For the love of books!

On By Peter S. KahrmannIn bibliophile, bibliophiles, book lovers, reading, the gift of reading, Uncategorized1 Comment

I’m sure there is such a thing as fulfilling lives, without books. I’m equally sure I’d want no part of any of them. Various narratives I’ve read over the years see learning from books (“book learning” being the often said with distain expression) as some kind of sheltered, limiting, life, as if the mighty band of bookworms worldwide spend their lives incarcerated (without mercy) in reading chairs, no doubt in a windowless rooms.

A voice inside my head cries out, “That’s a lot of hooey!”

I could not live without books in my life may not be a literal truth for me, but it comes damned close.

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Anti-Sobriety Myths

On By Peter S. KahrmannIn 12-step program, addiction, alcoholism, fighting addiction, substance abuse and addiction, UncategorizedLeave a comment

At this writing, I’ve been sober 16 years.

Getting sober  takes time.

I’ve seen a few myths derail more than one person’s chance at getting sober.

One myth says: “I am sober when I stop drinking.”

Wrong. Not, somewhat wrong, or a little wrong. Wrong. Dead wrong. You’re clean, as it were, when you stop drinking, not sober.

Here’s the reality (fact) that replaces the myth. You have to stop drinking in order to get sober. Getting sober takes time. Trust me.  If you’re fortunate enough to be in your early strides of the experience, you don’t yet realize how unwell you are.

Another myth says: “I can do it alone” and yet another is some family member or loved one thinking that they can save the alcoholic-addict.

Reality says: “Not only are you wrong, but don’t you think it’s nice to find out there is at least one massive life challenge you don’t have to face alone?”

I do.

There is another unflinching fact. Being an active alcoholic results in one of three endings: jails, institutions, or death. This is fact.

One other thing, another expression I learned. You’re not allowed to kill yourself in your first three years of sobriety because you’ll be killing the wrong person.

 

 

The page is your world

On By Peter S. KahrmannIn advice for writers, blog writing, daily writing, If you want to write, on writing, UncategorizedLeave a comment

This may be the most efficient way of writing. Simply put words on a page, and have done with it. This is your page. These are your words. Here, of all places, you need answer to not a soul, living or dead. This is a statement of fact, friend. This, the page, is your world. Doesn’t matter whether others read this or not. I know ache fills you at this. It’s only life, each sentence, word, one movement closer to the end.  

Scared Straight for NRA leaders

On By Peter S. KahrmannIn Mass shootings, NRA, UncategorizedLeave a comment

There needs to be a Scared Straight Program for the NRA’s leadership.  It’d  be a real-deal Scared Straight Program, if I were its author, I can tell you. Wayne LaPierre and Dana Loesch would have to buckle up.

Scared Straight! was a 1978 documentary about a group of juvenile delinquents who come face-to-face, for three hours, with  a few  lifers incarcerated at New Jersey’s Rahway State Prison. The lifers jumped ugly with the boys, yelling at them, ridiculing them, telling them in expletive-laced language all about the brutalities of prison life.  Confronted like this, it was hoped the boys would chose a healthier path in life as opposed to their current path, one born to put them in prison, get them killed, or both.

My Scared Straight for the NRA leaders

Every time there is a mass shooting they will be escorted to the scene as quickly as possible. If the scene is not secure, they’ll remain for that experience. Once the scene is secure, the next step in the program takes place. NRA leaders will be escorted by first responders to see the uncovered bodies of those killed. NRA leaders will be asked to look directly at the bodies. If there are wounded, they will assist first responders, following only their directives to the letter.

It will not be easy.

Look! There, on the floor, the woman, her torn-up torso, blown clean-through with bullets. You can’t see her face behind the dark red, her twisted shape, wet with blood, and being. And there, right next to her, a boy child’s dead body, bullet holes, a dislocated mess.  The floor beneath you leaves when you realize the woman had been holding the child in her arms to protect him while the bullets ended them both.

LaPierre and  Loesch should be the first to enroll in the Scared Straight Program for the NRA Leadership.

President Donald J. Whiteman

On By Peter S. KahrmannIn Donald Trump, Hitler, Nazis, racism, trump, UncategorizedLeave a comment

You cannot support President Donald J. Whiteman’s pro-child-abuse policy of tearing children (from babies to teens) away from their mothers and families and be American, at the same time.

Whiteman is a racist. Whiteman is a misogynist. Whiteman’s bigotry applies to pretty much everyone, save for those who are wealthy, white, and male. If the male is a dictator, Whiteman likes him no matter his skin color.

Whiteman represents, through actions and words, the side my father and uncle fought against in World War II; they were in the United States Army and fought against the Nazis.

We are in the same fight now. We are in the beginnings of it. Silence, is not an option,  if you love this country.