There is a very small infamous community in Georgia, north of Springfield, where people for generations isolated themselves from the other communities. Inbreeding began and eventually this led to noticeable physical traits such as a diminutive statue and poor eyesight. The area is known as Tiger Ridge.
Being from Savannah I have seen people from Tiger Ridge out in the malls or around town. There is no mistaking them. So I can say with clarity that I have recently found myself thrown into a community not much different from Tiger Ridge in that people have isolated themselves from other communities and are beginning to suffer from noticeable diminished mental attributes.
The phenomenon began, I believe, with people working from home or semi-retired due to the downturn in the economy. These misguided believed they were keeping in touch with the outside world by watching "fair and balanced"news, free from the liberal press. What they were watching was sensationalism no different from the evangelistic minister screaming from the pulpit that all were damned and going straight to hell unless they believed as he did....and so they began to believe. I am also a qualified expert in this area having been exposed to every religious intolerant that came through Savannah as a small child.
What I am saying is that I know Tiger Ridge when I see it!
People I would normally respect now take every social occasion to pollute the air with their negative views and intolerance for any one who is not just like them or does not belief just as they believe. These people spend their days circulating internet stories and jokes, patting themselves on the back that some how they are superior. Most of the topics they choose to discuss at cocktail parties or across the dinner table would be best whispered in the dark as a confessional bedtime prayer to God to forgive their mean-spirited thoughts and deeds towards mankind. In their opinion the less fortunate are becoming nothing but parasites bringing down the rest of civilization, demanding from those who have worked and slayed to get ahead.......the President is an evil villain/naivete'/socialist/unlearned falsified illegal (choose all that apply).
A few days ago I sent out on Facebook a positive news story, from a respectable online source, that the US has had some success in our recent handling of Middle Eastern policies. I got back a blistering reprimand that maybe I should move to a socialist country!
On the way to "The Club" for dinner, the neighbor driving told one racist joke after another putting down all but the straight, Anglo-Saxon, blue-eyed blondes. During salads I tried to bring the conversation back to reason as I don't really believe hard working Americans are being beat out by illegals for liver transplants (I swear on my sainted grandmother's grave.....this out of the mouth of a man who partnered one of the top law firms in Atlanta). By the serving of the main course, when I saw my own mate shrinking into a diminutive statue and beginning to squint his eyes, I said as softly as possible with venom dripping out of my mouth, hysteria in my voice and possibly a steak knife in my hand......"another word and I walk out of here. I will not have another dinner ruined!"
My husband says I won't be invited to any cocktail or dinner parties any time soon by his friends or our neighbors.
I ask him to swear to that on a Bible!
Reflections
California Mission
Monday, August 29, 2011
Friday, August 26, 2011
Just A Mule
While growing up I would overhear my friends and cousins ask the age old question to their dad. " Am I pretty?" Each dad would of course swear that his daughter was the prettiest thing that walked the earth.
My dad was mum on these compliments.
When I finally noticed him beaming at me one day I got up the nerve to ask, "Dad, am I pretty?"
"You are as pretty as a mule with a rubber tail!" was his reply. I smiled back and decided not to ponder that answer too long. It became our little joke.
To this day I am not sure what he meant. I believe his message was that looks don't matter, at least that is how I took it. I do know that he was extremely proud of me. I do know that in times of trouble he was always there, not necessarily to solve problems for me, but to listen and to reassure me that I would work it out, or that he would be with me through the consequences if I made the wrong decision.
So now, I am not big on the compliments when it comes to looks. I have learned there will always be a younger, prettier, smarter woman in the room. BUT I am as pretty as a mule with a rubber tail and no one can take that confidence away.
My dad was mum on these compliments.
When I finally noticed him beaming at me one day I got up the nerve to ask, "Dad, am I pretty?"
"You are as pretty as a mule with a rubber tail!" was his reply. I smiled back and decided not to ponder that answer too long. It became our little joke.
To this day I am not sure what he meant. I believe his message was that looks don't matter, at least that is how I took it. I do know that he was extremely proud of me. I do know that in times of trouble he was always there, not necessarily to solve problems for me, but to listen and to reassure me that I would work it out, or that he would be with me through the consequences if I made the wrong decision.
So now, I am not big on the compliments when it comes to looks. I have learned there will always be a younger, prettier, smarter woman in the room. BUT I am as pretty as a mule with a rubber tail and no one can take that confidence away.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Turkeys, Bears, Deer, Snakes, oh my!
Living on a mountain, no matter how tame it appears to visitors, is a different world than the city. You learn to drive down the mountain for your mail, newspapers and to take your garbage to the dump. You even learn that water is not to be taken for granted on a mountain, it has to be pumped up from the lines below and losing electricity can mean losing water as well.
There is something sweet about having to stop your car for a deer, or two or three, trying to make up their mind which direction they want to head from the middle of the road. And the occasional flock of wild turkey is also charming to watch. Even a bear from the safety of your deck or car is interesting.
I have learned to live with the tiny field mice with giant ears that make it into the house somehow each winter, although I am not overly fond of them. However, the snake curled up in my flower bed or on my walk is another thing. I have learned somewhat of poisonous versus non-poisonous, but they all give me a start once I realize they are around.
My worse nightmare happened a few years ago when a big black snake crawled into the house through an open door on a beautiful fall afternoon. He obviously had never watched animal kingdom and did not cooperate with our trying to get him to wrap around a broom handle to get out of the house. These black snakes do not seem to be scared of humans. Quite a few of my neighbors have had them visit.
Another creation I have no desire to meet is the mountain lion which roams the woods. Several neighbors have had brief interactions with these cats. Occasionally late at night you hear what appears to be the screams of a demented female. It's just the cats.....as if that is somehow reassuring.
There is something sweet about having to stop your car for a deer, or two or three, trying to make up their mind which direction they want to head from the middle of the road. And the occasional flock of wild turkey is also charming to watch. Even a bear from the safety of your deck or car is interesting.
I have learned to live with the tiny field mice with giant ears that make it into the house somehow each winter, although I am not overly fond of them. However, the snake curled up in my flower bed or on my walk is another thing. I have learned somewhat of poisonous versus non-poisonous, but they all give me a start once I realize they are around.
My worse nightmare happened a few years ago when a big black snake crawled into the house through an open door on a beautiful fall afternoon. He obviously had never watched animal kingdom and did not cooperate with our trying to get him to wrap around a broom handle to get out of the house. These black snakes do not seem to be scared of humans. Quite a few of my neighbors have had them visit.
Another creation I have no desire to meet is the mountain lion which roams the woods. Several neighbors have had brief interactions with these cats. Occasionally late at night you hear what appears to be the screams of a demented female. It's just the cats.....as if that is somehow reassuring.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Neither A Dreamer or a Planner Be
A few weeks ago the discussion was around my daughter sharing her dreams of getting into a top law school next year when she graduates from college. The statement was made how we all have to have our dreams
I don't have a dream. It sounds lost and kind of pathetic, but I don't. I don't know if i have ever been a dreamer. I seem to be a planner and I wonder if most of my plans don't just come about assisting others with their dreams.
I am not saying that I live to listen to the wants and needs of others and make those happen, I just think I get caught up in the day by day and your dream sounds good enough for me to adopt and see how I can help.
I am sitting in a big log home in the mountains over looking a beautiful lake. This was my husbands dream. It is a fabulous house and now it is taking a lot of time keeping it from becoming our nightmare.
My oldest daughter dreamed up being a doctor and she is. Where her dad made most of that dream come true, I still played my part in the process.
My youngest now wants to get into NYU or Columbia Law School. It is a much better dream than when she wanted to head out to LA to become an actress based on reviews of her elementary school stage experience. Now I lay away at night planning how I will be able to help her make that happen.
In the mean time I am worried I don't have a dream of my own. The only dream I think I ever had was one of living in different places every year or so. Getting to know different people, not putting down roots. Kind of sounds like a cowboy.
Of course I realize that the reality of that dream is that you would spend a lot of time by yourself. Holidays could be a bad I bet - but then you wouldn't have to cook and clean for a house full of guest either (making their dream of a Norman Rockwell family holiday come true.) On the other hand, families have a way of hunting you down at their leisure to make sure you don't get any of yours.
I dream of living at the beach, but right now it is so hot on this mountain that I can't image what the beach is like. There is that reality thing again.
I dream of a Maine cabin in the fall.
I dream of getting up and doing yoga on my back deck.........
I don't have a dream. It sounds lost and kind of pathetic, but I don't. I don't know if i have ever been a dreamer. I seem to be a planner and I wonder if most of my plans don't just come about assisting others with their dreams.
I am not saying that I live to listen to the wants and needs of others and make those happen, I just think I get caught up in the day by day and your dream sounds good enough for me to adopt and see how I can help.
I am sitting in a big log home in the mountains over looking a beautiful lake. This was my husbands dream. It is a fabulous house and now it is taking a lot of time keeping it from becoming our nightmare.
My oldest daughter dreamed up being a doctor and she is. Where her dad made most of that dream come true, I still played my part in the process.
My youngest now wants to get into NYU or Columbia Law School. It is a much better dream than when she wanted to head out to LA to become an actress based on reviews of her elementary school stage experience. Now I lay away at night planning how I will be able to help her make that happen.
In the mean time I am worried I don't have a dream of my own. The only dream I think I ever had was one of living in different places every year or so. Getting to know different people, not putting down roots. Kind of sounds like a cowboy.
Of course I realize that the reality of that dream is that you would spend a lot of time by yourself. Holidays could be a bad I bet - but then you wouldn't have to cook and clean for a house full of guest either (making their dream of a Norman Rockwell family holiday come true.) On the other hand, families have a way of hunting you down at their leisure to make sure you don't get any of yours.
I dream of living at the beach, but right now it is so hot on this mountain that I can't image what the beach is like. There is that reality thing again.
I dream of a Maine cabin in the fall.
I dream of getting up and doing yoga on my back deck.........
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