Icezilla Bye Baby

Image Credit: Paul Brennan

We got blasted with below-freezing temperatures and quite a bit of ice yesterday from that winter storm that graced our area. Advisories were issued for drivers to avoid driving due to the slickness and danger the ice presented.

Do you think people heeded the warning to stay off of the roads, although brine was spread in preparation for our wintry conditions? Nope! Some slid like stones gliding on a sheet of ice during a curling event.

I’ve had my fair share of skidding on ice a few times, and trust me, it is scary as all get out. Many folks laugh at us because we pretty much shut down during ice storms in our area. They think we can’t drive when it snows, but it’s not the snow, it’s the ice under the snow that wreaks havoc. I don’t care how good of a driver you are or in what direction your wheels are turned when you’re sliding, the danger is not worth the risk if you don’t have to be out there. So I periodically sat my happy butt near the window to watch the weather evolve, staying warm and cozy as long as I could.

Peering through windows
separating us from the outside cold
showers of sleet
tiny balls of ice

bounce on surfaces
that lent an ear
to its tinkling cry

crystallized into a saliva of icicles
as southern pines drooped
branches drizzled with a coat of ice
too heavy to lift
sculpted into a wonderland of infectious silence.

Kym Gordon Moore©

So today, I look out the same window as the temperature slowly rises, the ice-coated ground that looks like snow allows blades of grass to peek through, and icicles crash to the ground. The sun brings a soothing calm after the storm, slowly erasing the deep freeze from yesterday, slip slidin’ away.

Funny Bone

Kym Gordon Moore

A Child Was Born

Image Source: constellationbehavioralhealth.com

Ninety-three years ago today, on January 15, 1929, a manchild was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and would grow up to become one of the greatest leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a Baptist minister in the south, became the most visible spokesperson who voiced having a dream for equality just like the multitudes he led during that time.

While this was a time I remember but never fully understood growing up, we were taught many cautionary truths about the breadth and depth of the civil rights messages during this time. I was born and raised in Charleston, South Carolina, where it is no secret that the city I call home was the main port where most slaves were shipped to and sold. After completing my maternal ancestral tree in 2020, I was humbled to learn how the survival of my ancestors brought me to this place where I am now. I owe it to them to do better and leave contributions to society and our family that would make this world better than when I was born.

We are still children in this world, regardless of how old we may be, where we’re from, or what we look like. We are still learning, growing, and progressing. Each of us has a unique gift and talent to help us make this world a better place. As we look in the mirror, we are not the same as we were yesterday. It is my prayer that as I look at this woman in the mirror, I challenge myself to make whatever changes I need to make to do better and be better because I realize I don’t have time to waste. So, if you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself, and then make that change. We may not be a Martin Luther King, Jr., but we can be a catalyst of encouragement, good change, and empowerment to do the right thing by being a better “us” for a better world.

Just Because I’m Happy

Image Credit: Yiting Liu

OK, so I nixed putting up my original post for today because once I began playing my anthem for this morning, “Happy” by Pharrell Williams, something happened. I began to bop my head, move my shoulders, snap my fingers, tap my feet like the penguin Mumble in Happy Feet, and my butt began to gyrate in my office chair like an oscillating fan. I just didn’t want to think about anything serious at the moment. I just wanted to bask in the beauty of watching the sunrise while sipping on my morning cup of java! My deep thoughts will simply have to wait because right now, I am flying high on HAPPY! Have an EXHILARATING, FANtabulous day y’all! 😍

One Moment in Time

Image Credit: crkmaga, Pixabay

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill

How did our enthusiasm go from 100 to 0 in the first 12 days of this new year? I recently listened to and read about how so many people from so many different sectors express how much they feel like they have hit a brick wall and were left unconscious on the sidelines.

While none of us have a crystal ball to see into the future, we have this moment to give Divine praise for life. When you have life, you have an opportunity, and with hope, you can add value to your life. I was reminded this morning of Whitney Houston’s song “One Moment in Time,” and it refreshed this present moment of why I do what I do. Don’t look down right now, look up. In this moment in time, rise, feel empowered, and have a productively FANtabulous day! Besides, what do you have to lose?

The Consciousness of When

Image from Kym Gordon Moore

When we stop doing one thing, it opens the door to something else, not always good. Sometimes when we shut down our capabilities, we open ourselves up to dire straits. Let’s continue to seize the opportunities to do what is good and right instead of compromising to do what we know is bad and wrong.

A Word from Rumi

Image Credit: Brett_Hondow

“Raise your words, not your voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.” -Rumi

Come, Come, Whoever You Are

by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi

Image Source: BestPoems.net

Wonderer, worshipper, lover of leaving.
It doesn’t matter.
Ours is not a caravan of despair.
Come, even if you have broken your vow
a thousand times
Come, yet again, come, come.

Not a Freak, but a Human Being

Image Source: Amazon.com

I am not an animal, I am a human being. -John Merrick, The Elephant Man

How can people be so cruel I ask repeatedly? We see painful evidence of this displayed publicly. It breaks my heart when I see people, especially kids who are unjustly trolled struggle with these crass attacks. When I watched the movie, The Elephant Man after its release, I am reminded of the myriad of emotions about how I felt as I looked at it. I was mad, sad, and infuriated with his attackers but yet, comforted by John Merrick’s heart. It was typical that when a fair or circus came to town, they had to have something or someone so extreme looking to us that people used the term, Freak Show.

In this movie, John Merrick was afflicted with a congenital disorder known as Proteus Syndrome (elephant man syndrome). As you know, people taunted, teased, and humiliated John due to his disfigurement. Yet, when Dr. Frederic Treves discovers him in a sideshow, he brings Merrick into his home and finds that his appearance does not mirror his refined soul and heart. Typically, individuals who experience such horrifying treatment usually have a kind heart and humble demeanor.

Earlier last week, I wrote a brief message, Under Cover, about not judging people by how they look. This movie (a period piece) depicts one of the perfect examples of such judgment. I often find that when people are bullied, ridiculed, and trashed based on unwarranted circumstances that they could not prevent or control, I want those instigators to get a good taste of their own medicine. Sometimes I feel that the venom spewed out of people’s mouths with the intent to attack someone’s mind, spirit, or body needs to be poured back on top of them as soon as possible. Eventually, they do. Those who taunt, judge, and defame, get a lesson in “payback,” but it may not be as easy a lesson as their perverted actions, and it may come from someone who wields a lot more power and influence than them.

I honestly hate to see people mistreated or threatened in any way, just for the hell of it. Empathy and compassion are not complex equations to implement. Why don’t we see and experience more of these elements than seeing other bad behaviors activated? Choices!

Learn, Listen, Try Again

Image Credit: RF._.studio

To learn you have to listen, to improve you have to try!

-Unknown

Do not allow mediocrity to define your destiny. Get up, focus, pay attention and then implement what you learned. Next, teach others, as long as it’s in decency and in order. It’s not complicated. If they don’t or won’t listen, you can’t say that you didn’t try, and neither can they. Move on because there is someone else who needs your guidance and encouragement.

Have a FANtabulous day my friends!

No Shame in Their Game…Yet!

Image Credit: Yan Krukov

I just received an email containing a link to a reprint from a few months ago, that was an answer to a question posed on a forum. This answer was about the five things narcissists do every day. Not only did I find these things extremely disgusting, believable, and annoying, but to sum it up, these folks are simply bullies, just with a sophisticated-sounding name. Check this out about narcissists from Robert Torbay with Quora.

1. They look for other people’s egos to destroy.

2. Narcissists are bitterly jealous of people who have functioning egos, realistic world views that enable them to work hard and create skills, home talents that generate them praise, validation, wealth, happiness.

3. By destroying the ego of another, a narcissist is able to push their unwanted feelings of worthlessness, jealousy, hatred and other negative emotions into the victim.

4. Destroying, stealing your accomplishments is not enough, the narcissist seeks a mortal strike on the engine where all these things come from. For if they do not, you will rapidly rebuild, to show them up for the losers they are once again.

5. The Narcissist will seek out the pillars that hold up the ego of the other, the things that generate their self esteem, and the narcissist will attempt to topple their enjoyment and emotional investment in hobbies, relationships, achievements and goals.

Once the person’s ego has collapsed, the narcissist also gains a smug feeling of satisfaction at being better than someone else, at outwitting and fooling a hated enemy.

This sounds like a character in a movie, but sadly this is art imitating life, real life. Check out Cherie White, many of you know her, who has an in-depth site about exposing bullies and liberating targets. Just click on her name, and it will lead you to her site of related topics.

It’s so sad that these folks who we watch on TV, videos, and witness in-person feel validated to act like a plum fool just because they can. If they have an audience cheering them on, oh my God, you talk about a Nightmare on Elm Street upping their exploitation! Bad behavior does not need attention but awareness. You have to be aware of their tactics to protect and empower yourself from being caught up in the clutches of their claws. Yet, I still say, karma is badass!