Generation Gap

There is nothing wrong with your eyes, it’s called “The Generation Gap

The other day my wife (76 yrs old) and I (85 yrs old)  visited a Doctor (Late 40’s early 50’s) to discuss optionss for a proceedure my wife was diagnosed to require. One of the first things he said was, “I’m just a Doctor, I’m not more or less than anyone you know, I’m just a Doctor/Teacher.” At first I was confused and wanted to say, “Are we going to see the Doctor who will perform the operation?” He went on for awhile explaining the options, my wife told him we wanted the full operation, that she had been living with pain for two years now, and wanted and end to the misery she was experiencing. He remarked that was a good choice, and added some more information, at which time I asked him if he was the Doctor that was performing the operation. He answered “yes, he woulw be the surgeon, that “my wife had made a good choice, and again remarked that he “wanted to explain everything to us before we made the decision, that he was just a Doctor not an advisor like any other professional but that we were the only ones that could make those decisions”, and that “we know what is best for us once we understood everything”. He also said at one point that he shouldn’t be respected any more that any other man.

I thought for awhile and I said, “As 85 and 76 years olds, our generation was taught to respect Doctors, Policemen, Teachers, Elders, and anyone else in authority”. His comment to that was, “Yes, but not revere them, as they were just people like we were and able to make our own choices”.  I began to understand more of where he was coming from, but fully understood that he did not understand where we were coming from.

It is my belief that we are all products of our experience, and that there are common experiences and there are uncommon ecperiences. I could have had parents that said, “Son, never trust Doctors, Policemen, Teachers or Elders, they are all quacks and you need to decide everything for yourself”. I’m sure those parental types existed in my time, but I know that if they did exist they were far in the minority.

So what’s my point here? I was offended when he questioned my need to respect authority. It is in my DNA. I can’t just drop it. I felt that whatever he was saying to me was in his DNA also, and that he felt he had to say those thing. (In retrospect, his statements could have been interpreted as a God Syndrome way of speaking, but I gave him the respect of believing that he was speaking to me from the heart.)

I think a better way for him to have approached us would have been to say “I am a Surgical Doctor, capable of fixing your issue. I would first like to take you through all of the possibilities and ramifications of what you are facing, and then I want you to make your own decision. Only you know what is best for you”.

None the less, he opened both our eyes, and for that we both came away better for the encounter.

Presidents Day……”Now Here’s The Deal Folks”

“Now here’s the deal folks”

Wow, it’s President’s Day, and we want to be the first to tell you Joe, how happy we all are with your Presidency and how thankful we are for all your hard work and all the wonderful things you have done for us and this wonderful country. Where should we begin.

Oh yes………we are so thankful for the wonderful work you have done for the country by cleaning up that mess at the border. Stopping the ugly wall construction was a master-stroke. It is so easy now for everyone to walk across the border. Swimming across is almost a thing of the past and it was so dangerous anyway. The money you have saved, can now be spent on education, housing and subsistance of those newcomers…..to hell with all those homeless folks already clogging our city streets. We love the holding facilities you have provided for our newcomers. What the heck if the odd kid gets lost or sodomised, gives them toughness, teaches them life has its ups and downs and if they survive, it makes them stronger. The citizens living near the border are ecstatic and over the top with all the newcomers roaming across their property. They are good citizens who can put up with the odd home invasion, property destruction, armed robbery and rape. Don’t give those good citizens another thought Joe, they are good law abiding, tax paying folks ready to follow your lead.
Oh yes………stopping the gas line and the gas hike was stroke of genius, although we bet AOC put that bug in your ear. We all are in awe of the deep thought process that came up with the idea to do away with fossil fuel, when we have only a century of supply remaining and no feasable solution for a replacement form of transportation for the rank and file. The Tesla just isn’t for everyone anyway…..right Joe? Maybe all the gas suppliers will pool their billions in profits and buy us all a state-of-the-art Genesis, and make all those rich Koreans richer.
Oh yes……..and Joe the incentive payment thing is profound. Everyone is so thankful that you are giving away your money to give them incentive is so generous. The increased tax idea is a little confusing as is the pilfering of retirement savings accounts, but what the heck Joe, “The Lord giveth and taketh away”, why shouldn’t you.
Oh yes………Joe what a shame that your idea to relieve student loans didn’t take come to fruition. The hell with those students that have already paid theirs off.
Oh yes………We could go on and on,but we don’t want you to get a swelled head……..or is it a fat head.

Joe……“Now here’s the real deal”. On this well deserved President’s Day we are all so happy with your performance, thoughtfulness and hard work, that we would like to give you a two year, all expenses paid vacation, to any place of your choice in the universe. We have a rocketship standing by waiting to wisk you and your entire family away. As you leave earths atmosphere, look back and see all the good folks waving and wishing you………..

“BON VOYAGE MR. PRESIDENT”

Back Again – I Miss You

 

It has been awhile since we last visited. This morning I was doing my usual Social Media stuff, and decided to visit my website http://dickjacobsen.com , and read through the last ten or so posts and had several realizations. One…….man it has been a long time since I posted (November 20, 2021); Two…….man I really enjoyed what I read; and Three……..man I had an epiphany (a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something;  an intuitive grasp of reality through something (such as an event) usually simple and striking;an illuminating discovery, realization, or disclosure). I really liked what I had written.

OK, so now you are probably thinking ‘What a pompus ass this guy is’. Well maybe so/maybe not, but this is where the epiphany kicks in.

More years ago than I’m willing to admit, I took a couple of night Literature Courses at Ventura JC in Southern California, I was stationed at a nearby Naval Airbase – Point Mugu, where I was an Aviation Guidedmissleman Third Class, testing Sidewinders, Sparrow 111’s and Bullpup’s. I really enjoyed the Lit Courses. The Courses broke the boredom of my military incarceration, and gave me a chance to express myself.

When Final Exam time came, I walked into the classroom, and there was a sentence written on the blackboard;

“Bubbles I blow, Beads I Twist, all the rest is darkness and conjecture.” With the verbal instruction “Write about this, you have one hour.”

Hmmmm, I thought, and then it hit me. I sat down and wrote feverishly for the full hour. The gist of what I wrote was; “as an author, you write and write and write and yet when all is said, written and done, you never know what your reader will read.” In other words how will the reader interpret what you have written and did you get across what you wanted to get across, i.e. Did your reader get it?

Todays epiphany was………when writing, I smirk when I am writing smirk, I smile when I am writing funny, cry when I am writing sad, and mad as hell when I am writing rant. When I re-read my old posts I immediately smirked, smiled, cried, and got mad as hell in all the right places and enjoyed the read immensely………BUT what does the average reader do?…..there is the epiphany.

I’m thinking that I should preface each post with “Smile when you read this, or cry when you read this, smirk, or get mad as hell when you read this. What do you think?

OH, by the way……..I got the only A+ on the exam and the course.

Government Wisdom and other Oxymorons

HUH?

Attorney General Barr has just made a momentous decision that I want to share with you all. Barr announced  that he will not be investigating past President Obama and Past Vice President Biden for the so called Obamagate issues. He said, and I quote, “The criminal justice system will not be used for partisan political ends.”

Lets just think about that for a moment. Obamagate is, according to President Trump, the unjust targeting of his staff (General Flynn, Paul Manafort, etal) to try and accuse newly, duly elected President Donald Trump of colluding with Russia to meddle in the 2016 elections. For two excruciating years we tolerantly watched and listened to Robert Mueller and his merry band of ‘criminal justice system members‘ use the ‘criminal justice system‘ in an unfounded attempt to unseat President Trump. Senators, Congressmen and Congresswomen, past Presidents and Secretaries of State, Attorneys, even all levels of the FBI (for God’s sake), lied, created fake dossiers, and misled the American Public in a futile attempt to satisfy ‘partisan political ends‘, and unjustly impeach a sitting President.

Attorney General Barr you should be ashamed of yourself and you should be immediately removed from your exhaulted office for not doing your Constitutionally appointed job of protecting the United States and its duly elected President. President Trump has suffered immeasurably and yet has done more for this country than all of the rest of you jerks, or should I say, in spite of all of you jerks put together.

The President has been wrongly accused and deserves his day in court. How dare you hide behind a cheap, self-rightious, meaningless oxymoron as “The Criminal Justice System will not be used for partisan political ends”. The other partisans have been using the ‘criminal justice system’ (of which you are so proud), with abandon for the last 12 years, or haven’t you noticed.

 

As A Member of Society, I……………………………..

SOCIETY

Society Definition: The aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community.
society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same geographical or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations.
Society Used in a sentence: We are painfully aware of drugs, crime and other dangers to society.
Society Synonyms: the community, the general public, the people, the United States at large.
Other meanings and uses: He was a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, She’s high society, You wouldn’t say that in polite society, They live on the fringe of society, She shunned the society of others.

What the above means to me is if you call yourself a ‘a member of society’, it is probably a good idea that you understand what that means and that you should understand the mores of the society in which you claim to be a part. Or on the otherhand, if you don’t, you might be a ‘sociopath’.
Social Mores Definition: The essential or characteristic customs and conventions of society.
Sociopath Definition: A person with a personality disorder manifesting itself in extreme antisocial attitudes and behavior and a lack of conscience.

I see the United States as a society. In the beginning, millenia ago, the United States was a society made up of ‘Native Americans’. (I think we all know that story, and if you don’t you had best learn it, as a social obligation.) Then centuries ago  (1790 to 1850 the Colonial Migration) people escaping political persecution and other inhumanities came seeking freedom from their oppressors and we became the land of the free, which led to a bloody Civil War. Then from 1850 to 1930 we noticed immigrants from all over the world, most looking for a ‘better life’, as WWI had impoverished most of Europe. My parents came to the United States from Denmark in 1921, so I know from whence I write. What is really important to understand, is during this entire period, and probably untill 9/11, everyone in the United States (with the exception of the sociopaths) was working diligently to build the greatest nation in history and the greatest society in history.

The outcome of all of this work is our Society that is outlined in the Bill of Rights and the Constitution, and in The Rule of Law. Just in case you don’t understand what our societal mores are, let me iterate. We are (to a fault) a Society of tolerance, a Society of fairness, a Society of generosity, a Society of Laws.

Bottom line? If those aren’t your mores (in aggregate) you should find another society.

Note: My reasons for writing this piece was sparked by our current political crisis, our lack of respect for the law crisis, our drug and addiction crisis (commonly known as the homeless crisis), our burgeoning immunization crisis, our immigration crisis, our education (or lack thereof) crisis and our growing lack of love for eachother crisis.

Shooting in Nirvana

I was not a good shot with a pistol. My usual pattern was down and to the right of where I am aiming. In my wisdom, or lack thereof, I had concluded that I don’t squeeze the trigger properly. I don’t squeeze with the pad of my trigger finger, but rather in the crook of the first knuckle. For the longest time I compensated by aiming at a point up and to the left of what I wanted to hit, and that worked for four shots, and then didn’t.

I have decided to obtain my CCW License, and realized that I better improve at the “hitting what I aim at” idea, and went to the shooting range for some much needed practice.  Down and to the right, down and to the right, no matter what I did, nothing changed. I noticed that the guy in the booth next to me was nailing his target, and shooting five shot patterns that looked looked like Bachelor Buttons, gaping holes in the target.

“Nice shooting”, I said. “Thanks”, was the non-boastful answer. We spoke for some time and he finally asked me if I could access Youtube, and suggested that I look up a “Focus on the Front Sight” video, by an ex-Navy Seal. I was completely blown away by this video (no pun intended). The rest, as they say, is History.  The videographer is Chris Sajnog (pronounced Saw – nog), and I recommend that anyone wanting to shoot straight, have a look at his work.

I shoot straight, I grip right and stand right. No more “down and to the right”.

Music Moves Me

 

Someone asked me the other day if I liked music. “I love music”, I answered. Why do you love music? “Because it moves me”, I said. The answer just came out of the blue, but for some reason, I knew my answer was true, but even I needed to know why. When I got home I went to my Youtube List, and started to listen to the music that I love.

So what moves me here. 1) The audience’s clammor for the three striking singers as they walked in. 2) Almost from the first chord my eyes started to tear up, and my mouth formed a smile. 3) The audience kissing and hugging eachother, smiling, crying, one person openly sobbing. 4) The spontaneous participation of the audience ranging from 5 years to 80+ years. 5) Rieu’s stimulating violin. 6) The presentation of the notes by the young women, filling their lungs and pressing the notes to higher and higher harmoneous perfection. 7) The lyrics.

And why does this move me? 1.) The adulation of a crowd who revere these two men as much as I do, numbering enough to fill Shea Stadium in New York. 2) I dare anyone to listen to this and not move their body and grin til it hurts. 3) the deafening roar of appreciation from the crowd.

OK. Turn your volume up to listen to this marvelous aria.

There is a purity to this voice that is very hard to describe, but each time I hear “Nessun Dorma” from Turandot I sob like a baby. I have since my mother introduced me to it as a boy, along with “Oh Mimi” from La Boheme, “The Flower Duet”, from Lakmé and many more.

Music Moves Me.

Dear Naomi Osaka – You’re A Winner

Dear Naomi,

I’m not a tennis fan, but I am particularly disenchanted with your US Open Finals opponent and the crowd that watched you triumphantly defeat her. (That should clear the air). I do want you to know that you are a winner, and I applaud you for your stunning win over your opponent. What happened after the final set point was outrageous and reprehensible.
Having to deal with a cheating opponent, breaking rackets, calling out judges, playing the race card and playing the #metoo card, all in one heated irrational tantrum is more than your should have had to withstand to seal your win.
What happened, Dear Naomi, was that a petulant, elitist, brute and her adoring mob of followers and her hand-signaling coach were hell bent on a come-back win to show the world that she could have a child and still return to the number one slot. I’m not saying that she couldn’t, but I am saying that she didn’t, and because she didn’t she had to blame others for her lack of performance, and try to steal your thunder at the awards ceremony. This is what petulant elitists do with impunity; you are probably too young to remember John McEnroe.
My purpose in writing this is make sure you understand that you beat her fair and square, you bested her that day and you are going to go on doing that for many years to come. You are a star in every sense and the fact that you endured that cheesy public display and went on to win makes your star shine even brighter. Excellent, excellent job.

Sincerely
Dick Jacobsen

EVACUATION

The first I heard the word Evacuation, in the form of a directive from higher authority, was in 1979 during the Iranian Revolution. I was living in a remote village in southern Iran on a construction project that had at least five more years to complete. I was aware that the revolution was in full swing, but my sense was that the Shah would be ousted, the Mullah’s would move in and everything would be back to normal. There were signs that the situation was getting hostile, so when the company finally said leave, I was ready. Life as I knew it was about to change drastically. I was never to return; my job, our only source of income was gone; I had no home so there was no place to go. My young wife and I were adrift.

We were young and foolish, full of confidence and adventure and ready to face whatever came, so we decided to take a six week vacation and tour Europe. I don’t really remember thinking about, fretting about or worrying about what was to come next. We were smart enough to realize that what was happening to us was completely beyond our control, and we could only make the best of what we could control.

Now, 39 years later, the call came again in the form of a mandantory evacuation due to the Carr Fire in the Trinity/Shasta county forest area. We didn’t have a lot of time, so we finished our dinner, gathered up the dogs, vital papers, three days of clothes and left quickly. Our plan was to drive south and find the first hotel that would take our pets , ride out the storm and deal with the consequences later. I felt eerily calm and resolute. Again, everything was out of our control. At stake this time, however was, our retirement home, 40 years of memories and priceless (to us) collectibles; in other words all we had worked for. I knew that I, my wife and my dogs would live through it.

On our 2nd day of evacuation, our local TV weatherman posted a map, showing where the fire was and what the containment levels were.  The fire was barreling toward our home and we were resolved that we were about to lose everything except our insurance policy. On day four of evacuation the weatherman updated his map and low and behold our home appeared to be spared. Fire had raged all around us, but through the smoke and ashes we could see that our property had been spared. It took us six more days to get to our property, but get home we did. What did we learn, or re-learn, about evacuations, in the process.
1. As long as you have your life, everything is going to be alright. It may take you awhile to figure out the where’s, why’s and how’s, but you will and life will go on. Heed evacuation orders, nothing is more valuable than your life and the lives of those you love.
2. Fretting and stewing is a natural reaction to stress, but preparation, heeding instructions and an excellent insurance policy goes a long way to releaving much if not most of the stress.
3. Have the things you value most identified and listed, and have managable containers available and ready for quick and easy use.
4. Some valuables are unmanagable in the short time period you have to evacuate from a fire. Photograph, document and evaluate these items and keep this information with your valuable papers and documents.

To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before

Well I just received my “23andMe” reports on my Ancestral DNA. The reports have confirmed many of my presupposed ideas that my heratige is 53% Scandanavian; 12% British/Irish (bringing in the Viking element), 28% French/German, and the remainder broadly Northwestern European. I already knew this as a result of my one and only trip to Denmark where I was able to trace three generations of Scandahouves on my father’s side (going back to the early 1800). The Vikings landed in Ireland/England in the early days.

Apparently I also contain 283 of 2,872 Neanderthal Variants (nearly 10%) , which is higher than 58% of 23andMe’s other customers (the most being 400). What does that mean? I probably have straight hair, which I do. I’m probably tall, which I guess I am at 6′-2″. I don’t know much about the other 281, they didn’t go into that much detail.

The 10% Neanderthal Variants thing started me thinking though. This means somebody in my family tree swung down and had sex with a Neanderthal at least 40,000 years ago, and I’m still taking the hit for it today.

So…..to all the girls I’ve loved before, especially those of you who screamed “You Neanderthal”, at the end of our date, you were right. Who knew.