Sigrid Weidenweber's Blog, page 7

Pithy Commnets about Mariage, Peace, Pedigree, People and Other Things.

Immersed in our countrie's sad political and financial situation, I became depressed. Nothing lifts my spirits quicker than a good dose of humor. Humor makes life, marriage, illness and wayward children tolerable. So, here are few funny quotes from famous people with a sharp wit.                         

Comments on Marriage: Courtship is to marriage as a very witty prologue to a very dull play.   William Congreve               Second Marriage:  The triumph of hope over experience.   Samuel Johnson                       Marriage is a romance in which the hero dies in the first chapter.    Thomas R. Dewar    (Mr. Dewar does not tell if the hero is really a heroine.)             A termagant unto her husband said, one time when matrimonial squalls blew high, "You and the devil are surely related." "Only by marriage," was his quaint reply.         William Shakespeare                      Men marry because they are tired, (of dating?) women because they are curious (if they can tame the beast?)  both are disappointed.  Oscar Wilde                    He, (She) who marries for money earns it.     Hebrew Proverb

Pedigree:   Do well and you will have no need of ancestors.   Voltaire                He who boasts of his descent praises the deeds of another.      Seneca                    The sharp thorn often produces a delicate rose.     Ovid

Peace:         To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace.       George Washington  (I know this to be true.)                There is a peace more destructive of the manhood of living man than war is destructive of his material body.   Douglas Jerrold     (Of course, who wants to live as a slave.)                              There might be a time when the lion and the lamb will lie down together, but I am still betting on the lion.         Josh Billings        ( I, too, bet on the lion! They have a tough time removing their teeth!)                               

 Pessimists:   Always borrow from a pessimist--he never expects to get it back.     A pessimist is aman who thinks all women are bad. An optimist is man who hopes they are.       Chauncey Depew                         A pessimist is a man who, faced with the choice of two evils, chooses both.         George Bernhard Shaw

Philantropist:   A philantropist is a man who gives away what he should be giving back.        Ralph Waldo Emerson                    To enjoy  a good reputation give publicly, and steel privately.        Josh Billings

Plagiarism:       When a thing has been said and said well, have no scruple. Take it and copy it.      Anatole France              (Unfortunately that method of advancement can also cost you your degree, reputation and fortune!)         The immature artist immitates. The mature artist steals.   Lionel Trilling

 *Comments in brackets are attributable to Sig. If you have pithy, original wisdom, please copy me.

The Norm

Lately I have been thinking about norms—and there are many. We are familiar with cultural norms, ethical and moral=social norms, planning and industrial norms, and uncounted other norms.

We all have heard older people remark about a young person who is a bit immature, has bad behaviors, is lazy or parties too much, “Just give him/her time and they will come to the middle. What is the middle? It is the place where most of us conduct our life, the modus which holds our society together and keeps it going. How do most people define the norm for our society? Well, that is simple. We define a person who holds a job, pays taxes, has a family (no matter how large or small or what members it consists of,) and, more to the point adheres to our laws, as one adhering to the norm.

So how do we define the norm? Well, anyone who has taken higher math or statistics knows that when we gather data for any given quantity and put the found values on a grid between two axis called the x and y axis, and then connect the dots with a pen, we most often come up with a with a curve that turns out to be a perfect bell-shape.

If we further denote the highest point of the bell curve as 0 or 100, we can then denote spaces accorded by percentages to 1, 2, 3, 4, distance points which we call standard deviations. This is the way in which we measure intelligence, children’s allergies, crop maturation success and, for example the cultural norm. (Google Bell Curve and learn.)

Now measuring some things is easier than others. For example: when examining cultural norms we get into philosophical troubles and debates. In Inca-society it was perfectly normal to cut the heart from a living victim and, as it has been claimed consume part or all of the body. If we define this behavior as normal in this society, we would have found that sixty eight percent of the people agreed with the creed and thought that this was perfectly good behavior. Within another standard deviation on either side we would have found 14% of people disagreeing with the concept and, on the other side of the curve 14% believing that not enough killing was being done.

Do you see where I am going with this? In our own political system, until recently, people believed that our government was just fine and doing a good job. Hence the bell curve would have shown 68% of the people to agree with this statement. Today we could not show you this distribution. You would see a curve enormously skewed toward one side.

Let us examine the cultural norm of Islam. Most Muslims in different countries believed for a long time that their society and culture was adequate. The combined believe of the majority could have been expressed in the perfect bell curve. Today their world is changed and you would see a bell curve that represents recent upheavals and the new normal thought shows discontent with the old norm. It is also normal in Islamic culture to keep women in a state of semi-servitude by denying them most civil rights, and that this is the societal norm.

Let me end this epistle with a thought to contemplate the dissolution of our own social and cultural norm. The standard defining normal has been broadened to a point where the bell curve does not exist anymore. Marriage for example has been changed in its definition where it has no more cultural meaning. Other social values, too, have been stretched to be literally unrecognizable. The complicity of our governmental organizations in the proliferation of pornography, for example, has made it possible that some of our best minds are polluted, rendering them addicted and chained to the computer and its ever more degrading fare. Thus they are unable to be of value to our civilization. John Armstrong in his book “In Search of Civilization,” states, “It is possible to inherit a great civilization without possessing the will to defend its ideals.” This statement describes our society perfectly. Who will now defend our ideals?

 

The Crying Room

The Crying Room

I just heard about a government report, which extinguishes even a flicker of credibility for the efficacy of medical marijuana. As the report ascertains pot just masks symptoms and renders the patient unable to properly assist in his treatment.

This is an immensely sensible conclusion. I have the unhappy duty to weigh in on this issue. Our son, Michael had, like so many of his friends experimented with pot. When illness struck him, he stared an early death in the face. Scared, he began smoking pot in earnest. This was many years ago and I, unfamiliar with any kind of drug, did not even recognize the symptoms. Stupidly innocent I thought that my son was just a little silly at times; was a little contemplative, perhaps a little withdrawn. Then, because of severe medical conditions requiring operations, he became addicted to prescription drugs. My husband and I helped him to get clean of the meds a few times, but he always returned to the pot.

It got so bad that in his pot-addled mind he began to refuse a life-saving transplant operation. Our family, small and very intensely focused on each other, decided we needed and intervention. We tricked our son and brother to drive with us to what he thought was a party and checked him into a treatment-center.

Now the real story begins. Part of the treatment was a week of family participation. We, even his sister, went through lectures on addiction, went through confrontations with the addicts. And those confrontations took place in what I came to call the “Crying Room.”

Patients of a particular treatment group, grouped together not by choice of drug but temperament and resistance to compliance, together with their respective families came to the “Room,” dreading the confrontations. Patients and family members were to confront each other by revealing their feelings: describe how terrible we felt, seeing our loved ones ruin their lives, how hurt we were by their behaviors and how helpless we felt that we could not help them and prevent them from sliding into a mental and physical abyss.

They, in turn, did what addicts do best before they really want to give up their addiction, they laid blame. While the addicts seldom cried when we bared our souls to them and the strangers in the room, moms, dads, sisters and even a few brothers would break down and cry their hearts out, especially when we were accused of being the cause of all their problems. The process went on for days.

After Michael had been in treatment for six weeks, at incredible expense I might add, he was released—unbroken, untroubled and still addicted. An old man in this group, addicted to alcohol, his wife was leaving him, and his daughter avowed she would never see him again if he continued drinking, left the facility and kept on drinking. A politician with great carrier ahead of him, a beautiful, young wife crying for him bitterly, left the facility one night to get his cocaine. Of all the people in Mike’s group only one man finished his twelve-steps, the rest lost this particular treatment bout.

I have come to believe, as most of the young men and a few women there began their addiction with marijuana, that it was their gateway drug to the next drug of choice. Some liked pot and alcohol together, some went to cocaine, some shot heroine. Quite a few of the addicts, I came to realize, self-medicated because they suffered from undiagnosed mental illness.  Undiagnosed milder forms of manic depression were, in my opinion, the greater culprits.

One lesson I learned the hard way: You cannot help an addict get clean. There has to be a sincere desire to get well, to seek help, proper medication. One can only stand by and facilitate when help is truly sought.

 

Escapism in Literature

 A few days ago I wrote about fantasy and horror books in young adult and children’s reading material. Here is the adult parallel. Monday, July 11, 2011 the Wall Street Journal Bookshelf reviewer, Tom Shippey, reviewed George R. R. Martin’s book “A Dance with Dragons.” Mr. Martin’s series is inhaled by a breathless following of adults.

I do not know how you all progressed into adulthood, but I for one was almost totally done with fantasy and horror books by age thirteen. Later, raising my children, I shared in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings. So far, so good, the man was an excellent writer with many moral, character-building lessons to teach. Unfortunately he revived the entire fantasy genre. Now we have the sick horror fantasies and the dance with the dragons in the land of Wargs and Yunkishmen. Shippey points out that in one of Martin’s books, (notice the R.R. as in Tolkien’s name,) he created 1,000 names on top of characters like the small folk, (now does not  that remind us of hobbits?) There is a queen who raises dragons from eggs to use them against her unruly subjects and on and on.

Martin’s books are apparently very popular, as are many other fantasy stories. What this tells me, and others also, is the fact that we live in society where escapism from reality shapes the minds and lives of our people. It is much easier to ignore that our country is morally and ethically bankrupt and is now on its way to financial ruin, when one buries one’s mind and thoughts in a land of Wargs and Yunkishmen.

 

In Memory of Winston Churchill

"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."  Churchill's great quote says it all. Think about that! The gospel of envy! The prayer-book of jealousy. If all of us put our minds to it we can find someone who has more than we have. The moment envy enters our hearts we do not think rational and, as we have seen in certain revolutions, men can become ruthless, insane killers to get what others have.

More on Dr. Wolf

Dr. Wolf chooses to live by an old addage: We can choose our friends but not our family. You can, however, challenge your family to stop "transforming America into a second-class European-style social welfare state." And, therefore, Dr. Wolf challenges Obamacare. Remember: Obama as candidate for the prsidency made the "firm" promise, nay, he said the "the firm pledge," that no family living on unde $250,000 a year would see any form of tax increase. Dr. Wolf reminds us that this promise was forgotten as soon as president Obama was in charge. $569 billion in new taxes will be unleashed in the first decade, and I quote Dr. Wolfe: "Payroll taxes. Prescription and drug taxes. Insurance taxes. The president taxes everything from tampons to tanning salons; from MRI machines to the sale of your home."   So prepare to die in your home, for otherwise the taxes will be awaiting you. 

I am German, and in my younger years I experienced the much vaunted European health-service. I can assure my readers that you get what pay for. If you pay with good German Marks, dollars or British pounds, as the oil sheikhs and other greats of the world do, you get the Cadillac treatment. If, however you ride on the free health plan, for which the money is subtracted from your pay check before ever see it, your choices and the treatment provided is very different.

In England for example, where I had the misfortune to come down with pneumonia, my treatment in the hotel was first rate. When I had a breathing problems, an excellent physician ministered to me in the middle of the night. Of course, he knew that he would be remunerated in healthy American dollars. (At that time the dollar was worth much more! I do not know if doctors make night visits for dollars now!) So I wish all of you good health in the future. You will need it!

Obama's Cousin, Milton Wolf, M. D. Opposes Obamacare

Oh, boy. I just read an article by Dr. Wolf, a radiologist in Overland Park, Kan. He is the only relative of the president whose person and face I have seen, except for his half-aunt Zeituni Onyango, the one who came to the US, overstaying her visa, receiving $700.00 per month benefits, housing and medical care while fighting our immigration laws. Come to think of it, there are few people who claim to have a connection to our president before he became a senator. No girlfriend has ever claimed him as an early love object, no boyfriend from college calimed friendship. Wow, and that in a country where name dropping has been perfected to an art. But, all that is beside the point.

The cousin, far removed, however claims kinship and then writes: "My Medical Oath Forces Me to Oppose Obama Care." Wow!! This is one of his salient points: "For the first time in the history of our REPUBLIC,  (See he does not write DEMOCRACY!) the federal government has issued a decree that its subjects, on condition of simply having been born, must enter into a legal financial contract with a state-sanctioned company. Not even King George III dared impose his will in such a manner."

This is so well said that I have nothing to add. Dr. Wolf has many more good points, which I will discuss later. I will add on to this blog.

The comments below were sent by a male admirer of Catherine, my Book.

Catherine is an adventure into the heart, mind and soul of one of history's greatest rulers.  The story reveals the full spectrum of a woman's potential by exploring the breadth and depth of feminine experience. Catherine exposes everything every woman ever wanted to experience and more. The author unveils a compassionate insight into Catherine's weaknesses along with an admiring view of her strengths. She weaves a bold and vivid story about the daring of one woman meshed with a psychological peeling of the layers of character found in every woman. Discover the one weakness which prevented Catherine from advancing history as she desired and dreamed.  Explore the greatness and flaws in Catherine and share an in depth analysis of how this tragic and heroic figure was built up by love and destroyed by love.  Women will laugh and cry in empathy; men will be blessed with insight and nderstanding of the full potential and complexities of women. This is a ook for readers who want to experience the true soul of history through one of the most dramatic lives ever lived.
This is book one of the trilogy, The Volga Flows Forever, which details the history of theVolga Germans a unique group of people Catherine enticed to poulate and develop the Volga region.

 Wow what a guy! I could not have said this better myself. I would note even try, modesty forbids that I comment at all.

The comments below were sent by a male admirer of Catherine, my Book

Catherine is an adventure into the heart, mind and soul of one of history's greatest rulers.  The story reveals the full spectrum of a woman's potential by exploring the breadth and depth of feminine experience. Catherine exposes everything every woman ever wanted to experience and more. The author unveils a compassionate insight into Catherine's weaknesses along with an admiring view of her strengths. She weaves a bold and vivid story about the daring of one woman meshed with a psychological peeling of the layers of character found in every woman. Discover the one weakness which prevented Catherine from advancing history as she desired and dreamed.  Explore the greatness and flaws in Catherine and share an in depth analysis of how this tragic and heroic figure was built up by love and destroyed by love.  Women will laugh and cry in empathy; men will be blessed with insight and nderstanding of the full potential and complexities of women. This is a ook for readers who want to experience the true soul of history through one of the most dramatic lives ever lived.
This is book one of the trilogy, The Volga Flows Forever, which details the history of theVolga Germans a unique group of people Catherine enticed to poulate and develop the Volga region.

 

First E-Publishing

Well, it finally happened! My first e-book is out there on amazon. Not very expensive either, when one considers the hard copy costs $25.00. Catherine is a story about the life of the historical monarch. There are many historical and fictional books in the shelves of libraries. However, I viewed the historical material with the eyes and the mind of a woman, cutting through a load of male biase. I have a degree in psychology, which helped me understand how the Tsarina made her decisions--governing, personal and as commander-in-chief of an army.

I hope that those of you who like to read give the novel a chance. Please do not hesitate to leave a comment or review on the amazon-site, which is amazone.com/gp/product/B00580JPEE. So far, we have had our first sales without starting the promotional campaign. Thank you for your patronage.