My Mind is on Spin Cycle

 

Thoughts twirl and spin.  So many topics.  So many issues.  State of the Union? Who really knows?  We really need to care.

Guns are a constitutional right.  Why?  Some think the government will run amok. Others fear people who are have-nots want theirs.

Guns are made for one purpose.  To maim or kill.  Hunt for food or hunt for sport?  Is there a difference? Should there be?  How many people today really need to hunt to put meat on their tables?  Shoot at a bull’s eye target…that’s sport.  Shoot at a living creature…something dies.

I watched another British eight-part series called World Without End.  Told about England’s King Edward II.  He wasn’t a great king – didn’t even want to be one.  Not especially good at conquering.  Sexually attracted to other men, but did his kingly duty by marrying French Queen Isabella and siring four children.  Very well-done series. 

Struck most by the cavalier attitude toward human life, especially those of the peasantry.  Hangings were daily affairs, attended as spectacle by all in town, including the children. It wasn’t enough just to execute.  Manner of death was determined by the King’s desire to humiliate.  Let’s hang him and eviscerate him before he passes out.

Lots of pissing and moaning over drones today.  I thought of that as I watched the English King’s army battle the French.  There was no long-distance aspect at all.  Want to kill they guy?  You’ve gotta get up close and personal.  Gotta put some heft behind that thrusting sword, wear the spurting blood and feel the flesh give way.  Hear the crunch of bone.  Instead of sitting at a computer screen launching unseen missiles and unmanned flying machines toward a target we hope we’ll hit without too much collateral damage, Middle Ages warriors had to put skin in the game…and blood…and guts…and, sometimes, their heads.  Literally.  It is getting much easier to kill without witnessing the slaughter. 

And people wonder where the American culture of violence originated.

Then there are the lesions the MRI discovered on my brain.  Inconclusive as to diagnosis.  Can’t be good.  Could be catastrophic.  Doctor says it is not uncommon to find in sixty-somethings with a history of high blood pressure.  BUT, it could be multiple sclerosis, like your mother has.  Or some other autoimmune disorder.  Or not.  Must wait to see neurologist on the 26th.  Tell myself it’s going to happen.  Sooner or later, the body starts to give out.

Why are some people so combative?  Most of us try to make a point and be done with it.  You disagree?  That’s okay, tell me why.  But others seem to want to vent their spleens at every turn.  You disagree?  You are an idiot.  Not just an idiot, a f**king idiot.  It takes all the enjoyment out of conversation.  It makes me decide to take a hike.  Maybe that’s what they want to happen.

Will I run out of money before I run out of life? Probably. 

I need a nap.  Or a drink.