Red on Black

Living with nature can be awesome. I wake up in the morning to birds singing all over the place. What prettier music is there! And in the evenings there are the soft hoots of the owls talking to each other.

On several occasions I have spied red foxes scurrying from yard to yard. F caught one in a squirrel cage a few months ago. They are beautiful, lithe animals.

Some nights as the sun is setting the bunnies come out and dart around the yard. They look soft and fluffy. Most are a light to medium shade of brown, but several are white. And, yes, they appear to have cotton tails.

Pet dogs are not allowed to set foot on the street, but cats can roam at will and leave their droppings everywhere. Being a dog person, I think this really stinks.

Then there are the armored rodents that have started to burrow under my home. Being olfactory animals, I have tried to thwart their efforts with moth balls. So now they want to dig holes in my front yard. Where is a BB gun when you need one.

J told me tonight that we have three baby gators in the boat marina. Where there are baby gators, there are momma gators nearby. Lake Yale is well known for its huge gator population.

All these animals, pleasant and nasty alike, I can tolerate. But when I came home tonight, I was met by a critter I just cannot, under any circumstance, live with. He must die!

As I got out of the car with arms overflowing, I went to lock the car and saw a slithering coral snake in the headlights. I know for sure it was a poisonous snake by reciting the rhyme C taught me many years ago: “Red on black, friend of Jack. Red on yellow, kill the fellow.” It was definitely red on yellow.

People living in Florida know full well the dangers of the many poisonous snakes indigenous to the area. And as far as I’m concerned they can live here too.

But when they come out from the bushes and between me and my front door, it is time for them to die.

Freedom of Or Free Press?

“If we're willing to use taxpayer money to build roads, pay teachers and maintain a military; if we're willing to bail out banks and insurance companies and failing automakers, we should be willing to part with some public funds to keep journalism alive too.” These words were written by Rosa Brooks, former columnist for the LA Times and now the undersecretary of Defense for policy at the Pentagon.

Brooks’ premise is that there will be no government oversight if the many newspapers across the nation, currently in a death spiral (her words), have to close their doors. Add to that in her last column Brooks stated “A decimated, demoralized and under-resourced press corps hardly questioned the Bush administration's flimsy case for war in Iraq….” Is that a confession that journalists haven’t been doing their job, so let’s bail them out? Sounds like it to me.

Before we bail out the newspapers, we need to understand why they are in this death spiral. Is it because there are more and more papers going online rather than hard copy print? Is it loss of revenue from advertising and, if so, why? Could it also be because people don’t want to subscribe to slanted news and editorials? Do any of these reasons, individually or collectively, warrant bail out from taxpayers?

We have National Public Radio and Public Broadcasting Network already paid for by the taxpayers. Now we are going to be asked (Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D-MD legislation) to pay for all non-successful newspapers to operate too.

Yes, a free flow of opinion is the basis of our successful democracy and must continue. Americans have promoted freedom of the press worldwide for decades. But we have already seen our government put restrictions on monies given for failing businesses. Can you imagine what would happen if the government told the newspapers they have given money what to write? Hmmmm. What will happen to our own democracy if we go there?

Sticks and Stones

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me!” I yelled those words many a time at my tormentors as a child. Kids were always looking for a way to point a finger at someone and show their flaws.

“You’re a Fatso!”

“You wear dirty clothes. Doesn’t your mother ever wash.”

“You smell like your daddy. He’s a drunk!”

To escape the humiliation to any possible line of truth in those taunts, the “sticks and stones” was screamed back. And no matter how many times we said them or how loud we projected them, those words hurled at us really did hurt. We could hand them out as well at get them.

Today we are more sophisticated in our taunting. We have worked to increase our vocabulary adding softer but still destructive words to our list. And we have learned to finesse our selections to plunge deep when we use them. Yep, them’s fightin’ words for sure!

We know the words hurt and we want them to hurt. But we say them nicely so they come out as a “got cha.”

This ploy is used by everyone everywhere today. Some call it diplomacy. Some call it educated and civilized. And some use it to distort the truth. Intolerance can be made to be tolerant to some people just by choosing the right word.

I remember when homosexuals were referred to as queer. And that word used in that context is definitely hurtful. So it was replaced by a joyful, happy word: gay. See? Doesn’t that make it all better now? A queer lifestyle isn’t acceptable but a gay lifestyle is.

Our President has decided that we can’t have a war, so the term “war on terror” can’t be uttered by anyone in his administration. Someone might believe there really is a war. Albeit, there are people out there shooting and killing other human beings because they want to dominate and control them, but that isn’t a war. It is a man-made disaster. To me, a man-made disaster that results in mass killings is a war. Let’s rewrite the history books to correct this misconception. There was the American Revolution Man-made Disaster, the Civil Man-made Disaster, Spanish-American Man-made Disaster, International Man-made Disaster I and International Man-made Disaster II, the Vietnam Man-made Disaster, the Korean Man-made Disaster. We just have to stop using the word war because it is a negative term. Then people will feel better.

Did you know in schools no one can say “shut up” any more without being reprimanded or fired? No matter how much noise students make, no matter how many times they sass the teacher, no student is to ever be told to shut up. We have alternative words that mean the same thing, such as “be quiet.” Isn’t that less hurtful when you’re told to be quiet instead of to shut up? But do the students stop that noisy behavior when told to “be quiet?” Have any idea how they react when told to shut up?

Culturally we have embarked on a new era trying not to hurt anyone, probably because of the way we were scarred as children. And, yes, I agree that we shouldn’t intentionally toss around mean-spirited words to hurt others. Changing the meanings of words just doesn’t sit well with me; nor does using selected terms to avoid telling the truth.

Darn it all, that pendulum has swung too far the other way for me. A brick is a brick is a brick. And a person who kills another human being is a murderer. There are some things we just can’t take from ugly to pretty.

Childern learn by watching us

Working as a teacher in Florida schools has given me a front row seat to students bullying one another. First, superiority has to be established. That can be age or size or financial status or any number of other factors. Follow that with intimidation and you’re the power broker.

Since kids aren’t born knowing these things, it is easy to surmise they learned it by watching it happen. Some of them were bullied by other students or siblings and just decided to turn the tables. Lots of times bullies are the result of parental browbeating, a form of bullying.

I have always abhorred bullying no matter who did it or what their reason. What is gained by bullying? Sometimes it’s for things, I.e. Money, homework, electronics. My observations showed more often than not the bullying was for power and control over people and a bully’s need to just build themselves up in their own eyes. “I’m better than anyone else.”

Recently I, a senior citizen, was the object of a bullying attempt by one of my peers. First, the confronter used a loud voice asking pointed, nosey questions. Then intimidation was attempted by asserting his rank over me. “Don’t you know who I am?” he yelled. No, and I truthfully didn’t care either. Even threats were made by another bullying cohort of his. “I’ve got a gun!” so if you don’t do what I say…. I was able to “consider the source” in both instances and pity the poor fellows.

And can you believe it, this all took place in front of a child. How nice that these two senior citizens were teaching a kid not only how to but that it was okay to talk to people in this manner. (Sarcasim, folks) Bullying is being taught by people of all age groups.

When will it stop? Our kids don’t have a snowball’s chance if their peers, parents and grandparents are all examples of what not to do.