Para-

Para- is an interesting prefix - whose meaning is better understood when we look to the original French.

The French word for falls is chute; a parachute protects us from falls (a 'serious' fall - like from an airplane), 

The French word for rain is pluie; and what we call an umbrella, they call a parapluie.  

Who can envision a Belle Epoch painting of people enjoying the day in a French park without the lovely mademoiselles holding parasols - protecting their delicate features from le Soleil - the Sun.  

One then wonders from what a para-legal protects us.  And a para-medic?

Pregnant with Awful

Normal is pregnant with awful. 
                - Brian Doyle, One Long River of Song

The late Oregon author, Brian Doyle, had a way of condensing complexity into a few short, pithy words, or crafting a parable of society to fit within a small coastal community; perhaps even a fishing boat.

Normal has always held the potential for joy, while quietly gestating awful.  Modern science and societal institutions have done wonders in reducing or eliminating many sources of awful, through advancements in medical care, education, and vastly improved communications.  

But progress has been uneven, and many of the consequences unanticipated.  We enjoy highly-effective medical interventions, which can mitigate a broad range of illnesses and injuries.  But, for many in our society, this healing often comes at the cost of a lifetime's savings, and a descent into inescapable debt.  Our abandonment of governmental support means that those who seek a better life through higher educational also often find themselves saddled with years of debt.  Advancements in medicine, food production, and technology have allowed hundreds of millions of people a chance to attain the lifestyles previously available to only those in the most affluent of countries.  But the material goods they now seek accelerate the depletion of natural resources, and generation of waste, including greenhouse gases that are changing climates worldwide.  

In our country, we have an uniquely dreadful version of awful that lurks within the quotidian.  An assortment of weapons that have been developed to defend our country are now sold indiscriminately to consumers, with no regard for the very real devastation they routinely wreak upon innocents.  Church-goers, shoppers, high school, and even grade school students and their families so often now have normal days punctuated by incomprehensible butchery, that we risk becoming numb to it.  Though the individual manifestations are random, the industry that markets the weapons targets troubled young men, who fantasize about the glory of battle - only to live out and impose their fantasies on unarmed, helpless strangers.  Of all the versions of awful that emerge regularly from the normal, this is the most preventable and the least forgivable. 

Cowards Die Many Times

Cowards die many times before their deaths; 

The valiant never taste of death but once. 

- William Shakespeare (Julius Caesar, Act II, Scene 2)

Happiness - With Conditions

Why do we delay happiness for the future - when some perceived obstacle is removed; we’ll be happy as soon as we get in shape, lose some weight, get a promotion, learn a new skill – maybe get married to ‘Prince Charming’, or ditch the creep who turn out to not be so charming?  

Maybe we think about how much happier we will be after a knee replacement or two.  

But, as with many things, happiness is a habit - a learned skill, which requires practice.  It’s great to have goals, but if we don’t train for happiness now, we won't sharpen those skills, and may not get good at it. If we're not actively looking, we may not see opportunities along the way, and are less likely to be ready to fully embrace happiness when our obstacle is removed.  When we practice happiness on the little things along the way, we are better prepared to more fully enjoy its rewards.  

We may even find that the obstacle was only in our minds all along. 

Polish Constitution Day

I discovered Polish Constitution Day almost by accident three years ago, when I was visiting my friends Kris Wadolkowski, and his lovely wife Helen at the beginning of May.  We celebrated together, with their next-door neighbor (who was also flying the colors) in the traditional manner - with Zubrowka Bison Grass Vodka.  

Since that day, Celebrating this annual holiday has been sort of a fun thing for me - something to share with my friends, whether in person, or virtually.  

This year, though, it has deeper meaning to me.  The Poles share a tortured history with other Slavic people, of repression beneath the boots of a succession of Russian overlords, from the Czars, to the Bolsheviks, and now the totalitarian Putin regime. When Ukraine was invaded this winter, Poland opened their borders to their brother and sister Slavs - hosting as many as five million Ukrainian refugees.

So this Tuesday, when I raise my glass of Zubrowka, it will not be just for fun; it will be in loving, heartfelt memory of the generations of patriots who have given their last full measure of devotion, so that their children can live free of foreign domination, educate their children in their own languages, and not be conscripted to fight for a repressive foreign tyrant.   

Moth & Lightbulb - revised

I was drawn to her like a moth to a front-porch lightbulb on a summer evening—not one of those cold, efficient compact fluorescent lights, or an even more efficient dimmable LED light, that is super bright, but emits no heat, but an old-fashioned 100 watt soft-white bulbous incandescent, that pulls you into increasingly tight spirals, then quick-fries you at the touch of the sizzling orb—my ardor only intensified the knowledge that government regulations and evolving consumer preferences would soon render this simile quaint and obscure.  

Sarah MacLachlan Songs - Complicated

If I were to describe my relationship with Sarah MacLachlan’s music, I’d default to ‘It’s complicated’.  Some of her songs—particularly this one—make me feel good about being a man, and want to be a better man; worthy of being one who can instill these kinds of feelings of security and fulfillment within such a beautiful heart.  Knowing it’s out there to be found motivates me to keep searching.    

But then the song ends, and one of her raw, wounded songs comes on, bringing me face to face with the path of emotional destruction men can sow through a woman’s heart—with mixed messages, half-hearted commitment, or just general obliviousness—and I’m filled with vicarious remorse (maybe not always so vicarious), and think maybe it’s better to not risk it; safer to ‘just be friends’.   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiztEYuNcuU&list=RDYiztEYuNcuU&start_radio=1