Saturday Open Thoughts

Comedian Bill Dana said, "I'd been told the training process with cats was difficult. It's not. Mine had me trained in two days" :)

Just got home from (re)admitting my mom to the hospital.  JFC I wish they'd have gotten the problem fixed the first damn time.  This just wears on me (not to mention the toll it's taking on her).

Sorry about the pain, Alma.  Hope things get better for you and your husband soon.

The milk chocolate isn't that great for people, but the dark, bittersweet chocolate definitely has properties to it that not only make it heart-healthy, but make people happier, also.  I've come to prefer the dark, bittersweet chocolate over the milk chocolate, although I love chocolate, anyway.  

After my appointment in Boston's Kenmore Square a week ago, I went to Uno's, and had myself a house salad, a half a chicken wrap, and a mini-sized hot fudge brownie sundae, all without feeling overstuffed!

I wish that the film West Side Story would come back more often.  I'd be happy if it came back to our neck of the woods every 3-6 months.  It comes back once a year.  Hopefully, i'll see it more than once, although I'm seeing it in late April, out in Pittsfield, at the Barrington Stage Co.  

While we're on this subject, I was having brunch with my mom a week ago yesterday.  I had a very good talk with her, and she mentioned something about a new documentary film on the situation in the Israeli-occupied territories., the title of which escapes me at the moment.  I listened, but what I thought, didn't say at the time, but still think is that, while it sounds like an interesting film, I'm really not keen on seeing it, for all kinds of reasons.  

My mom pointed out how I'd done remarkably well, considering the issues that I had as a young kid, although I could've had tutoring in math and spanish if there'd been any Special Ed programs.  As true as that is, I probably couldn't have sung in the chorus, like I did.  Or, maybe I could've stayed after school a couple of times per week.  Who knows?  That's water under the bridge.  What she pointed out was that I was too obsessed with West Side Story and with Exotic Birds.  That, after she'd pointed out several times before that I wasn't harming anybody with those obsessions.   I wonder if that was her way of saying that she wished that I didn't have those obsessions or unusual interests.  She did point out one thing, though;  my tendency to bring up topics like that at not so appropriate times, which is true, to a certain extent.  I think that my family secretly wishes that I would become more interested in things such as the Palestinian cause, but that's not about to happen.  Sure, it's sad to see innocent people, especially young children and babies, rendered blind, limbless, paralyzed, or even mentally retarded or generally psychologically traumatized as a result of war, but there's nothing else I can say, at this point.

I don't mind being different or having unusual interests.  In fact, that's a big part of who I am.  What I do mind is coming under attack and/or being mocked because of it.  Sometimes, I'm tempted to tell the people who do attack/mock me that if being "normal" means being like them, then I'd rather not be normal!  I wonder what kind of reaction I'd get from them if I said that!  I'm tempted to say that the next time!

I don't wish to see Iron Lady, with Meryl Streep, either.  Having seen the trailer of it online, it struck me as a film that portrays Britain's former Prime Minister,  Margaret Thatcher, as much more sympathetic character than she was in real life, and besides, Meryl Streep really didn't seem all that good in this particular film.

What bothers me is the fact that the discourse, whether it's on or offline, is shrill, intolerant of other people's opinions, and, generally uncivil and uncivilized.    I said that most people don't listen, and most people really don't see things from anybody's point of view except their own.  My mom agreed, and yet, correctly pointed out that giving people the respect of listening to them in return is necessary if I want that respect myself.  It's legitimate, but other people can pick  up the remains and impact of my differences, and don't think that I'm normal, really.  Well, maybe they're the fucked-up ones, and not me.  I often stand my ground with opinions, and don't give that easily.

Lots and lots of people disagree vociferously on "The Town", which I still think is cheesy and overrated,  with a rather implausible romance between a professional armed felon/wanted fugitive (Doug MacRay) and an educated, attractive bank manager that he and his gang robbed at gunpoint and took as a hostage, while wearing masks.  Since most people really like "The Town", they don't like hearing criticisms of it.  Inotherwords, they're the ones not open to others' points of view, and I'm often told that I have an irrational dislike for "all things Claire", who I did find to be one of the most, if not the most annoying and dislikable person in the film, after she got romantically involved with Doug, gave full reign to her feelings like a confused, naive flower-child adolescent and kept contact with him, even after she learned who he was, and after she'd kicked him out of her apartment and had a complete break-down because of it.  

The more I think about it, both in fiction and in real life, the more I think that adults who're more than old enough to know better and who get themselves in these situations, are their own worse enemies.  

Katherine Power, imho, who was a real person, in real life, is an excellent example.  She and her friends thought that it was plain swell...and cute, to rob a bank in Boston's Brighton section to finance their cause;  their opposition to our involvement with Indo-China.   Unfortunately, a well-known and very popular Patrolman, Walter Schroeder, was gunned down by one of Katherine Power's friends, who was an escaped prisoner, leaving his wife a widow, and his nine children bereft of a father. That was for nothing, and, equally importantly, it did a lot of harm to the cause.  

It's not as if Katherine Power was a naive, confused and starry-eyed adolescent who was caught up in all the excitement and action, and then got herself into a jam because she didn't know what she was doing.  She was a consenting adult who did know what she was doing, plus she  also knew who the people she was with were, what they were up to and what they were doing.  Katherine Power, imho, could've and should've walked away from them, and she didn't.  She did not pull the trigger, but she was driving the getaway car, which, imho, means that she at least abetted a criminal, or was at least an accessory to their  criminal behavior.  She spent 8-12 years in jail for that, and she deserved to, imo.  

Yes, it's unfortunate that Katherine Power's mental health was threatened by this whole episode, but, again, she brought it on herself.  if I sound somewhat cold-blooded and insensitive, well, maybe I am, to some degree.   This is not to say that I'm perfect and have never made mistakes.  We're human, and we all do.  However, I didn't get into doing stuff that left some people either dead or permanently hurt in some way or other, as a result.  

On thinking about it, however, it's also possible that my hard-wiring probably saved me from making "permanent" mistakes  when I was younger that had lifelong consequences.

 

The more things change, the more they stay the same.