Heavy, heavy rain, incredibly powerful wind most of the day; we're practically in a monsoon. Here we are, hanging on to the rest of the northeast by the skin of our teeth, jutting out into the Atlantic and subject to all kinds of Nature's fury...
Maybe I'm being a little melodramatic. Okay, we're in the rainy season. Went to Shop-Rite and was practically blown across the parking lot. Made a nice pot of cabbage and apples in the big crock pot and another of turnips with spices in the small one. Yum. Received from P. and A. a wonderful DVD of their Tokyo bus tour, which included Tokyo Tower, a replica of the Eiffel. Enjoyed watching it. They also sent a charming little mobile with two shamrocks on it. What a delight!
Studied a lot of the "Magnolias" script. I went to Tara's store yesterday, but learned she won't be in until today, so I'll stop back.
Wider: Received one of those dreary "patriotic" e-mails, which exhorts recipients, in twenty turgid stanzas, to "honor" an old soldier, newly deceased. Here's an example of the third-grade level verse:
But we'll hear his tales no longer,/For ol' Bob has passed away,/ And the world's a little poorer/ For a Soldier died today.
And so on. Of course, the recipients are urged to "pass it on," presumably so the thought police wouldn't have reason to get suspicious.
I get mightily tired of receiving garbage like this. Not only is it nationalistic crap, but I love and revere good poetry and this kind of thing gives it a bad name. I replied with this:
I admire more the person
Who has a human heart,
And will not kill his fellow man,
And will not be a part
Of all the lies and raucous cries
From those who stand to gain
When citizens are conned into
Inflicting death and pain
On other human beings
They don't even know--
Praise and give him homage?
Oh no, oh no, oh no...
Sure, that's doggerel, too, but I wasn't going to spend all day on it. Now I'm waiting for the shocked and heavily disapproving reaction because I don't care to keep quiet about urging people to praise and admire hired killers.
Well, it was a rainy day...