Post #18

Thought for the day:

It is a good thing to know your manners; you can use them when you don’t know how to behave.

--Old Swedish saying

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Today’s thought for the day is from a story written by Lena Rajna, a neat Swedish lady in our memoirs writing class. It’s just one of a whole batch of sayings that her mother often said. Lena simply listed several of these sayings (translated from her mother’s original Swedish) then added her own thoughts and/or explanations. Some examples:
“If there is room in your heart then there is room for an extra butt.” The meaning is that we can make room for an extra guest at the table if we want to.
“It is better to listen to a bow string burst than never to bend a bow at all.” It is better to put in a lot of effort and fail, than never to have had the courage to try.
“Unclear sayings are based on unclear thinking.” Think first then talk.
There are others but these are enough to let you know that Lena’s mother was a pretty wise person, and I think much of that has been passed on down to Lena. In her introduction to this piece, Lena wrote, “…first I thought I would group them by subjects, but then decided not to; I received them mixed and randomly from my mother; life is not set up in groups.”
Her closing sentence is, “Thank you, Mom! Most of these things you said with a twinkle in your eye. They hit home, and I still remember them.”
You can’t beat that for a mother’s day thought.

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I have never listened to the radio talk show hosted by Michael Savage, but I have heard a lot about him—especially lately. Recent news sources tell us that he is one of a fair-size list of thieves, murderers, Muslim extremists, scallywags, and just generally undesirable people that have been barred from entering The United Kingdom—which, I think, includes Great Britain and Northern Ireland and possibly more (I’m not too great at geography). There are apparently several reasons that he has been barred, but basically, it’s just that the Brits don’t want his kind of “entertainment” in their country. The official statement from their law and order chief, Jacqui Smith, is: “I think it’s important that people understand the sorts of values and standards we have here, the fact that it’s a privilege to come [here], and the sort of things that mean you won’t be welcome in this country.” Personally, I’m with Mrs. Smith—or, as the British might say, “Hear! Hear!”
I know we have the right to freedom of speech here in America, but sometimes I think that “right” is terribly abused. It’s often used just as a license to verbally—and viciously—attack anything and anyone that the speaker doesn’t understand or that doesn’t conform to his/her own set of standards. That in itself pushes my buttons. But the thing that really ticks me off is the celebrity who makes uneducated, outlandish statements about things, and wants people to believe he knows what he’s talking about. Every bit as bad, though, is the general public who takes the celeb’s word for anything, just as though he was an authority on the subject.
Why, you may ask, am I bringing this up at this time? Well, the answer to that takes me back to Mr. Savage who, like it or not, holds some kind of status and is a highly paid figure in the broadcast world. He is quoted as having said on one of his recent shows that “…in most cases an autistic child is just a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out.” This is coming from a man who has more credibility as an astrophysicist than he has as a child psychologist. The sad thing is, though, many people will pick up on that and believe it! After all, it was on the radio wasn’t it?
Okay, that’s more than enough preaching for now. I just want to say, Mrs. Smith, please come over here and help straighten us out on a few things.

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Today is the birthday of our wonderful neighbor, Myra Wagner. Actually, it’s not really her birthday; it’s just the anniversary of that event. The real thing happened a few years back. Grandma and I really splurged and took Myra out for donuts and coffee early this morning (that’s 7:30 and it's early for me, not for Myra). We went to a relatively new donut house called “Psycho Donuts,” a new business just started by a friend of ours, Kipp Berdianski. Yes, I know; this is not exactly a good time to start a new business—and I’m sure that his wife, Christine, probably reminded him of that many times before the doors finally opened. I don’t think she has to worry, though; when we got there a little after 8:30, most of their product was already sold out. And no wonder! The donuts are scrumptious!! As if that weren’t enough, they come in various sizes and shapes—not just round with a hole in the middle. Some are round, of course, but they also have square ones, triangular ones and some special sizes and shapes. There are three categories for these yummies: “Gourmet Donuts,” Psycho Donuts,” and “Other Goods.”
The “Gourmet” donuts have names like Marble Madness, Deserted Island, Split Personality, and Bipolar (chocolate glaze with coconut and peanut toppings). A second (fancier) category is “Psycho Donuts” It has winners like Clumsy Crunch, Cereal Killer, Mellow Dramatic, Nutty Cookie Monster (vanilla glaze with Oreos and peanut butter drizzle), Psycho Donut (chocolate glaze with lemon marshmallow, pretzels, and chili), plus a bunch more. The “Other Goods” category has names like Massive Head Trauma (filled with raspberry jelly), Apricotology (an incredibly tasty apricot fritter about 6” in diameter), and Donut Fries, (donut dough cut into strips to resemble French fries, rolled in cinnamon sugar with a choice of dipping sauces.)
I don’t mean for this to sound like a commercial but Psycho Donuts is a fun place well worth a visit. Grandma and Myra have decided that we need to do this for each of our birthdays. I put in my bid for once a month.