Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Riddles

I have a young reading student who I thought might respond to humor, so I looked up some riddles. There are plenty - I am happy to report-  of clever people writing these ditties and posting them in easy to locate sites. Bravo humor thinkers!
Periodically I get the sense that we don't laugh enough, that we take life too seriously. (Except for the weird celebrities and pundits that are journalistically puffed up and watched for diversion, which does nothing to tickle my funnybone)

So here are some of my favorite recent finds :


What is the cannibals favorite game?
Answer: Swallow the leader.

I wonder if Barack Obama can relate to that.
I just read that they want to oust David Wu because he sent a photo of himself in a (gasp) tiger costume to some of his staff. Wow. What has become of this place? The ghosts of the Puritans are busy busy. Someone thinks that a tiger costume makes a person unfit to be a Congressman. I like David Wu, and I think he looked cheerful in the costume. What is wrong with being cheerful?

Now, if you want to loose weight, take the advice of Miss Piggy:
"Never eat more than you can lift."

If that is taken out to it's pure end, well, you do the math. It can be applied to anything.

I really like this one - What do you do when a bull charges you?
Answer:  Pay him!

That is good advice for living within your means. But don't live being mean.
Maybe this is my reaction to the fact that Congress is trying to eliminate funding for all the best parts of our country - like Americorps and Planned Parenthood. Shock has caused me to wax nutty.

Those union members in Wisconsin are fantastic... I hope they live forever.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Blue Sky

It is still muddy here, the jory soil, gummy and brick red, sticks to the shoes if you walk on the non-gravel roads.  Three mountains are out, shining white. The violets are blooming even as there is frost on the grass before the sun hits it. Spring seems very close today, a tease, but I will take it as a birthday gift anyway.
I am celebrating my life today, having permission because it is the day I came into my first breath 55 years ago. I have to thank my parents for wanting me. They were 30 years old, I was their 4th kid. They were so worried that I would actually make it after Mom had 2 miscarriages. They gave me this gift, of being alive in a body to know the joy and the pain, to see the beauty and the trials.

Our breath is the one thing which connects us to the beginning and the end of life. Our practice offers us the reminder to notice that breath.  Today I notice how lucky I am to have clean, fresh air to breath.
In our travels last month I experienced the fright of having unclean water cause angry red blisters to form and spread on my skin without my understanding of what was happening for a week.
A good doctor took one look and gave my 5 days worth of penicillin. Even as I assiduously took my required 6 pills a day, and no alcohol or spicy food, I could only imagine times before the penecillon option . One might have had to sit and watch the body rot. Of course there was less bacteria in the water. The increased propagation and domestication of animals for food and otherwise has given us crazy new viruses and compromised water. Human overpopulation is the other big factor.

In short, I am so grateful for antibiotics. I can't change the world, make the water cleaner, stop overpopulation, except to attempt to live simply in the ways that present themselves. The skin on my arm is healing slowly, I watch it everyday with fear and amazement. The thoughts of others who live with compromised air and water weigh heavily for me. If I am more specifically grateful for these simple things, this should cause me to be more active in the protection of the environment.
It should...

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Obesity Linked to Right Wing Ideologies

OK, it is still winter, and I am very soon to turn 55, yikes... so it must be time for a spot of humor:

I can't eat 'Onion', so I'll call this my 'Garlic' (form of satire):

Clinical research is now finding  a direct causal relationship between the amount of excess body fat a person holds, and the hours that person spends listening to fox new's glenn beck, or talk radio's rush limbaugh.
'Top scientists' have studied groups of adults, many of whom are 20 - 50 pounds overweight, and guess what? Yes, just as you might have suspected - anger, vitriol, misinformation and hatred all contribute to poor eating habits, lack of meaningful activity, and, consequently, fat.

How would that make us think, and act... to believe that holding mean thoughts makes the body hold onto calories? This could be a new take for the billion dollar weight-loss industry. Is a patent in order?

I think it is at least partly true. Kind thoughts and kind words, compassion is the diet of the happy future.