Revisiting an Old Friend on Throwback Thursday

I needed a place to escape from the rigamarole of each day’s stress-induced events and news. Each of us tries to handle such escapism in a relaxing, yet exciting way. Some methods may be costly but there are cost-effective ways to be engaged, productive and more relaxed.

With that in mind, I trucked on down to visit my dear neighborhood friend I hadn’t visited in quite some time. My friend changed quite a bit since my last visit and offered me some new servings of literary entrees I’d not yet tasted.

My friend, the public library was bursting with the type of bustling energy and awakening I needed to escape the days’ craziness and mayhem. So, I increased my daily intake of visiting some new places for adventure without traveling far. I found respite through the pages of books I never discovered and I couldn’t have done it without visiting an old valuable and treasured friend.

Under the Influence: Trust Issues

Decency and order. Trust. Do such things still exist? I believe decency, order, compassion, and ethics still outweigh its opposition. I believe people are better than the lies and deception we see occurring more frequently than we’ve seen before. So I choose to be an influencer of love, hope, charity and uplifting the soul and spirit of humanity.

Sometimes I detest watching the news regardless of what format it’s in. Pick a subject, any subject and it appears that all is bleak and out of control. People tend to trust whether something is right, wrong or teetering in the gray area of the two. I read about some things this past week that was so alarming and despicable I wanted to seek retribution for the victims.

This breach of trust is from people in a profession that’s among one of our top billing issues in this country: Healthcare. I won’t go into details, but here are a couple of headline allegations that recently surfaced in the news. The first is about a doctor from Virginia who was arrested for allegedly performing hysterectomies and sterilizing women without their consent. This doctor performed surgeries on more than 500 of his low-income Medicaid patients between 2014 and 2018. The second is regarding a South Dakota neurosurgeon who made millions of dollars by performing unnecessary and dangerous surgeries, including one that left a patient partially paralyzed. This doctor used medical devices he invented during surgeries and also received kickbacks from companies whose devices he used without disclosing the arrangements.

As appalling as this is, this practice is not abnormal and has occurred in other areas like unnecessary dental procedures being performed. I still believe there are doctors, nurses, surgeons and other healthcare providers who are honest, compassionate and ethical. But the price victims have to pay for the unscrupulous, heinous acts of deception, greed and corruption leads to a domino effect of suffrage for so many beyond the dastardly deed. No amount awarded from a lawsuit can ease such pain of loss and even in some cases death.

I Still Love Handwritten Letters and Greeting Cards

OK, so call me old-fashioned if you like. I will not take offense by appreciating the gift of nostalgia. I still love and appreciate receiving a greeting card and handwritten letters as well as writing and sending them to others from time to time. Why do I embrace such a practice when it is becoming so antiquated and costs money and uses up more time than sending a quick text with accompanying emoji’s? Because of time, effort, compassion, and art.

I suppose I, along with so many other baby boomers grew up in an era when writing and verbally communicating with each other was monumental. Manual communication was worth savoring because someone actually sat down with a pen and paper, and writing a handwritten sentiment was art in itself and poetry in motion. I found some handwritten pieces of communication between my mother and me after I went to college and then moved out on my own. I found these things after she passed away and while I may not actually remember some of those precise moments when I composed those communications, I cherish them now. My mother’s eyes read them, her hands touched them and she held on to them for over 40 years.

Sorry, but as much as I like to occasionally text, and as much as I love new technological advancements, I am not married to my digital devices. I have a couple of apps I use, but I actually put my device down so it does not become part of my appendages or debilitate them. Yeah, people think that snail mail is so yesterday, but when we experience tech hiccups, I don’t go crazy about it. Yes, and you guessed it…I still also have a working landline too! 😀

Between the Sheets

It was quiet and cozy in the house of Clefs

on a night where treble flirted and tenderly seduced base

together they made beautiful new sheets of music

giving birth to unique melodies and sweet harmony galore.

-Kym Gordon Moore ©

Are You in the Mood?

Let’s face it, some people just wake up in a bad mood and internally vow to carry that mood around with them for the rest of the day, and it shows. Stuff happens and for the most part, is not always avoidable. You can either decide whether or not you will allow those things to dictate your attitude for however long you want it to. But, don’t allow someone’s unmerited moodiness and foul negativity to tarnish or dampen your good mood.

Don’t Be So Quick to Dis Boomers. We Still Rock Baby!

Image credit: Census.gov

Value. Everyone has worth regardless of how much they possess. Each generation has its critical opinions about the generation that is older than them and can be a little dismissive of the generation that follows behind them.

Recently, we’ve seen some scathing comments on social media about those old fogies, the Baby Boomers, being out of touch with life and relating to the new generations. Boomers have been getting a lot of heat because of some of the suggestions and advice they’ve been giving that younger generations deem antiquated. Bah humbug and hogwash! While I am a member of the Boomer generation, I am far from being an uninformed old fogie as well as many of my other fellow Boomers.

The generations following the Boomers should learn to learn from them. We are tech-savvy, even when we aren’t drenched in digitization 24/7, we still like to savor solitude and engage in continued educational pursuits. We still love curling up and reading a good hard copy of a book as well as the occasional good read through an e-reader or audible book. We still love to cook homemade meals as well as engage in dining out and experimenting with different cuisines. We still love the challenge of crossword puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, Soduku, Mahjong, playing checkers and chess, as well as enjoying many other leisure pursuits just like everyone else.

Now, while many of us Boomers may not always be seduced by using digital devices as frequently as the generations following us, we still love challenges for building cognitive skills. Check the history books and read about our contributions, inventions and innovations, our advocacy for Mother Earth and those laws made because of the causes we fought hard for, like voting rights for example. We know a lot, as we should, through more years of experience and we’ve learned by making many mistakes and not repeating these errors erroneously.

I wish I had some of my elders and parents here with me now, to ask advice regarding some even tougher things I have come to face at this juncture of my life. I wish I could sit down and talk to all those who have since passed away about oodles of questions I am now confronted with and how to apply some of the things they heeded when problem-solving.

My heart aches and breaks as I think about them no longer being here and the questions I so want to ask, that I won’t be able to. For those who are dissing the Baby Boomers, thinking we are out of touch with the reality of life, if you are blessed to live long enough, as long as we have been around, you will be faced with and feel the same type of criticism you threw at those endearing old fogies who are no longer able to explain the complexities of how you got to the point of how you came to be. We all have a purpose as long as we have breath in our bodies.

While there is mad respect given by many Gen X, Gen Z and Millennials to Boomers, there are some who don’t, but we can’t lump everyone into the same bag just because they are under a particular generational category or tribe. Some of us Boomers were off the rails when we were younger too. Yet to disregard our contributions to the world, our families and society is a mistake. We have value and worth and a bunch of crazies in our generation too, but to give respect, one must give it.

So, to all of you youngins, don’t be so quick to diss us Boomers. Don’t be too premature to clap back and go on the attack from the advice we genuinely give before knowing and heeding the facts. There is so much to learn and gain from us, just as much as you teach us the new lessons of your generation. This is the sign of the times…our time! Let humanity ring with togetherness and love. #BoomersRock

Forgetfulness via Digital Dementia?

I remember the word “senile” being used decades ago which acted as a memory death sentence experienced by senior citizens. Today, there is a new type of “mind-attacking” death sentence many probably never saw coming and it is horrifying!

Coined by neuroscientist Manfred Spitzer, digital dementia is used to describe the deterioration of memory pathways and a breakdown of cognitive abilities due to the overuse of digital technology. Yep, when I saw this warning on the news, I almost fell out of my chair. First, it was the text-neck syndrome, then there’s digital eye strain and now digital dementia is being diagnosed among our young people? This is unreal.

While this is not surprising it is no doubt extremely alarming and can be a major enemy in learning abilities and memory retention for everyone addicted to their digital devices. Now, this is fixable with action but will become irreparable with dier consequences should we continue with our digital addictive habits.