Category Archives: Uncategorized

Broader Meaning

 
I’ve moved..and moved..and moved. And I can’t tell you why. Call it wanderlust. Call it escape. I am really not quite sure. I have never been forced to move. I just have done it a number of times with my wife and family. Somehow it seems to have worked out pretty well for all concerned.
 
Some call me crazy. I have given up promising careers and beautiful places. That is not so all important. People, life, excitement and fabulous experiences are my just rewards. I have had plenty.
 
When we go on vacation somewhere I immediately start looking at the glossy real estate brochures. Whether it is in the frozen tundra or tropical isles. Am I running or searching? Or just an adventuresome sort who gets bored quickly? I can’t say I have a good answer.
 
It is not really in my genes. Very few of my family have gone far, if at all. It’s not in Kathy’s genes either. Her dad lived on the same street for 89 years in only two houses. The rest of her family lives in that same town. Where did I get this?
 
 As a youngster I loved going to camp. In those days it wasn’t for one or two weeks but for the entire summer. It was a marvelous adventure on a most beautiful lake in the mountains of New Hampshire.
 
I never got homesick but it wasn‘t because I didn‘t love my home and family. But what an adventure living in cabins, swimming in the lake, going on hikes. Just the train and bus ride from Grand Central to Lake Ossipee was the best journey an eight or nine year old could have!
 
In high school I commuted to school in New York City. The Long Island Railroad and three subways made up a 90 minute trip. I knew my way around New York better than most. The MOMA and Guggenheim were just around the corner. Jazz and theater became second nature to a high school senior. I wasn’t fazed or star struck. It all seemed quite natural.
 
College was in Washington DC at Georgetown University. Strangely, I never felt at home in college and had trouble applying myself. I didn’t want to breeze through a syllabus. I would have much rather spent time on one subject. Alas, sometimes that was partying.
 
The Navy followed soon thereafter and I was off to sail the seven seas. There was an excitement coincidental in getting underway. The soft rolling of a 450 foot ship gave way to severe storms and thrashing seas and it was all quite exhilarating. Viet Nam had a little different type of emotional rush.
 
In the end my wanderings were not so much a distaste for home as much as it was an inquiring heart. I say heart instead of mind because I am an incurable romantic. I have always fallen in love easily with both people and places. I find everything very interesting and life a thing to be savored.
 
I love to run when I get somewhere. The pounding of the pavement throughout neighborhoods and byways give you a feel you can’t get from a car. I ask residents about their hometowns and friends about their soul. I hold court in Starbucks. I love to hear.
 
I relish getting deep into conversation as if I am unlocking someone’s secret thought they may never have told anyone. The fact I do so is not so much devilish (well maybe a little) as enabling. Yes it is OK to think that. You are not weird, although I do get strange looks from time to time. Well, lots of the time.
 
Maybe it is hard to commit to one thing or place but I have been married to the same neat lady for some 40 years. My poor wife has seen the good the bad and the ugly.
 
I don’t have a problem opening up and that is probably a fault. You tend to get to know people well but you can wind up getting burned. Such is life.
 
I love to ponder the imponderables. And this is a big one. My writing has given me a lot more latitude. You can read it or not. I can be open without fear of rejection. I can really have thoughts and dreams and express heartache and love without looking for something in return.
 
You ask about broader meaning? I don’t have a clue. Or if I do, I am still not ready to admit it!
 
As Always
 
Ted The Great

New Year’s Special

New Year’s Special

Dr. Jekyll…Mr. Hyde

 

I am really lost so I decided to write to all of you. I know I said once a week but this is keeping me up at night.  I have a personality disorder. I don’t know who I am. I am hexed, vexed, perplexed. Please help me.

There is this deep divide on who I want to be. Yin and Yang. Republican or Democrat. Liberal or Conservative. Let’s take a few of the burning issues on the horizon this year. Let me tell you both sides.

First and foremost is healthcare. The humanitarian side of me says no one in this great country should be without. We have technology and staff in every major city and burg. If someone is dying or in incredible danger we should reach out our hand, no matter what. Insured or not.

But wait. The sheer numbers make it impossible. We will have a $23 trillion unfunded liability in Medicare alone. Medicine and treatment at its current rate will bankrupt our country. People go out and abuse their bodies in so many ways. Death defying tricks. Overeating. Overdrinking. Overdosing. And then they come to the hospital’s door and say “heal me”. And they can’t or won’t pay. They won’t take positive steps to improve their life. This does not seem right.

Immigration. You sneak in and start raising your family here. You faced destitution and maybe starvation in the old country. You walked across miles of desolation to get here. You work hard. You will do anything. You live in hovels. But it is so much better than where you came from.

But there are people who have been waiting years. They have played by the rules. They are productive under visas. They go through the paces we have set up. They are many times well educated and well financed. They pay their way. They are not a burden on society. They are a plus. But they wait.

My religion tells me to do unto others. Be God fearing. Love one another. But my religion also tells me it is the one true religion. It is the way the truth and the life. It is the only way to heaven. Everyone else is wrong.

Your religion says the Messiah hasn’t come. Or yours says that Muhammed is the true prophet. How about Buddhism? Hinduism? Am I really supposed to tell a good Muslim or Buddhist that he isn’t going to make it? Even though he might be a much better person than me.

Foreign Relations. We are the world’s most powerful country. We are the supercop. We want to proselytize democracy throughout the world. We want to make it a better place for both humanitarian as well as strategic reasons. We spend billions in foreign aid and yet many of those countries despise us or laugh behind our backs.

Maybe we should spend those billions on our homeland? Our roads? Our schools? Our hungry and bereft? Developing technologies. How many countries have furthered their own interests while we are trying to bring peace to the world?

Maybe you have all the answers. Maybe you know how to solve our deficit without raising taxes on anyone and just maintaining even 2008 spending levels. Maybe you can vote in lockstep with the ideological bent of your party without giving a thought to the other side’s position. Here’s to you if you can.

I can’t. I will have to seek a middle ground that may necessitate me compromising  but not necessarily sacrificing my long held principles. I won’t do so in a huff. I won’t glare you down. I will just say that maybe we all have a say. Maybe we are all a little right. Maybe I will just listen.

I guess I will have to learn to live with both the good doctor and Mr. Hyde. Maybe they are both a part of me and deep down a part of all of us. I really can’t go hard left or hard right. It’s just not in me. Can you say with absolute certainty it is in you?

As always

Pondering the Imponderables

Ted  The Great