Why Blog? (Part 2)

At certain times in life (and I’ve experienced two such in my recent past, this being one), everyone needs someone, even when they don’t yet know they need them, or why, or even who they are.

Such was my state in life, when one day over 3 years ago, I chanced to over hear two little old (ok, not that old) ladies while leaving the YMCA.  Bit and pieces were all I could take in - something about Maureen Green, and blog, and the internet.

What was a blog, I wondered?  I knew who Maureen Green was - the extremely popular evening news anchor for a station that shall not be named for their short sighted stupidity in relieving her of her position.  Caused quite the stir, and deservedly so, when it happened at Christmas time in 2007.  Christmas time…it never ceases to amaze me that real people actually make such decisions. Or are allowed to.

So I decided to check it out, and the rest, as they say, was kismet.  Maureen’s blog was in its infancy in 2009. I found it so interesting, and easy to read. I didn’t even know why, at first.  But soon I did.  It was not only the very nature of her blog. It was the style of her writing ... the unique way she could communicate her ideas and opinions with the written word.

Maureen has an ideal forum.  She does not have a focused subject around which her every “post” revolves.  Maureen simply comments on just about anything that strikes her fancy, and her fancy gets around.  I find it a delightful exercise – to open her blog to see what the current object of her curiosity is.  She can talk about cooking one day and the murder of a small child the next, and make both fit seamlessly into the fabric of her blog.

I noticed that several people made “comments” to her posts.  These people would in some fashion add to the subject matter at hand, and Maureen would sometimes answer them.  I slowly began to add comments now and then.  I didn’t think them special or in any way different.  They were simply words that just came to me.  I had never written anything of this nature before in my life. 

Then, an unusual thing happened.  Maureen would sometimes answer me as well.  I can’t remember the exact wording, or the occasion, or the sequence, or if there even was a sequence, but she was basically telling me that she thought I was a good writer.  Imagine that.  Maureen Green was telling me  I was a good writer.  Heady stuff.

Then, once or twice, Maureen actually said that she thought I was the better writer, and that I should have a blog of my own…that I ought to at least think about doing one.  Took me awhile to digest that one.

But eventually, I did. I was hooked.  The seed was planted.  Writing was fun for me…it was simply something I liked to do. The more I mused, the more I thought that this might be the very thing I was looking to do in retirement that was “different.”  See “Why Blog?  Part 1.”  Different – I guess doing something you had never done before in your life qualifies as being as different as different can be. 

So, off to blog I went.  As is my usual approach to things, I headed for Barnes & Noble to find material on blogging…and found the perfect book (“Creative Blogging” by Heather Wright-Porto).  What kind of blog to write? No problem, I just copied (imitation is …) Maureen’s format … to write about anything that interested me. After a few months of tinkering, on Nov. 30, 2011, the blog was born. 

Then, one winter day, I actually met Maureen, her own self, at a Dunkin Donuts.  I told her of my blog, and I ended up sharing a coffee with one of the most delightful people I ever met.  Funny, gregarious, an open book, she freely shared her knowledge and precious time helping me with ideas for my blog.  I sat at the feet of the master (well, not literally).  Far too soon, we parted, but I took with me the feeling that I had known her for a long time.  She promised she would read it now and then.  I hope she enjoys it whenever she does. 

So, thank you Maureen Green.  When I was looking for that “something” to do, and had no idea what it was, you and your blog showed up in my life and that, as Robert Frost would say, that has made all the difference.  Without you, this blog would not exist. 

PS...you can find Maureen at:  maureengreencny.com
UPDATE:  You can now find Maureen at:  maureenonthecape.com



Mark Twain Quote:  "The compliment that helps us on our way is not the one that is shut up in the mind, but the one that is spoken out."

Back To The Movies...Again!

I’m looking for a filler here, to be honest. But it's been since July, so I'm kinda due anyway.  I do struggle to post every week, as the stuff that currently interests me usually involves some research, or at least some thinking.  I labor over both.

Thursday I travel to Saratoga, to return Sunday. Monday morning bright and early I leave for Denver, CO – to visit an old friend who used to work with me…a long overdue visit.  I do intend to experience a “rocky mountain high” and I do vow not to eat any “rocky mountain oysters.” Did that once.  Found out after.  Once is enough.

So, it’s off to the movies…here are another 5 favorites to see again and again:

1  1.     A Fish Called Wanda

2  2.   Body Heat

3  3.    Message in a Bottle

4  4.   Murphy’s Romance

5  5.    Harry Potter – any of them!

Hilarious, sensuous (who didn't fall in lust with Kathleen Turner?), an Outer Banks setting (perfect...gotta love that for good :) reason), a little goofy (but cute), and finally, downright imaginative beyond reason….they all touched me in a different way…but Message leaves me, well, spent.

A new post will follow shortly after I return, as it is way beyond time to thank someone who is really responsible for this little blog being born.

Mark Twain Quote:  "You can't reach old age by another man's road.  My habits protect my life but they would assassinate you."

....They Do Their Thing

But I shall assume, for the purpose of serious miracles, that people pray a lot to St. Giles or St. Aldegundis for a cancer cure.  Heart problems are directed to St. John of God.  Breast cancer pleas go to St. Agatha.  And the list goes on. I must also assume that countless numbers of people have dutifully followed this route. I would go so far as to pose that saints are continuously inundated with requests from desperate persons, every hour of every day.

And yet it seems to me that the authorities search long and hard to verify just 2 miracles.  Most saints only get their stripes after a long and arduous process.  But, on occasion, find those miracles they do, which must mean, by definition, that saintly intervention can cure people.

Now I have prayed mightily for friends and strangers, and begged the saints for intervention.  But alas, the people I want to live, don’t.  The ones whose conditions I beg to be improved, aren’t.  Overall, I think I have a dismal record of convincing any saint that those for whom I pray are worthy of their consideration.  Yet, they are good, decent folks who deserve much better than they are getting.

I am certain I am not alone in my frustration.  After years of simply accepting the results, I have grown impatient and reflective.   It began to dawn on me that this is true: many pray, few are answered.  So, I pondered, if they can cure people of earthly maladies, then why do they do it so selectively?

Let us role play.  Say I’m a saint, hanging out on my little cloud with all the other saints, part of the heavenly management team, and it’s “listen to prayers” time.  I bet I would hear scads of pleas floating up to me for my consideration.

Why, I wondered, would I ignore any of them?  Is it my job to sit in some kind of judgment?  And based on what criteria? Is that what saints are all about?  What kind of saint would that make me? Isn’t it my job to just simply help everyone?  Just why would I grant life (face it, that’s what we’re usually praying for – and it’s the basis for the 2 miracles) to one person, and refuse to help another? 

Now, in the spirit of fairness, these musings must apply to all persons.  But there is a special group of persons for whom this is absolutely applicable….children.

Now, I can almost begin to see the reasoning behind not helping older persons (partially on the assumption that they ain’t got long anyway, and perhaps saints, like cops, are on some kind of quota system). But how could any saint in good conscience not help a baby, or a toddler, or a little person? 

 I believe that more people pray to saints on behalf of little kids than for any other reason.  No saint will ever receive a more fervent, impassioned plea, than one from a desperate mother begging for intervention for her baby, even to the extreme of offering her own life for that of her child.  How any saint could fail to be moved to help in such a scenario is far beyond my comprehension.

If saints can, and do,  cure people of terminal illnesses and fatal conditions, then there should be no baby, no toddler, no little person, dying in any hospital, anywhere.  Period.  And yet newspapers daily tell a different story.

So, there you have it.  To my admittedly limited intellect, that’s how I see things in the world of saints. Too simple?  Unrealistic?  Wrong focus? Not to me.  But I’m sure any novice theologian could blast holes in my reasoning with an argument that would have me believe that saving one person in 100 at the expense of the other 99 is really acceptable and part of the grand master plan.  If that be true, then a lot of people die every day waiting for a call back from their favorite saint, who, in my humble opinion, has their priorities upside down, and backwards.

Mark Twain Quote:  “Heaven goes by favor.  If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in.”