When I was younger, I didn't notice the over abundance of idiots in society that we see today, and there are a couple reasons why I missed them:
1) There really are more idiots due to the self-dumbbing-down of Americans, and the fact that those that have very outwardly and proudly assumed dumbing-down as their new hobby. (It's a much more lazy way to get through life gaining the most attention while expending the least amount of energy - in true lazy fashion.)
2) In the not-so-distant past, there were limited means that idiots could use to inflitrate our homes and our lives, in general. Considering the inexpensive, ease-of-access to the entire world that the internet brings today, the idiots that once could only appear on TV, on the radio and in newspapers are now glaringly in plain view. The idiots that once stayed hidden from our view for the lack of a means to ooze themselves all over us are now blatantly in our face.
Am I angry that the idiots are now more than ever more visible than they were in the past? Not at all. An idiot in plain view is less dangerous than a hidden, less obvious idiot.
(Please note that most of the blatant idiots that splatter the internet with their uneducated crap usually don't use their real names or photos. They might be dumber than owl shit - but they're not THAT dumb! For the record, this is my real name - and the look that you will recognize each and every time I leave my home.)
- Michael
This past Fall (2012), for the first time since a friend's funeral and visitation in 2008, I went back to Hannibal, MO for their Fall Festival. The arts, crafts, festival and antique shops on Main were fun and interesting. I also drove by Levering Nursing Home - was Levering Hospital, where I was born!, I drove by the Pentecostal church at 11th & Broadway - where I fell in love with the Hammond B3 organ, and I heard it several times a week since I was 2 wks old....
I also drove to Mt. Olivet Cemetery, where my paternal grandmother and her side of the family is buried - along with everybody from Mark Twain's immediate family (Aunt Polly, who was his mother in real life, "The Judge", which is his father, his siblings and their spouses, etc - with the lone exception of himself, his wife and kids - they're buried in Elmira, NY)...
I also went by Oakwood Elementary School, and I meant to, but I forgot to visit Garth Mansion, where Mark Twain gave his last speech in Hannibal.
(Doncha know it.... my lovely, culturally-soaked parents never told me that we lived within walking distance of Garth Mansion when we lived right across Highway 61 from Grandview Cemetery. (A lot of friends and relatives are buried in Grandview, too.)
I also drove through Quincy and the surrounding areas, where I lived from 1979 - 1995. I know it was early in the morning on a fall Saturday, but to my St. Louis-infused mind, I felt like Hannibal and Quincy BOTH have reached a point far beyond Mark Twain's opening line in "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" - 'Hannibal was a sleepy little town....' I don' think Hannibal / Quincy are sleepy any more - I think they're down-right comatose!
Like a lot of cities, most of the business / action has moved to Quincy's outskirts, leaving downtown feeling more than slightly abandoned. More areas seemed to be overgrown and run down than I previously remember. I know that it's because I've lived in a larger city for 18 years, but the streets seemed to be actually TINY and closed-in compared to what I hold in my memory.
I did enjoy the things that haven't been influenced by changes in people and influenced by the passage of time: Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Riverside Cemetery, Lover's Leap, etc, have remained unchanged for probably 100 years. When I visited those few places, I felt like "I was finally home...."
Prior to about 8 years ago, in the past, I enjoyed visiting that area. But this past fall, as I was driving down Highway 61 back to St. Louis, with a few exceptions, I was glad to be going home. I did have SOME good experiences in the Hannibal / Quincy area, but for the most part, I was left feeling sad, a bit cheated, depressed and more than a bit let down. Hindsight being 20 / 20, if I had to do it all over again, I would rather keep my memories of decades past, rather than have a clear vision of how things are there today.
In a very literal and real sense, being blind in one eye isn't always a 'bad thing'. Mark and I can be driving down a street or walking through a mall, and - at first glance - I will notice a gentleman who looks 'rather fetching'. Mark will tell me, "Oh, no. Look again!", indicating that because I am blind in one eye, I didn't get a good look at the fella in the first place, and that the reality of the situation is that he isn't all that good looking! I will NOT look again, and I will tell Mark, "No, thanks. I'll take your word for it. I can tell from your statement that I like will like the image that my memory and what my imagination holds, rather than what he REALLY looks like!" And - I won't take a second look! The same thing is true for the Hannibal / Quincy area. I know that - with a few exceptions - I like the images and memories in my mind rather than the reality of real life in those areas today.
Mark says, "You know - you truly 'can't go home!' " True, dat!
- Michael
We now have rights and legal protection in 1/5 th of this country.
Contrary to the beliefs that many citizens of the United States of America hold to be true, the good ole USofA is by far NOT the most advanced country in the world. When I go into battle, I am not weak enough or back-handed enough to have in my arsenal only one trump card. I might not be the sharpest tool in the workshop, but please give this ole boy credit where credit is due. I can fight this particular battle with any one of many players in this chess game of life in the ole USA. The USA is less-than-desirable ranks in Education, crime, equal rights, some healthcare, and the list of areas that the United States of America falls FAR behind can be quite lengthy.
(One more interesting tidbit is that there are 192 - 195 countries on this Earth. 123 of them are democratic societies. The United States of America is *1* of that 123, not the only 1.)
Thankfully, there are some of us in this country that are willing to fight to tell others that they have no right and no authority to govern or judge how or who another person legally attaches themselves to. It's really much more than being about 'union', people.
Many people would be homeless or in serious financial difficulty if the supporting partner dies first - because no benefits are awarded.
We can be kept out of hospital rooms because we are not 'next of kin'. (To that I say: Go ahead and try it, security guards. I know where a good set of nuts are, and I have at least one good foot that is faster than any mouse trap you've ever seen.)
That individual might also find their home EMPTY if they don't stand at the door and guard it with a gun, because the deceased partner's family can very well and very easily strip the home of possessions and memories that both partners worked for years to build and establish.
(Trust me when I tell you that BOTH Mark and myself have relatives that are willing and able, and in fact, 'chomping at the bit' to do this very thing to the surviving partner. If we have such less-than-moral relatives, so do other gay couples.)
We have come a long way, and we have 4/5 of this journey yet to complete. We must be protected financially and legally to avoid the idiots that are lurking just out of the limelight.
- Michael
