This version of Joni Mitchell’s “Help Me”, as sung by k.d. lang, moves me to tears. This live performance is absolutely brilliant.
October 2017
Abysmal.
My brain continues to hurt from the rampant stupidity in our country. I’ve been desperately trying to avoid politics for the past week and the truth of the matter is you just can’t escape it. If you sit down to watch a football game, the vice president is staging a political stunt about players kneeling during the National Anthem. If you turn on any given sitcom, there’s jokes about the idiocy of Trump. If you mute his name on Twitter, he still creeps into your timeline under a wide variety of alternative names. Luckily, my timeline is skewed enough to keep the alternative names from being in any way flattering.
This country is in a state of constant chaos that just can’t be escaped. Stupidity is en vogue. Ignorance is celebrated. You can’t trust the news. You can’t trust what you read on the Internet. People are purposely spending false, damaging information to feed this state of chaos. It’s a fire that continues to rage, slowing consuming everything.
My original 30 day challenge for the month of October was to blog at least once a day about something other than politics. I wanted to spread a little bit of light out into the world. A light that would somehow consume even the smallest spark from this raging dumpster fire. But then the Las Vegas shooting happened and my attempt at blogging felt futile. How can I talk about a grand life in Chicago when there is so much strife going on?
The Trump Administration is trying to destroy the United States of America and rebuild it into a white male dominated domain. If you’re not a straight, white man you’re considered a “less than”. The number of people that continue to support this man astounds me. I can not and will not forgive anyone that cast a vote in his direction. I won’t try to understand and I’m certainly not going to tolerate it. The man is an idiot, a moron, a charlatan. And his supporters are just as stupid.
The “greatest country on Earth”. Yeah, right.
Inspiration.
Steve Jobs died six years ago today. The man was a visionary, a genius, and an inspiration for many. I believe the DNA of his vision lives on today at Apple.
They took away my Mac at work this week in an effort to remove all Macs from the work network. Honestly, I feel a little let down. My new laptop works but it brings me little joy. I’ve gone from a luxury car to a bus. I feel like I’m typing with my elbows.
I needed to feel inspired again. Knowing the genius thinking behind the vision that Steve had of the future, I visited the site of the newest Apple flagship store which opens in two weeks. It will be a destination. It will being a sense of community. Senior VP of Retail, Angela Ahrendts, is an inspiration to me as well. I love her energy.
Inspiration. Pass it on. #applefanboy
How Can I?
How can I sit here and write about my life when people have been shot in Las Vegas in the past 24 hours in what is being termed as the “Deadliest Shooting in Modern U.S. History”.
How can I sit here and read about all these “thoughts and prayers” when the words mean nothing if there’s no action. Our government will do nothing to legislate sensible gun control. Is there some sort of macro that just belches out “thoughts and prayers” whenever a news feed detects another mass shooting?
How can I sit here and write in my blog when folks in Puerto Rico are still dealing with catastrophic conditions, trying to recover from one of the most powerful hurricanes ever recorded? Trump tweets and tweets and tweets. Folks in Puerto Rico are looking for drinking water, food and electricity. Trump tweets. Oh, and he golfs.
How can I sit here and write in my blog when Trump is basically saying that diplomatic efforts with North Korea are futile. He really wants to bomb that country. I’m very worried that it will bring about the end.
How can I sit here and write in my blog when it feels so futile?
We used to be better than this. Hope, prosperity, striving for peace – it all seems like a rapidly fading distant memory.
