I’ve been around long enough to recall race riots and police brutality protests several times. Each time the passions run high, the protests attract large crowds and the violence, vandalism  and arson loom large. And, ultimately, each time a few changes are made and tensions ease. People resume their normal activities.

But nothing ever really gets ‘fixed.’

Can this time be different?  Will there be enough nation wide policy changes to correct problems that have existed for hundreds of years? After I lived through this a few times, I decided all I could do would be to make sure I was living my own life the best I could and try to help others achieve their goals. I’ve done a pretty good job so far. Not perfect. Just pretty good.

I’m really at a loss now to know what else can be done to help impact change. If each person would look to their own life and make sure they are treating others with respect and kindness, that would make a good start. And if everyone would make sure to vote for people they think would represent them well, and would work with other policy makers for the benefit of all of our citizens, we would be well under way to ending this unrest permanently.

That’s a lot of ifs. Still, I remain hopeful.

“ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Five people died in several shootings over the weekend in St. Louis City.

Someone shot and killed a 35-year-old man around 4:00 pm Sunday. That was at Newstead and St. Louis Avenue. Witnesses told police that the shooter rode away on a bicycle.

Earlier Sunday, a 16-year-old girl died in a shooting on Morganford avenue in south St. Louis.

A 39-year-old man was killed on Minnesota Avenue.

Police found two men shot to death inside a vehicle on Maple Avenue in north St. Louis.”

With the current focus on crime and police and the focus on the value of human life,  my attention has been turned to the increasing amount of murders in our city and in cities across the country. I just read that Chicago had one of the worst 24 hour periods for murders with 18 people dead. On Memorial Day weekend, St Louis had 9 shootings with 4 deaths. The news quote above is from the 1st weekend in June, so the pattern of shootings and death is continuing as we enter summer.

What bothers me the most about these shootings and deaths is that the individuals are never named. Certainly their families know, but the rest of the community is never informed unless the victim is a child or is in some way ‘famous.’ An example is the recent murder during a riot of a retired police captain, 77 year old David Dorn. A wonderful man, well respected and kind. He was helping guard a friend’s pawn shop when looters broke in and killed him. In his case there was film that captured photos of the looters and killer.  They have been identified and charged. Most of the other murder cases will never be solved because there were either no witnesses or the people who know what happened won’t come forward. Snitches get stitches the saying goes. I can’t say I would be able to come forward with evidence if I thought I would become the next victim, or maybe someone in my family would be killed in retaliation.

But, it continues to bother me that I will never know anything about these murder victims. People who may have been just regular people with families, jobs, churches, friends, activities they enjoyed. Life just snuffed away, and no justice for them or their families. Mothers, fathers, aunties, spouses, sisters, brothers, children, mourning the loss of their loved ones and maybe thinking no one else cares.

As a society, we need to care about these nameless victims and their families to help end the senseless murders. I’m reminded of the question: if a tree falls in a forest and no one hears it, did it make a sound? These murders should echo loud and long and shake the foundations of what we have come to take as normal. It should never be normal to take another human life or harm another person.

We have just ended May, Mental Health Awareness month, and I believe we need to continue the awareness for the rest of 2020.

Let’s face it, this has been a very unique year so far. Pandemic, job loss, business closures, shut down of the country, economic disaster, and just when we thought life might start getting back to normal, a terrible police killing in Minneapolis and protests and riots across the globe.

To people already suffering with anxiety or depression, 2020 has been a kick in the gut. This is a time, more than any other, that we need to reach out to one another with kindness and be available to listen with compassion. It seems that, just when we need to be together with friends and loved ones, we are told to stay at home. Grandparents who are longing for a hug from a grandchild are told not to get closer than 6 feet to them.  Thank goodness for technology that enables us to share face time through apps like Skype and Zoom so we can share a smile and words of love and encouragement. It’s not the same as being physically present but it helps.

Across the globe people are feeling isolated and alone.  In many cases local governments have restricted their residents’ ‘outside’ time. For many people, a walk at a park or a swim in a lake or ocean provides a sense of calm and connection to nature. With this access restricted, people with anxiety or depression issues are even more limited in ways to find relief.  We all need to be aware of the pressures on ‘at risk’ friends and neighbors during this time of pandemic and strife and stay open to listening and just being there for them.

Stay strong and be aware and compassionate. Be the safety net for fragile individuals. It’s up to all of us to keep every month Mental Health Awareness month.

Do you remember a few months ago when we first became aware that the Covid 19 virus was entering the US?  That was before social distancing and face masks and daily death toll reports.  I recall making one of my weekly trips to the grocery store and finding there was no toilet paper and no cleaning products. I thought it was so strange and really didn’t have a clue why there were shortages. I also just added them back to my next weeks list and assumed I could get them later.

Here it is, 3 months later and the TP and cleaning products are still missing and a few other grocery items are only available on a limited basis, like eggs, milk, some meats and some frozen items.  Evidently people are stocking their freezers and leaving nothing for the rest of us poor freezerless shoppers.

What most people failed to realize was that some basic, essential services would also be put on hold.  Services like hair salons and gyms.  If we knew, we could have rushed to our favorite hair dresser and gotten a very short cut to last us through the pandemic. And we could have ordered some gym equipment on line so we could exercise at home for a few months. But, we didn’t think of it. Now there is no exercise equipment to be had and our hair has gotten so shaggy even our pets don’t recognize us anymore.  I wanted to add just one perfect quote to explain the importance of a good salon, but found several to share:

“A good stylist is cheaper than a good therapist.” Anonymous

“The most important thing a person can have, next to talent of course, is a good hairdresser.”  Joan Crawford

“It doesn’t matter if your life is perfect, as long as your hair color is.” Stacy Snaps Killian

That kind of sums it up.  I’ve seen photos on line of my friends with do it yourself hair cuts and colors. Some are OK and some are just plain funny. I’m holding off and just letting mine grow–down past my shoulders now and back to my college days look. I’m thinking what looked fine on me at 17 just doesn’t suit me anymore and I am hoping, when the salons reopen, my stylist doesn’t laugh too hard. But, what the heck, we all need a good laugh these days.

And, after I get my hair done, I’m going to see if I can still fit through the door at the gym.

“No winter lasts forever, no spring skips its turn.” Hal Borland

Doesn’t it seem as if Spring takes forever to arrive?  The deep dark days of winter slug slowly by with snow storms and skies laden with clouds. A constant foreboding greets us each morning and, at days end, sends us to bed still wondering what horrors await us.

Well, there it is. Spring will arrive in its own good time and it seems that it creeps slowly for a while, then bursts through with gusto. Bare tree branches suddenly have buds, swelling quicker with each passing day. Bulbs start with a tentative breaking through the ground, then shoot skyward, putting on their flower buds, promising worlds of color and scent.

I try to enjoy each moment of spring, each flowering of the cherry and dogwood trees and each daffodil and tulip. While the weather stays cool, the flowers linger but as soon as the first hints of summer warmth arrive, the petals fall from the trees and the flowers bend their heads and wither. All it takes is one big rain storm with strong winds and the cherry petals swirl down like a snow blizzard.

After all the longing and waiting for Spring, it comes and goes in the blink of an eye. A metaphor for life. Appreciate it, enjoy it, use it wisely. Unlike the seasons, we have but one life, here and gone in the blink of an eye.

“Innocent sleep. Sleep that soothes away all our worries. Sleep that puts each day to rest. Sleep that relieves the weary laborer and heals hurt minds.”  Shakespeare

So many people have a nightly struggle with sleep. Not having enough time seems to be the biggest complaint. And then, when there is time, inability to fall asleep or stay asleep kicks in. What is causing these problems?  Are we really too busy in our daily life not to be able to squeeze out 6 to 8 hours for rest? Or do we place such a low priority on rest that we make sure not to allow time for the daily requirement our body needs to repair and rebuild?

I used to put off bed time because I knew as soon as I fell asleep, the worries of the day would catch up with me.  The brain has a funny way of doing this to us.  It never lets us off the hook when we try to push away troublesome events or ignore things that really require our attention. All the work that was left unfinished or the phone calls that weren’t returned somehow manage to pop up in the middle of the night to either wake us up or give us disturbing dreams.  How often I have just gotten up after a few hours of sleep and started working again simply to relieve the weight of work worry. And there were more than a few times I could not fall asleep because I was rerunning the events of the day in my mind. Not the good events, of course. No, the focus was always on the things I should have said when a fellow employee or the boss was out of line. And sometimes it would be a comment I should have said to a client to help them over a rough time or to better explain something to them.

But now that I am semi retired, sleep wraps around me like a warm blanket on a cool evening. I no longer have work worries and the only daily problems I have to face are decisions about what to eat or when to do laundry. I’m afraid to admit this but here it is. These days I not only get a good night’s sleep but also an hour nap after lunch. I wonder if I would have been a better, more alert worker if I could have had one of those daily after lunch naps. Too late to question it now, but somehow I think it would have been a good thing.

“The replenishing thing that comes with a nap–you end up with two mornings in a day”  Pete Hamill

With the Covid19 enforced limits on public entertainment, our media outlets are getting creative in hooks to keep us as viewers and/or listeners.

My own longing has been for the baseball season. There I was, finally finished with winter and looking forward with joy to the Cardinals’ season to begin. We were part way through Spring training when Bam! we were hit with the shutdown caused by Covid19. Professional ball players all over the U.S. were sent home from their winter training facilities and put on hold until the Commissioner felt it was safe to play ball again.

Many of us would rally each time it was hinted that maybe the leagues could play safely if the stands were empty.  Then the questions arose about the safety of the players. Would they need to stay in hotels away from their families for 4 months?  Would they need to be checked daily for temperature elevations or other symptoms of the virus?  Would they be able to eat meals together or would they have to have meals brought to their hotel rooms? And what about the players who didn’t think it would be right to play without an audience?

The baseball season was swiftly passing by with no resolution to the problem and Covid19 was showing no signs of going away any time soon. My baseball withdrawals were at an all time high and depression was starting to overtake me.

KMOX to the rescue! The local St Louis radio station that would normally air each Cardinals game through the season looked back in time and found some pretty good seasons to use for replay.  For the past two weeks, every evening at about 6:00 and noon on Sundays, the last month of the 2011 season is being replayed. Oh the joy of hearing Shannon and Rooney announcing the games with their familiar patter and the background noise of the fans, the crack of the bat, and the sometimes raucous sound of the organ. For those of you who do not remember that season, let me tell you it was magic! During that long summer, the Cardinals’ play had been wavering between excellent team work and disastrous slump. In a final rally, the team got ‘hot’ and raced toward a wild card pick. Sure enough, they made it! Yet their play was still somewhat dicey as they met the division place holders, the Milwaukee Brewers. That team had played with gusto all season and looked like a sure thing for the World Series and destined to be the champions. But, it was not to be. The Cinderella Cardinals desired to go to the Ball and rolled over the Brewers in 6 games. Total magic!

The replay of the season has not ended yet, and even though I know what will happen, I can’t wait to hear it all again.

This is the time of year when the early morning sun transitions from delighting us with the sparkling glint of ice crystals to stopping us by the door with the murky haze of pollen.

AhhhhChoooooo!

Yes, the beauty and color of the blooming trees and flowers and the amazing unfolding of the tree leaves and sudden burst of grass growth has the terrible downside of emitting billows of yellow and green pollen clouds. Well, terrible for some of us anyway.

I happen to be one of the people who managed to live almost my entire adult life without even a hint of an allergy issue. It came on gradually with the first sign being a stuffed up nose when mold levels were high. The next stage was sniffles when the word mold was even mentioned in the allergy alerts. I started thinking I was becoming a hypochondriac and stopped watching the allergy reports.  But the symptoms continued, none the less.

I finally gave in to totally wallowing in all the pollen reports. Oak. Yes. Maple. Yes. Ash. Yes. Hickory and walnut. Yes, yes. You name it, I sneezed at it.

I do still take solace in the beauty of Spring time and the relief that it is no longer the bitter cold, colorless time of winter. That and a good sized bottle of allergy pills.

Have you heard of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault?  I hadn’t until recently.  It’s a large storage facility on Spitzbergen Island just off Norway.  In fact, the island is part of Norway.  It has the capacity to safely protect and store up to three million seeds.

Svalbard was brought to my attention first via the radio show Splendid Table, when one of the guests talked about the importance of collecting and saving seeds.  I know there has been a resurgence in ‘heritage’ type vegetables and grains and a huge movement against the more current GMO eatables, but didn’t know there was a world wide effort to collect and save seeds.  This has been going on to some extent since the 1940s and of course, with farmers, has been going one since the beginning of agriculture.  The more recent focus on collecting takes on more interesting nuances.

My first impression of the seed vault was that it is a wonderful idea.  We need to save old strains of plants to be able to use them as a safeguard against new plant diseases or world crop blights.  Makes perfect sense.  One would think the ‘greenies’ of the world would be very happy with this.

On the other hand, it is worthwhile to notice who is involved with the seed vault and who controls it.  Norway is the home provider so they are involved.  Past that governmental involvement, the other major players are:  Monsanto, DuPont/Pioneer, the Syngenta Foundation, Bill and Linda Gates Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation.  The first three are the worlds largest holders of patented genetically modified plants.  The Rockefeller Foundation CGIR, has been involved in genetically modified plants since 1946. I haven’t quite figured out the interest of Bill Gates and why he would be investing some $30 million in the project. A sinister answer would be that he, like the other groups involved, has been known for monopoly and product/patent control. I would hope his involvement is altruistic. I just don’t know.

Anyway, what is interesting here is that sometimes when things seem very simple and seem like a great idea, more can be uncovered and the purpose is then not so clear.

Although I am comforted by the idea that our world’s seed resources are being saved, I am concerned about who holds the keys to the vault.

For heaven’s sakes!

Have you tried to decipher the Medicaid/SSI/VA Benefits laws recently?  If you have you will agree with me that someone needs to take a look at these laws and simplify them, if not for their own good, for the good of the rest of us.  And, we don’t need a new 27,000 page book of rules.  No, we need something that the average 75 or 80 year old can understand and use.

Does that sound too challenging?  I have been getting more and more concerned as I have seen the laws getting increasingly complex while the baby boomers age and many people are either childless or only have one child.  I just hope the children of the baby boomers are either lawyers or have enough money to hire lawyers to wade through the spaghetti tangle of regulations and exceptions to the existing laws.

For a time I was a trust administrator and I used to file insurance and medicare claims for my clients.  What a mess that was. And, that was back a few years when there were fewer hoops to jump through. As I age, I become concerned about my future ability to understand how all of the government health programs work and what I will do when I am confronted with personal health issues.

To put this simply I say, “Listen up government! Clean up the health care regulations. Make them understandable for average people. Make them usable and helpful.”

Or, maybe things have to get complex before they can become simple, as Alan Perlis observed.

“Simplicity does not precede complexity, but follows it.”