An Epitaph For The Living

Tags

children, Death, heroes, Love, Seattle, selflessness, Volunteer Park, Washington State

Crossing Over – Seattle, WA – Volunteer Park

Monday, May 19th, 2014 came up fine, a glorious spring day.

An armada of opaline clouds, their sails puffed full with the solar wind, was already on the move across the sapphire sky and randomly bombarding the land below with life sustaining rain.

The leaves on the trees, only a few weeks before, born emerald green and soft as a newborn’s breath, were now growing thick and tough in anticipation of the scorching sun that would vanquish the armadas of spring.

Into this, I stepped, as I left my home that morning, another day of my life thoughtlessly spent in the illusion that mortal life is infinite.

Later that day, during the amber afternoon, my friend’s daughter, her luggage filled with her family‘s most gentle, kind and patient love, reached her time of departure and navigated beyond the armada, the sapphire sky, and into the onyx night of eternal quiet.

A few months before this particular Monday, the daughter discovered that she had but a few months to live. Quick decisions were made to attempt the impossible and to live the remaining days as normal as possible.

In the beginning that is what happened.

Passing by their home, the blinds would be open and I would see them living life in the same manner as they had over the previous few years.

Some days I encountered them out enjoying a bit a fresh air around the neighborhood. When everything was most normal, they would be gone for a few days visiting, leaving their home dark and the blinds closed.

Over the months, the physical space in which normal existed began to shrink relentlessly.

The walks became less frequent, then less frequent and shorter, and finally they were reduced to the daughter regularly stepping outside to smoke cigarettes while her mother would poke her head out the door every few minutes to make sure everything was still normal.

Soon the windows blinds were always half closed during the day. Not once did I see this cloistering as attempt to confuse death or to keep the world at bay; rather I felt them working hard to keep life from leaking out.

As time grew grave, the cigarettes smoked outside occurred less and less and then one day, the blinds stayed closed 24 hours a day.

Rarely did desperate shadows cloud my friend’s face even though it was clear she was exhausted to death and her heart was breaking. Instead, she gave us cloudless days of resolute calmness, determined devotion, and infinite love.

Late that night, just before the last moments of the last day of months of dying evaporated, my friend sent me a quick note that she was so thankful it is over for her for daughter and that she was going to bed.

Small details paint big canvases; such is the nature of people who do the truly heroic work in life.

***

Now comes your time to be loved and sustained. Soon enough your blinds will reopen. Soon enough you will step into a morning filled with opaline clouds. Soon enough. Soon enough.

You are loved and admired.

Copyright 2014 By Katherine Johnson – All Rights Reserved.

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A Modern Tale About Grandkids And Their Granddopers (Parents Optional)

Tags

4th Grade, Colorado, Legalized Marijuana, Mega Snark, Unintended Consequences

Key dates related to the State of Colorado legalizing marijuana

• May 28, 2013 Governor Hickenlooper signed several bills into law that implemented Amendment 64 (the legalized dope laws).

• September 9, 2013. The Colorado Department of Revenue adopted the regulations for retail pot stores.

• September 16, 2013. The Denver City Council approves an ordinance governing retail marijuana establishments

• January 1, 2014. The first stores officially opened.

• April, 23. 2014. The first reported instance of a pack of 4th graders trying to expand the scope of the law.

Real Headline. Real Story.

It’s Legal to Sell Pot in Colorado, But Not If You’re in 4th Grade
April 23, 2014 – ABC News
Greeley, Colorado

Knock. Knock. Hello. Hello. Anybody home in that head? Mom? Dad? Hello. Hello.

This story, involves four 4th graders, boys to be exact, some grandparents, an elementary school, and some missing parents.

We begin with one of the 4th graders (aka Youth 1) bringing some dope to school that he swiped from his grandparents which he then sold to three other 4th graders.

Yes, you read that correctly – he swiped some dope from his grandparents. Youth 1 then, according to the ABC story, “sold it to three other fourth graders on the school playground, which resulted in a profit to the young man of $11.” My first reaction was that Youth 1 should have been dealt with harshly, sort of like how people tell me that ditch weed tastes.

However, after a moment of reflection about the matter I realized that this kid is a budding entrepreneur and should be applauded for that. To put some perspective about being judgmental towards him, I ask you this: what was your smokin’ accomplishment in 4th grade? I thought so.

Thankfully there is no way on earth this basic scenario could happen twice in the same town let alone the same school district, same school, or even more unlikely on subsequent days.

Technical note for non-English majors: this previous line is what is called foreshadowing. In boxing it is called telegraphing a punch.

The next day one of his customers from the previous day (aka Youth 2), showed up a with a “marijuana edible” that was also swiped from his grandparents.  Youth 2 then gave the edible to our entrepreneurial lad (Youth 1) who then took a bite. The news story reported that he suffered no “ill effects.” My first thought to this was, bummer, dude. My last thought was bummer, dude, you should have eaten the whole thing. At least they weren’t playing with matches or smoking.

A 4th Grade Word Definition Lesson

Da’ Bomb – a slang phrase that asserts something is awesome.

An example of a situation that deserves being labeled Da’ Bomb.

Not only did this happen twice in the same city, but it happened twice in the same school district, twice at the same school, on subsequent days, and involved a second set of grandparents. The only detail missing, is whether or not this fabulous 4 all have the same teacher. Dude that is Da’ Bomb!

But I digress…

Then there is this tidbit: “Both of these kids took the marijuana without the consent of their grandparents.” That is a really weird quote since it seems to imply that this whole situation would have been all beastly mcbeasters if the boys had received permission from their grandparents to bring Mary Jane to school.

Stuff like this makes one wonder about what is going on with the current crop of grandparents in Colorado. I mean, come on, pot is expensive and getting ripped off is a total downer. And yes, that includes your grandkid; it simply isn’t funny. What a bunch of tools.

These grandparents are doing a ginormous disservice to the grandkids by not being examples of personal responsibility. These Youths need to learn the value of private property. Straight up they need to get a job and buy own their own stash and knock off the stealing. Of course I am assuming the grandparents are able to set a positive example by actually having jobs. This is not 100% certain.

Apparently this is the new normal for grandparents. To highlight this change, my Grandparents were just a wee bit different from the grandparents in this story. For example, I never once saw my Grandmothers wearing hip hugging, tie dyed bell bottoms or my Grandfathers wearing fringed leather vests and sunglasses with blue, round lenses. Plus I never once considered if they had a stash unless it had been recently confiscated from a grandkid after busting them. Of course that confiscation stuff is all speculation (just ignore me going *Cough*, *Cough*, and looking at the toes of my shoes at this point).

I was also struck by the fact that not once in this article were the parents mentioned. Since I am not qualified to be a mental health professional (actually I am only qualified to be professional client) I can’t really make an absolute conclusion about how they impact this situation but I will go way out to the end of very stout and short limb and say Wednesday, Thursday, Friday! (this is code – read the caps). You betcha these baked toads have an itsy bitsy amount of ownership of this whole situation.

The school administration compared the dangers of leaving loose lids lying around to being no different from those posed by leaving booze and prescription drugs lying around. That was a sensible comparison. However, schools being schools, went right to also concluding that the dangers of firearms were pretty much on par with the risks posed by the ole’ ganga. Really? Seriously? I have to be blunt here; there is not one incident on record of anyone carrying a joint into school or a movie theater and making sure that a whole bunch of people never get to come home again. Sigh.

At least the school administration decided not to pursue criminal charges for a change; instead they decided that the gang of four 4th graders will face being suspended for a “significant number of days.” Great. No, not great. Stupid actually. They will probably be unsupervised the whole time and end up robbing banks when their sorry little butts should be in business school. Even 4th grade drug empires should keep proper books.

A much better solution would be to keep them in school and make them eat the Obama broccoli for lunch every single day. Then keep them after school and make them do homework. Lots of extra homework for the next 8 years so we can make sure these kids graduate high school. I am sure some grandparents would be happy to volunteer as tutors or wardens for these four Youths and, if the grandparents happen to be from Colorado, customers.

From the Grateful Dead – conclusion (#1) :

Truckin’, I’m a goin’ home. Whoa whoa baby, back where I belong,
Back home, sit down and patch my bones, and get back truckin’ on.
Hey now get back truckin’ home.

From Cheech & Chong – conclusion (#2):

Dave knocks on the door
Person inside: Who is it?
It’s me, Dave. Open up, man, I got the stuff.
(More knocks)
Who is it?
It’s me, Dave, man. Open up, I got the stuff.
Who?
It’s, Dave, man. Open up, I think the cops saw me come in here.
(More knocks)
Who is it?
It’s, Dave, man. Will you open up, I got the stuff with me.
Who?
Dave, man. Open up.
Dave?
Yeah, Dave. C’mon, man, open up, I think the cops saw me.
Dave’s not here.
No, man, I’m Dave, man.

Copyright 2014 By Katherine Johnson – All Rights Reserved.

The Arms of Humanity

Tags

Big Bang, Creation, Rock and Roll, Science, Spiritualism

Szukalski’s Last Supper – Rhyolite, Nevada

Somewhere in my mid teenage years my mind suddenly, so it seemed, developed the ability to articulate unschooled thoughts about topics such as the relationship between faith and science, or whether or not an objective reality exists.

Having the time afforded to youth, I also had the luxury to squander hours considering why music and images had the ability to reach the deepest parts of my soul; after all, I grew up on the fringes of a generation that embraced sex, drugs, and rock and roll with enthusiasm.

These revelations were not that different from the moment, when, about a decade earlier, while I was looking at a globe of the earth, my mind noticed that west coast of Africa roughly matched the east coast of South America. The idea that continents were nothing more than titanic ships that floated on top of the oceans seemed dead right at that moment. Some years later I read in a book that Science sorted out that the continents do drift on oceans of magma deep in the earth.

Now that the majority of my allotted decades have drifted by, no more than a speck of dust in the ocean of time, I find that I am still perplexed by the nature of faith, science, sex, drugs, and yes, rock and roll.

I cannot imagine that the universe did not exist before I was born nor can I imagine that it will cease with when I die. My proof is by inference and blood; my parents once, while holding my hand, help me to find the Milky Way and the North Star in the black sky of the American West. These types of experiences, direct observations, and the complete lack of Sunday mornings spent in a church, were the tides that pulled me towards the empirical shore and away from the spiritual one.

As I drifted along that shore, I never fully avoided the turbulence that was slowly dragging me back towards the middle of the sea. Over the years, the arrogance of youth grew weaker and weaker and one night I found myself holding a child’s hand and pointing to the sky. We discussed the Milky Way, the North Star, and eventually how the Universe began.

As I explained Science’s creation story about the Big Bang and the resulting epic flash of light I accepted that the idea that this interpretation at its most fundamental level was nearly identical to the passage in Genesis where “God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” I quickly discovered myself in ambiguous waters.

I reconciled this paradox by not only becoming content to be becalmed in ambiguous places, but through concluding that Science and Spiritualism are nothing more than the left and right arms of humanity that when dipped into the universal sea and brought together hold belief and faith in their cupped hands.

Artists have the odd role of being the politicians in the debate between Science and Spiritualism since they, like politicians, tend to have big mouths and love to hear themselves squawk and moan about life. Through the process of creation, artists comment about what a society values, record the history, and illuminate what portion of the endless tension between Science and Spiritualism is currently dominant.

A thousand years ago the great European painters gave us endless faces of Jesus and Saints while in Central America the Mayans gave us great pyramids that rose above the jungle and revealed the night sky to Priests where they become astronomers. A thousand years later, a people only a generation or two freed from slavery, gave America its musical soul and forever changed the course of musical history while the writers wrote stories of a continent in financial collapse, the threat of atomic war, and jazz.

Today, at the beginning of the new millennium, astronomers, through technology appear to have observed gas clouds and gravitational waves that have survived untouched since the Big Bang. If these observations hold up through the rigors of scientific examination humanity will have empirically proved that in the beginning that there was light.

After that, we can should have the time to embrace with both our arms the truly important things such as dancing in the dark to the sounds of sex, drugs, and rock and roll.

*****

This is my 100th post to Una Voce Sola. An arbitrary milestone for sure, but one that I find useful and will embrace with both my arms.

Copyright 2014 By Katherine Johnson – All Rights Reserved