Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Remedial Reading for Representatives


Lord knows I have enough reasons to look askance at many conservatives, but I used to be an English teacher and this just makes my skin crawl.

Alabama senator Jim Sessions jumped right into the debate on immigration last week with a quote from Robert Frost; "Good fences make good neighbors." His point? Obviously that if the United States builds a fence to keep illegal immigrants out, we'll get along much better with Mexico.

Well, that may or may not be true. The fence between Israel and the Palestinian territories on the West Bank certainly prevents a good many terrorist murders, but it doesn't make good neighbors of the Jews and the Arabs, and illegal Mexican immigrants to the United States don't blow up civilians. They just clean up after us.

Be that as it may, and delighted as I am whenever some right-wing yahoo makes a fool of himself in public, would someone please explain to this moron that you ought to read a piece of work before you quote it?

As quoted ad nauseum in countless better blogs, here is the full text of "Mending Wall," the poem Jim Sessions wrenched out of context and splashed, bleeding, all over the country.

Now that you've read it, you might write a letter to Senator Sessions and advise him to stick to "See Dick Run."

Benshlomo says, Hey Jim, something there is that doesn't love a wall!

Monday, May 22, 2006

Sugar, Sugar

Yep, I've had quite a time with good old dextrose lately.

First, a few weeks ago, my doctor informed me that my blood sugar was close to 250. I'm diabetic, but not on insulin, so I wasn't taking the diagnosis very seriously up until the doctor put the fear into me.

He said "In 10 years you're going to have a heart attack or a stroke, and after that you won't live or die; you'll just exist, completely unable to do anything for yourself. The pain in your arms or legs will be so intense you'll have to go on debilitating painkillers for the rest of your life, but the pills won't really eliminate the pain, anyway. As for getting married, there's no point; functioning sexually will be out of the question."


So I stopped eating sugar almost entirely and my blood sugar went down to about 150 - not excellent, but acceptable. Which is all very well, but for someone who loves dessert, as I do, it's still a struggle every day.

Then the other day, some complete waste of life poured sugar into Little Miss's gas tank while her car was parked across from my home. And we all know what that does.



It's some sort of miracle that she noticed the crystals when she pulled into the gas station; she could just as easily have missed that and found herself stranded somewhere between here and Oxnard with her daughter in tow. As it is, she made it to my mother's house and we got her to a service station.

Thank God for my mother and her family feeling toward her daughters-in-law, both current and prospective. Neither I nor Little Miss is now in a position to pay for the necessary repairs. But my family loves my love.

Despite that, I found myself asking God this morning "What are You doing, anyway? Why all these crises being heaped on us?"

Of course I haven't got an answer to that. Maybe it's just an opportunity to get close to the family and let others support us in our need. That does feel mighty good, I must admit.

Nevertheless, and despite my peace-loving nature, if I catch the malicious pinhead responsible for this encounter, it's going to get ugly.

Benshlomo says, Roses are red, the engine is shot, sugar is sweet unless it's not.

Thursday, May 11, 2006

One Good Thing About Music

Twenty-five years ago today, Bob Marley died.



I consider myself a pretty eclectic music fan, and I like reggae as much as I like any other kind of music. I would not, however, say that I am or was a real devotee of Bob Marley. So why bother to post?

Well, some years ago I had to deal with losing someone I loved, and there were two songs that helped me grieve and get to the other side. One was "Minute by Minute" by the Doobie Brothers, and the other was Bob Marley's "Waiting in Vain".

To me, "Minute by Minute" gave an outlet for my anger, my sense of having been a sucker; "You think I'm you're fool, you may just be right" and all that. Singing it or listening to it pushed me way down into the blackness, made it impossible to avoid and forced me to swim in it until it was all gone. Very necessary. Not at all fun.

"Waiting in Vain," on the other hand, gave me a place to stand and hold onto hope. The lyric isn't angry, but it isn't resigned, either. To me, it said that my feelings were mine and I didn't have to surrender them if I didn't want to. If I wanted to cling to them, that was my choice, and when I sang it or listened to it I felt stronger, even in my loneliness. I needed "Minute by Minute" so I could cry, but I needed "Waiting in Vain" so I could heal.

Now I'm with Little Miss and happy at last. I think I might not have had the capacity for this joy if it wasn't for Bob Marley, who succumbed to cancer on May 11, 1981.

Benshlomo says, Don't kid yourself; your life needs music.