Stuck in the Sixties

From the time that the hubby and I began to spend nearly half our time in Colorado, I often commented that the whole state was stuck in the 1960's.  When attending the various summer festivals and music events, we've always been fascinated by the number of people who appear to have walked right out of Woodstock and into the 21st century Rockies. 

Earlier this year, before we made our summer sabbatical to the mountain cabin, our friends took great glee in kidding us. According to their way of thinking, with the legal and free flowing availability of marijuana in the state, we would most likely never return from the mellow mountains. Contrary to common assumptions, we've yet to see the streets populated with stoned citizens, their heads encircled in sweet numbing smoke. 

It's a bit difficult for us to be very judgemental about the right or wrong, good or bad of  "Pot-marts" or of those that shop there and imbibe.  After all, we were children of the sixties.  We do believe there are some definite medicinal uses of the controversial weed and also believe that the over indulgence in just about anything leads to trouble. 

That being said, when we attended a Folk and Bluegrass festival recently, we were prepared to see plenty of mountain highs. We sat in our lawn chairs under the tall trees, the music drifted out from under a huge white tent and the beautiful mountains, many still snow capped made a backdrop that an artist could not have painted any more stunning.  The flowing trails of spectators ranged from babies carried in slings to folks that walked uneasily with a cane, on the rocky ground. The favorite seating,  the dozens and dozens of multi colored blankets spread on the ground. The chosen attire was anything tie-dyed, much of it sold by the nearby vendor in the tent fluttering with colorful clothing. Although, the man with the crisp brown kilt, a cowboy hat and boots was pretty interesting.

As the evening approached, we watched the parade of festival goers, our plastic cups of wine in hand...alcohol, certainly one of the most destructive drugs that humans have ever partaken of. They lounged on the blankets and slept, they danced the barefoot waltz and other swaying gyrations that resembled the motions of all the splotched dressed children cavorting around the grounds. They wiggled back and forth with the beat of the music to the beer and wine and food vendors.  We inhaled...waited for a familiar whiff of Miss Maryjane....never caught it.  Oh, most certainly, some of these folks had indulged in their vice of choice.  I mean, you had to wonder about the thin older, gray haired man in shorts, sweatshirt and barefoot that performed his yoga in the meadow beside the dancers. Oblivious to anyone in the area, he moved in slow-w-w motion,  did his standing frog or what-ever. 

In the absence of visible or sniffable proof, we choose to believe that most of these folks are just free spirits.  In this world of chaos they are holding on to a dream of peace and love. And wouldn't it be nice, that fifty year old delusion that we could just all get along?   It was a good day for dreaming. 

Laws of Nature

The laws of nature are not amendable by something as incompetent as our congress or government. Though occasionally something totally unexpected can occur, in general we humans have close to no control over nature.  Nature is certainly not always pretty or pleasant. The other side of the stunning, amazing and beautiful existence of the natural world is the cruel, shocking and ugly reality...the survival of the fittest. 

The hubby and I greatly enjoy our summer cabin at the foot of the Colorado mountains. We particularly appreciate being out of the city and having the views of the vast meadows that surround us and roll slowly up to the spectacular peaks.  In those meadows, with our binoculars and viewer scopes we are able to observe glimpses of nature that we don't have access to in our Texas home.  A small herd of horses roam and graze, with the distant guard of an old shaggy llama.  We see antelope, occasional mule deer and a rare elk.  We have watched a female antelope kick and fight off attacking coyotes, driving them away.

Recently, unfortunately, the ugly side of nature's drama played out in the far green field. A dog from our widespread and sparsely populated neighborhood, in the company of another that we didn't recognize made a newborn antelope calf their prey.  With the mother absent, in mere minutes they slaughtered the small animal. This was a hard thing to see, a cold splash of the reality of life. Later, watching the mother return several times and search the area for her calf was just plain painful.

The thing is, the dog is a perfectly friendly and likable animal. Just a mild faced hunting spaniel, that other than it's annoying mournful howls that sometimes echo from the porch he lounges on, is no problem.  Obviously, paired with his large furry sidekick, the inherent instinct of the hunter and prey easily surfaced. 

Over the next days, my thoughts went to the inevitability of such events, not just in the animal society. In a dystopian world, a world that is altered from everything we are accustomed to by whatever disaster might cause that change, the human instincts of survival will surface.  The friendly and likable neighbor could quickly become your enemy.

If we ever find ourselves in such a world, I believe it won't necessarily be the strongest that survive.  It will most certainly be the smartest and the best prepared.  The huge advantage we have over the animals is our ability to learn from something bad that happens. We have intelligence and the ability to prevent or at least prepare for unexpected events in our lives.  When things happen that remind us of our fragile existance, they should not rule or defeat us but serve to guide us in a more thoughtful and watchful way of living.

That's So Stupid...It's Stupid

The hubby said something last night that was very smart.  As we watched the endless supply of idiotic visions that the tv provides us with and exchanged our usual brilliant observations....what!? did you hear that? (often we don't hear) I don't get that, do you? what is that all about?  He said, "Well, that's so stupid, it's just stupid." I think that was brilliant because sometimes there are no more words to describe the stupidity of something other than that original descriptive word.

Genetic Idiots is my favorite description of humans who are stupid beyond explanation. Those that amaze me to the point of thinking that no one could possibly willfully act that stupid. Bless their hearts, they obviously can't help it. Now, television not only falls over themselves to report any show of stupidity they can discover, they create mountains of it to show us.  I do understand that one's man's entertainment is another's disgust. What's interesting or makes us laugh is very diverse.

But, oh-my-goodness, television is like when someone gives you an ugly ass sweater. You smile politely, it could be worse, and say thanks.  So, they promptly give you five more in just a bit different color. Hey, it's your privilege, your right. If you enjoy watching has been stars dance or people eat bugs to survive or if you somehow relish the drama in everyday life such as watching paint dry...."Well, Taylor Tyler, what do you think? Is that paint going to dry darker than we thought? Oh god, if it does I don't know what we'll do.  We're nearly out of time for repainting this pet store and those poisonous snakes will start biting that lady that agreed to keep them in her bathtub...Yeah, I know, Moonie June, if we don't get paid tomorrow, Uncle Joe can't get that tattoo on his big toe."...If this turns your crank, who am I to judge.  I always thought the Three Stooges were purely stupid, many did and still do think they were hilarious. 

The list of things that are so stupid, they are just stupid would be longer than I could ever complete.  I've been in Dallas, Texas on the some of the busiest freeways in the world and seen people driving 80 mph and texting. I've seen folks that decided a little tattoo on the arm wasn't enough, why not painfully drill color into every single inch of my body and no one can ever get that off me, unless they skin me like a dead squirrel. And then there are politicians.

I know there have always been less than intelligent inhabitants of the world. Humans are just humans. Occasionally, people's idiocy is just plain laughable.  Sometimes, they are scary. I often wonder these days,  if we Americans, like some kind of self destructive Royalty have interbred.  Have the narcissistic, shallow, entitled and self indulgent pea-brains found each other and procreated to the point of the near extinction of the wise and honorable.

Tomorrow is another Day

The quote by Robert Frost is profound, life just marches on. Even more true are the words of George Bernard Shaw, Life does not cease to be funny when someone dies anymore than it ceases to be serious when someone laughs.  So far, another day arrives whether something wonderful or horrific has occurred in your personal existence or in the world. The delimma, the huge question is how are you going to move through that new day.

Who, among us has not wailed at the unfairness of life or been awe struck at a piece of good luck. In my observations, I have come to realize that life, nature, god, whatever your heart embraces is 100% unbiased.  No matter who you are, no matter what race or color or sex or your status on the economic scale, life at any moment might smack you down hard to the ground and kick you right in the gut or it might lift you up on a cloud of joy.  It's so random that a blink, a moment can be the difference in your good or bad fortune.  No question we have a lot of influence on how our life progresses, but nothing insulates us from the ups and downs.  If we had no control over our fate at all, why not just sit down and wait for the next event to wash over us. 

So, to me, this boils down to some basics.  I'm going to do everything I can to live my life with respect for others and for the fact that I can't control everything. Tolerance and movement seems to be the key to getting through life. Even though I spend a great deal of time sitting on my more than adequate bottom and pecking away at these keys, I force myself away and out into the life that is happening out there. Everything is happening out there. You just have to swim on through, keep paddling.  Don't envy the guy over there, floating on a nice safe board and if someone is sinking and you can reach them, give them a hand up.  Don't look back, float on towards your future, just live.