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A Bucket List Dream Come True

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The Oxford English Dictionary

This week a dream I thought would never come true, is going to come true. The party who is making this dream come true has asked to remain anonymous, and so I shall call this party, the angel. 

If I was offered a brand new Jeep Wrangler or a new Porsche, neither would stand a chance against the full 20-volume set of the Oxford English Dictionary. 

The OED is, without question, the summit of all English Language Dictionaries. Work began on it in 1857. For a time the project was called, “A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles; Founded Mainly on the Materials Collected by The Philological Society.” It was not until 1884 the dictionary began to be published in installments. It was then referred to as, “The Oxford English Dictionary,” though the name of the publication was not formally changed until 1928.

For one who writes in English (or gives it a go), the OED is an absolute feast of knowledge. Language is the material I use to create, report, observe, make a fool of myself, and, at times, not.

The angel had asked me a couple of months ago, or thereabouts, if there was anything the angel could do for me. The underpinning to the offer was the angel’s belief that I had done a lot for others, and so, is there anyway the angel could help me?

Finally, a week or two ago, I wrote to the angel and asked if the angel would consider starting a go-fund-me page to raise the funds for purchasing the full OED set. It runs around $1,200 to $1,400. In less than 24 hours, the angel let me know the angel had covered the cost of the OED, and it was on its way. 

I cried when I learned this; tears of joy you can be sure. There was even a moment when I nearly shook my head to make sure I was awake, and I was!

There are no words to adequately express how moved and grateful I am to this angel for making this dream of mine come true. Then again, if there are words to fully thank them, I will soon have the right dictionary in which to find them!

When The Words Are Gone

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Hard drawn moments look
To shut me down
When the words are gone
Where is my father

I am loosely tethered
To the life I’m in
When the words are gone
Where is my mother

Our Democracy Is In Danger

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The Sadistic Orange Beast that lives in the White House tells you the pandemic is not happening, already leaving, he is sick of hearing about it and thinks you should be sick of hearing about it too.  Nearly 100,000 new cases were identified yesterday in the United States, in my country. Roughly a thousand of us are dying every single day, and it is about to get worse. And, we’re closing in on a quarter million of us, dead.

Any elected or appointed official who has supported this man who wants to be our dictator, needs to be removed from office. Period. Hell, I think those supporting this rallies, along with Bone Spur Boy himself, should be criminally charged for knowingly putting members of the public in a life-threatening situation, and telling them it is not life threatening at the same time!

If evil were a crime, Don Jr. should be spending lots of years behind bars. This past Thursday, a a glassy-eyed Junior told a nearly salivating Fox News host, Laura Ingraham, that the death toll from covid-19 was down to almost nothing. A thousand Americans died from the virus, this past Thursday.

Our democracy is in danger. Those supporting Trump either can’t see it, or won’t see it. The universe declares, you can’t support Trump and the United States Constitution at the same time.  It is clear that Trump and the current Republican Party doesn’t care a whit about the Constitution. 

Voter suppression is an act that says, I don’t want your votes to count. I do not want them counted. Are you shitting me? My father’s generation fought in World War II and my grandfather’s generation fought in World War I. The right – do you hear that word? – right! – to vote is something many fought and died for.

Any voice in this country that declares it is not interested in including the votes of all who vote, is an un-American voice. Period. End of story.

Be Strong Wear a Mask

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Photo by Sami Anas on Pexels.com

There are men and women who genuinely believe they are being weak if they wear a mask. Some believe – and they must not be attacked for their beliefs –  if they wore a mask, they would be cowards.

Now, I have a question of honorable design. If it is an act of weakness or cowardice to wear a mask, then why is it so hard to do for some folks? I place this question before you in the hopes you will consider what it is asking. Try it on, as it were. If wearing a mask was an act of weakness, it should be easy as pie because it wouldn’t require any strength at all. 

No one wearing a mask these days staggers home at the end of the day, barely able to place one foot in front of the other, utterly exhausted from wearing a mask.

I believe the question unveils a myth we’ve been inundated with for years. Not showing emotion is an act of strength, and, in many cases, protecting yourself is considered an act of weakness. Bring it on, someone says, chin jutting out making it an easier target for a fist.

I don’t think there is a human act much stronger than giving birth to a child. But I dare any man to get so close to a woman in the middle of labor that you’re within arm’s reach, so you can ask, “Hi there. Do you feel strong right now?” Two things will then happen. First, she’s going to say no. Second, you will leave the experience a full-fledged opera soprano.

Acts of strength are not pleasant experiences because they are acts of strength. When I see a weightlifter, male or female, battling to press a ton of poundage straight up over their heads, I gotta tell you, they don’t look like they’re having fun to me. They’re not. They are using a lot of physical strength. Physical strength, emotional strength, spiritual strength. All forms of strength have one thing in common. The experience of any of them is never easy or pleasant.

When one or all are required to get you through a strength-demanding experience, this includes trauma, none of the experiences will be easy. That’s why they require strength.

Wear a mask. Please. You deserve to protect your life like every single one of us. Wear a mask. Be strong.

Trump: Let The People Die

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Our house is on fire with COVID-19, and Trump and the members of congress who support him, have decided to let it burn. Let the people die.

Americans are suffering and dying by the thousands and the president of the United States does not want to deal with it, and he has succeeded on this front. In fact, he is so out-of-his-mind with disinterest, he’s telling everybody we’ve turned the corner on this pulverizing virus experience we’re all going through and saying it on the very day more Americans were diagnosed with the COVID-19 (80,085) in a single day than on any other day of this soon to be eleven month old year. You can’t make this craziness up.

It’s deadly. It is lethal. It is murder. First degree mass murder. Trump is killing Americans by design. You see, Trump and his ilk see members of the American family as little more than revenue streams. Disposable ones.

Again: our house is on fire with COVID-19, and Trump and the members of congress who support him, have decided to let it burn. Let the people die.