Friday, August 14, 2009

Thursday Thoughts of a Twitterless Thinker 8-13-09

Greetings, denizens of the Quang! It’s time for the unleashing of all that foreign quang that wended its way through my mind on Thursday. Fasten your seat belts…

Yay! My Feedburner subscribers are up to 3! I will spend the day relishing it because I know that tomorrow the Feedburner gods will taketh away and I will be down to 2 again. Don’t believe me? On Friday scroll waaaaay down to the bottom of my page to see a big fat 2 listed. If it still says 3 on Friday, I’ll eat an onion. (That’s a huge wager.)

I accomplished two more summer goals. On Wednesday I had a magnificent migraine (truly, it rocked) so I turned on the air conditioning, cozied up in a recliner with my favorite white fuzzy blankie, and snoozed for about three hours. Goal #30 accomplished.

Also on Wednesday, Computer Geek and I drove up a lonely country road to…you know…we were by ourselves…Jere was at a sleepover at a friend’s house…so we took advantage of the alone time…to…you know…WATCH THE PERSEIDS!

It was the best meteor shower show I have ever seen. Usually I go outside during supposedly peak hours---yeah, 1:00-2:00 a.m.--- and see maybe three or four shooting stars in two hours. Every year I say, “Is this worth all the fuss?” Yet every year, I go back for more neck muscle punishment, with very little reward.

This year though, was different. We watched for about 45 minutes, between 11:30 p.m. and 12:15 a.m. and saw at least twenty-five highly visible streaks across the night sky. A cool breeze enhanced the sense of wonder. Goal number 3 accomplished.

School starts in a week for us, and may have started for some of you already. If your child needs a times tables refresher course, I highly recommend this website. It is full of a wide variety of multiplication games. My son willingly spent about an hour yesterday, playing the various games. Learning. On purpose.

I had occasion this past week to reflect on my gratitude for a certain unsung group of heroes---Search and Rescue Divers.

My brother in law went fishing last week in Wyoming. When he got to his favored spot, he was kindly asked to go fish elsewhere. He complied. It seems that the day before, a nine-foot wave rushed across the lake, capsizing a pontoon boat. Five people were rescued that day, but now divers were looking for the body of the sixth person.

This week we also had a local tragedy. A seventeen-year-old boy was swimming with friends at a small local lake. He had swum out to a floating dock, not too far from the shore, when his friends say he panicked. They tried to get him onto the dock or back to shore, with no success. They finally swam back to shore and called 911. By the time the Search and Rescue divers found his body under the floating dock, he had been submerged for about thirty minutes. Revival attempts failed.

Many years ago I worked with a woman who was a diver. As we lived on the Missouri River and had a few local watering holes, she was occasionally called out to search for drowning victims. I asked her once how she could do such a gruesome job. To the best of my recollection, here is her response.

“I love to dive. I decided once, when I heard a call for divers to help in a drowning, that I might as well use my talent to help others. I put myself in the place of the family. How would I feel if I knew my mother or brother or child was underwater somewhere? I would hope that someone would find the body, someone who knew how to dive. I’ve been doing it ever since.”

“What is it like when you find the body?” I asked her.

“I never discuss that with anyone. The family does not need to know those details, so true professional divers only discuss that between themselves, to further their knowledge, and to aid in future recoveries.”

I was amazed then, as I am now, that there are people who put their own lives in danger, not to rescue a living soul, but to go in after the fact and recover a body. They are rarely hailed as heroes because there are no happy endings.

In my book, they deserve recognition and a huge hero’s “Thank You!”

I just tasted what is quite possibly the best chocolate ice cream ever. For a tasty treat, check out Farr’s E.L. Fudge. They are not paying me to say that, but if someone from Farr’s checks out this site, a year’s supply would be appreciated.

Now for people I don’t appreciate. Mean people.

Do mean people know that they are mean? What prompts them to be mean? What if we found a place where all the mean people could go to live? Would they go voluntarily?

Yesterday, dear son came home from playing with his friends, in tears. It seems that a few of them were mocking his football throwing skills, saying things like, “You throw like a woman!” and “My two year old brother throws better than you!” Computer Geek said, “Why are kids so mean to each other?”

“Why are adults?” I responded.

This week we were somewhat involved in an incident involving mean adults. Our friend wrote an article for a group forum that our circle of friends read.

He began receiving inflammatory emails criticizing his opinion. Not only did the two authors of these emails send the criticisms to the writer, but to our entire email group of about a hundred people.

I’m ok with people having a difference of opinion and discussing it. I am not ok when people criticize by saying the opinion is “stupid” and a “waste of paper and ink.” Or when thoughts are sent out saying, “I’m embarrassed that this type of opinion is expressed when all of us should know better by now.”

The article writer was more than a little stung by the response. He felt shamed. So did the rest of us who were witnesses to the public humiliation. If they felt so strongly, why not send him a private email? Why embarrass him in front of a hundred?

That being said, I am so grateful that Foreign Quang has never had any mean visitors. I’ve been to many different blogs and some of the visitors and their comments are downright scary! Thanks to all of you who visit here with a spirit of love and brotherhood (and sistah-hood!) and humor. You are greatly appreciated. You are nice people.

Song I cannot get out of my head: Poker Face by Lady Gaga. Would someone please start singing The Song that Never Ends from Barney?

Last thought of the day, before heading to bed Thursday: Man, Barry Gibb used to have the coolest hair.

13 comments:

  1. You made me smile thinking of Barry Gibb's hair. I'm sure he wishes that he still had it:) Those divers are heroes. What a difficult job. It must be cool to see a meteor shower. Someday maybe I'll see one!

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  2. So... the thought on mean people...I believe mean people don't realize they are being mean. Maybe I'm a nice person and want to think the best, or maybe I'm a mean person and don't realize it, but I think mean people are honestly ignorant to the damage they are causing. I believe they are involved in their own world or selfish enough that they really can't relate to the people they are being mean to, they are just saying/doing what makes them feel good. Either that or they are actually aliens...I haven't decided which one it is for sure.

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  4. septembermom: Was his hair not the coolest? Yeah, I'm sure he does still wish he had it! :) I sure hope you can see a meteor shower someday. The one we saw was well worth it--finally. In fact it's about 11:15 p.m. here and I'm thinking of sneaking out to see if I can find any.

    Naomi: I'm voting for the alien theory! No, seriously, you are probably right and mean people don't see themselves as being mean. I think also that there is a touch of selfishness going on there. They really can't relate to how others feel, or have ceased caring. And by the way, you are a NICE person.

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  5. SOMETIMES MEAN PEOPLE THINK THEY ARE BEING FUNNY OR "TEASING" OR THEY LITERALLY HAVE NOTHING ELSE TO SAY. SOMETIMES THEY ARE JUST JERKS.

    Um, yes, I may be...FINE. I ADMIT IT. It is Chris's stepdad and his second to oldest son. Just absolutely the rudest people I have ever dealt with.

    And since I am in a position where I can't actually say anything, I do a lot of 'giving the evil eye' and 'ignoring their very presence'. It's actually working.

    But I'm still not thrilled with it at all.

    Anyway, thank you. I am SO GLAD to get that off my chest. I have to be so cryptic at TTi.

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  6. hey fq! I'm back!
    Gosh.. The whole mean people thing sounds so familiar :) I checked out the math website, it is awesome.. Thanks..
    You just let me know who those mean kids are and you know I will put an end to it. :)
    I really enjoyed Naomi's comment. I know that sometimes I offend and I do not realize that I have done such until after the situation has passed. It is those who attack the person in word or in action with purpose to degrade or to establish power over them are those whom I call "mean people". People who thoughtfully realease teachers of their position thinking it will help them are.. what was that word you used?? (LOL)
    The only comment I have regarding Barry Gibb's hair is that I have vague thoughts of three brothers with "microphone head" hair-do's. :) They sure could sing though!
    Look! It was a twitterless twitter response!!
    (I make myself laugh so much!) (I am laughing now because I am thinking of those who have no clue who I am reading this and thinking I am nuts! Good times, Good times..)

    Me

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  7. Hayden: I've been reading your last couple of posts and could see that you were never quite able to say what you wanted to say. I agree---sometimes they are just jerks. It is hard though when you are in their territory and you have your mother-in-law to consider. Email me and let it all hang out!

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  8. Ekanela! Oh nice person of the Quang! Will you as the Queen of All Things Phys Ed please show my son how to throw a football? His manliness is at stake.

    Good points on the mean people trying to establish power or to get that power by degrading. But what is so cool about having power? I've never been able to figure that out. Maybe that's why I don't have any--ha ha ha!

    Yes, you gave a good twitterless response! I am laughing with you, not at you!

    Everyone: Just so ya know...Ekanela IS a little nuts. :)

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  9. Ekanela tells me that The Song That Never Ends is not from Barney, but rather is from Lambchop.

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  10. I always thought Denny could have been a Gibb. =)

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  11. Jill: Ooh, you're so right! He had the hair, the beard and even the smile. I wonder if he can sing?

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  12. Random responses from a denizen of the Quang...

    ~I've failed to complete my summer goals. Please don't expel me!

    ~We don't have Perseids to watch over here, so we have to make our own magic when we're out alone in the countryside! ;)

    ~You have a wonderful talent for journalistic writing. Your account of the local tragedy really moved me.

    ~It's a pity Jere's so well brought up. If not, he could have replied " I may throw like a girl, but I kick butt like Bruce Lee!" Before demonstrating.

    @Hayden, hang in there and write, write, write...

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  13. Janice: Don't worry about the goals. You had a waaaay shorter summer holiday than ours (4 months!) so I don't know how you cram everything in anyway!

    I'm sure your country road magic is lots more fun than the Perseids.

    I should have told Jere to just start showing off his martial arts knowledge. Maybe that WOULD have shut them up.

    Thank you for the compliment.

    Hayden: Yes, hang in there...

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You won't be paid for it, but at least you'll know that you have contributed intelligence to the universe...

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