Something That Happened.

This is

Stories by Harold, in a variety of formats - including text, audio, video, and podcasts.

Featuring several years of
quality archived content!
Expand/Collapse archive

Read an example archived post now!
Expand/collapse example

Thursday, September 11, 2003

Regrets...
I've had a few.
But then again,
Too few to mention!
--"My Way",
written by Paul Anka
When I hear that song, I think of Frank Sinatra, and sometimes Elvis or Sid Vicious -- all of whom have been known to perform, in their own unique manner, that wonderful song. Wonderful because -- though I don't always enjoy hearing it, I've heard it so much -- the song is a wonderful personal anthem. That's something we all need: a personal anthem. A song that praises our individuality; a mark of devotion to oneself. After all, they say you're going to have a helluva time loving anyone else unless you've first learned to love yourself, right?

This is not to replace your love for your God, or your spouse, or your family. I'm simply saying that we all need to give ourselves a bit more self-love at this time of year. (No, not that type of self-love !) Too many of us beat up on ourselves throughout the year, and then nearly destroy ourselves at year's end. No wonder there are so many suicides during the Holidays; the messages bombarding us are to Buy Buy Buy and to Give Give Give -- but what if you have nothing to give but love? If you have a dearth of that good stuff, then you'll have a bitch of a time spreading it around to your neighbors.

So be good to yourself, whether you're Christian, Pagan, Wiccan, Athiest, Hindu, Islamic, Mormon, Podcastin, or otherwise. Don't take the pills, they won't do you or anyone else any good; you'll simply miss out on the Next Big Thing (which may turn out to be Your Next Big Thing). Just do things your own way, singing that little hymn as you do so:
For what is a man,
What has he got?
If not himself,
Then he has naught.
To say the things,
He truly feels,
And not the words,
Of one who kneels.
The record shows,
I took the blows
And did it my way!

Monday, September 26, 2005

I hate the idea of our military fucking with dolphins. It's not that I love animals more than people - though that's very nearly the case when you compare dolphins to some humans I've encountered - it's simply that these poor creatures are clearly being exploited. Dolphins are remarkably intelligent - you could say too smart for their own good - and due to their capacity for learning, they've been trained to carry out tasks humans would have some measure of difficulty performing (safely). I'm inclined to wonder how much military-trained dolphins are aware of their slave-like condition?

I don't believe dolphins are saying to themselves, "Hey wait-a-minute, what in the ocean am I shooting these darts against terrorists for? They never did anything to me!" Yet perhaps they are aware, to some extent, that they are being lead to perform tasks against their own will. Certainly they'd rather hump and play with other dolphins, but instead are being held in isolation - soldiers drafted against their will - to live out their lives in bootcamp rather than live the joyful existence nature had originally dictated for them.

As a child, the film Day of the Dolphin, starring George C. Scott (and two dolphin), was one of my favorites. Whenever it was presented on television, mom and I would cuddle up on the couch to enjoy the tale of idealistic dolphin trainers resisting the attempted militarization of their family of English-speaking Delphinidae. Together we'd root for the talking dolphins as they attempted to escape the evil machinations of a sinister group of would-be assassins...
posted by Harold  9/26/2005 11:47:00 AM
Comments: Post a Comment



Links to this post:

Create a Link



<< Home

Businesses in Huntsville, Alabama

*

I once posted, in this space (this right column), the following:

If I had friends they would be listed here

That particular bit o' text, that silly and idiotic phrase, was repeated a dozen or two dozen or so times and was intended to be temporary. I had been working on a project -- a new layout for this blog -- and had intended for that text to be placeholder content. That is, the text was supposed to temporarily replace the content that had previously occupied this column (which was a list of links to friends -- that is, other blogs and web sites I linked to). I didn't know what content I was going to place into that (this) space, so I placed a bunch of duplicate phrases here as a placeholder so that I would remember to fill in this space again later.

At the same time, I thought I was being cute with the heading:

NEW & IMPROVED FRIENDS!

The fact remains: I still don't know what content to put here, in this column. Links again? Pictures? Video? Audio? Ads? Oh, hell no! It hasn't come to me yet, but I'm sure it will eventually, and when it does it'll come quick and (as usual) with consequences.