Hello folks – I hope you are having the best of weeks. Here in the desert south west the heat of summer is upon us with a vengeance. Today is the summer solstice and as I am getting too old to deal with the heat, I compensate by thinking that as of tomorrow, the days start getting shorter and we start to head back to longer nights and cooler days but before then we have to go through some crazy summer days. I shouldn’t be groaning because my one aunt, an elderly farmer from northern Indiana is going through heck and fire and brimstone. There have been some terrible storms, tornadoes just lately in the Midwest and the northern plains. We spoke to her this morning and at 85 years of age and having weathered a couple of strokes and a heart op. she said she was just fine. She was sitting in her dining room listening to the heavy raindrops outside. I said ‘how are your cows and she said they were fine to’. She has been farming for about 61 years now and though she is by herself these days with uncle having passed away, she toughs it out. Her generation doesn’t give up easily. So this little piece of writing is a bouquet to my aunt and her generation who fought and died for us in the last global conflict so that we can live a free life and it is up to us not to mess it up.
Another bouquet to, for those terrific folk at the Weather Channel and also those of the National Weather Service who are all so on-the-ball with their up to the minute information on what is happening with the weather especially when things are bad. I have been with my aunt when the alarms have come on the television telling us where the storms are, how close they are and what to do. I truly admire what they do and I am very grateful. To Jim Cantore, Dr Greg Forbes (severe weather expert) and all their colleagues, long may you continue and once again, you have the grateful thanks of a niece whose aunt is a special lady.
Finally on a completely different subject – civility seems to have gone out the window these days. I hear so much bad language from all ages. I just don’t know what has happened. I know things are stressful. The economic climate is really difficult for many folk; Lord knows our family has struggled along with the rest of the good folk out there. We have been through the dramas surrounding the loss of jobs and trying to balance the budget and pay bills. Despite all the dramas, loss of civility is sad, really sad. I look at folk lined up at the various government agencies who are trying to help folk in all of this and there are tempers, foul language and kids in the middle of it all. What examples are they being set? – the kids that is. None! Take a deep breath folks, count to 10 backwards and nut it out. Keep a favorite book with you if you have to go out into one of these long lines in which you might be standing. You can have a little read while waiting. Think to, of the folk behind the counter who are trying to help you – it’s not easy for them either. Beaurocracy is nuts – the beaurocratic godfathers make rules and regulations that these poor folk behind the counters have to dish out. However, it’s what we have and until the system is changed and we get even more computer-styled machines and we end up doing everything from home, we just have to put our best foot forward and remember civility. Be nice!
Cheers, Kate
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