We are featured with a presidential campaign by two parties this year that appear to be about relative character and temperament, and virtually policy and plan free.  I have the impression of an expensive high school class president competition.  Who do you like the best, based on looks and personality instead of issues, or more accurately who do you like the least worse.   Much has already been written about this, so I won’t dwell further on what I think about the candidate.  If you’ve read my material, you know where I am on this.  What I find important to consider in the next layer of the onion analysis, is why does the american voting public and our vaulted free press seem to be enamored with the discussion of temperament, lies/half-truths, influence, ethics, etc…  All items that would certainly factor into decision making, however…  Issues that get discussed are items like immigration, because of extraordinary claims of wall building and deportations that are not cost effective or productive, and yet from the Hillary we don’t get a plan or policy in response we get a defamation of Trump for outrageous claims and approach… and the press reports and gets rich.  We have a commander-in-chief back-to-back with Matt Lauer and we get no thoughts on strategy, no insight to decision making.  We get a denigration of existing policy and the “generals turned to rubble”, and we get the “no ground troops” statement and a lot about why they have the temperament and insight and the other does not.  The whole event was enough to make one want to puke, both candidates offered nothing of substance and a whole lot of high school class president positioning.  

Why not a serious journalist that understands international events and help hold the candidates to a serious discussion of the issues and strategic response?  No offense to Matt Lauer, he does great work on those human interest stories.    But that is telling too.  Are we as a voting public viewed by these politicians (Trump is one too, gotta be after how many position back flips he’s done) as uninterested in real policy and plans.  Does the press believe that its entertainment ratings are more important than the issues?  I’ve often heard, follow the money.  Well in this case the money is about entertainment.  This election season is a boon for the networks and a bust for the american people.   I hope for sake of our country that the upcoming face to face debates are more substantial.  

 

 

I had a friend, lively, smart, quick with a smile

But he could be distant, gone at times for awhile

 

He was brilliant as any I knew when he tried

But his mother worried, and sometimes cried

 

Was he quiet, pensive or just tired today

Was he joyous, active and funny the other day

 

Go get him up, help him, get him going please

With prodding with challenge, and game’s tease

 

Then we are grown, and worlds apart, all new

Education, families, careers, calls become few

 

But who will fix him when in depths broken

Friends, family or others, with words spoken

 

Then a child battles sickness for years

In the fight, everything in, including tears

 

Death catches and brings tragedy unimaginable

How can any mortal overcome, inconsolable

 

I want to help to get him up and going again

But he is broken and unable to let go of pain

 

His world collapses into a smaller space

Unavailable always, friends cannot make a case

 

A rising star passes, and father’s smile doth end

I share the pain and sadly also lost a friend

 

 

 

Summer Shower

 

It begins with little or nothing

Not sure I even felt a thing

 

A drip a drop maybe confirming

Still maybe, no skies are forming

 

Another time closer together

Surely now changing weather

 

Electric, a sudden cracking lightning

Splitting announcing and inviting

 

Suddenly big what was barely there

Lightning cracks, its boasting dare

 

Then the torrent, held back no more

Angry skies, or refreshing shower

…. Either way, time to race for the door!

 

Shhh!

 

A day sunny and bright

Or rainy and dark like night

 

So much to do or maybe not

It might be cold or maybe hot

 

A weekend’s quiet afternoon

Or workday getting away soon

 

Any way you look at it by me

A glorious afternoon it can be

 

With just a little nap time

That can be all mine o’mine

Today the Olympic closing ceremonies will occur.  For a couple of weeks, we witness high-level performance of athleticism as well as examples of great sportsmanship.   Imagine that so many people gather to celebrate the purity of sports and the example of dedication these athletes put into their pursuit of sport.  We’ve seen examples of athletes helping others, of embracing at the end of an event or race, appreciating the dedication and sacrifices shared.  We’ve seen gracious crowds appreciating the efforts as athletes expose themselves to injury, exhaustion and more often failure than conquest.  Sure we too celebrate the great victories and the greatest victors, but it is always with respect for all the competitors.   There is no racism, there is no hate-mongering, there is only understanding and respect we see.   I think of our political discourse in our country is something of an athletic, contact sport.  Sure some bruising competition is expected, like the rugby and soccer, and wrestling and even jostling on 5000 meter races, but why can we not stay within the bounds of civility and respect?   Think about the Olympics, the greatest issue between athletes was the disgust for those that would not play fair, those that used performance enhancing drugs to give them an edge over athletes that worked so hard to get to the games.  Even in this extreme case it was honest expressions in defense of the Olympic values we witnessed.

The vitriolic language and insulting behavior especially by Trump in our political competition, but certainly not restricted to his brand of politics, is beyond the bounds of fair competition.  I fear that the anger and hate he has tapped into and is encouraging is tearing the social fabric of our country.  I fear that it doesn’t end with completion of a race, then we all hug and appreciate each other as Olympians do… but rather it continues and seethes and surges through-out, in manifestations of senseless violence stoked by continued outrageous statements.  What really was wrong with Political Correctness, which is just a snarky word for “Respect”.  Do we not have respect for each other and our differences which are rarely ever as great as our similarities?   With the closing ceremonies tonight, I hope we can find a way to tap into the Olympic example and bring back respect, fair competition and even Political Correctness.  Then maybe we can really keep America Great!

Be humble of heart, expressive of soul and open of mind

Difficult at times in the world we live… but I think it is necessary reminder to what I aspire to be…  I wrote the following on the cover of a first book of poems I wrote as my way of expressing my thoughts as I was embarking on a sharing of my inner-self through my poems and stories.  I have repeated it here to express my gratitude for everyone that has not been a lion in their critique of my writings as well as to remind myself humbly that the world may never notice or care that I wrote such thoughts, but I’m happy that you do… thank you!

Check my ego at the lions lair

Exposing my soul with little care

Little will the world later note

What this writer here hath wrote

Summer Marches Toward Fall

The world is quiet for me

Well really not I think I see

The mantel clock ticks on

Always forward, it marches on

And the leaves rustle in the trees

Wiggle and giggle like busy bees

Green they are supple and free

Well not quite so, tied to a tree

They work until fall’s chill

Soon to be dead and still

In that fall sunset before night

They show their colors bright

For those few weeks they are true

Shining bright for me and you

The mantel clock ticks on for all

As summer marches toward fall

“Man, unlike any other thing organic or inorganic in the universe, grows beyond his work, walks up the stairs of his concepts, and emerges ahead of his accomplishments.” 

― John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

Only through our ability to work together, to imagine beyond our existence, to grow beyond our limitations is this possible…

Mickie’s Meatballs

First our hands we carefully clean

Because nasty germs they are mean

Find a big bowl good for mixing

And small stool for height fixing

A pound and half of meat

Pork and beef is really neat 

Precisely measure you see

Two handfuls or more of IBC

(Italian Bread Crumbs)

Three eggs and no shells into bowl they go

Season with garlic, salt and oregano 

Another careful measure of parmesan cheese

If you must, only  bit of pepper, just don’t sneeze 

Now a little olive oil a tablespoon or two

And have Mickie mix it all just for you

Rolling into balls is her favorite fun

Hands small but she gets it done 

Fry them brown in a pan

Then into sauce if you can

Homemade sauce in best for you

But we just open a jar of Ragu

They simmer and cook smelling yummy for awhile

Then taste Mickie’s meatballs, you cannot help but smile!

Around the year 72000 BC an enormous volcano eruption in Sumatra (Indonesia) having the force of 1.5 million atomic bombs, causing a nuclear winter for the world, that lasted several years.  Our human ancestors population was killed off through loss of food sources, so that no more than three to ten thousand survivors were left.  Today all 7 billion of us are descended from this small group of survivors.  This makes us one of the most genetically close species in nature… from David Baker and “Crash Course Big History”  … The thought for our consideration is that for all the divisiveness in our world we are much more like all those people we think are different from us than not.