Failing Up

I despise Valentine's Day!  It's a holiday of pressure, stress, forced love, and embarrassment.  Designed to kick start sales and post holiday spending in the dead of winter.  Ok, I have a few issues that have never been resolved! This goes back to elementary school when all the children in our classes had to make an envelope to stick on the wall in the front of the classroom, for all to put Valentine's cards in.  Those little cheap cards with a clown, balloons, and elephants that had, To: and From: on them. Then when we get older the pressure of not knowing, are we just "friends" or more?  This can go wrong in so many ways.  

The embarrassment of it all!  I was never on top of the game with this, and made many a wrong call resulting in my face being as red as roses.  It's just a no win,  pressured to buy stuff to show your love, or aspiring love! A sea of red, oh my head!!  The scars the PTSD!!  This is the holiday to skip, but it is made in America! Buy American!  Oh man I need me some chocolate!!

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The United States Surgeon General reported earlier this year that loneness is at a all time high.  How can the be in a world that is so connected by technology. A world that is connected yet disconnected. Where communications on platforms such as Facebook are one way a post validated through "Likes'. Arguments with "friends" over sports, who's the GOAT, politics, you name it.  The other 90% of the communication process interaction is lost on the keyboard.  People are portfolio pictures and reality, fantasy blurred.  Now don't get me wrong social media can be a nice way to stay connected with family and friends, as long as you don't fall off the balancing beam. 

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Reality TV has crossed over into the real world.  Values are based on entertainment, voting is a ratings war, and fantasy valued over facts.  Of course it is not a reality program, and it is not my intend to demean the genre by comparison to what is currently playing out in our word.   We are in a period where being entertaining, creating a persona is valued over the truth, law, integrity and values.  In the real world the reality TV we see play out daily has consequences.  
Some not realized by the audience before it's too late. 

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I was on my way into the grocery store, (which are now little communities that go way beyond just groceries) to pick-up my prep prescription for an upcoming  colonoscopy.  The procedure no one wants to admit they get.  "The procedure is not bad, but the prep will kill you!!!"  That's all you hear!  So as I entered the store I am greeted by two lovely ladies who asked me if I would like a free sample of grapes, cheese and salami, of course I replied! They then directed me to all the sample stations, I had a pastrami sandwich, sample, a fruit and guacamole sample, then finished in the bakery with a nice cookie sample.  I then went to the pharmacy to get my prescription to clean me out after I filled myself up!  Oh wait, we don't talk about these things, but they are on television?? 

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In a day and age when there is a constant bombardment of messaging through  vast channels of communication, the casualty has been the truth.   Those who grasped this new reality have been able to motivate and persuade by delivering messages their audience wants to hear regardless of accuracy.  A message that aligns with the values of the intended audience.   If the message is questioned for truthfulness, the values are attacked.  Hence, a time where the lines of fact and fiction are blurred. 

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In the home, whether it be a mansion, house, apartment, flat, log cabin or a small shack, the kitchen table was the place where the pulse was.  It was at the table where debates occurred, homework was done, sorrow and joy shared, the day debriefed with family and friends.  There was comfort in routine; Sunday dinner, roast beef, and gravy, Monday meatloaf, Tuesday casserole, Thursday spaghetti, Friday pizza, and Saturday a surprise. Of course, some meals were seasonal and they would change  little, but this is the place where conversations were magic  no matter the time of day or night.  It was the place where we untied through our common threads, and differences. I miss the kitchen table. 

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2025 a new year with many changes ahead.  As in most cases uncertainty can fuel fear. Most fear is created to motivate, manipulate, and control.  Now, this will sound cliché, but the way to overcome fear is through love. Love of your community, family, friends, those less fortunate, the arts, individuals' who may have different views and values.  As President Franklin D Roosevelt stated in his first inaugural address: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."  Let's hope 2025 is a year without fear. 

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In this podcast we are celebrating Christmas Eve in the studio.  

Merry Christmas!

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As I entered the parking lot to the grocery store what did I see, a mass of zoned out shoppers in a frenzy.  All in a hurry to get in the store, in hopes their special items were not there no more.  Items required for the traditional dish, past down for generations and never missed.  So charge to the store in 14 degrees, people get out of my way if you please. Tall and short, coats and hats, some in shorts , what's up with that.  Merry Christmas to all, get the Hell out of my way, I have to save the tradition for Christmas day! 

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Growing up when and where I did, the winters could be very cold and snowy.
To take advantage of this season I found myself participating in winter sports along with friends.  My three favorite's were: throwing snowballs at cars, Ski-Doo rodeo, and of course tobogganing.  Well, tobogganing fell off the list after a late night fateful jump on the local iconic reservoir that left four snowmen spread on a hill with a shattered toboggan.   We were no Snow Angels. 

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