"High" on Obama...or something else

I read this morning that a group of people had been polled who indicated that they were 'high' on Obama and all of his 'wonderful' changes as well as the direction our nation is headed.

Part of me wondered who these benighted people are and another part of me seriously wondered what they were smoking and why they weren't sharing with the rest of the class.

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, from which a great deal of understanding can be gleaned, the word "HIGH" has a few different contexts from which we can select to better understand this state of artificial eupohria bestowed upon the citizens of this great nation. Let's take a peek, shall we?


Main Entry: 1 high

Pronunciation: \ˈhī\

Function: adjective

Etymology: Middle English, from Old English hēah; akin to Old High German hōh high, Lithuanian kaukaras hill

Date: before 12th century

1 a: having large extension upward : taller than average, usual, or expected
b: having a specified elevation : tall —often used in combinations
c: situated or passing above the normal level, surface, base of measurement, or elevation
2 a (1): advanced toward the acme or culmination
(2): advanced toward the most active or culminating period
(3): constituting the late, most fully developed, or most creative stage or period (4): advanced in complexity, development, or elaboration b: verging on lateness —usually used in the phrase high time c: long past : remote
3: elevated in pitch
4: relatively far from the equator
5: rich in quality : luxurious
6: slightly tainted ; also : malodorous
7: exalted in character : noble
8: of greater degree, amount, cost, value, or content than average, usual, or expected
9: of relatively great importance: as
a: foremost in rank, dignity, or standing
b: serious, grave
c: observed with the utmost solemnity
d: critical, climactic
e: intellectually or artistically of the first order
f: marked by sublime, heroic, or stirring events or subject matter
10: forcible, strong
11: stressing matters of doctrine and ceremony ; specifically : high church
12 a: filled with or expressing great joy or excitement
b: intoxicated ; also : excited or stupefied by or as if by a drug
13: articulated with some part of the tongue close to the palate
— high on: enthusiastically in approval or support of

Based on the gushing flow of words that are being spewed out by clueless people regarding Obama, I'd have to say definition 12b was applicable.

Also, definition 10 applies. Forcible, strong...as in high winds. For sure the man is a blowhard. Where the money will be coming from is an issue he has danced around, skirted and bloviated to the point that he isn't credible. Well, he wasn't all that credible to begin with in my opinion.

Then again, the first definition of being tall also applies.

But I rather think we hope for more substance than being tall, forceful and the ability to make people drunk on rhetoric.

No one person controls the flow of government in the nation. Our founding fathers knew that for one person to have vested in themselves the manifest destiny of every citizen was a danger that could create classes, oppression and elitism.

At this critical time in our national history, we are touching pen to paper with every passing moment. As with all "high's", there will come a crashing low. The people who have bankrolled their entire future on Obama may be disappointed. And I fear that they will carry us all along for the ride.

There isn't enough money to do all he claims he can do and provide. And employers can and will take the jobs to places where the workers are still thankful to just be employed at any price. We have already lost a lot to the über powerful unions, who have forgotten that they are not demigods and have lost their focus.

That is no excuse to sit on our haunches and do nothing, but a dose of reality needs to be applied on a PRN basis. We have a responsibility to care for the widows and the fatherless, the helpless and the needy. Sadly, most of our public policy these days seems directed more toward the lazy and the greedy.

We reward slackers who are generational recipients of government relief meant to be a temporary stop-gap to help support the basic needs until more secure circumstance could be obtained. Now, it is common to see 4th and 5th generation recipients of relief with their hand firmly grasping their government check every month and no end in sight.

Entire subsystems of society depend upon the 'check'. Young girls who fantacize about how 'wonderful' it would be to have a baby, or twelve, get pregnant knowing fully well they will get a check for themselves, the baby and provided with food stamps, Medicaid coverage, WIC, AFDC and a host of other things that don't require any responsibility. They can dump 'Junior off on Granny' and be free to make Junior 2 through 12 without a care.

Men and women who are abuser of illegal and prescription drugs are allowed to continue receiving government assistance without any moral obligation to attend and succeed in a rehab program that can free them from crippling addiction and put them on a path to responsibility.
Just what is wrong with them being randomly drug tested to keep eligibility for the money?

Our national morality is a sliding scale of convenience based entirely upon the whims of the loudest voices. The Obama's and the other talking heads say they believe in traditional marriage, but they do nothing to support or maintain it against the onslaught of the vulgar and evil practices of the homosexual community who would seek to make equal that which can never be equal before God.

Sadly, many good people have become casualties in the war on words and have lost their grip on the Iron Rod.

"High" on the belief that a mortal messiah has arrived, they believe he can save them, pay all of their bills, make it possible that they will never have to work again and in short, give everyone a happy ending with no work at all.

But in the presence of this carnal man who is just like the rest of us, sadly human, we will see instead the reality that when you feed the beast that is political expediency and corruption rolled into a lipstick coated facade, it only consumes those who feed it. There are no winners when responsibility is replaced with 'if it feels good, do it'.

We were not sent here to earth to experience a 24-hour a day sense of euphoria. It is not only unnatural, it is destructive. We are meant to have peaks and valleys and times that try our souls.

Suffering helps us to better understand and become more humble and teachable to those things that matter far longer than the latest and greatest political move. Hardship is a teacher that cannot be replaced by convenience. And until responsibility replaces the self esteem crap that has taught millions of people that they don't have to perform good acts to receive the rewards, we will continue our slide right into the feeding trough of the beast that never sleeps.

Sir Winston Churchill said it best when he said "An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last. "

The sad part is that when we have become a nation of appeasers instead of a nation of patriots, there will no longer be anything to feed the crockodile but ourselves. Other nations stand ready and salivating in a Pavlovian display to carve up and feast upon this nation and it's bounty. It was prophecied as a chosen land.

My only question is, are we still chosen by God? Or have we sold our birthright AND our mess of pottage for "The One" who is the self-ordained messiah?

My fear is that not only have we done so, we did it all with a rally and refreshments.

It's time to open the windows, blow out the smoke, take the trash out and begin some reform within our own persons. We can start by learning to say "NO!" loudly, often and with real conviction to our elected leaders who are appeasing the few at the expense of the many.

We can stop viewing another person as the be all and end all of our temporal salvation.

And most of all, we can quit drinking the party Kool-Aid and start thinking for ourselves. Disagreement doesn't mean dissent. We have forgotten that.

And we need to tell the Hollyweird crowd that we no longer respect them or their disgusting habits that weaken our nation and ourselves.

Just rambling along today after my exercise...

Going Green but Seeing Red

I'm all about the environment except when the 'going green' momentum screeches to a grinding halt.

We bought, at my behest, an electric battery powered lawn mower last year right after 'taxation without representation season' was over. The thing was wonderful...at first.

As the time wore on, despite following the 'rules' of lawnmower care and feeding, the mower required more rest breaks and pit stops to refuel it's battery. If the grass required more than a gentle once over, the mower sounded like it was toiling beyond all human suffering and comprehension. Talk about a maudlin mower!

Sure, we aren't putting out that big ol' whopping carbon footprint Al Gore cries over at night while tucked into his 4,000 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets he and the missus picked up during their weekend trip to Luxor in his private jet. But we also aren't putting out freshly mown stems of grass flung out to help fertilize our lawn and provide new nitrogen to the roots.

Instead, I get to mow a few feet, then go watch Sesame Street for a few hours while the anemic batteries suck in a minimal charge.

I checked with our local Sears dealership from whom we purchased this brilliant piece of time and labor saving greenware.

Turns out they don't service what they sell. Whodathunk?

But they were happy to tell me I could ship my mower AT MY EXPENSE to an authorized service center somewhere in Fiji to replace the 400$ batteries.

Uh...no.

The mower wasn't even that much to begin with.

I'm ready to smell the delicate burning of fossil fuels again. Either that or buy a few Nubian goats.

Since I am the one who labors over the yard, I wanted to be responsible and green and planet saving and all of that tree kissing, Earth hugging, environmentally saving decision making.

Turns out the only saving here is the corporate bigwigs who are saving my money instead of making a mower that actually WORKS!

GRRRRRR!!!!

I think I'll take my cuticle scissors out. I'd make better time.

*********In an addendum to this post, my wonderful Daddy brought over his GASOLINE powered mower. It looked at the battery powered 'weak sister' with a jaundiced eye then proceeded to bring my lawn into Augusta compliance in no time at all.

I'm recommitted to a mower with actual power. After all, I am a busy woman. With the time spent mowing and recharging that is wasted I could catch up on my reading, knit an afghan or send letters to shut-ins.

Oh, I am so funny!

Actually, with the time I saved, I took a shower, washed some towels and took a nap. . .

On gasoline fumes...

Family Photos

The Family -

Thomas continues to serve the Lord on his mission. He is happy and busy and that is the greatest blessing of all - to immerse oneself into the work and go forward with joy.

Here's Jared about a month after his surgery. He has been through an awful lot but maintains his cheerful, smiling countenance. We are so blessed to have our sweet Jared!

Our very own resident Scoutmaster. Not every house can boast a scoutmaster who is also a fine husband...and skilled carpenter, mason, tilesetter, kisser, painter, drywall installer...

And this is me...we won't discuss when. But it really is me. A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

In the interest of truth, here is the most recent photo of me when I am NOT wearing my favorite blue plaid pajamas...

Listening

Did you ever wonder why people talk so much?

Being a jacket wearing, card carrying member of the motor-mouth association, there are times I am sick to death of hearing my own noise.

Then, to be fair, there are times I'm sick to death of hearing OTHER people's noise too.

When we are talking about something that is important to us as individual people, it's also important to remember that the people compelled to hear us may not be as enthusiastic as their pasted on smiles may make us believe.

Listening, really listening, not just with ears that are partially attuned to the message, but with a heart that is open to receive the feelings of the message is an essential that I am still searching to make part of me.

My mother was an excellent listener.

She didn't jump in with her opinion, advice or suggestions on what to do. She simply listened with her heart and in the process heard all that the words didn't convey at all.

She heard the loneliness and frustration of a heart that was hurting.

She could hear the hidden message from a child who simply didn't know enough words to share their message.

She was able to hear through the application of love.

I don't listen well. I am in a hurry and to paraphrase the lyrics by an Alabama song: 'I'm in a hurry to talk but I don't know why'...because I generally don't have anything worthwhile to say.

During my hours of dreaming of the better self I'd like to become, they say visualizing your goal is always the first step toward attaining it, I dream of a woman who is capable and WILLING to shut her mouth, censure her opinions and simply hear what another heart is crying out to say.

I'm not there yet.

There are days I'm not even sure I know where they path starts for the trip to 'there'.

But I still hope for the time where the ability to truly 'be still' is part of who I have become.

I can feel bits of that feeling in the temple.

It doesn't matter what geography plays host to the House of the Lord. When I am there, I am trying each time to listen in a way that I haven't done before. Not just listening but FEELING the words of inspiration that I seek.

It's not always a success.

Had I been a dog, I would have been a hyper, yippy, witless furbag who couldn't stay focused on the task at hand because something would distract me and off to the races I'd go.

I think of the soft hands of my Mother soothing a child who didn't always say what was going on, but she knew anyway as we would sit and talk.

Like now, the talking was mostly on my part. With Momma being gone now, she can't answer me in the way I'd like sometimes.

And sometimes words were not enough. Momma knew that. It was at those times when she would drop whatever she was doing and just sit and listen.

Years later when my boys were little, I asked her why she would put aside the house, the chores and the distractions of adult life to do so much sitting and listening.

She simply said that the dishes would wait, but that children won't.

I'm still trying to hear that message even now. Not just for children, but for anyone who has even the tinest interest in the real estate of my heart. I need to hear them as if their life matters as much to me as mine does.

Becasue surely, without those who are there to support me, if I am not able to be there for them, what good have I done in this world and will it matter in the end?