Author Archives: tedsheadco

Going Down Life’s Highway….

GoinFor better or worse I took an off ramp yesterday. It has been raining in Denver for four days straight and we Coloradans don’t do wet and cloudy very well. Someone sent me a bogus missive about political correctness. Funny but untrue. It got me thinking. Between political campaigns, commencements, the Queen’s comments on the Chinese and talk shows we have a fertile field to hoe. But where to start?

The phrase started almost a century ago as Karl Marx put forth Das Kapital. If you believed it, you were “politically correct” and if you didn’t it was off to the gulag. No room for maneuvering here. It lay fallow for several decades until the sixties and civil rights. For 50 years everyone stayed in line in society whether it related to gender, ethnicity,color or political thought. The civil rights movement gave a burst of hope to the downtrodden. All of a sudden it became okay to speak the unthinkable and unorthodox. People said “no more”, much to the dismay of the ruling class. Revolution is never easy.

The voices were strong and rebellious. Burning bras and burning hearts were a force of nature. The invaders were not to be repelled. With each bit of success they became more brazen and the establishment more vigilant to put these upstarts down. When people find power within themselves they are a potent force. Unfortunately the ensuing violence and vitriol creates deep gashes that are hard to heal.

I grew up in a strict but loving Irish Catholic family. My dad was a successful self made man who saw no sense in doing anything that could be construed as unconventional. My mom was the dutiful wife and mother. As number four in line I had to make my own way with a bunch of Type A’s in front of me. A lot of things didn’t sit right. Peg Kenny was a lot of the reason the Kennys were successful but I never felt she got her due. The parish where I went to school was ruled by a tyrant. I went to Nam and did my job out of sense of duty but never came to terms with our lunacy. All seeds of an irreverent soul that has finally sought to speak.

I am no angel. I have called friends Canucks,Guineas and worse. In return they have dubbed me a dumb Irish Mick. Blacks are black and I don’t know how to get over that. If I see a Muslim scarf, do I react? Yes I do. I played golf with a Hispanic on Saturday and we are good friends and we make jokes about his heritage. I have gays that have lived on our block and in our building and we socialize regularly.I just have hard time with the transsexual thing but I am trying to work at it. There are 700,000 in the US, so it is not just a fad. Does all this make me a bigot or politically incorrect? I hope not.

On this whole PC I think we have run amok. Graduation speakers are getting hard to find. Liberal professors are scared to death of their liberal students. Microagressions and trigger warnings are part of the syllabus. Euphemisms are now a major. Faculties and administrations are at odds as to who runs the place. Students are wrapped in a cocoon of false security. Universities are not forums but post natal ICU’s. The examples are too numerous and absurd to recite. Three hundred million people have different ideas on everything. You can’t go through life one without offending at least one, if not hundreds.

I am going to piss some of you off and make some of you cheer from the bleachers. I am the most sensitive son of bitch in the world and yet I can be so hurtful. We seem to be striving for perfection in everything. Our speech, our investments, our work, our play our eating,our drinking our relationships. Life is one big work in progress. No one has it right nor will they. If I spend my life listening to how you are saying something as opposed to what you are trying to get across then I won’t learn much. If you live in a closed room all you will get is your own voice echoing off the walls. If that feels good, then go for it.

Totalitarianism can reign on either side of the political spectrum. It’s their way or the highway. Liberals/progressives can be just as dogmatic and unyielding as the best John Birchers. Right now extremism on either side sets the tone and the beat of our dance. The Gloria Steinems and Malcolm X’s and MLK’s of the day had to scream to be heard. Now that we have listened to you can we just tone it down a notch? Ditto the right and whoever their spokesperson is? This isn’t a battle to the death but we are sure as hell are trying to make it that way. Just look at the wastelands we have bombed into oblivion. Really accomplished a lot didn’t we?

We are being robbed of spontaneity and creative juices if everything we do or say is put under the microscope.At some time in our lives we are all victims. But get over it and don’t make it your life’s mission to extract every last pound of flesh for your travails. I am trying and yes, I will fall. But help me up instead of stepping on me and I will do the same. Then maybe we can have coffee or beer at the next exit.

As always
Ted The Great

Factoids:

Classic Euphemisms:
Significant Other…Girlfriend. Mistress,Cousin
Dishonest…Ethically disoriented.
Body Odor…Non discretionary fragrance
Dead…Living Impaired
Stoned..Chemically inconvenienced.
Ugly…Aesthetically challenged
Lazy…motivationally challenged

A fellow from Mt. Gay,WV was thrown off Microsoft for having the word “gay” in his personal profile. No mention of the word gay is allowed. It took him a year to get back on the site.

Some kids from a choir in Waynesville, NC were visiting and performing in NYC. When they got to Ground Zero they were so moved as a group they started to sing the Star Spangled Banner.The guards stopped them because there were no political demonstrations allowed at the 9/11 memorial. They needed a permit.

A Smith College handout from the Office of Student Affairs lists 10 different kinds of oppression that can be inflicted by making judgments about people. These include “ageism — oppression of the young and old by young adults and the middle-aged”; “heterosexism — oppression of those of sexual orientations other than heterosexual . . . this can take place by not acknowledging their existence,” and “lookism . . . construction of a standard for beauty/attractiveness.” It’s not sufficient to avoid discriminating against unattractive people; you must suppress the impulse to notice the difference. I kid you not.

There are 11-12 million people that identify themselves as lesbian,bisexual,gay or transgender. Major languages spoken are English, Spanish, Chines, French, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Korean German. These are spoken by at least 1 million of you fellow citizens. Lesser are Arabic, Indic, Hindi,Polish, Japanese, Urdu,Greek, Hebrew, Yiddish, Laotian.Thai, Armenian, Navajo, Tamil and Sign spoken by at least 100,000. Interestingly there is no official language of the United States by law.

A New Beginning….

Whether you are running for president of your high school or the United States, the candidate will continually espouse the siren call of a new beginning. Your world is screwed up and I will lead you out of the desert. Forget about the fact that the Red Sea is staring us right in the face and you have not yet found that Godlike power to part the seas. Don’t worry. We can put all those other things on the back burner and dream of honey and Elysian fields.Trust me! What a way to run a railroad.

I have been doing research into old age. I figure I am heading for it and I might as well understand it. Most of all I am struck by the complexity of the problem. There are 75 million of us and yet we are all painted with the same brush. Just do your time TTG and shut up. We will take care of you in body and mind until Kathy’s dream comes true and you are headed either north or south for eternity. But it is not that easy.

One of the more fascinating outgrowths of my study is the psychological aspect. For all our lives we have been productive human beings. Whether you want to or not, at some point you have to give up the ghost so to speak. Whether it is to the government or family we go from being fiercely independent to dependent on some one or some thing. Will my investments hold up? If I get get sick who will take care of me? As I worry more I become more cautious and debilitated. I may fall ergo I must restrict my activity.

Caregiving takes on a whole new realm. It is not seeing your loved one through a cold or a replaced hip but treatment for this or that malady that goes on for years. You are it and there is no way to escape it. Your life changes and maybe all those things you always wanted to do are no more. The cost of a nursing home today was pegged at $92,000 per year. How is that going to work if you have limited or no means?

The sad part of the above is not that it is going to happen but where and when have you heard the problem in specific terms from our political slates no matter which party you swing towards. When was the last time you heard about $18 trillion in debt? How about entitlement reform? Everyone wants to increase our armed forces but to what end and how are we going to pay for it? It is not so much as updating previous chapters but we want a whole new book while the other is just thrown away.

In short we have ODed on hope and change. Kiss it and make it all better. Is there really an answer? You bet. Sober Up America. When we get all wrought up we look for comfort food. How about a new car? That is always a sure fire panacea. Sure your other one is fine but you know how cool that new car smell is and besides it is 0% interest for 6 years. Cars not your thing? Then let’s binge and eat. Today we are 38% obese as a nation. We were 12% on 2007.Run up credit card debt Eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we?

Sure the problems are multiple in causality. Washington is right up in front. For grins I looked at an org chart for the Whites House. There are fiefdoms of all sorts including czars of a sort for AIDS, Faith Based and Community Partnerships, Social Innovation and Civic Participation and the Public Engagement Council on Woman and Girls. I am not making this stuff up. I won’t go into the legislative branch. That would get even worse.

Washington is a cesspool. Let’s talk money. 11,500 lobbyists of all sorts spent $3.2 billion last year on swaying Congress to their line of thinking. 50% of former congress people are involved in lobbying. The top donation at $483 million was medical followed by finance insurance and real estate at $470 million. Energy comes in at $332 million and Transportation at $221 mill. It takes an average of $1,689,000 to get elected to the house and $10,500,00 to the Senate. We have let money of all sorts rape the system.

Now we can boo and hiss at the villains on the screen but aren’t we all complicit? I do research and with the internet it is fairly easy. And all this time you thought I was really smart. I try to study things not to write some crazy weekly epistle but to look for myself. You know an educated consumer.That is the way to beat big money’s bull shit. I am happy to impart anything I can but you have to do your part and at least read my drivel if not more. I am pissed off at you and myself equally for letting it get so far out of kilter. We watch the negative ads and react. We listen to a speech and never study the specifics or possible outcomes. We don’t want a gas tax although our roads are crumbling. We want the ultimate in medical care without a thought of who is going to pay for it.Face it good people, We are as guilty as everyone else .

Before we start on a new beginning let’s go fix the old end. Let’s reinforce the bulwarks before we embark on new frontiers. There is no knight in shining armor at least for a while to come. The current crop of candidates offers little solace. Sometimes if we want to get something done we have to do it ourselves. If not, then don’t bitch about the state of things.

As always
Ted The Great

Factoids:

The Federal gas tax stands at 18.4 cents per gallon. It has remained unchanged since 1992. The Highway Trust Fund is essentially broke. People balk at raising the tax and likewise have an enmity towards tolls. What’s your solution?

The Social Security Trust Fund will be in the red starting in 2033. The public has balked at raising the retirement age to 70 gradually from now to 2050. They feel better about raising the SS tax from 6.2% to 7.2% over time. They feel real good about raising the cut off from $117,000 to $225,000

The implications of deporting 11 million illegal aliens are astronomical from enforcement costs to drastically reduced capabilities for hospitality and construction industries. Why are we talking about this ad nauseam?

Elizabeth Warren spent $42 million beating Scott Brown for senator from Massachusetts. How much did he spend? Who knows but the number for a single seat in the most exclusive club in the world is astronomical.

The average life expectancy for the US is 78.8 years. That amounts to 81.2 for women and 76.4 for men. If you want the healthy life expectancy subtract 6-7 years. Contemplate that 75 million Americans will have chronic or life threatening disabilities for 6-7 years. There is not an infinite amount of money out there for all we want.Something’s gotta give.

The Other Half….

Our hardy brand of volunteers did a fabulous job cleaning the Creek about ten days ago Our timing was good because soon thereafter weather moved in with a vengeance. Our area of attack spanned a little over a mile on either side of the stream. There was one area where I could not let the troops venture. There were two or three active homeless encampments to be dealt with. I had done this once before with one of the park rangers and it ain’t fun.

These are not your average bedroll over a steam grate domiciles. They have tents and even makeshift cooking and refrigeration arrangements. In one two man tent last year four heads popped out when the gendarmes came a calling. This particular one today had two woebegone souls as tenants. We had a Denver policemen, case worker and a park ranger to handle the formalities. They were incredibly patient and courteous. But the interlopers had to go.

The campsites are borderline disgusting when one looks at the sanitation. The area is littered with beer cans and cheap booze bottles. Needles of every sort are very much in evidence and used toilet paper designates inhabitants within.Waste of every sort finds its way into the creek and therein lies the problem. People say how can you be so cruel but the sheer reality of an unhealthy and dangerous situation hits you smack in the face.

As we wait and watch, a woman probably in her thirties makes several treks up the hill to a shopping cart with all of her and her housemate’s earthly possessions. There is a look of sad resignation on her sallow face as she knows she will have to find another place to survive. The snow is beginning to fall and you have to feel horrible if you have anything in your soul. Thoughts of them have lingered for several days. How did they get here? Where will they go?

There are about 15,000 homeless here in Denver at last count. About 25% want to get out of their rut, another 50% are addicts or psychologically unstable and 25% just prefer being homeless. These numbers are somewhat unscientific but if you check in your own home town I think you will find them pretty close to true. At best you have a different floorpan every night and you learn a lot about meteorology. A beautiful day in Denver takes on a whole new meaning for them.

On a rainy and snowy Saturday we visited our nearby Costco. Bad move. There were a lot of people who had the same idea. Doesn’t take us long. Always buy a fresh roasted chicken which are huge and delicious. My daughters tell me they inject them with brine and of course that can’t be good for me. What a way to go!

Even at top speed you can’t avoid the long lines for free samples. There was one family with parents, four kids and a grandmother who were queuing up for what had to be a late lunch or early dinner in the free sample line. That poor octogenarian with the hairnet that was doling out whatever into cups or onto crackers was having a hard time keeping up. Your eye went from one group to another. You noted their dress, their mannerisms and their foreign language. These also are my city and country mates and I don’t have a clue as to what they are all about.

Back at home I picked up Friday’s Wall Street Journal that I hadn’t finished.I love going to the “Mansions” section. My well heeled buddy who lives in one of those houses decries the paper as inciting an Arab Spring in Palm Beach or La Jolla by the unwashed masses if they ever read it. I told him he had a point but I didn’t think there was a danger unless a copy was left at the local Arby’s or KFC. Still it got me thinking.

Since my highly upscale friends are far away,I looked up luxury magazines. Straight to the Robb Report(robbreport.com) which has to rank as the most ostentatious of all. Look it up. It really is a hoot. You will be privy to what the super swells consider to be appropriate for everything from, jewelry, fitness, cars, planes, houses and yachts. Dream along with me. You can rent a yacht for one week with 6 spacious state rooms for $300,000 a week. That is not a misprint. Of course there are less expensive alternatives but if you are going to do it, go big.

Now stop and think for a moment where my physical and mental travels have taken me as far as economic diversity. And every one of my encounters has been with as LBJ used to say, “My fellow Americans.” Now you can poo poo and dismiss all you want. We in some manner are all in this together. People go nuts about the Donald or Hilary but do you think either one is capable of changing our demographics? This is the hand we are dealt and the sooner we realize it and least try to work with it, the better off we and future generations are going to be.

Hissy fits and wrenching of hands might make your gut feel better but they are not going to solve our problems of infrastructure, education, medicine, the deficit and entitlements. I am not saying you put on a hair shirt and go quietly in the night. But at least have the tiniest inkling what the guy or gal across the street or the country is going through. Waiters,bus drivers, business moguls, cops, soldiers,tech titans are all cut from the same cloth….USA. Come out of your cocoon whether it is a gated community or a ghetto. I am pretty sure those two words have a different meaning but who knows?

I get it. All these halves total a lot more than one but somehow we have to have room for all. Maybe you are 1% or 47%. Maybe your percentage changes by color, religion and part of the country. Point being it really doesn’t matter. Sooner or later we are all going to figure out how to pull on the oars at the same time. We are in it together.

As always
Ted The Great

Factoids:
There are 323,000,000 inhabitants of the US. Even if the Donald deports 11,000,000 there are still 312,000,000 individual human beings of every origin and sort.We are 63% white, 16% Hispanic and 12% black.

It is projected our population in 2050 will be 402 million.
There were about 125.9 million adult women in the United States in 2014. The number of men was 119.4 million. Life expectancy for men is 77 and for woman 82.

There are 22 million veterans meaning less than 10% of our populace has served in the military.

There are around 100 different religions practice with 83% of the people claiming to being one of them. 17% saying they are atheists or have no specific religion

The median income for Asians is $57,000,whites $49,000, hispanics $34,000 and blacks $30,000.

In 2010, the average man weighed 194.7 pounds the average woman 164.7 pounds The height of an American man was 5 feet 9 inches and woman 5 feet 3.8 inches .

British Humor:
My 12 year old grandson,Aiden who is living with his family in London sent me the following in a birthday card He thought they were hilarious. So do I

Warning: Random fits of laughter may occur as per my man.

A bald guy get gets a comb for his birthday He says,”Thanks I will never part with it.

Jesus says “Want an ark? I Noah guy”

Why did the scarecrow get promoted? He was outstanding in his field.

A llama says,“Want to go on a picnic? Alpaca lunch”

What does the green grape say to a purple grape? “Will you breathe please?”

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Theoretically Speaking….

Wandering through the chasms of unending chaos that are my mind I am constantly in search of the reasons for things and just maybe a hint of the meaning of life. That’s in between my new workout regimen and redesigning my golf swing for the 439th time. Now don’t laugh. There is method to my madness. You see all of the above and more rely heavily on theories. A theory is simply an idea or set of ideas that is intended to explain facts or events. Simple enough.

As I think of my life and yours we are chock a block with these little nuggets that someone has dreamed up. We have black hole theories to explain our universe, evolution to justify our existence and climate change to demonstrate how we have supposedly screwed everything up. There are whacky conspiracy theories to fill the pages of the Enquirer and highly respected ones found in a scientific journal. The latter are above my pay grade.

It is mystifying how we rely on these to dictate our day and manner of dealing with society. From the get go as infants we were subjected to either Watson or Sock as a way to be reared. Watson had little or no regard for one’s psychological well being, as kids were subjected to a very strict routine with no room for any sort of emotion. Benjamin Spock was more of a free spirit where one relied on their gut instincts and natural parenting tendencies to make Johnnie or Sue a contributing member of society.

Education is fraught with theories.Some good.Some bad but either way having an enormous effect on our lives. I have told you all of my experience as an eighth grader in the basement of Saint Mary’s church with 53 kids and Sister Mary Tabernacle to whatever. Point being we all graduated and passed the New York State Regents exams in English, Math and Social Studies.According to current theory that shouldn’t have happened.

When in New Jersey I worked with the Tri County Scholarship program in Paterson, NJ. The city was a stone’s throw from Newark and shared the same failures in public education. At Paterson Catholic we had kids with no entrance exam who excelled. At the time Paterson was spending $11,000 per kid and we were spending $2500. Their success rate was 35% and ours was !00%. I am not so much an apologist for Catholic education as saying there is a different way to achieve success in teaching that transcends religion.

The charter school is emblematic of a way to work within the system but comes under fire for a variety of reasons. If theory is based on fact then the results speak for themselves. They work. Phonics as a concept of educating can be deemed a success or failure but the future of millions of kids based on one mode of teaching or another places the responsibility of the process clearly at the feet of the proponents. The jury is still out.

We as a country and a world serve as lab rats of a sort. Socialism, capitalism, public housing projects of Jacob Riis. Social Security, welfare, desegregation, zero interest rates, the domino theory of Communism and nuclear detente are all theories of one sort or another. Vaccinations cause autism. Quackery or fact? Each of us has an opinion and its probity is often based on our credentials and authenticity. Whether it is the gravitas of the source or just a convincing and thoughtful presentation we are open to be won over or seduced as the case may be. Hey, the Rockies or Cubbies might be contenders this year.

This greatly affects our power to question and discuss. An opinion is a view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge. Unless you are Einstein, St Thomas Aquinas or Leonardo I will doubt the veracity of your argument. Nothing personal but I do have my standards. However I will listen. I will absorb as long as we both agree there is something to be sorted as opposed to your unconditional fiat.

Interestingly we have grown up as a highly egalitarian but more importantly independent country. We to this point have craved our individualism and creativity. Entrepreneurship and arrogance of a sort have been our bellwether. And yet today we look to everyone for help. There are coaching, meditating and self improvement gurus. The biggest selling books on Amazon are self help ones. We have consultants of every sort to tell us where we are going wrong instead of capitalizing on what we have done right. We have in essence ceded every part of our persona to someone else to tell me how I should look, dress, act and perform. I am totally subservient to their theories and not my own gut. Is this where you want to be? I don’t.

I have theories and I espouse them to you all the time. That doesn’t mean they are gospel or even coherent. It is just some schmuck throwing out his view of the world. It is neither valid nor to be ignored. It is to be considered in the overall thing we call life. The goal I most desire is to be part of your conversation not the center of it. You have so much much knowledge and wisdom in your soul that I would hope you would shout it to the rooftops and maybe somebody, somewhere will find small piece to call their own. That’s all any of us should ask.

Theories are wonderful but until they have seen the proof of time they are just conjecture. Don’t put them down but don’t blindly obey. Question everything for therein is where we will all find knowledge. You know my Jesuit training. Be wary of everything because it is when we ponder and meditate that we can really see something as worthy to be part of our lives or just another crazy theory.

As always
Ted The Great

Factoids:
Crazy Theories.
The world is flat.
Alchemy
Astrology
Numerology.
The Donald is Presidential

Conspiracy Theories
Elvis is still alive.
Area 51 was invaded by ETS and an autopsy was done on one of the crew.
We did not land on the moon. It was all put contrived on a movie set.
The real killers of JFK got away.
Jane Fonda is the empress of an evil empire…I believe that one

Life’s enigmas
What is life?
What is happiness?
Why do we have evil?
Are things inherently evil?
Is a fetus living being
What’s your theory?
Does Trickle Down Economics Work?

Opening Up….

I have had a ball this last week. I have had personal encounters of every kind including cleaning up the Creek, working out, discussing finances and just some good conversation. I had an email from a dear friend that was beyond touching and to be honest,humbling. You don’t realize how you affect people and they in turn leave their imprint on your life. Marvelous stuff.

They all involved communicating and that is chance taking at its best. You are involved in a chat and something in your mind says let it go further. Then there is that slap on the back of your head that asks if you have lost your sanity? What is that person going to think of you? Is that last statement you made really out there? Guys don’t do this stuff. Yes, there is good stuff inside of you but there is no way you want to let it out…or do you?

When you are young you can say anything. Out of the mouths of babes so to speak. There is a 50/50 chance you are going to be cute or get an unapproving glare but hey, you are a kid. As we progress towards puberty you have the feeling that everything you say or do is under a microscope. There is a jury of your peers that is willing to jump on you for the slightest transgression or shred of other than cool behavior. Being a dork is not a passing thing but a scarlet letter for the major portion of high school. At least in your mind. If you are lucky,you have friends that get it.

College is a little different. You can completely change your persona and the tribal elders are still in flux at least until the end of the first semester. Then you are pegged one way or the other but at least the populace is larger and more diverse. Your studies take you to new landscapes and your conversations and perhaps your loves become more intense. And of course beer or pot in the prescribed amounts brings you to the level of just short of genius.

During these stages comes a deeper communication and the accompanying risks. Remember when you first got to know a girl and the first few dates you wanted to share everything with that certain someone. You were soul mates and the world was your oyster. The more confident you became the more you told. And then you hit the point of no return. No, not that one, you slug. You really started to speak of the inner you. The one that you always protected and never let out. By opening up in a word you became vulnerable and that was scary as hell.

Progressing through life it does not get any easier. College gives way to corporations and clients. You don’t have dorm mates but neighbors. Club members and couples round out the roster. A whole new set of standards and challenges. Where do I fit and who is a kindred spirit? Sooner or later you winnow down the mob to a controllable few. It’s not a secret society but a comfortable mix.

Strangely enough as we grow older for the most part we have less friends. We become more selective about our environs and comfortable in old shoes. Why go to all the trouble to start up all over again? That is too bad but all too true. Just at the time we have more leisure time we find crazy ways to waste it. Too busy or too content. Leave well enough be.

I have had a totally different experience over the last few years. I’d like to tell you it was intentional and pure brilliance on my part. Not so. Of course years of therapy have slowly brought me out of my shell but seriously I look at most things as an absolute adventure. It is almost as if I wander down dead end roads and dark alleys on purpose only to find a whole new world. In my work on the Creek I have probably met well over 100 people whom I never would have known before. People in business, volunteer work, government and just neighborhoods. Wonderful people who are open and giving. A lot more giving and gracious than me. The bar has been raised.

That whole giving thing is serious stuff. If I share a piece of myself to anything or anyone there is an automatic responsibility. I have made a commitment to a thing, an event or a person. I have started a relationship. I can no longer turn my back and claim ignorance of you or your travails. I think that is why the elders like to shut the door. Courteously, but firmly saying no. I have enough they say and yet the true fun is seeing how far you can get out there. The hardest part is reeling it back in. It is addictive.

In a contrarian thought I find as you move on in years you become less concerned about criticism. I like to think people aren’t sure whether I am just nuts or eccentric. Probably a little of both. I ask questions without reserve. I probe but am not afraid to be called to task myself. If queried I probably will thoughtfully consider a response not to appear PC but so that I can properly elucidate what the hell I have in my mind. And I want the same from you.

The only real drawback is when things fail. I have had a few wonderful friendships go bad over the years. In most cases they are heartbreaking because I try to put a lot into things of this sort as I am sure they did too.Alas, I am hopelessly afflicted with Irish Alzheimers. YOU ONLY REMEMBER THE GRUDGES.Just one of my many tragic flaws

The corollary to opening up is learning to listen. Sitting there and looking into someone eyes and yes maybe their soul and shutting up. Not looking for a segue into your own experiences or finishing sentences for them but hearing what’s important to someone else. This is my toughest lesson but one I constantly strive to get better at. It’s a struggle but I am trying. Test me out some time.

As always
Ted The Great

Factoids:

Adults spend an average of 70% of their time engaged in some sort of communication, of this an average of 45% is spent listening compared to 30% speaking, 16% reading and 9% writing.

“If we were supposed to talk more than we listen, we would have two tongues and one ear.” Mark Twain.

A good listener will stop talking, physically prepare by relaxing, put the speaker at ease, eliminate distractions, empathize,be patient, avoid personal prejudice, listen to the tone, be alert for ideas not words and watch for non verbal communication. Geez Louise!

A study published in The New York Times states that men who kiss their wives before leaving for work get into fewer car accidents, have a higher income and live longer than married men who don’t do so.

Research from the University in Vienna shows that hugging someone you love releases the feel-good chemical oxytocin. It also lowers blood pressure, reduces stress and anxiety, and can help improve memory.

(These have absolutely nothing to do with listening but they sounded great….Party on mes amis )

Environmental Hazards…

It’s getting ugly out there. Jordan Spieth lost it, choked or had a melt down of sorts on the 12th hole of the Masters at the Augusta National Golf Club. He had led the best in the world for 65 holes, won the Masters last year along with the US Open and went 1-1-4-2 in the majors. Oh, by the way he also won the Fedex Cup in 2015 and has yet to see his 23rd birthday. That’s a choke artist if I have ever seen one.

It’s an environment that is not for the faint hearted but what will get him through this defining moment is his myriad of swing and psychological gurus, a great caddie and a neat mom and dad. Good for him but I hope he takes more from this dose of reality if we can really call it that. You only learn from heartache and defeat even if the blow has been softened.

I often think about what your surroundings has to do with your success in life and your attitude towards it.The proverbial silver spoon is much touted but I have seen more than a few train wrecks in well to do families. We see mayhem and violence of every sort and you wonder how does this all happen? David Feherty interviewed Jason Day, the highly successful Aussie golfer. It turns out his dad was a drunk and a beater..of his mother and the children. Somehow he survived.

We speak of broken homes and fatherless children or drug raged mothers and yet these kids go on to some sort of a life if they are lucky or prison if they are not. It is so easy to be smug and aloof but I wonder how far off tragedy could be if one is not vigilant. If we don’t tend to this garden we call life. We need goals and expectations to stimulate us. We need an occasional hit to keep us grounded. Most of all we need to take control of our environment.

In the past I have pointed out a wonderful book called, “Repacking You Bags.” In it, the authors unpack their luggage and put things into four piles:place,love,work and purpose. It is everything you have accumulated over the years and for better or worse retained. Both the good and the bad. They can be a gentle and guiding hand or a toxic reality that continually bites you in the butt.

Place is everything we dwell in starting from your country, state, county,village home and even particular rooms. Is it everything you hoped for or merely an accommodation to life twists and turns? Love is everyone you come into contact with. It can be your spouse, golfing buddy or an associate at work. You interact with these people. Work is what you do to put food on the table or keep family intact. Purpose is a crazy quotient that tries to describe why you were really put on this earth. That doesn’t alway synch up with one’s chosen profession by the way.

From all these pieces we fashion a tapestry of what our life is. You could be looking at anywhere from adolescence to old age. The bag keeps getting packed and unpacked and packed up again. Nothing is forever and that’s what takes guts. Look at it another way. All that melange is what you breath in and out every day of your life. It provides the nutrients for our soul and hopefully expels the foul air of sadness and displeasure. If you looked out the window and saw the orange haze of smog would you take a long run or breathe deeply? Sadly some of us do.

When we were in Florida I was struck by the coldness and lack of eye contact in people. Some were just reticent I am sure but some were downright angry and grouchy. Not just the old but the wait staff in a restaurant or the guy in the golf shop when you were paying your greens fees. Was it the end of the season or just a lot of bad hair days? The sand, the Gulf and sunshine made this all the more surreal. Why would you be cranky in place like this? Maybe the bitterness and disappointment of where they came from was sealed in a little jar and they took a hit of vitriol every morning along with their coffee. Is this their nirvana?

I probably reached too far but I tried to imagine what brought this on? It might have been physical maladies but you had to consider the mental aspects and be drawn to that as reason. Was it depression or just a bad mood? Bipolar or the time of the month? This is where building one’s life or should I say reconstructing it really comes into play,

Some time just look around you. Are you surrounded by positive thinking, creative and happy people? Or are the naysayers and whiners, residents of your inner circle? I bet if you hang around one type or another long enough you are going to become just like them. If everyone is there to flaunt this or that then you will constantly be comparing yourself to them. That can be the gang at the country club or the gang in the hood. Samo,samo.

Ok what about me? If I didn’t have kids and grandkids it would probably be Coronado Island in San Diego. I would have a small place near Orange Avenue and have coffee and assault every unsuspecting schmuck with my blather as they bellied up for their morning Joe. I would play golf at the little Municipal course on the water. No carts except the pull kind. Probably find a spot to look over the ocean where I can enjoy my glass of red and an occasional cigar in the evening. Not a bad start.

Where’s Kathy? I guess she would have to have the same mailing address in her bag or then again? No, I would not leave that cute little thing for anything. Well, almost anything. But that’s the bitch. You have to make tough decisions when you are repacking so you don’t make the same mistakes over and over again. Environmental hazards? Of course. Like anything else you just have to learn how to avoid them.

As always
Ted The Great.

Factoids:
Millions of people are born and live in more or less their home areas for their entire life. Is this stability and consistency or lack of imagination? Good question.

Definitions:

Environment: the conditions and influences that affect the growth, health, progress, etc., of someone or something

Toxic: containing or being poisonous material especially when capable of causing death or serious debilitation

Hazard:A hazard is a situation that poses a level of threat to life, health, property, or environment. Most hazards are dormant or potential.

Happiness: mental or emotional state of well-being defined by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. There are a lot more than that but hey it is start.

Shoulder Shrugs…..

After going through our customary reentry routines Kathy and I sat down to our print matter that had accumulated over the past couple of weeks. I did try to do the techno thing and read online but I love the feel of newsprint on my fingers and of course on the white chair where I do a lot of my reading. Old habits die hard.

If you look at several articles in mags and papers compressed into a short period of time it can be uplifting or overwhelming. Politics,terrorism, the Panama Papers and the plethora of shootings can give one fatigue. My favorite item was about a group of parents at an Easter Egg Roll in Connecticut who pushed the other tots out of the way to ensure their child’s success. Classy.

The typical response might be a shrug of the shoulders. As I thought about this I realized it may convey multiple messages. First and foremost could be a lack of interest. Kind of “I have seen this before and nothing changes.” One could also say it is a symbol of resignation. “What can I say?” How about forgiveness when you get caught raiding the cookie jar? “I really didn’t mean it.” Then we can be all encompassing by ignorance.”Dunno”. If you find yourself raising and lowering your scapula as you read this you are projecting a sometimes involuntary response.

Now shoulders play an important role in who we are and how we project it. If you stand tall and throw them back you are confident and ready to face the world. Girls seem to think it is wonderful to see broad ones in guys that in turn define muscular pecs as the proverbial hunk sheds his shirt. I have never elicited quite that type of reaction. But when you think about it this, it is beyond important in fashion as every suit is well padded at the top. They say it makes you look skinny. I will take their word for it.

On the other hand you can put forth weariness and pressure. Look at Monday night’s basketball game. The Heels went from triumphant to downtrodden in 4.7 seconds. Nova on the other hand morphed from shock to elation, strutting their stuff. At Rockefeller Center one can see Atlas upholding the world on his frame and depending on how you see things he is either beyond cool and strong or ready to buckle if one more catastrophe gets loaded onto his cargo.

The shoulders are really a reflection of what is going on in our lives. One psychologist noted that, “The body reveals what the mind conceals.” This is all wrapped up in the workings of our limbic system. It is the area of the brain around the hypothalamus and it controls our moods,emotions and sentiments. It can cause us to shrug but moreover clench our fists,grind our teeth or cause our face to redden. As I said, this is often autonomic. As cool as we want to appear the cat is already out of the bag.

Consulting Netter’s Textbook of Anatomy which I alway keep in the nightstand, the shoulder is really a fascinating piece of machinery. The various bones and sinew are perfectly matched to pull this way and that. The ball and socket move non stop for decades without even a squirt of oil. Think about that. The limbic system sends a signal and a bunch of very complex maneuvers from lifting a bowling ball to typing on a keyboard to swinging a golf club can take place at this juncture. You and I never give it a thought but the human body is really complex and exciting beyond measure.

We shrug because it was passed down from our ancestors. Cavemen didn’t have a dictionary or thesaurus so they pointed,grunted and yes shrugged. Therein was the primitive form of body language that today conveys all sorts of messages. People have made it a science. When you fold your arms as I am talking, you feel a sense of invasion and you want to ward me off. I guess I would too if I listened to me. If you don’t want to look me in the eye you might be lying. Couples who don’t walk together or hold hands are drifting further apart. Crazy? I think not.

Now you can give me the Cold Shoulder if you want. That can signify you turning your back on me or it might be from medieval times when you were given the cold and not warm part of the meat because you were at the end of the serving line or not looking to be invited back again. Ayn Rand had Atlas Shrugged and we all see Soft Shoulders as we travel down the highway. The femme fatales always give you a winsome look over their shoulder or as Mae West said while batting eyelashes, “Why don’t you come up and see me some time,big boy?” Unfortunately I haven’t heard that one personally but if Kathy reads this there is always hope.

I am going to put my shoulder to the wheel. This hearkens back to the captain planting himself firmly on the deck and grabbing the ship’s wheel with all he had to steer the ship in a torturous gale. I will go the gym and do a whole bunch of exercises to strengthen my upper bod. This will help me avoid getting it replaced by some sort of contraption that medical science has devised. As I do I will be only be part of the 20% of my fellow Americans that meet the requirements for healthy exercise. What a shame.

Now you say that you think TTG has lost it with all these ramblings. Maybe so, but I choose to say I am looking around at my world and the simplest of things. As I study and research I find there is a whole universe out there waiting to be discovered that is beyond mundane. Complex by its simplicity and obvious by its neglect. Then again you may just shrug your shoulders and I won’t really know what you are thinking. Hope you enjoyed the ride and a break from our mayhem.

As always
Ted The Great.

Factoids:

Shoulder replacement surgery takes about three hours. You are laid up for 4-6 months. The costs all in, can range between $20,000 -60,000 depending on what state you are in. Approximately 7 million Americans a year are affected by some sort of shoulder injury.

There are three bones in the shoulder: Scapula(shoulder blade),Humerus(upper arm) and Clavicle (collar bone), The clavicle is the first bone to start ossifying (hardening) in a human fetus, but is the last to completely develop – often not until the late teens for early twenties. It is the bone most broken by kids.

Broad shoulders do not slope whatever that means. It also denotes the ability to take criticism or assume responsibility. Broad shoulders come to mind when you think of a military honor guard at a funeral or the soldier marching at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Ram rod straight and a steely eye.

Just for fun: Someone sent me this. In a way it is the antithesis of your typical square shouldered hunk. Yet is is something that got to me in a big way and I hope it does you too.

Happy Easter…I Think

Kathy and I are hanging out in an enclave in Southwest Florida called Gasparilla Island.For years it has been a playground of the very rich without a desire to be famous. The Duponts and others made this one of many stops for the winter with the centerpiece being the Gasparilla Inn, which is more like a mini Greenbriar than a quaint roadside rest. The long abandoned tracks are still in town, a poignant reminder of long gone Pullmans shuttling swells and hoppers carrying phosphate to the mainland.

We went to mass on Palm Sunday in an oversized chapel that normally held about 150 but was bursting at the seams during Spring Break. The grandmas were in Lily or J McGlaughlin and Grandpa in his faded Nantucket reds with the requisite Guccis or Topsiders with no socks. Nothing gaudy but well kept. Old money has a classy way of telling you they are doing just fine without shoving it down your throat. As the Passion was read I couldn’t help but think about a guy named Jesus who came from a poor background but had made His way over the centuries into folks of all types of bank accounts.

We were not alone that Sunday morn as many other churches were packed with their denominations. All WASP but nice to see people going to church. Not for the religion per se but the upholding of traditions. On the streets you can see the denizens saying hello to one another with air kisses and bro hugs. Kind of like the gathering of the clan. There are no Bentleys or Maseratis. The chariot of choice is a golf cart that is neither fancy nor tricked out. They are four to six passenger models and are festooned with an occasional faded country or college flag and the basic color is rust. The driving age is 14 but no one is watching if the young’uns cruise around the block or further.

You feel that time is standing still and the causeway could be the drawbridge over the moat. Nothing bad happens here in Camelot. If we were threatened someone would just close the gates and life would go on. One has to feel that way about America as we watch the news and word of massacre in Belgium. 9/11 was horrific but we have been spared turmoil for the most part. Maybe it is heightened security but could be it is the Atlantic Ocean that keeps the mayhem makers at bay.

Easter is the sign of new life in a year. The flowers’ shoots pop through the earth with colors that break the grayness of a long winter. Jesus is risen and so are our spirits. You feel revitalized and that first really warm day brings a spirit of renewal. Hey,we made it through another one and clear sailing is ahead. Politics and war be damned.We are just going to kick back and enjoy this one….for now.

Looking out over the Gulf Of Mexico you wish we could just freeze this in time. Ain’t gonna happen. Times change and whether you consider it good or bad, it still happens. The beauty of living in the Land of the Free is that we can do whatever we want. And that too is its tragic flaw. I want you to say whatever you want as long as it’s not hateful or inciting riots. I want you to practice freedom of religion as long as it is my religion. I want you to feel comfortable in bearing arms lest your home be invaded but that right kills kids either on purpose or by accident.
Our spirit of creativity and discovery has let genies out of the bottle and they can never be put back. The Internet has been a boon to many people but it has also become a tool of terror. We don’t want our privacy to be violated and yet we splay our innermost thoughts and our sex lives for all to see on Facebook. Look at the absurdity and quite frankly the depravity of Hulk Hogan being awarded $115 million for some webpage showing him having sex with his best friend’s wife. Sick on all counts.

Computers are being amped up to where their capability doubles every two or three years. Artificial Intelligence(AI) can now beat humans at highly intuitive games. We can replace any organ or bone in our bodies and if we can’t find a decent transplant we can always recreate one by 3D printing. As a matter of fact we can replicate 3D printers themselves by producing clone after clone and on and on. I wonder if it will work on our souls. Can we devise a way to convey feeling such as elation  and heartbreak? Don’t say no without thinking about it first.

Long story short is that places like Gasparilla, the Hamptons and La Jolla are not going anywhere physically any time soon. Nor are the Fergusons, south sides of Chicago nor the barrios of LA. As evenly as the people with it good want it to go on forever, the people with bad are praying it will stop. Where we are today is that everyone has their own agenda and history tells us that can’t be good.

How the hell we are going to pull this all together is a mystery to me? I can rant and rave and hope that someone on either side wakes up and takes the reins before this wonderful wagon goes careening off the cliff. You say, why can’t you be optimistic? I say, give me a reason. I say go beyond this and saying that’s a great idea TTG but I am busy. Politics, corporate behavior and our basic morality needs a long introspection and 200 year plus overhaul. Maybe those 3D printers might do the trick.

It’s Easter and the flowers are growing but we need to weed the beds and put in a lot of fertilizer if this years crop is going to make it. We have to feel the warmth of the sunshine not only on our faces but in our hearts. This all may sound corny but I feel it more than ever. If you think it is going to get better all on its own, think again. Happy Easter.

As always
Ted The Great

Factoids:
Americans buy more than 700 million marshmallow peeps during the Easter holiday, which makes Peeps the most popular non-chocolate Easter candy.
The exchange of eggs for Easter dates back to a springtime custom older than Easter itself in which eggs were given as a symbol of rebirth in many cultures.

Eastern Catholics celebrate mass differently that the rest of us. Not Eastern Orthodox but Eastern United States. They don’t hold hands during the Our Father. The handshake of peace is tepid at best. One guy in a church in NYC told me,”I don’t do that crap.” They leave right after communion and will cut you off in the parking lot while leaving, if you get in their path. Outta my way asshole! Pax Vobiscum.

Them…

Way back when, in the fifties, there was a horror movie entitled, “Them”. A nuclear disaster created giant ants and they kept multiplying in the New Mexico desert to terrorize the populace. I imagine that is probably how the Donald and Co are viewed by a lot of Americans and maybe the world. It got me thinking.

We assign “them” to lot of different types of people ranging from ethnic to regional to religious differences. They become more pronounced in election years as we cast our ballots. Hilary wins the blacks. Donald gets the red necks. Cruz caters to evangelicals and Bernie, socialists in hiding. I am not sure if I am in any of those categories so my choices may be limited. But whoever you are it comes down to us versus them. This is not as much of an aberration as one might think. It may be in our genes.
This goes back a long time ago to Neanderthal man. Then it was us against the rest of the animal world. We got together for common good in so far as security and food gathering. As we started to communicate we went from grunts to simple sentences to eventually complex thought. Sometimes I think we are still stuck at the monosyllabic stage. But I digress.

Them becomes a broad category that we paint with a wide brush. We can categorize with color,accent or dress as in Blacks, Hispanics and Muslims. You probably could include various regions of the US in that dialect thing. Hyperbole seems to be the order of the day and rational thought gives way to rants. If I don’t have to consider the individual or particular circumstances I can get really riled up at whole assemblies of peoples and feel just fine.

But for a moment let’s think about the concept of banding together. A group can be as few as two people that have something in common. We share ideas and maybe beliefs. When we are small we can be more specific and detailed. As the masses enter, the founding concepts get blurry and a few bullet points are all that matter.

People want to be part of a group. We are social beings but you have to wonder why? Is it security or camaraderie? Necessity or convenience? I think it is just that they want to belong, to say they are part of something. It also denotes acceptance. You have made it and are considered one of peers. The rules become tougher as the old guard want to enforce the founding principles. Beyond rituals there is a feeling that if one gives in at all it will weaken the organization.

Two phenomena occur. Unless it is in itself a group of entrepreneurs or free thinkers there is a loss of individuality. Creativity is looked askance at and new ideas suffer or not depending on your point of view. People are reluctant to speak out or stand from the crowd at the risk of alienating people. Instead of being a contributor you are looked upon as a zealot or rabble rouser.

The second part is the emergence of a “loner”. They can become everything from a solitude seeker to a social outcast. Some people just don’t want to mix it up which is fine but others feel an enormous lack of acceptance by their fellow man or woman. This can grow into  psychoses or paranoia. Our jails are littered with those who have fallen prey to their demotion or nonacceptance and decided it to take to out on the world with a firearm or sword in hand. Now we have new group of whackos and weirdos that society paints with the same wide swath. As our populations grow and categorizations multiply, more and more are left out of the mix and murder and mayhem become the only panacea.

Hobbes and Rousseau et alia have delved far deeper into social contracts than this small brain can muster but it really is intriguing to think of the options. Is the individual the product of society or is society the creation of the individual? We first start to converse and those interactions give way to ideas and beliefs. That in turn becomes a culture over time. Common laws are quantified and we live in harmony..sort of.

There is another way to look at this. Are we the organism or are we just appendages to the mass? I personally like the primary mover part. Without recognizing one’s contribution and effect on society we are at the whim of the world. I happen to ascribe to self determination and the ability to change society for better or worse. Maybe it is a distaste for acquiescence and rather the knowledge that whatever terms we are living under, they can be improved.

Given that, remember we are known by the company we keep. If you are comfortable being a hard right or left go for it. If you are only tending that way take heed and speak up. Maybe this is fodder for a third party. Not one that arises from a pout but one that really wants to draw from both sides of the ledger. If you are a member of a club or organization that does not share your values, either change their direction or quit. What have you lost your mind TTG? No, but maybe some of us have lost our way.

After all this deep cogitation I have arrived at the conclusion I was hoping I wouldn’t get to. The ability to find a middle ground as we are currently constructed is a remote hope and distant possibility. Very distant. Our minds are too closed and quite frankly the effort to coalesce is just not time well spent in our increasingly busy world. Peace, fraternity and egalite`are lofty goals that don’t fly. We are too busy to try to turn “them” into “us”. And that is a tragic but the contemporary state of affairs. I’ll deal with ti.

As always
Ted The Great

Factoids:
What is the social contract theory of government?

Social contract. the voluntary agreement among individuals by which, according to any of various theories, as of Hobbes, Locke, or Rousseau, organized society is brought into being and invested with the right to secure mutual protection and welfare or to regulate the relations among its members. Source unknown but sure makes sense.

Five defining characteristics of stupidity. First, is sheer ignorance: Ignorance of critical facts about important events in the news, and ignorance of how our government functions and who’s in charge. Second, is negligence: The disinclination to seek reliable sources of information about important news events. Third, is wooden-headedness, as the historian Barbara Tuchman defined it: The inclination to believe what we want to believe regardless of the facts. Fourth, is shortsightedness: The support of public policies that are mutually contradictory, or contrary to the country’s long-term interests. Fifth, and finally, is a broad category I call bone-headedness, for want of a better name: The susceptibility to meaningless phrases, stereotypes, irrational biases, and simplistic diagnoses and solutions that play on our hopes and fears. Rick Shenkman,Editor History News Network. Perfecto.
The 10 most innovative countries in the following order: Switzerland, United Kingdom,Sweden, Netherlands, United States, Finland, Singapore, Ireland, Luxembourg, Denmark (Home of LEGO.)

Spotlight….

I was going to be clever and frivolous this week…until Friday night. Kathy and I went to see Spotlight and all I can say is the Academy in Follywood for all its faults and foibles got it right. For the uninitiated it is a film about an investigative group at the Boston Globe called Spotlight and its dogged pursuit of the Catholic diocese of Boston and its horrible handling of pedophilia among several of its priests. This is not going to be a movie review but musings from a long time Catholic who loves great journalism.

At its best it shows what a principled group of reporters can do. They pursued the story for over one year and by all signs got it right. At its worst it shows what it takes to get a story out as editorial boards decide sometimes arbitrarily what gets through and what doesn’t from both a worthiness as well as political perspective. Good ideas sometimes find the circular file because one doesn’t want to make waves or enemies. You have the feeling it is not only the Fourth Estate that exercises the prerogative.

As portrayed and I believe in reality there were no superstars but a group of people who received a tip and delved to find its veracity.They literally turned over every rock and pursued every lead. If you are looking for salacious details they are not there but the underlying misery and guilt of those preyed upon lets the story unfold. It is an indictment of the Catholic Church for sure but it also affects society as a whole. While watching, you can’t help but let your mind drift to every seat of power and apart from the specifics of this particular situation see them every bit as culpable.

I have locked horns with our former bishop about the Church’s response or lack thereof. It wasn’t naivete but an assault on their power base that caused them to cover up and subject those poor bastard victims to intimidation and guilt. We are sacrosanct and holier than thou and don’t you dare challenge us or our decisions. Our failures and perversions are not to be displayed lest one shake the foundations of the Holy Mother Church. By the way our bare knuckled exercise of ordained powers have kept us in the driver’s seat all these centuries. We have history and God on our side. What incredible arrogance!

For those that shout foul please consider there were 87 priests in the Boston diocese that were guilty of the most heinous crimes perpetrated on young people. Let’s take your cries of unfairness and reduce that number by a half. But then multiply that by hundreds of dioceses throughout the US and sadly the world. For a moment let’s even give the offending clerics a pass and say they were sick, sick people. I lay the blame at the feet of the hierarchy. The wealth and power of the Church is over the top and that has been passed on to its district managers everywhere. Now this is the point where I think of the Congress and board rooms and say the religious are not alone.

Think about Watergate, Clinton, GM,Volkswagen, JP Morgan, Bear Sterns, Lehman, Enron, BP, Madoff to name a few before you cast the first stone. It is considered dangerous to your career if you don’t  look the other way. At the same time we see every type of transgression and dismiss it saying we are just following orders or even worse using it as get out of jail free card. 50 shades of gray is not a tacky novel but a way our consciences and outrage shift and bend to make every situation different and somehow palatable.

I am not a boy scout or trying to adopt some sense of righteousness but I can’t help but think our keen sense of right and wrong becomes duller over time. One of the most telling lines in the movie is a Lebanese lawyer named Garabedian who states in a very Irish Catholic town that,” It takes a village to raise a child and it takes a village to abuse one”. We don’t worry about political correctness but how we will look to our fellow man or woman. Hey, we have to work together or see each other at the club. Don’t want to get the evil eye you know.

I came away feeling incredibly sorry for the poor parishes of North and South Boston, Revere and the Elmhursts and Woodsides of New York. These places grew up as places of solace for poor immigrants. You were known not by where you lived but what parish you belonged to. It wasn’t a Sunday go meeting place but in many cases the center of your life. You went to school there, were an altar boy and your mom and grandparents made novenas for those who had gone to war or a dad who had lost his way. The titular heads of this family were the pastor and his curates. It was a place of trust and unfortunately who one trusts one becomes vulnerable. Kind of like when one puts faith in a company where they work, a boss they loved to work for or even a company they invested in for a better life later on. Not so simple to just say one of the oldest and most revered pillars of decency is besmirched. They, my friends are not alone.

This is a far cry from the pithy piece I wanted to write but I hope you understand that after seeing the movie and cogitating for many hours I had to open up and maybe yes for once not look the other way. Those shades of gray become a lot more black and white when one puts a Spotlight on them. I felt deep down a bunch of emotions and I just wanted to share that with someone. I guess that was you.

As always
Ted The Great

Factoids:
Newspapers today have for the most part forgone investigative journalism. It is too time consuming and expensive. People want headlines not deeply involved analysis. Too bad.

It is estimated that some 5,000 priests are guilty of sexual predation in the US which is about 5% of the clergy. Of those that have come to light it appears that 80% of worldwide offenses have been here in the US but the factors enabling people to come forward are incredibly difficult to quantify.

If there are 5,000 rogue priests that means there are 95,000 out there who are for the most part wonderful and decent people. The Catholic Church has led all other charitable organizations in the help of the sick and the poor. I have known priests and religious my entire life. Many of them are close friends whom Kathy and I treasure. In all those encounters over 65 plus years I have never encountered even a scintilla of impropriety.

Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. is a grassroots nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of investigative reporting. IRE was formed in 1975 to create a forum in which journalists throughout the world could help each other by sharing story ideas, newsgathering techniques and news sources.