Thoughts from the Mountain Top

I was accused of being a racist one time, because I listened to the band Guns & Roses and Axl had made some pretty negative comments at the time.  Never mind that Slash was bi-racial, something the person accusing me of being a racist didn't know. I was hurt by that, because I had spent a good part of my life standing up to racists and catching flak for it.  I have a very good friend to this day who visited us every summer for 2 weeks to a month through the Fresh Air Fund.  I just loved her.  When I was about 9, the first non-white family moved into our neighborhood.  I immediately friended one of the daughters who was just a year older than me.  I didn't care what color her skin was - I just wanted another friend.  Over the years, they were very good friends too.  At that time, with "blockbusting" going on engineered by real estate companies, once a black family moved into an area, they didn't show homes there to white families.  House...

Since the Election, my profile picture on Facebook is an upside down American flag.  This is a signal of distress, which I can't think of a more appropriate sign for these times we are living in.  I've been accused a couple of times of "disrespecting" the flag, which it isn't.  In fact, several Veterans have stepped up to say so, and the first person I saw with it was a retired Navy officer. With the protests, there have been posts on some people's pages to make flag desecration a felony.  It will never happen.  It's a part of free speech.  My thought, though, is why are you so worried about the flag?  The flag is a symbol.  It is an inanimate object.  It becomes something to be proud of and revere because of what it represents. "Veterans fought for this flag. It's an insult to them." Did they really fight for the flag? Or did they fight for the ideals that it represents?  They fought because they were proud of the country they came fr...

I've seen many posts from my right-leaning friends mocking the millennial generation for "safe space" and treating them like they are "wimps."  It is apparent, they have no idea what they are talking about. "Safe space" started in the learning disability community.  Mainstreaming learning disabled kids into regular classes is a good thing.  It doesn't mean that there aren't side effects.  One of those is that these students get overwhelmed, whether it's in the classroom or by some other means, and need a place to calm themselves down.  Once they are taught this process, they'll usually know when it's happening and when they need to go to their "safe space."  Although schools now usually provide space for this, some students figure it out on their own.  My son is on the autism spectrum, and his trick was to ask to go to the bathroom. After that, "safe space" was a place to retreat from bullying.  It's pretty o...

I've been reeling from the outcome of the election.  In my head I've put so many posts together.  Abbreviated versions went on Facebook.  It's been hard to completely collect my thoughts. One thing Trump promised was to bring jobs back, and a lot of people voted for him just based on that one promise.  There was an interview with a woman who was excited because she couldn't wait for the factory in her town to open again for her husband to go back to work. Oh how the naive have been played.  They will find that out soon enough. One area that's about to be decimated is in regard to the environment.  Trump promised to lift regulations in place.  These regulations have given us cleaner air and water over the last four decades.  I grew up just outside of New York City and I remember the pollution haze that often settled over the city.  Even when I moved out in 2005, there was still such a difference in the sky between New York and the White Moun...

I have a son who is 16 and on the autism spectrum.  He's pretty high functioning, which puts him on a cusp of possibly being able to secure employment in his life and not completely disabled. He also has Crohn's Disease. Why are these two things important?  He receives infusions of the drug Remicaide every 8 weeks to keep his Crohn's in remission.  He lost 41 pounds before it went into remission after it was discovered he had it.  I saw a bill recently for those infusions.  Each one is around $13,000. Right now, he's covered by his father's health insurance, which is quite good.  So good, in fact, that we pay taxes on it now as a benefit.  I don't object.  I know how valuable it is to have health insurance and if it helps other people have it as well, that's a good thing.  Under the ACA, I have another 10 years before I have to worry about him going off the health insurance.  I wasn't even worried about that, because our Governor had exp...

The Trekkie in me has been reciting those words over and over again, especially this last week before the election.  I have my own religious faith, but that does not allow for God to fix things we humans mess up.  No matter how much we pray, God doesn't care who wins the Superbowl.  And God isn't about to step in and rig the election either. God is in our heart and stirs our hearts and we are supposed to act on those stirrings.  We can choose to be angry and channel fear and hate, or we can choose grace, forgiveness, and hope.  We can put ourselves first, or we can try to create a better world for everyone.  The choice is ours.  God won't fix that for us. This election has scared me more than I have been scared in a long time.  The last time I can remember something impacting me so much was when Korean Air Lines flight 007 was shot down by the Soviets.  I was sure we were about to experience a nuclear world war.  I didn't have the sa...

I hear a lot of talk from people lately about Uber.  I haven't used the service myself yet.  I probably will in January when I am with friends in Las Vegas, but personally I am not too keen on them. My main concern is safety. A local taxi service in town has been advertising for drivers.  I don't know if they do a drug screening at the time someone is hired, or if there are any screens while they are working for them.  However, I do know that someone who has gone through a number of jobs in town has "issues".  He wrecked his own car when he hit a moose, and allegedly he had gone for a drive to get high.  The taxi company hired him.  I don't think he made it two months before he fell asleep behind the wheel and rear-ended another vehicle.  Fortunately, no one was hurt. The taxi company fired him, of course.  This is where my question comes in - what's to stop him from getting another car and driving for Uber?  Uber guidelines state:...