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The Oracle: Revisited

I was sitting here at my computer this morning watching the rising sun highlight the bare branches of the yard trees when the thought crossed my mind—I haven’t spoken to the Oracle tree for a long while. Now is the last chance to visit before the deep snows of winter make it impossible to get near.

DISCLAIMER: The author makes no warranty to the verity of the Oracle’s answers. All questions were asked (and I imagine answered) in complete sobriety with no assistance from external sources or chemical aids of any kind to arrive at the results of this interview. Material presented now may not be the complete transcript of the interview, and further text may be shared in the future.

Here is an abbreviated interview or conversation, if you will, for your thoughts and consideration. I find it soothing to converse with an ancient, wise being. It puts a perspective on the immediacy of today. Here goes:

ME: Hello there, do you remember me? It’s been a while since I last bothered you.

ORACLE: Of course, I remember you! You were here just a bit ago, weren’t you?

ME: Actually, almost nine months ago. You didn’t have much snow until after January, if I remember right.

ORACLE: Yes, you’re right! But we got plenty after that. I have to say that nine months compared to 5-6 thousand years is just a blip on my consciousness.

ME: Hahaha, I guess that is true, much different for me of course. So any news you want to share with my readers? Have you heard about the impeachment hearings going on in Washington, D.C.?

ORACLE: I heard someone talk about that once, A man called “God damned” Andrew Johnson. It seemed to me that the speaker didn’t like him very much—I never quite understood why. Do you know about this?

ME: I have read about that, it is before my time. I believe it was a case of over reaching the will of Congress and willfully ignoring the laws concerning the President’s control of the military and something called the Tenure of Office Act that was designed to keep the President from blatantly appointing or dismissing his cabinet members without the advice and consent of Congress. Essentially a power struggle.and a man thinking he was above the law. There have been two actions in my lifetime about the same base issue; is the chief executive of the United States above the law? And now another impeachment in progress concerning the same issue.

ORACLE: Hmmm. In my world we have struggles like that—not for individual power but for survival. Survival of the individual translates into species survival in the end, even though an individual isn’t particularly important of itself. Anything else going on that you would like to share with me—you can see I don’t get around too far. Sometimes the wind brings news, like the aroma of a great fire somewhere over the horizon towards the setting sun. do you know about that?

ME: Yes, terribly destructive fires in California, er, West on the coast of the continent. Many trees have been destroyed as well as my species homes and lives.

ORACLE: (Alarmed) NO! Really? What has caused that to happen? Will the fire come here?

ME: It might, though this forest isn’t crowded like it is there, maybe down lower where the Junipers are thick. I have to say, I can’t answer your question very easily. There are multiple reasons, climate change-increase of carbon dioxide due to my species releasing ancient carbon from coal and petroleum in our industries at an undprecedented high rate. It has had a large impact on the earth. I hate to say it, but it seems to be the human species fault for this—I don’t know the outcome or even if life on earth will make it.

ORACLE: Somewhere, likely on the wind, I have heard it said about that. “If there is a God who made us and we did wrong before His eyes…at least we did wrong only because we were as God made us, and I do not think that He…set(s) traps”¹ and  don’t be too hard on your species, you all may reap what you sow, but, in the end, “Men go and come, but EARTH ABIDES.²

ME: I hope you abide, I’ll be back to check on you. It won’t be until spring-time though. Enjoy the cold and quiet in the mean time.

1.     Paraphrase of a quote from EARTH ABIDES, Author‎: ‎George R. Stewart, Publication date‎: ‎1949, Pages‎: ‎373, Publisher‎: ‎Random House

2.     IBID

Repost, Reposte', Riposte'

  Interestingly enough, I just pulled this up with the intention of posting something about the current state of affairs in the good ol' USA and what did I find? A rant, precursor if I may, of what we are experiencing right now.  Anyway, if you haven't read the piece below, go for it, you might agree or disagree. 

But stay tuned for my next post.  MDL 3Feb2017

 

I posted this nearly two years ago, and although I have a bit more control of my temper the premise is the same. The memes are more numerous than ever, positing, poisoning, mean insulting memes. The events of this week lends themselves to full on madness from some quarters, great sadness from others, and reasoned/unreasoned fear from yet others. And to top it all off, our nation is in the middle of a presidential election that will prove to be the worst campaign season, including the 1968 death of Bobby Kennedy, of my life. I hope it isn't as disastrous as that one. Read, rage, and comment if you will. It seems that my voice will be heard once again. New material to come.

Today’s Debate----Tomorrow’s Fight

I think I called some one a nincompoop the other day. Of course it was from the safety of my desk chair and my faceless profile picture. No worries about the object of my scorn reaching through my computer screen and breaking my nose. Maybe next time I can call him an F_ _ _in’ idiot (and no I don’t mean any of the ‘F’ euphemisms). How un-civil do I have to be before I have crossed that “damned rude SOB” barrier? Well, I am guessing not that far.

When browsing through Facebook posts, Tweets, email, God blackmail (forward this a zillion times in 10 minutes or burn in hell), I find myself building up a head of steam that only has a short safety valve on it. When I don’t get control, it blows and Heaven help anyone or thing in the way. I cuss at the TV, I swear at the computer. I bash the table with my fist (I promised I wouldn’t crush the keyboard ever again), and have been known to kick a wall or slam a door. Or, lately I have taken to writing scathing remarks in response to something that I don’t agree with. Sometimes I delete them before pushing the send button, sometimes not. My fingers will fly over the keyboard and when I look up and see the missed keystrokes and mis-spelled words, it just fuels the flames of indignation.

Another bad habit I have acquired, tit-for-tat meme posting. I will search for what seems hours to find that perfect rebuttal meme or article to slam down as proof that I am right. I have yet to see an article or meme that has converted the sadly misinformed FB poster. For every pro article I can find, there are dozens of negative ones. Pro-petroleum (jobs, healthy car idling, what smog?) to the Negative on that Black Gold crowd (climate change, stinky water, can’t see the bunnies for all that haze)…are good examples of that.

I know that there are myriad definitions of what constitutes a good “Christian” but can’t we all agree that we can be civil without bringing faith into the equation? Faith provokes more conflict rather than mutual agreement. My faith is better than your…just what do you call yourselves these days? I hope you catch the sarcasm there. I am trying to remember we are each human beings and deserve respect for our ideas and opinions even if we don't agree with each other. These days it is hard to find a forum where you can discuss your opinions and bounce your ideas off someone who isn’t invested in our ego. That’s what makes FB and the Twitterverse and email lists so important. Just being able to provide feedback on a news article (TV or print) is a wonder and seeing the different responses (absent the rude SOB’s) is wonderful.  BTW what do you think of that woman who bought all of the T-shirts that she thought pornographic from a mall store? (Explain that to your spouse, “Honey, I spent this week’s paycheck buying all of the beer at the pub down the street so that little Joey wouldn’t be tempted. Oh and by the way, I couldn’t bear the thought of wasting all of that money so I had to drink it all before I came home.)

Don’t get the idea that I am saying that you or I have to lose our passion for the causes we feel strongly for. I hope that we can all continue to respond to the issues of today with that passion and our opinions no matter how messed up others think they are. Just remember, if you want the privilege of spouting off about (name a topic) then you have to recognize my right to do the same. Nobody made me the King of the World.

And like previous posts this is the Answer from the Great Basin, feel free to express (within the conditions of my blog) the Answer from wherever you are.