Stop the insanity!

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STOP!  A forceful word which embodies our every thought at this moment in time. 

How can anyone hold back from wanting to scream this out as we witness the absolute devastation in Ukraine?  With each newscast, we’re witness to a cold-blooded murderous rampage, instrumented by a madman intent only on his objective to eradicate all vestiges of Ukrainian identity while condemning the country to a grim future as a military dictatorship locked firmly inside a new Russian Empire. 

As armchair witnesses to this horror, we express our prayers for the countless innocents lost in the assault on this sovereign democracy.  We donate to support groups who are in the forefront of rescuing children and families.  Prayers seem not enough, just a futile attempt to garner help for a situation now totally out of control.  It hits us the hardest when we see lives that once were, unceremoniously dumped into mass grave sites; when a maternity hospital is reduced to rubble, along with new lives that will never have a chance to blossom and make any difference in this troubled world.  The Russian barbarism is tearfully overwhelming.

We want it to stop.  Not just for the citizens of Ukraine but also because we are facing the likelihood of a significant war.  The challenges presented by this threat are far beyond the capabilities of the current administration of our country.  Somehow, it reminds me of that scene from “The Godfather” where Tom Hagen is belittled by Sonny who states that “he’s not a wartime consigliere”, being focused more on some peaceful mediation after the assassination attempt on Vito Corleone.

Personally, I’m not supporting any idea of war, but we stand at the crossroad of either being assertive, in some fashion, as a world power…or continuing with a pacifist demeanor as Russia implements its plans for subjugation of Ukraine.  

 

workshop-button-1From Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop…. Write a blog post inspired by the word: stop.   Зупиніть безумство!….Stop the insanity!

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Cockeyed optimism…

Gaynor

And…here we all are, more than one year after this virus insanity began.  At least most of us, and I’m not waxing sarcastically here.  My heart hurts still for those lost from COVID-19’s rampage, and for their families and friends.

In March of 2020, as the panic set-in, well, make that started sinking-in, people valiantly started adjusting to being at home, wrapping themselves in a cocoon of safety, and living with a fair amount of fear.  There was still so much unknown about this virus last year and, frankly, as far as I’m concerned, it’s still a ludicrous crap shoot with each news release and conflicting opinions shared by the medical field and media.

Looking back over my posts, almost to this same date a year later, I’m once again doing what I did last April, cleaning, re-organizing and purging.  But what’s different this time is that it’s for happier reasons, other than just passing my “virus-avoidance incarceration” time.  Family is coming, and not soon enough!  My Florida family, to be exact.  After not seeing them for two years, I’m pulling out all the stops, still proceeding with recommended caution, and plan to enjoy as much normalcy as possible.

Wow, that’s a loaded word…normalcy.  We have the old normal, temporary normal and, of course, new normal.  That last one sucks lemons, let me tell you.  I can’t wait for one year from today to write about what I was doing this year and how things have changed. 

Will we still be hiding behind masks? 

Was the vaccination process successful in controlling the virus? 

Will we be lining-up for booster shots to reinforce the biological preparations that were unceremoniously jammed into our arms? 

Did Joe Biden stop reading from Etch A Sketch when he gave speeches? 

Did Maxine Waters get shown the door in Congress? 

Oops, sorry, politics just slipped out.  My bad.  I feel that we’re moving past this damn virus blockade, slowly but surely.  Call me a cockeyed optimist. Sure, there will be setbacks ahead but none comparable to what this world suffered in 2020.  I have to believe that.  We all do.

 

workshop-button-1From Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop…Throwback Thursday: Choose a photo or blog post from a previous April…how have things changed?

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Pass the tea…

elderly tea

“To a philosopher all news, as it is called, is gossip, and those who edit and read it are old women over their tea.”

Henry David Thoreau

 

What goes best with a hot cup of tea? A heaping spoonful of gossip, of course.

Gossip is one stage nastier than chatter, one stage seedier than investigation. It’s poised between rumor and the real, between the stab in the back and the handshake, between tastelessness and the libel lawyer’s office.  Dan Rather once remarked that “the news is discovering something someone does not want known.” In recent years, the mainstream media seems to have evolved into various network-based, old woman, tea party gatherings with focus more on gossip than reporting just the facts.

For example, gossip known as leaks which takes over a large stretch of journalism.  I recall Bernie Sanders once commenting that “the media has become gossip, clickbait and punditry.”  I’m not a fan of Bernie but will admit he did have a point.  On any given day, the news media hops into the broadcasting driver’s seat to make us aware of political leaks, a serious form of gossip which seems to be taking over much of journalism.  Respectable journalism has been infected by much of this straight-up, no-apologies public gossip.  Read much from either the New York Times or Washington Post lately?  Seems both have succumbed to reporting items that are a tad more than gossipy in their intent.  Everywhere one looks in show business, politics, even business, gossip creeps more and more into the foreground. Once the freak show in journalism, gossip has now become center ring. 

I’m a realist.  Gossip plays a significant role in the reporting of news.  More with newspapers who have taken a back seat to television and radio, the preferred choice of many when a breaking story takes place.  But…gossip?  Well, both websites and tabloid journalists are terrific sources for sharing all the significant and juicy details surrounding some news tidbit.

Pass the tea, please.

 

workshop-button-1From Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop...Share a favorite quote you came across this month.

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