A Memorial Day Perspective

Gettysburg National Cemetery, 2013.

Today is one of those days when I can’t help but be grateful for sacrifices made by others to ensure that we are able to live the lives that we do. Without those who gave all for this country we would not be able to enjoy the rights and freedom that we do today. It is for this reason that I am so angered when some insists on stripping the rights and freedom of people through the stroke of a pen which flies in the face of the sacrifices made to preserve all that we have in this country.

As I have done before, to give you a concise description of the holiday, I am pasting the introduction below that can be found on Wikipedia:

Memorial Day is a federal holiday in the United States for remembering the men and women who died while serving in the country's armed forces. The holiday, which is celebrated every year on the last Monday of May, was formerly known as Decoration Day and originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the Union and Confederate soldiers who died in the war. By the 20th century, Memorial Day had been extended to honor all Americans who have died while in the military service. It typically marks the start of the summer vacation season, while Labor Day marks its end.

Many people visit cemeteries and memorials, particularly to honor those who have died in military service. Many volunteers place an American flag on each grave in national cemeteries.

Annual Decoration Days for particular cemeteries are held on a Sunday in late spring or early summer in some rural areas of the American South, notably in the mountains. In cases involving a family graveyard where remote ancestors as well as those who were deceased more recently are buried, this may take on the character of an extended family reunion to which some people travel hundreds of miles. People gather on the designated day and put flowers on graves and renew contacts with kinfolk and others. There often is a religious service and a "dinner on the ground," the traditional term for a potluck meal in which people used to spread the dishes out on sheets or tablecloths on the grass. It is believed that this practice began before the American Civil War and thus may reflect the real origin of the "memorial day" idea.

Memorial Day is not to be confused with Veterans Day; Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving, while Veterans Day celebrates the service of all U.S. military veterans.

One amendment that I believe that should be made to this holiday is to honor those active duty personnel and veterans who lost their lives due to physical or psychological injuries received in combat. This is an issue that seems to be forgotten, especially considering the controversies running rampant in the Department of Veteran’s Affairs and VA Hospitals throughout the country. We need to honor those veterans fighting those battles beyond the theater of war and do all that we can to ensure that they are not one of those fallen after the war is over.

We must honor those who fought and remember what the fought for. While an imperfect union, it is the best that we have and we should not allow the flick of a pen to change the course of our country and question the freedom in this country that we all tend to take for granted. We must remember, support, and defend all that those men and women gave their lives to defend. That is the best way we can celebrate Memorial Day today and every day.

One Year, One Blog

Just over a year ago I made the decision to start this blog. It took me a few days to determine what I wanted to write about, what rules I was going to set for myself, and how often I was going to post. Well, as you know, I decided to post every day and I have done so for a complete year now. That’s right, this post is number 365. It has been a busy year with a lot of changes and a lot to write about. I don't know how sane this daily endeavor has been but, at the very least, I had to set this goal to prove to myself that I still had some kernel of creativity left in me.

It has been tough at times to motivate myself and there have been times when I have given up free time and sleep but it was all worth it given the cathartic nature of the things that I have posted. Even the things that may seem like records of what happened the previous day, there was a certain element of venting, processing, or thinking that allowed me to end the day, deposit the experience into memory, and focus on what was in front of me instead of what is behind. It has also been a way to focus on something positive, or just something else, than some of the things that were happening around me or things that I may have been dealing with beyond the words on the screen.

This has been a fun little experiment and one that I have enjoyed sharing with all of you but now the question is… what is going to happen with the blog now? Well, while this anniversary was originally set as a goal it has evolved more into a milestone. This blog is not going to be coming to an end any time soon. However, I will be making a small change that should make a big difference for me moving forward. While I will still be posting my daily thoughts and experiences, I am lifting the minimum word count.

You all know that I can be very long winded with my posts and I think it is time to put an end to that vicious circle. This doesn’t mean that I won’t have my long posts now any again but now, when the thought is complete, I can stop at a more natural point rather than having to continue to meet that 400 word minimum. This may even open the blog up to other forms of writing and observation so that I can write about interesting or funny conversations or I can post a poem or two that I may be working on. Essentially, by lifting the minimum, I am maximizing the possibilities of both content and form.

So, here is to another 365 posts, another 19,000+ views (a little short of my goal but I'll take it), and another year of recording life, thoughts, opinions, and places. Any other suggestions you might have as to content, form, frequency, etc. that you have please feel free to share below. I look forward to entertaining you for another year and, more importantly, I look forward to recording life.

Finding A Forgotten Park

The past year my wife and I have been so focused on finding places to go that we have had a tendency to overlook some of the places scattered around us. Today we were driving around after a failed attempt to think of a place to go while sitting in the apartment. We drove up and down different streets that we hadn’t seen in years if not decades. As we approached Bryn Mawr I suddenly remembered a small park just off of South Ithan Avenue that I haven’t explored in probably 15 years, maybe longer.

Turning down the old road my wife was confused as to where we were heading. Turning left through the gate and over the bridge the look of bewilderment only grew as for all the years that she spent living on the Main Line she assumed that where we were going was an entrance to a private home. With only a couple of other cars in the lot it was clear that there still isn’t a lot of people that know about the park hidden in plain view. The park, opened from dawn to dusk, seemed to be a bit forgotten with an overgrown lamp and washed out hills around the parking area.

This was proven further when we attempted to walk down the paths along the creek which were overgrown and, in some instances, blocked by fallen trees. With little luck making our way further along the bank of the creek, we headed back and ventured onto the path heading up the hill toward the highway. What seemed to be an old road or driveway had an eerie feeling in its overgrown state and it made me wonder where this road used to lead.

After a few minutes exploring a bit of each path and taking a handful of pictures, which was the real objective of the afternoon, we slowly made our way back to the bridges. It is here that you can really see how dense the trees are along the creek and how old some of the growth is that is fighting to reclaim the park. There is even, for lack of a better word, a mystical quality to some of the trees that seem to live both on the bank and in the water.

 

 

On the other side of the bridge it seems a little lighter but still with a dense canopy muting the light and intensifying the green leaves handing above the water.

 

On a warm spring day it was nice to revisit this park that I had long forgotten existed. With the rare exception of the occasional travels down this road, I rarely think about this place. It was nice to revisit this place a saw on a daily basis riding the bus to school and explore the light and shadows as they danced across the moss covered sides of the bridge.

This will definitely be a park that we will explore again this summer when we are better prepared for the overgrowth. Glad we now have an option close to the apartment to explore when we need a break from all the driving that we will be doing this summer. I guess it just goes to show that sometimes you just have to search your own memories when you are looking for a place to explore.

 

The Pitch Black Creative Catalyst

It always seems that I am up late at night writing a blog. It’s not that I don’t try to get it done earlier it’s just a very simple fact that the ideas and the ability to construct these short essays don’t come to me until there is a slight heaviness in my eyes. I even have the word document open on my computer throughout the day, ready to go, but I rarely find myself actually typing anything. The same can be said for the blank sheets of paper that wind up being neglected as they are shuffled from one side of my desk to the other during the course of my regular working day.

Sometimes, like now, the night brings a wave of prose that forces me to either write well beyond the 400 word minimum I set at the beginning or I am jumping from one document to another recording two streams of thought nearly simultaneously to be posted on consecutive days. What you are reading now if the second of the two. It is an annoying all or nothing situation that I find myself in every day. It’s almost like my creativity is bipolar… it either shies away or I can’t get it to shut the heck up.

Of course it could be the fact that there is only so much creativity and focus that I can produce at one time and with my job requiring much of that focus and energy it proves difficult to syphon enough of the focus away to even jot down a few sentences or word combinations. And that is just for this blog… my other writing is solely a weekend endeavor and only when that too is not filled with the overflow from the week. Those projects require more than the focus of night, they require the vibrancy of the day.

For everything else… personal correspondences (yes, I still write actually letter on occasion), newsletters, emails, and blogs… the evening is still the time to let he ink flow and the fingers fly like a wounded hummingbird. In the end, there is something about the night that motivates me to write. The catalyst that is midnight, the urgency of the hour, and the desire to bring the day to a close are what I need to keep this blog going. It isn’t every night but it is more often than not an essential part of this less than creative process. And when I stop to think about it, it has pretty much been the same way throughout my writing life. Maybe not always this late but certainly after the sun has gone to sleep and the liveliness of the day is all but a memory.

Checking Things Off The Masonic List

There are times when I lose track of all the little things that I have to get done in a day. Hey, its what happens when there are so many things going on at the same time. With everything that has been going on lately, especially at the office, I have not been able to keep up with a lot of the things as Secretary of my lodge. Don’t get me wrong, what needs to be done gets done but just barely. Besides, I am not one to just do the minimum.

Even something as basic as keeping up with a few of the records has been put off for the past month and the notice and minutes for the meetings have been last minute scrambles, sometimes the day of the stated, as there always seems to be one project or another popping up and stealing the time away. It has been this constant running behind that has been grinding at me for months and keeping me from taking time to relax.

Today seemed a little different, almost like the air had changed and the inhale and exhale seemed slightly easier. While there is still plenty of work that needs to get done much of which will certainly bleed into the long weekend, the pace has been picking up and my focus has gotten a little sharper. Just enough to notice. Because of that internal and external environment, today I found myself finally having a few moments in the day to knock out some of the things that have been relegated to the background of my desktop.

It’s when I finally find the time for these tasks when I truly appreciate the work that I am a part of and the privilege that it is to be privy to the details of the lodge. It is also during these times when I realize that I have actually been accomplishing a lot even though there may be things here and there that are slightly behind. Being in the center of the lodge and the communication thereof, I can’t help but get things done and keep things moving.

When I see the number of items crossed off my Masonic checklist I feel a great sense of accomplishment but, at the same time, it makes me look forward to the slow months quickly approaching when the lodge is largely silent. We all need a break every now and then especially those who proudly serve in various roles at the lodge. It will be nice to take some additional time to catch up with some of my brothers without having to run back to my office to get something done. I am looking forward to this time off not from the lodge but from some of the routines of the month so that I can better appreciate the times of fellowship that are scheduled during the summer. Of course, I do have other things scheduled in the early part of the summer but you will just have to read about those later.

Did You Vote?

I am a huge proponent of exercising one's rights. The variety of the rights granted unto us are there to be embraced. We all have the option to exercise the rights that we chose to use. While there are rights I fervently support, sometimes I do not exercise one of my rights. Sometimes there is little motivation and even less time to get to the voting booth.

On Monday night I went to bed with my alarm set about thirty minutes earlier than usual so that I could swing by the community center in the morning before heading to the office. When the alarm sounded in the cool glow of a new day, I was having nothing of it and, without hesitation, reached over and hit the snooze button on my phone. The next thirty minutes, this process was repeated like the directions on a shampoo bottle. Finally I rolled out of bed and began my groggy routine.
 

Before heading out the door, my wife and I discussed the plans for the day and the times we expected to be home that night. It was a lodge night so dinner was pretty much up in the air. I guess we were going to just have to figure it out later in the day…. Usually during out midafternoon phone call. By this point I had been watching the minutes tick by on my watch and I knew that the voting booth was just going to have to do without me in the morning.

If it were a simple run in, run out type of thing I would have taken the detour but I know the people that work the polls and I know the contingent of Democrats that flood this particular location. Frankly, I didn’t want to deal with the delay or the debate. Not that morning. Besides, I know who my nominee is heading into the heat of the campaign season.

Throughout my drive to the office I couldn’t help but think about the various races with the Governor’s race playing the most prominent role in my mind. And while this may seem wrong to some but I couldn’t help but hope that the weakest, most radical of the candidates would win the nomination. I won’t name names but let’s just say that I am really not a fan of the Congresswoman from Abington and her radical brand of liberalism. If anything, I wanted her to win simply because of the fact that it would demonstrate just how successful the Governor has been and the balance that he has brought to the economy of the Commonwealth.

In the end, a one percenter secured the nomination and held a party at a minor league ballpark that he rented out in York. I hope he stays in the minors (maybe we could start calling him "Meat"). I know what you’re thinking and its okay he owns a Jeep that he drives himself so he’s just like one of us. I wonder if he supports paying his own ‘fair share’? It should be an interesting race to watch and I know you will all be shocked when I say this but I already know who I am voting for come November. But, until then, Play Ball!

What Are Your Symptoms?

And both will kill you over time!

Stress is something that we all deal with on a daily basis on one form or another. Most of this encounter this little monster at the office while others deal with numerous outside factors that impact the level of stress in their life. Lately, life seems to be shuffling the grab bag and pouring out numerous stressors all at one time from all different areas. While I am a firm proponent that stress in moderation is a good thing that can help with motivation, too much stress, especially on a consistent basis rather than the normal ebb and flow, has the exact opposite effect.

Unfortunately, stress is frequently overlooked when someone isn’t feeling right. I have seen it time and again in countless friends and coworkers and have experienced a few symptoms here and there in my own life at different points and for various reasons. It is with this underdiagnoses in mind that I want to bring to your attention (or remind you) of the detrimental symptoms and effects that stress can have on you. While by no means complete, here is the list from WebMD:

What Are The Symptoms of Stress?

Stress can affect all aspects of your life, including your emotions, behaviors, thinking ability, and physical health. No part of the body is immune. But, because people handle stress differently, symptoms of stress can vary. Symptoms can be vague and may be the same as those caused by medical conditions. So it is important to discuss them with your doctor. You may experience any of the following symptoms of stress.

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Emotional symptoms of stress include:

·         Becoming easily agitated, frustrated, and moody

·         Feeling overwhelmed, like you are losing control or need to take control

·         Having difficulty relaxing and quieting your mind

·         Feeling bad about yourself (low self-esteem), lonely, worthless, and depressed

·         Avoiding others

Physical symptoms of stress include:

·         Low energy

·         Headaches

·         Upset stomach, including diarrhea, constipation, and nausea

·         Aches, pains, and tense muscles

·         Chest pain and rapid heartbeat

·         Insomnia

·         Frequent colds and infections

·         Loss of sexual desire and/or ability

·         Nervousness and shaking, ringing in the ear, cold or sweaty hands and feet

·         Dry mouth and difficulty swallowing

·         Clenched jaw and grinding teeth

Cognitive symptoms of stress include:

·         Constant worrying

·         Racing thoughts

·         Forgetfulness and disorganization

·         Inability to focus

·         Poor judgment

·         Being pessimistic or seeing only the negative side

Behavioral symptoms of stress include:

·         Changes in appetite -- either not eating or eating too much

·         Procrastinating and avoiding responsibilities

·         Increased use of alcohol, drugs, or cigarettes

·         Exhibiting more nervous behaviors, such as nail biting, fidgeting, and pacing

Those are just the symptoms that you could be feeling at any given stressful moment, the more serious and damaging problems occur when there are periods of prolonged stress. Those consequences include:

·         Mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, and personality disorders

·         Cardiovascular disease, including heart disease, high blood pressure, abnormal heart rhythms, heart attacks, and stroke

·         Obesity and other eating disorders

·         Menstrual problems

·         Sexual dysfunction, such as impotence and premature ejaculation in men and loss of sexual desire in both men and women

·         Skin and hair problems, such as acne, psoriasis, and eczema, and permanent hair loss

·         Gastrointestinal problems, such as GERD, gastritis, ulcerative colitis, and irritable colon

So, here is where you would usual read about the “useful tips” that someone has for you in how to deal with stress… well, I am not going to do that. Whatever I say will work for some (if any) but not for others and, honestly, it depends on the stressor, situation, and individual. Sometimes I just stopped giving half a crap about while other things I have had to cut back on. In the end, it all comes down to what calms you regardless of what other people think… go to the range, play golf, take pictures, write, drive, paint, etc. I can’t tell you what will work for you. I know what works for me and that was hard enough to find.

However, I will say that you need to be aware of stress and whether it is effecting you. Also make sure to look out for your family, friends, coworkers and make sure that they don’t head down this path. Just be there for others and listen. What can also be helpful is a simple invitation to join you when you are looking to release your own stress (get your mind out of the gutter you dirty people). Sometimes this can be beneficial to both of you. I guess you could consider that my ‘useless tip’ for you, free of charge.