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 |   Second blog -- answers to an ocean of prompts |
 "Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself." CHARLIE CHAPLIN  Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet confinement of your aloneness to learn anything or anyone that does not bring you alive is too small for you. David Whyte        This is my supplementary blog in which I will post entries written for prompts. |
| Prompt: "Memories are forget-me-nots gathered along life's ways, pressed close to the heart in a perennial bouquet!" Clara Smith Reber Write about your memories that mean the most to you. ----- The first word of this prompt made me remark “Ahha!” because lately I have been driving to James Galway and I had just walked in after listening to him on the flute, playing “Memories” from Cats. Synchronicity, it is, or another forget-me-not in my perennial bouquet. Another forget-me-not is that I am reading Swallowing Mercury by Wioletta Greg. It is fiction telling the truth through the memories of a young girl in Poland, after the fall of communism, during the 1970s and 1980s. As to my memories, at my age, if I tried to write them down, the result might rival Encyclopedia Britannica in bulk. One thing is for sure; I can remember the oldest memories the best, such as the ornamental red fish (might be koi) swimming in the backyard pond and me kneeling down watching them with my mother standing as the lifeguard behind me; then, a stray cat catching a fish with just one swipe of his paw and me crying my eyes out. This was about the same time when that cat had also caught a newly hatched chick with the hen cackling. I bet my bawling was louder than the hen’s cackling. I also recall my first vision of a woman in white, a bride, in one of the houses in the neighborhood where a daytime wedding was held. I thought she was the most beautiful thing in the world and threw a tantrum demanding they get me the same dress. “When you are old enough, you’ll wear one,” I was told. Yet, when my so-called time came, I felt a disdain for any bridal gown, calling them “clown dresses.” See, this is only from my beginnings. You shouldn’t get me started.  |
| Prompt: "Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August." Jennifer Han What are your thoughts about this quote? --- I guess this quote was said by a person who liked summer better than the other seasons. I really don’t know what to think of it. This is because each year is different. What is magical is what happens in any one month or season. I’ve had wonderful things happen to me in the dead of the winter as well as in the middle of the summer. Thus, for me, it is the goods a life brings, not on which month it brings them.  Prompt: Is inaction a form of action? What do you think of inaction or rather giving up? Can it sometimes work? Can anyone be blamed for inaction in real life or in history? --- Whether we regret an action we wish we hadn’t done or we regret the inaction when something needed to be done, action and inaction are the two faces of a coin. The ethics of this is questionable for it seems like only a person’s actions should matter for ethical considerations, not the things they didn’t do. If I do something bad, I am to blame, but if I see a thief in the store and fail to stop him, no one blames me, although I would blame myself. Then, there’s that thought that what if I tried to intervene and i the process made things worse? There are incidents in law such as violence to children, however, that puts me on the spot if I fail to report the incident or take some kind of an action. I guess our civilization has begun modifying its principles for the better. Maybe, we’ll become a fully civilized species when we make being a good Samaritan the norm, instead of applauding such actions that are few and far in between. When I was very young and spoke up for others, I was reprimanded for being a wise Alec. What a way to stop children from becoming responsible citizens! From where I stand, I will always applaud positive actions no matter their result. Prompt: Look at your hands. What do they mean to you? What is the meaning or emotion hiding in each line, blemish, wrinkle, scar, or the lack of those things if you have perfect hands? ---- I think hands are so useful and I am very thankful for mine. On the other hand, we are not the only species with hands. Some other primates, like chimpanzees and lemurs, also have hands with fingers. My hands, at this moment are clean because I washed them just a minute ago. In fact, I wash them all the time because I use them all the time. Aside from being clean, my nails and cuticles are trimmed, but my nails are without nail polish, only because I wash them so often. Up to several years ago, I used to use clear polish on them but that became such a hassle since I hated it when the polish began to peel off. I also dislike polish removers. My fingers show my age. They have more wrinkles than my face; moreover, at their joints I have the beginnings of arthritis. At the moment, on the joint just under the nail of the thumb on my right hand, there is a slight cut about 1/10th of an inch long that looks red. For the life of me, I don’t know how I got that. I don’t recall stabbing or nicking myself. Its redness may be because of the blood thinner I’m on since that cut doesn’t hurt at all. The same thumb I burned a few decades ago when I saved the house from burning. For quite some time, its cuticle and nail stayed deformed, but during the last decade or so, it healed on its own. Then, on the top of my left hand, I poured boiling water by mistake. Its whole top skin turned brownish black, but when it healed, my skin recuperated and it was even smoother than my right hand. So now, whenever I pour boiling water from the kettle, I put my left hand behind my back. I guess I can now say I’ve had a few trials by fire. |
| Prompt: Pick a topic to discuss from this day in history on May 25th... or something that has happened in your world on May 25th. https://www.onthisday.com/events/may/2 ========== 1241 1st attack on the Jewish community of Frankfurt am Main, Germany I picked this one up because, at the moment, I am reading a book, The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish. It is about an old scholar in an English University who comes across, in an old London house hidden under a secret place under the stairs, a whole lot of letters, papers, and books written between the Rabbis of the 16th and 17th centuries, who escaped the Portuguese Inquisition. This novel goes back and forth between the year 2000 and 1660. I knew the Jewish people were persecuted throughout the history but this looked like one of the earlier ones by about 700 years before World War II. I am not Jewish, by the way, and neither is the main character of the book I am in the process of reading. I cannot believe how cruel man can be toward its own species. All religions were meant to bring order and peace to the humankind, but the way we handle them, using them as weapons against one another, is absolutely disgusting. I think no one ever should look down upon or badmouth any religion. This is the only way we can stop warring for the sake of religion, against any other religion. In this case of the year 1241, the Mongol invasion and the rise of religiosity among the monks and the religious gave way to the rumors that the Jews were the omens bringing on the end of the world. This is what I found on the subject on Wiki. Where this thing happened, a Jewish Ghetto was created later on. Then about a century later, the second attack to the same place occurred. “The first Judenschlacht of 1241 In May 1241, a pogrom, known as the Judenschlacht (from the German; Slaughter of the Jews) took place in Frankfurt, brought on by conflicts over Jewish-Christian marriages and the enforced baptism of children of such marriages. The Erfurt Dominican Friars recorded that a few Christians and 180 Jews died during the pogrom. It also records that 24 Jews avoided death by accepting baptism, while under the protection of the city fathers. During the attacks, the synagogue was plundered and the Torah scrolls were destroyed. All of this occurred despite the fact that the Jews had been protected by the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II since 1236, and had a royal appointee running much of the city government.[3] It seems possible that the Judenschlacht was organized rather than spontaneous. One reason presented is that the fighting lasted more than a day. Secondly, a fortified tower where 70 Jews had taken refuge was captured. Finally, a Jewish dirge records that archers attacked a rabbi and his pupils in their school. All three events imply a measure of planning and the presence of soldiers or a strong militia. Exactly who may have been responsible for the Judenschlacht is unclear owing to the scarcity of sources. The theory that it was led by the Dominican Friars, who had a papal order to fight heresy, is questionable. Another theory is that the pogrom was actually an attack against the Staufer royal family, led by Frederick II. Frederick II ordered an investigation into the Judenschlacht that lasted some years. In 1246 Conrad IV, on behalf of his father Frederick II, issued a document pardoning the citizens of Frankfurt. It declared a pardon without payment on damages because the pogrom occurred, "from carelessness rather than deliberation." The general pardon is an example of the weak political power of the Staufer dynasty in Frankfurt.” More detailed information is also here, in: http://www.judengasse.de/ehtml/E010.htm |
| Prompt: Grab a picture or a photograph from anywhere and write about it. Create a story or a poem. Have fun! ------  My Palette I used to loiter gray-faced, bristle brushing mars-black over raw-umber concepts under urban moonbeams, as if tanned driftwood in still life ever so fragile until you caught me your touch far-reaching into my canvas like soft sable now, in bright sunlight, with new promises born my palette boasts a burst of colors cadmium red, alizarin crimson, Winsor lemon, cerulean blue viridian green alla prima Prompt: What is the most important thing you learned from your grandparents? ------ I don’t know much about my paternal grandparents, although I have seen my paternal grandmother, but since she and my mother were conducting a star-wars scenario, her lessons are few and in-between. My maternal grandmother, however, lived with us and her effect on me is greater than that of my mother. So, instead of chewing the fat on those, I’ll just list a few of them.  Don’t sweat anything. This too shall pass. What you can’t handle or is impossible to handle, God will take care of it. Let go, Let God! Loosen up! Why do you overthink everything! Laugh at things you can’t handle. Always look for the happy side of things. Keep a smile on your face. Pick up after yourself. Don’t depend on anyone, but let others do some of the things, too. Just don’t hog all the work. You’ll wear yourself out the way you’re going. Not everything comes out right or the way you wanted it in the beginning. Just don’t give up. But if something gets too complicated, then replace it with something else Do the right thing, always. Trust yourself. Calm down and listen to what your insides tell you. They’ll point to the right thing. We are people. We all have weaknesses. Don’t think you can overcome them all. Just do the best you can. Don’t hurt anyone in any way, unless they keep at pestering you unnecessarily.  Then, here’s one from my grandfather that I never forget. He always took a look at my kiddie work and praised it. This is what he said after I complained that I can’t paint beautiful pictures. Create what feels right to you. Know your own mind.Never mind what other people say. Everyone’s values, approval, and taste are different. What is beautiful for one is faulty or ugly for another. I think this advice can go for all the arts and other things, too. |
| Prompt: What is your favorite thing about social media? --- My favorite thing is that I get news from friends and family since they post in that media. It used to take too much time and effort to stay in touch with everyone. Now I know what my friends are doing even if they live in faraway parts of the world. It used to take so much time, effort, and money to stay in touch with even 1/100th of those people through the phone and snail mail. Not anymore! Social media may have its drawbacks, but for me, its positives make up for that. Second to that, social media is another portal for us for self-expression. Prompt: Einstein said, “Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.” Can you think of a few things about people that show stupidity? What about the universe’s stupidity? --- Oh, sure! To begin with, we are all stupid with something, partly due to our lack of information on that thing. Second, in a foreign environment, we all act like a stupid person, again due to the lack of information, behavioral mistakes, or adaptation. Then, we always underestimate the stupidities and their damage. And, through our stupid behavior, we incur losses to ourselves or to other people. As to the universe, I don’t know enough about it, but what gets me is the destruction clause it has built into its essence. Such as, everything eventually is destroyed or self-destructs. Also, why do we have to eat, hurt, or damage other beings just to stay alive? Chances are my questions, too, point to my very own infinite stupidity. |
| Prompt: “Ego never accepts the truth.” Buddha How useful are our egos if they can’t accept the truth? What do you think? --- I would say, it depends on what kind of an ego that is. But before we attack the ego, let’s see what its definitions are: dictionary meaning, “a person’s sense of self-esteem or self-importance; in psychoanalysis, “the part of the mind that mediates between the conscious and the unconscious and is responsible for reality testing and a sense of personal identity.” ; in philosophy, “a conscious thinking subject.” According to Freud's model of the psyche, which consists of the id, ego, and superego, the id is the primitive and instinctual part of the mind that contains sexual and aggressive drives and hidden memories, the super-ego operates as a moral conscience, and the ego is the realistic part that mediates between the desires of the id and the super-ego. These definitions point to the fact that one can support a healthy ego and accept the truth, as well. At the same time, it can be developed in such a way that it becomes the breeding ground for hate, fear, and delusion. When the ego cannot accept what is true, it is useless and it belongs to arrogant, condescending, and self-absorbed people. Such people can be self-centered and self-absorbed to the detriment of others. Sometimes, a group of such people can be group-centered, which means they’d trample on the truth for the sake of the group or the goals and belief systems of the group. Such groups cause disruption and chaos. Yet, there is such a thing as being a genuine human being and seeing and accepting oneself as such. This kind of a person understands the world through fair eyes and fair assessment of situations. In such a case, if the ego helps a person to understand the world he is in, it is a good thing, and I think this kind of an ego is an asset as it shows a healthy self-respect and emotional and cognitive maturation. Without an ego, no person would work on their own inner development. A healthy ego is essential in good leaders so they can act with courage for everyone’s welfare. After all, in our makeup, we are all granted with a sense of self. Why not use it to the best advantage of the entire human race! |
| Prompt: Your losses in life ----- Especially in the beginning years of my life and a few decades after, I had a lot of losses. Some of those might not be considered losses by most people, but they were losses to me, but I have dealt with them, immediately or eventually. So, rather than digging them up, I am going to talk about losses in general. A loss can be an expected one, such as what a fatal illness brings at its end, or it can be a traumatic one such as a sudden accident, a sudden end of a career or relationship, or the shocking result of a powerful outside event such as an earthquake or a storm. When faced with a loss, the best thing to do is to share the pain instead of burying it within oneself, which I am guilty of doing to this day. Thinking about it, I believe this is because there exists intense pain at the core of a loss. This is why we try to avoid it. We run away from it. Then, some of us run away not only our own grieving but also from other people’s griefs as they remind us of our own losses. For example, to this day, I hate funerals in any shape, form, or belief system. If dulling the pain for any physical illness is the aim of the medical profession, then why not try to do the same with an emotional disturbance, one might ask. The answer is simple. Dulling the pain of a loss doesn’t make the grief go away. It only covers it up. Moreover, everything inside will be tamped down and hidden under an emotional rug, which means small things may trigger a much bigger effect and reaction when stepped on. Even in medicine, after dulling the pain, doctors perform surgeries and cures on their patients to get rid of the disease. That is why we have to do the work of grieving. We need to let it run its course, and we need to find outlets for it to express itself. All arts are very good for that as are some other things depending on the person. Pain points to change; pain is what allows a person to change, enabling the person to reach a new reality for that person’s functioning in life can be free from feeling that pain constantly. |
| Prompt: Finish this line--- and create either a poem, story or blog entry. Two’s company three’s a crowd. ----- Two’s company three’s a crowd Whoever said that is far out. Is the baby to a couple superfluous? This has to be an idea treasonous. The fifth wheel, too, isn’t unnecessary Left in the trunk, like a cast-out fairy Except when the fourth wheel breaks down Then the fifth wheel is king with a sparkly crown. How we simplify numbers passes me by Odds and evens we must treasure all and justify Prompt: What are your summer plans? ----- None. I don’t make summer plans. Where I live, it is summer practically all the time, and I live life as it comes. Prompt: "Well, I do find beauty in animals. I find beauty everywhere. I find beauty in my garden." Doris Day Write anything you want about this. ----- Our world is incredibly beautiful. Forgetting our personal prejudices of what is beautiful and what is not, a simple observation of just about anything can dazzle our senses. This beauty we can see has nothing to do what we can do with it like using those dark green herbs in our cooking, as beauty is not limited to how we can use it. Neither is anything beautiful to the exclusion of everything else. A frog is beautiful as is the rose and the river in all its forms and in any one season. The same is true of vast landscapes. Grand Canyon is just as beautiful as the jungle or the oceanside. Just the perception of everything and anything, when we put our minds to it, sends us a pleasant emotional response. Maybe this is because of our relationship with the world; then, maybe beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. I used to have an art teacher whose motto was, “See beauty, create beauty!” As Doris Day was creative and beautiful, too, no wonder beauty existed everywhere for her. |
| Prompt: "You are never too old to set another goal or to dream another dream." C. S. Lewis Do you agree with this quote? ---- Do I agree with the quote? Only in some cases. Let’s take climbing Matterhorn. I couldn’t do it even when I was much younger, as in "Alps: Zermatt, Bern, Lugano, Castles"  . Now, at the age of three-quarters of a century, I am not going to set that goal again. Yet, I can set smaller goals, like cleaning a closet or two, which isn’t happening, either. Or let’s say writing a short story or a short poem or making that chicken casserole, which that third option I have to since I defrosted the thing. I am also not too old to dream of flying, exploring the insides of large maze-like buildings, climbing a tall oak, as long as these dreams happen while I sleep at night. But I am not going to try to get another vocation. I’ve had it with vocations. Avocations, maybe because learning is forever, isn’t it! |
| Prompt: What is something you always take when you go on vacation? ---------- My first reactionary answer is: My mind or what’s left of it. Joking aside, it has to be one or all of these depending on where I am going and how long--after the bare necessities of underwear, clothes, and medication: cellphone, purse, laptop, e-reader. If the vacation is two days or less, just the cellphone (I finally got a Samsung) will be enough. Longer than that, my laptop will be added. I used to carry an e-reader everywhere, but I can read on the Android, so my favorite e-reader has been relocated from my purse to the bedroom. The other e-readers reside in different rooms of the house. Since I always have several pens, a tiny pad, and loose papers in my purse, I can satisfy my longing for old fashioned writing tools You have no idea how strong that longing hits when it does. Fact is we used to travel an awful lot, but now, I’ve turned into a homebody, which my hubby isn’t very happy about, but I made it a take-it-or-leave-it thing, and he had to concede. Thus, even my thinking about this is probably obsolete, but I couldn’t help myself just like my longing for old-fashioned tools. |
| Prompt: Write whatever sparks your writing with this opening line "As night became day, the conclusion was clear but were we ready for the answer?" ===== As night became day, the conclusion was clear, but were we ready for the answer? I had thought about this a lot while I watched the late night news, which wasn’t exactly a bunch of red roses but more like poison ivy. We were now sitting in a circle meditating out in the forest surrounded by redwood trees. Although the trees’ deep shades kept us quite cool, the weather was unusually warm. It was a slow, graceful meditation that I liked, while I enjoyed my heels touching the earth and feeling as if I were of the earth, of vegetation somehow. What was the only revolution that could possibly succeed to bring our calm state to the rest of the earth? The conclusion we each had arrived in our own personal and special ways was the same. Yet, the inhabitants of this planet were not ready for it, and that, we accepted with our hearts breaking. Yes, even such love, the transcendental kind, needed some work, some readiness, some wishful thinking. And the denizens of our planet just needed time. |
| Prompt: What things in life make you feel at peace? --------- I bet some people may feel at peace during some religious or spiritual exercises or events. In my case, I get excited and happy when I think about or even touch those subjects, and I see them as being rather personal, so I don't talk or write about them. Truth is, this is a multi-faceted question for me. Some things may make me feel at peace at one time; then the same things may unnerve me at another time. This is especially true when I am watching nature. I love to watch the ocean with rippling waves. I also like to look at the greenery around me; yet, one day I saw an eagle kill a squirrel in the very same place, which unnerved me. On the other hand, I feel quite at peace when I am writing. (maybe engrossed is the better word here). Reading with no interruptions (especially while the kind of music I like is playing) also calms me down and gives me peace. My most appreciated type of peace comes from when I have fulfilled my own expectation of myself, which is a rarity, and also when there is nothing upsetting or nothing too hard to do. Another rarity. Then, I feel at peace from knowing my family is okay and my country is doing well. I would also feel at peace if there were no political fights, which I know is a losing wish. But I have recently decided to not vote for people or parties who pick up unnecessary fights. This decision also gives me peace. |
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