COLLATERAL DAMAGE?

Today, the world is finally taking the time to examine some of the shock waves battering humans by the decision of the Bush Administration to go to war under trumped up intelligence data. We have reached, as of today's announced count, 4 short of 4,000 American troops dead and nearly 40,000 wounded. One of the fallouts, next to the death of more than a million Iraqis and the 4 million who fled Iraq, is that even those who fled are not safe. Female prostitutes in Saudi Arabia are primarily Iraqi and many are as young as 13 with no other way to make a living. Rather than attempting a paraphrase of this article, I refer the reader to the link for the entire article.

The world, especially America, has ignored this crisis of refugees. Can we stand another response like Cheney's, "So?" the other day? Or is the tragedy which the world is seeing as a result of the ignorant planning for the Iraqi war to be filed under 'collateral damage'?

MY POLTERGEISTS ARE STILL WITH ME

A poltergeist is defined as : "This is a spirit, usually mischievous and occasionally malevolent, which manifests its presence by making noises, moving objects, and assaulting people and animals. The term "poltergeist" comes from the German poltern, "to knock," and geist, "spirit." Some cases of poltergeists remain unexplained and may involve actual spirits."

The poltergeists in my house are more mischievous than malevolent. They usually return what they hide. Needless to say, often something good seems to come from something initially looking bad. In my case, when they hide something I have to hunt for it and, in doing so, get a lot of non-related things cleaned up and organized. For example, today, hunting through some snail mail hidden from me for a couple of months, I was able to get rid of a pile of catalogs about 8 inches high, to understand why I never saw some bills (and grateful for pay on line which kept me on time), warmed myself due the forced activity and travel through the house, and found other things in the process I had forgotten I had.

Another writer describes a poltergeist slightly differently: "Those who follow the immensely popular Harry Potter book series are surely familiar with Peeves, Hogwarts' resident poltergeist. Peeves first appeared in "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" where he was described as a little man with a pair of wicked eyes and a huge mouth, who wears outrageously colored clothes. In the book series, Peeves was portrayed as a mischievous entity, constantly creating trouble and never without a trick up his sleeve. The book's author, J.K. Rowling, even described Peeves as an "indestructible spirit of chaos." But as interesting as Peeves is, his real-life poltergeist counterparts are twice as troublesome and, sometimes, downright dangerous."

Some older people get dogs or cats for company. I just talk to my resident poltergeists. I know they are never far from me. Sometimes I thank them for putting things back; sometimes I plead for them to return what they have hidden from me. The game has gone on for years. There are still a couple of things I have never found. However, I haven't given up hope that all will be given back in time. My poltergeists drop things contra to gravity and bounce sounds to places they normally would not be. I hear footsteps when no one is there when I look. I heard water running, until I discovered it was my ice tray automatically filling in the freezer. In fact, lest I be pronounced psychotic by my readers, I will readily say, eventually, almost everything has a tangible, earthly explanation. Yet I entertain myself and feel less alone with my Poltergeists and suspect I always will. They are the imaginary friends I should have had when I was five years old and somehow missed. They are very much like the typo fairy...the one who makes you type words doubly, make spelling mistakes, and all sorts of other keyboard mishaps.

making things right

Today it has finally stopped raining so, finally a new roof can be put on. The reason for a new roof is that the present one leaks. It is one of those unfortunate circumstances that roofs cannot be repaired in the rain so, if it leaks, it will continue to leak and wreck plaster ceilings and whatever damage it can do until it stops raining.

There have been times in my life that I have felt so ill, knowing that a pill would make me feel better, and all the while knowing that if I swallowed one it would not stay where I needed it to be. There are many times in our lives when we know what we need but it is impossible to utilize that which would cure us. Think of the people who are allergic to penicillin, sulfa drugs, opiates and so many other things that might make them feel better if they could only tolerate them.

Often our choices are made impulsively, simplistically. We see one quality in a person, reach for that single quality and don't realize the malevolent-to-us qualities that share the space within. A woman may choose a man for his gentleness, to escape the controls of the macho men with whom she was all too familiar, only to find that the gentleness masks passivity and depression. Another scenario is the woman who sees a manly, strong-willed, take-charge person only to find that he is totally without ability to give over any control to other than self and is emotionally like a bull in a china shop. On the reverse, the man who chooses a very feminine sweet girl who looks up to him in a charming, helpless way, later may learn that she cannot take charge, make decisions, or get over her dependency on him and remains helpless in face of adult responsibilities.

There are so many examples of the lack of fit in so many systems. There are so many little girls who want to be ballerinas but are built to be strong workers and athletes. Those who can combine their wish to be graceful with the power of skating are fortunate to have a body type that allows both. Indeed, good fortune is more a part of life than most of us spend a great deal of time thinking about. Those who say 'you can grow up to be anything you want to be' need to realize that you must have the right ingredients with which to start. All of us are not born equal. We deserve equal human rights and opportunities, however. Not even that combination assures us that dreams or goals will be possible. After all, luck is an important ingredient and we all know that luck is where opportunity and preparation meet.

FOR THOSE OF US WHO WOULD LIKE TO DIE WITH DIGNITY WHEN WE FEEL READY

Jane Brody wrote on 3/18 in the NY Times:

"My Feb. 5 column, “A Heartfelt Appeal for a Graceful Exit,” prompted a deluge of information and requests for information on how people too sick to reap meaningful pleasure from life might be able to control their death.

Many seeking such control are take-charge people who consider quality of life more important than quantity. They do not want their hard-earned money squandered on costly, yet hopeless, treatments. They do not want to keep their bodies alive when their minds have died. They do not want to die under circumstances they consider inhumane, hooked up to all sorts of medical apparatus, unable to control bodily functions or to communicate with loved ones." Click here for the rest of the article.

CNN wrote today on a man's desperate solution in Australia. Tony Wilson wrote about an 81 year old who built his own robot to shoot him. It worked. The article did not include instructions. A French woman, pleading to be euthanized, was told by the courts how sympathetic they were to her situation but the law did not permit assisted suicide. She died, a mother of three, at age 52 after her facial tumor left her blind, disfigured and suffering intense pain.

Indeed, there are many depressed people who would commit suicide who, when properly medicated and brought into proper chemical balance, find new joys in living. However, that is definitely not true for terminally ill people when the doctors know of no cure and the patient is agonizing in pain with no quality of life. When will society learn we need to hear people who have no hope and are asking, in their helplessness, for kindness from their fellow human beings. They should not have to suffer while people voice compassion but take no action to offer it.

FAITHFULNESS: FANTASY, OR OCCASIONAL FACT?

Today the NY Times ran an article on faithfulness (or lack of it). While researching for 'pairing for life' animals, the first site to appear on Google was 1500 animal species practice homosexuality. At first it surprised me but the reality quickly came to me that I know many homosexual couples who have paired for life faithfully. So heterosexuality or homosexuality is not a determinant of faithfulness.

From Wikipedia:

Animal sexual behaviour

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For human sexual practices, see Human sexual behavior

Animal sexual behavior takes many different forms, even within the same species. Researchers have observed monogamy, promiscuity, sex between species, sexual arousal from objects or places, sex apparently via duress or coercion, copulation with dead animals, homosexual, heterosexual and bisexual sexual behaviour, and situational sexual behaviour and a range of other practices among animals other than humans. Related studies have noted diversity in sexed bodies and gendered behaviour, such as intersex and transgender animals.

The study of animal sexuality (and primate sexuality especially) is a rapidly developing field. It used to be believed that only humans and a handful of species performed sexual acts other than for procreation, and that animals' sexuality was instinctive and a simple response to the "right" stimulation (sight, scent). Current understanding is that many species that were formerly believed monogamous have now been proven to be promiscuous or opportunistic in nature; a wide range of species appear both to masturbate and to use objects as tools to help them do so; in many species animals try to give and get sexual stimulation with others where procreation is not the aim; and homosexual behavior has now been observed among 1,500 species and in 500 of those it is well documented.

Searching for more truth, it appears that neither men nor women (other than those relatively few who are guided by morality preached to them as words directly from God) instinctively adhere to faithfulness. Many would not publicly admit to a violation of that fact, though the practice is quite prevalent.

Thus, I offer that sexuality in marriage should be a private issue between the two people involved and should not be the business of others as it has become for Presidents Jack Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, William Clinton and many others. It should not become an issue of law other than sex that is coercive, incestuous, or against minor children (have I left anything out here?). If couples find that unfaithfulness is more than they can stand, they have a right to divorce. If a couple decides, despite the occasional straying, that the marriage is important enough to tolerate the roaming in favor for the other value in the marriage, it should be the couples own business and there should not be a public saying they can't vote for Hillary Clinton because she didn't leave her cheating husband. Some have found that they are sexually incompatible because they didn't know premaritally in their abstinence. Others find a frigid or impotent partner while their libido soars. I've seen a spouse happy to allow the partner to get what cannot be obtained within the marriage. Having treated couples for many decades, I know there is little that doesn't happen in marriages that doesn't survive some of them and destroy others.

WHEN I WANT TO UNDERSTAND

Sometimes I get silly and want to understand what is going on in the world. At times like this, I turn to the Internet and read sources that claim to be enlightening. An article on the Financial Meltdown looked promising. It was. It is not only informative, more importantly it is seriously depressing!

Next I caught an article that states: Pro-environment Evangelical Seminary Student Jonathan Merrit is rebuked by Family Research Council president Tony Perkins, who says the Green movement promotes abortion and homosexuality. Jonathan Merrit writes lots of words but, essentially, says nothing. Perkins also unwittingly acknowledges that global warming is REAL but they (the religious right) don't want to stop it because it only delays "the Second Coming". Perkins says you should prepare to be Raptured, not "throw away the keys to your SUV and jump on the Al Gore bandwagon." That requires more blind faith which is about all religious people ask today. 'Follow the leader', 'have faith', 'don't question those who know more than you'; seems advice liberally thrown around but takes us in no forward direction. We all regress to childhood with that.

Shumer says that Bush is Herbert Hoover.

The unfortunate similarities in the statements and attitudes led Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to offer this observation on Fox News this morning:

The President is indeed behaving like Herbert Hoover. We’re in the most serious economic problem we’ve been in in a very long time — much worse than 2001. The President’s hands-off attitude is reminiscent of Herbert Hoover in 1929 and 1930.

Schumer added that "this has become “the Bush recession,” while Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) noted that "this will be the second recession in this administration".

In an editorial this morning, the New York Times fact-checks Bush’s economic speech:

Mr. Bush boasted about 52 consecutive months of job growth during his presidency. What matters is the magnitude of growth, not ticks on a calendar. The economic expansion under Mr. Bush -- which it is safe to assume is now over -- produced job growth of 4.2 percent. That is the worst performance over a business cycle since the government started keeping track in 1945. […]

Mr. Bush was wrong to say wages are rising. On Friday morning, the day he spoke, the government reported that wages failed to outpace inflation in February, for the fifth straight month. Productivity growth has also weakened markedly in the past two years, a harbinger of a lower overall standard of living for Americans.

Bush’s denial of economic truth means that “Americans are ill-prepared for hard times” ahead.

So what about us, 'the simple folk'? I for one want to pull out everything that points to the old signs that said, "It's the economy, stupid" When I hear people say, "There is so little time left for Bush, how much damage can he do?" I shudder and know that the answer is "Too much!" Should I help pull their heads out of the sand or place mine there with them? It seems that the choices are too few.

BSO CONCERT: MAESTRO GATTI CONDUCTING

The last time I wrote about the BSO concert I attended was on 2/24 and it was not one of my more pleasant concert experiences. The contrast tonight points out to me something terribly significant. It taught me that modern music such as Stravinsky,Shostakovich and many others does not affect me viscerally in a negative fashion. It is Carter, Shoenberg, Messiaen, Berg and the likes that I can't tolerate. I need major and minor chords and I like things to resolve with closure in music as well as in life.

Maestro Daniele Gatti conducted. Malcolm Lowe, the Concertmaster had the night off. The Associate Concertmaster, Tamara Smirnova played magnificently as both pieces called for lots of Strings. The first half, heard Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor, Opus 54. The piano, played by Garrick Ohlsson, about whom it was written that to date he has about 80 concertos at his command. He deserved the standing ovation and applause he received though the Concerto is not a particularly emotional or exciting piece. It is melodic, more even in tempo and volume than is required to keep some of the aging audience awake, my eyes noted as I looked around. Maestro Gatti pulled out a great performance from the troops.

The second half was stellar. It was Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Opus 47 in four movements: Moderato, Largo, Allegretto and Allegro non troppo. It brought excitement that was missing in Schumann. Shostakovich used his instrumentation most unusually. Cellos picked low tones beating like boots marching. This was followed more volubly when the Basses took over.

In the second movement, a very close harmony (somewhat atonal) lacked the offensive effect I find in so many pieces by Shoenberg and his disciples. At times it felt a bit bi-polar. The music quickly alternated between an ominous sound quickly followed by uplifting lightness. The composer uses the strings to do so much more than smoothly bow. The Strings frequently plucked, adding decisiveness to the sound. There was no soporific effect in any movement. Rather, it vacillated between serenity and agony, not painful to listen but sensing the expression of pain in the music. The flautist and harpist soloed and duetted in the third movement, beautifully and melodically, gently easing and giving way to the strings which began their journey to crescendo.

While Schumann offered a recognizable melody, one would not have been likely to walk out of the concert hall humming anything from the Shostakovich. In the last movement, as the Strings stayed frenetic, Percussion and Brass carried the weight and solemnity. It is said that more has been said about the 5th Symphony than any other piece in modern history. With that, my final comment is that I consider this a modern piece and thoroughly enjoyed it, so it is not modern music that turns me off. I suspect that, just as certain smells are offensive to some people but not all, so is certain music. Sitting in Symphony Hall I never feel alone in my reactions though they are clearly not universal.