The Changing Meaning Of Holidays

I was waxing nostalgic as we cleaned up the kitchen after our Thanksgiving dinner.  We worked together, Hub and I, and were laughing about our  long tradition of swapping the planning and cooking of our major holiday meals.  This year Thanksgiving was my turn - Christmas will be his.

Then, perhaps, we'll write off the tradition to our memories.  It's getting to be  more chore than fun as we get older.  We can't eat nor drink as much as we used to, we're exhausted by days end.

It got me to thinking how all the holidays have changed over the years and how to me they've lost their meaning.  At least the meaning I grew up with.  Halloween for instance.  Hardly anyone goes trick or treating any more.  Too many crimes against the kids and too many interlopers into neighborhoods where they weren't known nor welcome.  Heck, part of the fun for the tykes, at least when I was one, was having the neighbors pretend to have to guess who you were and, too, you could eat the treats without parental scrutiny when you got home.

Now it's chintzy store bought costumes and private parties held mostly by churches unless they  happen to be one that thinks Halloween is anti-Christian and should' be celebrated at all. Cops and nurses, indeed.  To keep order where order shouldn't be needed to be kept.

Thanksgiving has lost out to Black Friday and now even Black Thanksgiving day.  The headlines this morning, as usual, are filled with reports of tramplings and shootings and robbery and violent mayhem in general.  What is it we're thankful for?  That the stores are now opening even earlier than before?  That we're spending big bucks on gifts for ourselves rather than others?  It used to be a time of reflection and thanks for the blessings we've received mostly for carrying out our part of having been a good, compassionate citizen of a great country.  What happened to that?

Christmas is just around the corner though actually it's been around for a good part of late summer as well. While a celebration of Christ's birth, it's also a  reminiscence of traditions from a multitude of cultures and religions - including paganism.  Yet there are those who take offense at what used to be the most festive time of the year by trying to ban the very words, Merry Christmas.  It's hard to find cards with that sentiment any more.  Manger scenes in public parks are forbidden.  Trees aren't allowed in airports.  Come on!  If the box stores can begin selling decorations in July why can't we enjoy carolling around the manger in the park?  Isn't it commercial enough?

Of course we know that isn't the reason.  We've just become a very angry, selfish, self serving society.
Why else do feel good stories about the good people do become the last segment once a week on a "news" show where the rarity of such events is  heralded as wonderful exceptionalism rather than the norm?

Why is it necessary to be subjected to 24/7 diatribes on the failure of the ACA roll out and all the finger pointing that goes with it yet the story about the death of the boy with cancer who wanted one more Christmas, the one where an entire town created just that outside his bedroom window so he could have that one final wish, the experiencing of Christmas, was buried at the bottom of an obscure inside page of the paper and never at all heard on live media?

Times have changed.  Priorities have changed.  Negativity, anger and bitterness have trumped anticipation, ambition, triumph and joy.

" 'Tis the season" keeps running through my head.  But 'tis the season for what?

The Knockout Game And It's Unintended Consequences

There haves been a a lot of reports, along with video, of what is being called the Knockout Game.  Where one person  sees if he can get away with sucker punching another, knocking the unsuspecting person to the ground.

In the video some of the victims hit the ground quite hard.  I've heard no reports about broken limbs or concussions but I would expect they might occur.

The reaction to this "fad" puzzles me and once again I'm guessing it's a generational thing. When I was a youngster I was allowed to play tag and dodge ball and such but would never have thought about blindsiding someone with the intent of knocking them down.  Now, in some schools tag and dodge ball are no longer allowed but the Knockout Game is getting a pass.  What, no harm no foul?

I can't help but wonder what makes the teens think this is a game.  It's a mean spirited display of violence.  Just because it's supposed to be one on one doesn't change that. The police are fumbling with it.  Intent and all that nonsense.  If no one is hurt it can't be assault.  So, tsk, tsk it's just another fad like flash mobs that will soon disappear.

Will it?  It was mentioned in a local blog this morning that an elderly gentleman having coffee in a supermarket was showing off his protection - a taser!  Maybe the kids and the authorities think it's nothing, but should someone my age or said gentleman's get in the way serious harm could be done.  Really serious.  If the victim should fall against an elderly person or the perpetrator run into one while trying to get away you're looking at a whole slew of unintended consequences.  Broken bones, heart attacks, and more.  Oh, sure, they'd all be unintended consequences but consequences never-the-less.

Beyond that, I'm not crazy about a lot of old folks walking around with hidden tasers either. Who knows what might incite them to action and oh, my, another slew of unintended consequences.  Maybe even law suits.

I keep backtracking, however, to the game itself.  How have we degenerated to the point to where this type of activity is thought of as fun?  Where are these young people coming from and more importantly, where are they going?

It's bad enough people need to heed the possibility of some sort of assault whenever it's necessary to walk our streets.  Especially this time of year where there are always stories of lurkers waiting to make off with the spoils of Christmas shoppers.  And consider the violence that always seems to be a part of Black Friday when hoards of greedy shoppers go on the attack.

Our entire society is becoming an oxymoron.  We want no part of protecting the defenseless like the Syrian civilians being slaughtered yet we're perfectly fine with a  totally violent game that is growing in popularity.

I don't think we have a clue as to what we are any more or who we want to be.  We live in the moment for the moment with no thought of the future.  Maybe it's because we don't see one or if we do it's not a particularly encouraging one.

An activity like the Knockout Game indicates we've chosen the lowest common denominator.  If there is any good in it, it's the fact there's no place to go but up.  Unless we decide the status quo is good enough.  There will be unintended consequences with that choice too.

Karzai - Neither The Man Nor His Country Deserve Our Support

It never ceases to amaze me how many things we just don't seem to get.  For instance, before Kerry, having women serving as National Security Advisors and Secretaries of State.

If in a perverse sort of way it was intended to rub their chauvinistic noses in it, it hasn't worked. Hillary accomplished absolutely nothing.  Nor did her female predecessors. So why are we now sending Susan Rice to Afghanistan to try to get Karzai to sign the agreement allowing our troops to remain after 2014.  Even the loyal jirga know they are needed to buck up their own troops, but no, Karzai has never felt beholden to the country who has made him a rich man and kept him in power.  Susan Rice isn't going to change that.

Why be so hard on the country?  Karzai will soon be out of office.  Because they are once more thumbing their collective noses at us by planning to reintroduce stoning as a punishment for adultery. That's for married adulterers.  The unmarried will only need to endure 100 lashes.  So much for human and women's rights.

This is who they are as a people.  A deeply ingrained lack of respect for women.  Just like Iran who holds a deeply ingrained disrespect for America.  Yet we continue to fall prey to their insidious schemes.  It's what happens when you have amateurs running your government.

What can Susan Rice possibly do to get Karzai to give up his obstinance?  Are any more American deaths warranted for these people.  Were the ones that have come before?  I think not.

What a way to spend Thanksgiving.  Trying to buck up the morale of the troops who remain and garner respect from a host who hates them and those who sent them.

We have a lot to be thankful for in this country but having leaders who sense of appeasement outweighs their sense of patriotism is not one of them.

Going To The Dogs

I'm paying much more attention, though it often takes some looking, to stories about the incredible good that goes on within our communities.  The type of activity that reminds me when put in the right hands all will be well. I need the mental boost.

Often such stories involve animals, in this case dogs.  Put a dog with a youth at risk in our area you don't get abuse, you get a miracle.  That is if the kids are engaged in a program called Pawsitive Works.

You've seen it work with adult offenders, you've seen it work with returning vets with problems, why shouldn't dog therapy work with kids?  What better match?

For five weeks youngsters are paired with a dog from local shelters and work with them three times a week. What a teaching tool.  Perhaps the greatest thing  learned is about love and that it goes both ways. And more.

Think about what is learned about how a dog acts and being able to translate that to people.  How a dog learns.  What motivates them.  It's all a positive two way street.  They even learn how to say good bye which is probably the most difficult part. Yet it is paired with the satisfaction  of knowing that a formerly unwanted pet is then adoptable because of your efforts.

Here the program began in somewhat remote Bonner County but is spreading.  The story that caught my eye was about the program in one of our local alternative schools.  Wouldn't it be wonderful if it caught on across the country.  Kids and dogs both getting a new lease on life.  It doesn't get any better.

Nuclear Options All Over The Place

I have never in my life seen an administration so detached from the country it is supposed to be serving not to mention the world.

It has tunnel vision and a huge disrespect for everything and everybody outside of themselves.  First let's look at the sham of a treaty with Iran which will allow them to give up nothing while we open the doors for a nuclear Iran.  Where does the arrogance come from that allows those in the administration to think they and they alone can control Iran?  Heck, they can't even build a web site.

Part of it is Kerry wanting to make a name for himself.  Funny.  The administration makes the point that everything is being done for the children.  Does that include a nuclear Iran? Have they even considered it?

Or is it enough because of Obama's desperate need for a victory and Kerry's desire to be seen as a great statesman.  So far all he has done is sleep with the enemy.  And let's not forget what has been recently confirmed.  Valerie Jarrett, who was born in Iran, has been paving the way for months according to the Times of Israel . Yes, the administration has flatly denied this, but if past history holds true, the more they deny it the more truth lies within.

All I can say is what in the world are they thinking?  They never consider consequences, wanting more the victory of the moment.

Then there is the Senate's passing of the 'nuclear option' which means that the minority party no longer has a say in, for now, appointments. I would expect they will expand it as needed now that a precedent has been set. The throwing away of one more practice that was designed to prevent this very thing. When, and it will happen, the Republicans regain power, the favor will be returned.  I'd like to think they're above vindictiveness of that sort but we all know neither party is.

The disturbing thing about this is it's all tied to the disposal of nuclear waste in Yucca Mountain, Nevada and he needs the President's support in order to continue stalling  progress on the depositories which had been approved and permitting begun.  There it is, that dirty word again.  Nuclear.

There are conversations all over the web about how to handle the influence of those who hold extreme ideologies on government.  One would be to be more thorough in scrutinizing candidates and make sure if in rejecting them it truly benefits the country.

I fear that's a pipe dream in this day and age.  For it to work the candidates have to get the message and so far all I've seen is each party wiping their collective brows in relief as one crisis passes to another.

Meanwhile the possibility of war hangs over the Mideast.  The  al Qaeda linked rebels in Syria have joined forces and are pushing out the moderates we refused to help when it would have helped. The Afghans have thumbed their nose at us yet again and Pakistan continues to protect the Taliban.

Saudi and Israel are left hung out to dry.  But they won't.  They'll do whatever necessary to protect their interests and the region, if not the world, will explode.

Meanwhile our politicians and the administration will continue living life in the bubble they've created for themselves with nary a notice of what's happening around them.  One thing they should remember, not only do bombs explode - bubbles do burst.  That's a given.

So far though the score is a dismal Nucs 3 - World 0. Iran is about to score.  Obama is calling the defense.  We lose.