July 14, 2004

  • Isn’t it interesting?

    One of my personal “issues” right now, a bit of my spiritual
    development I’ve been working on, is the effort to transcend my
    tendency toward annoyance at other people’s behavior.  I’ve gotten
    far enough with it that I now don’t react unless that behavior is
    directed at me, and sometimes I keep my reaction down to just feeling
    the annoyance, without responding.  Sometimes, still, I need to
    vent.  I will not go into the particulars this time, but only say that
    there have been a few inane-to-insulting comments lately:  things
    that suggest the writer either didn’t read the blog they’re commenting
    on, or that the person thinks I’m stupid.  I shall consider the
    source, shake it off, and let it go.

    I have never tried to keep a count of all the pointless questions I’ve
    been asked here.  By “pointless”, I suppose I mean, primarily,
    needless:  questions the answers to which are either in the blog
    to which the question was appended as a comment or one nearby, or a
    question that was answered in one of those memoir blogs linked in my
    sidebar.   I don’t count questions, and I don’t try to
    remember names of those who ask, although some of those names tend to stick in my mind
    because some of the same people do it repeatedly. 

    Usually it’s apparent that a memoir-related question seeks further
    information on some subject mentioned in one of those summary-links,
    and the questioner couldn’t trouble himself to click the link to get
    it.  Instead, they ask me to repeat what I’ve already written
    there and linked for their convenience.  Go figure.  Maybe
    they’re simply narcissistically inconsiderate, maybe they’re just too
    stupid to realize that those little memoir summaries actually contain
    links to the stories. 

    Often I ignore such questions, sometimes I answer them.  Earlier
    this summer I got into an extended exchange of Q&A with a bored and
    misguided young woman until I realized that it was becoming a battle of
    wits and I had her absurdly outgunned.  Then I quit.   I
    got another of her stupid questions today from someone else,  asking why I’d been in
    jail.  His question reminded me of one of those things said about the
    ‘sixties:  “If you haven’t been in jail, you weren’t part of the
    ‘sixties.”  Since I don’t recall mentioning it in any blogs this week, I
    suppose he caught the reference in the sidebar.  Hey there, you
    with the dull eyes and duller minds, click the links!
     
    It’s a good
    story, but I’ll not rewrite it for every
    curious passerby.  To get the full story, read the eight
    installments linked just before I arrived at OWCC, beginning with
    “Suddenly I’m a speed freak.”


    …and in other news briefly:

    Again the sky is smoky and the sun is dim, filtered through an orange
    haze.  My eyes burn.  I sneeze, wheeze and sniffle.  My
    fellow-asthmatic in the rehab center had an emergency trip to the
    hospital last week, for inhalation therapy.  The only clear skies
    we’ve had in the last month or two have been when the winds are blowing
    from the south.  On the drive down the valley yesterday, I saw the
    scummy brown haze lying in hollows and obscuring the mountains all
    around.

    This is only the fourth-largest fire season in recorded history
    here.  So far 2.6 million acres have burned.  Over 5 million
    acres burned in 1957.   People in two small towns near the
    Canadian border have been told to pack up and be ready for
    evacuation.  adn.com news of the fires

    It is toughest of all on the firefighters.  That smoke and the
    heat are hard on a body.  My older son Will is retired now, in his
    thirties, from a career leading a hot shot crew, because of the damage
    the work did to his heart and lungs.  My thoughts turn frequently
    to the people living in the path of the fires, and the ones working to
    save their homes.  Not everyone up there is willing to be
    evacuated.  Some say they’ll stay.

Comments (7)

  • I can see the sky through your description. Please be careful of your own breathing.

  • Ack, asthma.  That’s something else that gives me the jitters…  Just about any kind of asthma drug.  Ick.

    I just had to go back and see who asked why you were in jail.  He’s put some ridiculous comments and questions on my site too, if I remember correctly.  I just ignore.  Completely.  Ok, so sometimes there’s an eyeroll… 

  • Just don’t tell him…that will keep him churning for a bit.  I’m sending a downpour your way to clean the  air and put those darn fires out! (I wish I could)

  • My Irish genealogy does not permit me to be calm most of the time around eejit’s, and amadon’s. I pretty much will go at anyone who’s causing injury to another. I especially go off if the injury, or insults are directed to my family, and/or friends. Don’t get me wrong; I am at heart a very peaceful, caring, and loving man. It’s just sometimes my love of life, people, and animals causes me to take the extreme action of ‘raising the sword’ (so to speak). Peace.

  • I wasn’t aware of the fire problem being of this magnitude. Thanks for making me aware. My husband is also a retired firefighter- my thoughts this evening are now with those, like you said, are living the reality and those fighting the reality of fire’s tragic path. Blessings.

  • Here’s hoping for the best…

  • Very nice blog.  Were you really in jail?  Are you some sort of criminial?

    Seriously, I had to stifle a major guffaw at “absurdly  outgunned.”

    BTW, the burn count is up to 2.9 million acres.

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