still trying to figure out an escape. She had never thought she would be up against people like this. The gangs, the police, and the occasional undesirable that might happen by, but no one like these men. She was freezing. The old adage of fight or flight was going through her head, but neither action took hold.

She heard herself talking to them. It was going nowhere and they wanted her to get in their car. She had broken some kind of law. Something about receiving illegal medical care. It didn’t make sense and for the two men it didn’t have to. They were sent to retrieve her. They had done this for a variety of reasons, none of them important to the two men, their role was to go when told. The excuses they gave to the victims were just words to keep them occupied till they got them in the car. After that it was all the same.

They drove her to the airport. She was surprised to see the airport. She hadn’t traveled in so long she wasn’t even sure airports still existed. There were a few planes coming and going. A few were for freight, a couple of passenger jets sat at the terminal, and there was a very nice looking private jet they seemed to head. The three got out of the car right next to the jet. She had some vague memory of long security lines. She wondered why they didn’t exist or why they were able to by pass them. Nothing was making sense. She was accused of breaking some law, but this was definitely not any jail. This jet was nice.

Once she got on the jet it didn’t disappoint. It was very nicely appointed. This jet belonged to someone. Someone very special. She was lead to the back and was offered a very nice seat. Much more comfortable than anything she had ever flown in or even maybe had sat in anywhere in her life. They told her to buckle up for takeoff. Well that was familiar. They walked to the front of a plane. A door she hadn’t noticed closed and she heard a click. She heard a slight hissing and then fell fast asleep.

She woke up with a slight headache driving fast in the backseat of a very nice car. Outside she could make out rolling hills and trees, but it was dark, or were the windows that tinted. She wasn’t sure in the fog engulfing her brain. She wasn’t completely awake, but couldn’t wake up completely no matter how hard she tried. She fell back asleep with the comfort of the seat and movement of the car.

It was light outside. How long had she been a sleep. Possibly most of yesterday, last night and this morning. Since the light coming from the window was strong she figured it was the afternoon of the day after she was abducted. She thought that word abducted and realized that was the case.  There was some food on the table. She got up from the couch like chair she was in and ate some. She was hungry, but still very apprehensive.  She correctly assessed the food would be okay since they could have pretty much done whatever they wanted with her by this point.

After a bit a door opened and a very old man walked in. He walked slowly. Was it deliberately slow or was it because he was old and this was the best he could do? He sat down across the table from her. She thought she saw him try to smile. Was he being reassuring? She couldn’t tell. She smiled. This seemed to please him. This time she could tell he smiled, but she didn’t like it one bit.

He asked her why? Why what she thought? Silence. He waited, she was unsure. Finally his patience won. She spoke. I do not understand. Yes you do he said. Why? She stared. I don’t know. I just want people to learn. He smiled again. You do? I thought so.  How do you thinks so she asks

I just know he said and he thought I always know. That is how I thrive. Well she admitted her guilt in his brain. She was an insurrectionist. She wanted people to learn. If people learned they may want to change the system and he could not have it.

You are guilty he told her. She stared again…..Guilty?!?!?!?!?!!?  of what?

There was not an answer. Men came into the room. She was led out.                                                                   

The house sat idle. Over the years it began to deteriorate like the rest of the neighborhood. It faded into the background. The front yard which was kept simple began to grow the weeds found in the empty lot. The house itself began to crumble around the edges. It remained locked, but non one entered. There was a vague memory of some people that someone lived there they never saw so no one approached the house. The beautiful background also faded and became overgrown with weeds. No one knew though. The insides of the house smelt for some time while the little bit of food that was in the refrigerator began to sour when the power finally was turned off. The power company just turned off the power because the bill was not paid. It happened all the time. There was no reason to go investigate.  Eventually the smell disappeared. The house became musty so had a new smell. Everything inside the house began to fade. It was a well-built house so it didn’t completely crumble so the elements had not yet taken any toll on what was inside

.

The women walked by the house everyday taking her children to school. She remembered school so she made sure her children went. Even though it didn’t offer much, wherever they lived she made them go. Many children didn’t anymore. It didn’t seem to matter.

After they had lived in this neighborhood for about a year she began to realize she remembered something about the house she passed. There were memories, very pleasant memories. Was this the house of the real nice lady who had tried to teach her more than what the school did? She passed this morning on the way back from dropping off her children at school. She walked up to the door.

She knocked. No answer. She knocked again. She wanted the lady to answer. She was hoping. She knew she would be much older, but since the house was still there she had to be. She remembered the backyard. Maybe she was back there working. She knew the secret way to go around the fence and unlock the back gate. It still worked, but it did take some effort to actually open the gate. Something blocked the entrance.

She entered the backyard. It was no where near as beautiful as it use to be. She knew something was wrong. She became very sad. It was the first time she had any intense emotion that she could remember. Maybe she had great joy being with the lady when she was young. That was the last time she enjoyed life or experienced any strong feelings. Her sadness now was much more intense. She wept. She wept for a long time. A life devoid of promise, of joy, of hope was not a life. This dismal life was displayed through her tears.

After she gathered herself. She looked around. She was able to enter the house. The books were still there. All of them. Something inside her lit back up. She thumbed through them trying to remember how to read the words the lady taught her. She looked at the pictures in the books. There were beautiful paintings, faraway places, pictures of history, and much more. She tried hard to read. Time got away from her.

She rushed to school for her children. She walked with them past the house. She led them in. She let them look around. The curiosity of children took over. They explored. They asked questions. It was the beginning of a long journey for her and her children. Her name was Maria and she began the long slow process of repairing the house and working the garden. She took the children to school each day and each afternoon they all worked and learned while at the house. She went home at night to fix dinner. Her husband was her husband. He was entertained in the current world. She and the children were living in a completely different world. Maria became happy. Maria grew as a person

It had been so long that the powers that be were slipping. The world went as they thought it went. The new He wasn’t as observant as the past one. Things slipped by. They knew nothing of Maria and her children.

So this was one humble story. More of a painting of one scenario our world could become if we do not make ourselves fight for a better world. It isn’t a nuclear disaster or germ warfare death to our planet. It is just the possibility of us as humans letting our humanity decay if we are not careful. 

I hope it gives you pause to think for a moment. Or better yet gives you a reason to be motivated to find better leaders than the leader of the decay of humanity manifesting itself in one front running political candidate of the moment and also found in a different way in the hatred of ignorance and deceit in another part of the world.  We cannot let our humanity lose or we will be forced to ask ourselves; why were we ever here in the first place.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And as I finish this story late night TV is making light of one certain candidate and one certain terror group all in the same show. Is it too late??????

Donald Trump is proving us all idiots

Well, it is Sunday and I should be writing about the best of humanity. Instead I am feeling a bit …shoot I do not know if there is a word for it or not. At least I cannot think of it, I thought it might be smarmy, but even that doesn’t sound like the mood I am in or even a real word. It is not exactly tongue in cheek either, but the topic is not tongue in cheek so it can’t be that. I really believe many things that are wrong with this country is being exposed because of Donald Trump’s rise in the political world.

And I know many people will say it is all the ignorant people who listen to everything he says and believes what is coming out of his mouth without any vetting or fact checking and they are the ignorant ones or idiots. No, this is one symptom of the problem. And besides if I say everyone is being proved an idiot then identifying this one group doesn’t work. Not everyone is believing everything he says.

So how is everyone proved an idiot if the majority of us do not support him or support what he is saying?

And it isn’t because he is now a Republican and wasn’t really politically active in the party before now.

Or because he was a reality star and now he is running for President.

And it isn’t the press’ fault that he is popular by constantly running stories about him.

It would be very presumptive of me to say all this without some acknowledgment that this is all just blogging, and yet can I say that is he proving us idiots without question without my entire tongue in my cheek?   yes he is…

The problem is our society has come to the point where we need or think we need Donald Trump.  And not just Donald Trump, but his whole attitude and persona. Do you remember Ross Perot? He ran for President and is a very successful businessman, much more than Donald Trump yet he did not become as much of a lightning rod as Donald Trump. Yes he was popular and even a bit controversial, but he was no where near the divisive person Donald Trump is in this election.  So why Donald Trump now?

Donald Trump is the poster boy for everything that has gone wrong with American Politics for the last fifty years and especially the last ten. If our political system had responded to the people and supported the people of this country everything Donald Trump would not exist. Even the people who don’t support him, don’t care about him, or hate him need him right now. Why?

He makes it feel right for the people that support him and gives everyone who doesn’t support him an out on who to blame for our current political system. It is easier to attack him than address what has become of us.

We have many problems in our political environment. Some of the people who support him are examples of a failed education system. There are other reasons too. They are disenchanted (and rightfully so as we all should be, but for completely different reasons) and they are using Donald Trump as a recourse for all their anger. I think most of you see that. Yet we all fall into the trap of addressing everything around him based on what he says. To use the sports comparison he is all offense and doesn’t worry about the defense. He is just outscoring everyone else right now. And this is working.

And other factors have played into his success. And it isn’t that he is in the press all the time. It is the fact he can take advantage of what the press created over the last few decades, commonly known as sound bites. Once politics became a TV game and we as a populace accepted shorter and shorter bits from the candidates it was inevitable that someone like him would be the dominant player. He appears in short bursts on TV, keeps the rhetoric in his speeches simplistic and repetitive, and is using Twitter as an attack dog.

Obviously sound bites are working well for him. And the reality is he is saying a bit more than what is put on TV, the press just went with his first few offensive statements which garnered the attention in the first place. For example if no one in the press had made such a big deal or even mentioned the immigration comments, how big would he be right now?  It was a great sound bite.

The repetitiveness of his speeches prevent people from being able to break him down in a policy argument. He does have a few ideas he is presenting, but not much substance which allows him to continue to vilify other people without giving them a chance to critique him.

And somehow or another he became the Republican nightmare on Twitter. The platform for Twitter fits in well with how he operates. Whether by design or accident it doesn’t matter, he just attacks and attacks on it which the press picks up and disseminates even further. And with how Twitter works with being able to attract followers, he can send out targeted messages to his followers that by pass any constructive criticism that does manifest in the press or from other sources.

And the standard bearers of politics cannot stop him. The Republican Party is having to come up with machinations to find a way to get around him. And do not think the Democrats are any better, they just have a candidate they can rally around at the moment. If there were as much discourse on the liberal side they would be just as susceptible to the emergence of some type of Donald Trump as part of the Republicans have become. Lucky for the Democrats Bernie Sanders is not Donald Trump and they have a standard bearer for their discontent. This does not mean they are better than the Republicans, just in a better way right now.

So how does this prove, he proves, we are all idiots. It is simple. We let this happen. We have been setting this up for years. Not our government, not our press, but us. Yes the failures of Congress and the system the Press created help him, but because we have let our education system flounder, our decreasing ability to think critically, relinquishing power to fewer and fewer people, and letting everything under the sun, but what our government is doing become more important has led us to this moment.

We did not choose to be proven idiots and truly we are not.

We are potentially failing as a democracy. We have chosen to let this happen by default. And in doing so, Donald Trump is winning and we, the people, have been and are losing. How idiotic is that????????????????????????

Today December 2

This morning I decided I was going to write a post this evening and I was debating whether to finish the story or write about Donald Trump basically proving we are all idiots.

Now I am at a lost because of the shooting situation in San Bernardino today. And this situation is obviously much different than what happened in Colorado last week. And of course my simplistic reasoning as to one of the reasons that causes people like Mr. Dear to lose it probably doesn’t apply to the people today.

Of course with both situations there is much to learn. We will want to learn about the people, who they are, their motives, etc…  but will we ever learn what drove them to make these decisions or put them on the life path that pushed them to live out these horrendous acts.

I hope so since maybe we can use this information to help others avoid the pitfalls that cause people to get this disconnected from life and humanity. Even if what we learn is only usable in indirect encounters with people distancing themselves from society it could be useful. I will venture out and say people who are engaged with life, people, and living are not acting out this irrationally.  Something clicks off in their brain at some point in their life and they head down a destructive path and based on the shootings, isolation from others is one symptom.

A few months ago I struggled ( and I do mean struggled, I could never really say what I wanted to say,) through a series of posts about the importance of family. I am not saying this is a cure all for these people, but at some point having family around can help. I do know that sometimes some people are so afflicted that families struggle with how to help and even the medical community has few answers. These people do tend to get recognized and there is some attempts to help them.

It is the people that isolate themselves completely; that do not exhibit outwardly irrational acts until they end up creating these incidents. As always stereo typing people is dangerous. Some people can be very introverted and overall are healthy in mind body and soul. They prefer solace to excessive extraneous activity. So when working through what we need to do; we always need to work from the philosophy of innocent until proven guilty. We cannot assume we know people and we cannot assume we do not know people. We have to go on sound reasoning so we do not label people and cause a different set of problems. One of the more popular examples of this dichotomy is the book and movie A Clockwork Orange.   Where do we draw the line in addressing people who are not behaving in a “normal” fashion?  At this point in the evolutionary line of human development we do not seem to know yet.

So before we all jump to conclusions etc,,, lets take the time to study what is happening in our society to start the slow methodical process of finding the correct answers to avoid people even getting to the point where they even think this is the only answer in their lives. Or the only answer to whatever demon problem that has developed in their head.  This will not be easy and not popular. We demand answers now. I think for what is happening to us with all the mass shootings it is going to take much more work than we are ready to do.

I will get back to my Donald Trump bashing another day. And I always had the ending to my story in my head. I just need to bring it to the conclusion.

Today pray for the people in San Bernardino, the families of the murdered, the recovery of the wounded, the law enforcement personnel, and anyone else affected by this tragedy. And let us begin the hard work of finding out the whys so we can find out who we truly are so to avoid all this in the future. 

Quick thought

As of this morning the news was saying the Republicans were not saying much about the Planned Parenthood shooting. I think there are a couple of reasons.

First though Senator Cruz did state something and should be given credit for realizing this was a tragedy no matter where it happens.

In my humble opinion one of the reasons some Republicans cannot deal with the Planned Parenthood shooting is because they are pro life for political reasons. The reason for being pro life is because you believe in dignity of life from conception to grave. And if you believe in the dignity of life you still value the live of someone you disagree with whether it is sports, politics, social issues etc. There seems to be a loss of this concept among many of the Republican candidates.

You can disagree with what Planned Parenthood is doing and yet speak up about the tragedy.

And in my humble opinion the second reason is the Republicans cannot come to grips with the idea of what is the second amendment versus the complete lack of responsibility for owning a gun. I have talked about mental illness before and that we need to address no gun ownership for people who are not capable of owning a gun. The problem is we need to be very very very very careful how we define this since we do not want to take away any rights on any person and start setting unnecessary precedents. And we do not know anything about the shooter so I need to be careful about bringing up mental illness, so the next issue is social isolation. We cannot tell people they have to be socially active, but we can reach out to people. We talk so much the values we the people should have, yet we talk so little about us as humans.

I guess the crux of my thought is maybe we should spend more time valuing our lives from the beginning. Or possibly if someone had taken the time many years ago to value Mr. Dear's life then maybe it would have been easier for him to make the distinction of how to express his disagreement with Planned Parenthood in a more rational and dignified manner than showing no value to his or other's lives even though his apparent argument he is saving baby's lives.

I hope no one politicizes this situation since Mr. Dear is a symptom of the problem of people not valuing everyone's life from conception to grave.

Happy Thanksgiving

Maybe getting a bit too relaxed on this Thanksgiving eve.

I hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving and for all my friends that read me from outside the country I hope you find some hope and grace in your life. 

Sometimes we have to make a determined effort to remember how wonderful life can be at times. Lets enjoy these moments as much as possible.

After Thanksgiving day I will go back to complaining about everything that keeps us all from what we can truly be. For now enjoy.

Faith Hope and Love with Charity and Peace for all

A Loss for words (4th installment)

She was caught in the middle in more ways than one. She was between the two cars, but she was also between a new gang rivalry. A small group of a larger group decided they wanted their own territory and this was the area they were trying to carve out for themselves.

The first car came to a stop again in the alley and prevented her from going forward. There were five men in this car. The second car pulled up behind her blocking her from going onto the street. Her back fender pressed up against the side of their car. Just like the first time she blocked the other gang members from getting out of the side doors. Six young men drove in this car and they hurriedly exited the car.

She knew exactly where the gun lay, but for now she kept her hands on the steering wheel waiting to see who would make the first move. She didn’t know about the gang situation, but she could instantly feel a great amount of tension between the two groups by the way they lined up on each side of her car. She just wished they had originally built the alley wider and she would waste no time going around them, but this was impossible.

The first set of gang members starting shouting at the new set. She could hear them tell the new car this was their territory so she was their bitch. She sat quietly, but inside the anger began overcoming the fear.  The second set of gang members laughed and called them old and of no importance anymore. Both sides began yelling, cussing, threatening each other over her and the territory.

She saw a police car two blocks up pull into the alley. The car turned around. She did not know they would come back when they thought it would be safe to come collect their share of whatever happened. Seeing the car leave only increased her anger. One other fact that no one knew, including her, was that she was the only one who actually was armed outside of a couple of gang members in each car having a lead pipe. If she knew they didn’t have guns this might have ended real quick. She had multiple sleeves for her gun under the seat. Neither set of gang members had seen the police nor would they have cared if they had. Both sides focused on winning.

And the younger newer gang members wanting to assert themselves actually started attacking the first car’s gang members. The gang members met each other on both sides and front of her car. The younger gang quickly overwhelmed the older gang members and the outcome started turning very nasty. All members of the first gang were beaten into the ground and since they held a small 6 to 5 advantage one of the younger members could rotate amongst the others and add to the pounding. Blood was starting to flow on the ground in significant quantities. The yelling slowly quieted down as the older gang lay on the ground severely beaten. The younger gang continued to kick them in the head and body as the younger gang could not stop themselves from the blood lust they were feeling. 

She just watched in horror. She could not believe people could become so barbaric so quickly. She knew that sooner or later they would come back to her. Five minutes later there were now five very horribly beaten and dying men on the ground and on top of them were six dying men from multiple gun shot wounds. She had gotten out of the car and began shooting. The good news was that when the fighting started no one watched including the shopkeeper who hid in his store. No one wanted to be a witness because no one wanted someone to come back. She was able to go back to the car behind her and since they left the keys in the car she could quickly move it back enough to back her car and go home.

It had all happened so fast that she could not remember what happened. She just knew she had to do something to protect herself. She waited in her house for days expecting a knock on the door. It never came.

The police came back later that morning. And no one had seen anything. No one knew who had the gun. The shopkeeper didn’t know anything and his wife made sure he didn’t think he knew anything. The police were angry. They had one huge mess on their hands and there nothing for them. Even when they searched both cars they couldn’t find anything worth having. Just two old cars that barely had enough gas to drive. They became angrier each moment about the mess because the responsibility fell on them to make sure it got cleaned up and they did notice the fact that six were shot and shot a bunch. This scared them. They knew rarely shootings occurred. And this not because of lack of guns, but because no one could afford ammunition. The fact that someone could indiscriminately go through ammunition like this meant there was real trouble somewhere out there.

They completed the written police report for public record for formalities;  It did mention that some suspects were shot. And since most people were not well educated anymore it really didn’t say much more than that. Their oral report to the boss contained more details. The Boss was nervous since the older gang members were his. Did he need to worry more about new gangs or some unknown identity that had shown more firepower in a couple of minutes than most of his gang members could produce in total? He called his boss and relayed the information. Who in turn called his boss and so it went up the chain. And since both the written and the oral report never mentioned that she was involved many people up the chain were concerned since they could not understand who had this much power. Were there whole new gangs?

The people who knew everything though, knew and they never reported back down the chain. They were a bit fascinated, so they made it a point to watch her even more.

After a few weeks she started to feel comfortable that maybe there wasn’t going to be anyone coming. She didn’t know much, but she knew enough about the neighborhood that retaliation was quick. Hot head gang members were not ones to wait and the police always wanted something for their efforts and wanted to be paid quickly. So more and more she got out and again started trying to engage and educate the children that would walk by. The months then years began to pass. All the while children that stayed were monitored. They knew something was going on inside the house. They were patient though and she kept them vigilant which they knew they always needed to be.

To be continued

Some quick sports comments

I will be getting back to the A Loss for words story here soon. but there are other things going on.

First of all lets recognize FC Dallas for having a great year and lets hope they bring it on home.

And lets give credit to the Dallas Stars for such a really good start.

Now most of you know though I talk more about the Cowboys and Mavericks on a regular basis and this post is a commentary of sorts of the difference between those two teams.

I think there are more problems with the Dallas Cowboys and have been all along than Tony Romo's injury. Of course of late it is showing in a variety of ways one of which being a seven game losing streak. And some will say if we had Romo we would have done well and we might, but him being healthy would have masked some serious issues underneath the surface. What they are, I do not know.

Just think about this though. The Mavericks have struggled a bit at first, both with play and injuries yet the team is starting to come together and when three of their starters were out instead of folding many players on the Mavericks stepped up and the Mavericks beat the Rockets. Yes the Rockets were undermanned too and have been struggling, but the Rockets are considered a more talented team. The Mavericks played well with who played. Since Romo went out the Cowboys just haven't played well with anyone. You do not lose two games in OT and others in the last two minutes unless something is going wrong. And for the Cowboys something deep is going wrong.

So as I told some friends at work today, the wake is Friday and the funeral is next Sunday for the Cowboys 2015 season. Let's hope they get rid of some of the cancerous players and get back on track next year.

Tony just like Dirk is not getting any younger. The difference is Dirk has management and coaching around him that is at least finding players with talent and heart. And it looks like something even more is developing with them. Tonight is a trap game, but overall they are getting better. It is still a long way to go for the Mavericks, but at least they look like they have something much healthier going on as a team.

France

First of all; our prayers, condolences, thoughts, etc go to all the people who lost a loved one, or are hoping a loved one survives, to all the people of Paris and France, and anyone else affected by this horrible, atrocious, and cowardly act.

Also our prayers go to all the first responders who are having to work extra and yet suffer along with their country men and women during this tragedy.

You can say words from far away, but I truly hope the people of France can overcome and grow again like they have multiple times in the past from WWII to Charlie Hebdo.

Now there is another insane story developing behind this senseless attack and that is all the politicians and people tweeting something like they have some miracle answer to the problem. No one has the answer and I know I have said this on multiple platforms, you cannot overcome what causes despots, dictators, and whatever ISIS is to exist just by winning a war. If that were the case, the world would have been a wonderful place after WWII.

You do need to fight them and not let whatever existence of evil is existing at the moment to survive, but to really overcome we need to win a fight no one ever tries to fight. The continual rise of the next evil is because we do not attack the root cause of how these situations continue to come back and haunt us. The Middle East unfortunately has been a breeding ground for problems, but there and in other times and places these tyrants exist because they take advantage of poverty, uneducated people to rise to power all the while lashing out at scapegoats so they can use this as an excuse for all the bad things happening to the people.  Right now the West and Western culture is the culprit for groups like Al Qaeda and ISIS.

This happens everywhere though. And unfortunately US policy worldwide sometimes tends to pick the expedient person to back for the multinational corporations instead of taking the harder road and working with the country to help them grow. Which in the long road would still benefit those same multi-national companies for long term business. This has given these current sets of tyrants and despots ammunition against us. We need to change our course. The US though is by no means the cause of tyranny.

People forget no one brought democracy or rule of man to the United States and Western Europe. This was a concept developed over time and we achieved it because men became educated and understood the value of life. It is not a product we can export much as we would like to.

The real growth of democracy and rule of man will come to other areas of the world not because we force it on them or we try to put someone in power, but by developing the people. We need to find ways to overcome the propaganda of local tyrants and start instilling in future generations a desire to learn and  want something more than what they are given. This will not happen overnight and takes a long range approach we have not ever attempted yet is our best opportunity to eventually rid the world of tyranny. This means we cannot put our self-interest above others. And like I mentioned before, if we take the more methodical approach we will actually create more success for everyone in the long run.

Unfortunately until we overcome our own shortcomings, what we truly represent can be twisted by others for their own benefit and we end up with situations where innocent people in France are murdered in not an act of war, but a murderous act by people mislead into believing utter falsehoods.

What isn’t the answer is all our idiot politicians trying to act like they have some answer that we can solve the problem by killing them all or arming all private citizens. And yes going to war and winning war may seem like “oh yeah baby, we sure got them” but sooner or later and most likely sooner another group will come along and replace them using the same tactics they did to get to power. Tactics that rely on bullying the populace, lying about what are the real problems facing them, strong arming the law, keeping them ignorant and poor and then we are back to square one. Yes we can win the next war, but we are losing more in the long run. And also unfortunately we may have to go out and win the next war because these tyrants are like fire ant mounds. You have to eradicate a mound to end the current problem, but until we truly find the root of the problem they will not go away. So for this situation we have to create the long term strategies, which may take generations, to truly see the success we want of ridding our planet of this ongoing cancer upon us as human beings.

I would love to wish everyone a good night, but tonight I wish you a safe night.

A Loss for words Part 3

As noted in the previous post current events always need to be addressed, it is somewhat like what the children are missing in the story. They have no idea what is going on around them and nor do their parents. If you don’t or can’t pay attention to the world how can you make the changes to make it better.

And the story continues……………………………………………………………………………

It was shopping day. And she enjoyed shopping day. She usually preferred being alone, but as a human she did need communal interaction and so she set aside certain days to go out and get involved with what was left with the idea of community. And at times she missed him so going out and interacting took away some of the pain of him not being around anymore.

She got up early for shopping day, very early. Took pains to take out just enough money from where she had it stashed in a secret compartment under the house. A few years ago she had took out most of her money from the banks. Luckily this was right before all the banks were taken over by certain elements of the ruling elite. No one said it was a take over and to the general populace they didn’t know what happened. Yet the banks were continuously monitored to see if anyone was able to start saving or building a balance in their accounts.  Something always happened when a person started to get ahead a bit in life. All of a sudden their job was cut or their house would need an extrodinate amount of repairs. It was something that would eat into the budget and usually enough to make them go crawling to the secondary banking system for a loan. Once you obtained one of these loans your finances were never in your control again. It would have taken three full time jobs to truly pay these off completely and be rid of them. They became a round robin of refinancing just to make the payments for the previous one and then you never had enough for food etc. Unbeknowst to many, getting ahead was not the best idea or at least getting ahead where someone could know. She had decided that something was amiss so she decided to keep her money to herself. Fortunately for her, the timing was good. Even though the bosses wanted to look at the history of people’s accounts, since no one was trained very well or hours were kept scare no one had the time to historical audits of people’s accounts so only the present activity in the banks was reviewed.

She divided her money up so she could carry it in different places on her self and in her car. She knew that if she did get stopped by a gang or the boss’ men it would be better to have some in her purse for them to take their share than to try to hide it all. She had never been robbed, but having talked to the shop keepers over time she knew what the risks were in going out so better to act like you have contributed to the boss’ neighborhood good campaign than fight it. She knew how much she needed so hid that amount and then she made sure there looked like an appropriate amount was in her purse for someone shopping on a budget and hoped for the best.

And she knew to go early so she was out of the house about ten minutes before the shopkeepers opened their stores. Many didn’t have business till later in the day, but there were a few smart shoppers that would come out when they could so they wanted to be ready for them since these people were generally their best customers.

Today it was cloudy so a bit dreary, but that did not dampen her spirits as she drove out of the garage and headed off to the stores. She did drive cautious with her eyes wide open. She knew to give in if someone attempted to claim a donation from her, but if they wanted anything else from her there would be a fight. She had no desire to become a victim like so many other women were becoming. And of course the police never were able to solve the crime. Some even suspected that the police were some of the worst when it came to crimes against women. No one could prove anything of course, most crime was blamed on gangs, yet the boss’ men and police never seemed to be where they were needed nor able to help women who had been victimized. She decided it would probably be the end for her if she fought, but she was going to fight. So under her car seat placed very carefully in a slot that you would not feel if you made a cursory feel under the seat was an older but well maintained Kimber 9mm semi automatic pistol. She had one that was made to prevent snagging if being pulled out of a holster or in her case from a slot or sleeve cut into the fabric under her seat, an Ultra CDP II. It was one of the guns he had got for her many years ago. He had taken her to the gun range many times. It was a hobby for him. At first she regretted going at all, but she loved him so she went to humor him and now something she was glad she had done. Even though she didn’t like shooting she had become very comfortable with one in her hand and being able to use it. She always made sure the gun had been reviewed the night before she went shopping just to be on the safe side. She also had two hunting rifles and a shotgun in the house. They were also well maintained.

She drove to the grocery store. A two store building built over a hundred years ago and being held together by sheer desire of the store owner. An older gentleman of around 60 years old. Since early it was slow so he saw her coming down the street and his eyes lit up. Yes he was married and he had no desire to do harm to his wife, but this woman was still very beautiful and he appreciated when she came in. His wife also saw her coming from an upstairs window. She stayed upstairs for two reasons. One she knew the lady was beautiful and all the older men fell all over themselves to help her including her husband, but two her husband always seemed to be a bit more amorous on the evenings she came. She still loved her husband even with all the difficulties, so a night where he would make advances and pay special attention to her was something she still enjoyed. They still felt good to each other, so what if some days this women provided a bit of a spark to him , he still ended the night with her. The other was she did spend money. The wife didn’t know where she got it nor did she care. She was a good customer and upstairs there were still items to sell in the store. The wife wanted to be up there to help her if needed without interfering with the woman’s interaction with her husband. They always needed the business and she was one of the best customers. And the wife knew not to say anything about her being a good customer. It benefited them and the woman for no one to know.

She arrived at the store and was greeted warmly by the shopkeeper. She had her list and he filled it hastily knowing the importance of anyone noticing she was in the store for any amount of time. If people were watching, a long visit might mean a large sell. He hated that he had to hurry, but he made every effort to finish the list. The lady went upstairs for a couple of items while he filled the grocery order. The wife and the woman had a short, but cordial conversation. The wife kept her up to speed on some of the goings on that she knew about. She appreciated having the conversation even if it was mainly gossip. It was still nice to talk to adults from time to time.

They loaded her car in the back taking out the bags through the rooms where the lived in the back of the store. Everything was going well and they were almost done. Then the car drove by the street and probably wouldn’t have noticed except one of the gang members riding was bored so he was looking down the alley and saw the lady’s car in the back. He knew what this meant so the car turned around and blocked the alley. Luckily they were almost done loading the car and had put the groceries in the trunk except for two bags of some of the least important items. The shop keeper and she knew just like the money situation you had to have something visible to pacify the gangs so they wouldn’t suspect there was something more. Gang members because of alcohol and drug abuse just weren’t that smart.

She had never been robbed before. She started to drive down the alley to hopefully force the gang car to move. It didn’t. She stopped just short of hitting it on the side of the car which prevented the guys from getting out that side so they all climbed out the other side and now were a bit angry. She stayed in her car while they got out. Once they got close she put the car in reverse and went back down the alley at a high rate of speed. The gang members got back in their car and started giving chase. The shop keeper and his wife watched in horror as this played out. People rarely ran. They would just accept the inevitable and move on. This was unexpected. She was a woman, alone.  A very dangerous move. At the end of the alley before she could back into the street another car pulled up and she came to a screeching stop. She was trapped. The gang members got out and began to yell at her. The shop keeper did what he was supposed to do and called the police. Not that he expected them to come, but being older this was something he knew what was supposed to be done.  The police operator said someone would be out soon. He didn’t believe her, but he had called.

The cars that had trapped her were not of the same gang. This made the situation even more dangerous.

To be continued…….