We hold these truths....

 With all of the noise and nonsense swirling about in our nation, I am finding it harder and harder to continue to be the kind,caring, gentle, happy individual I work so hard at trying to be.

People on both sides of all issues just keep saying the dumbest things .

And to be perfectly honest, most of them have nothing but their own opinions to weigh in with. None of the noise is supported by fact,at least not all of the facts.The "TRUTH" is nowhere to be found.

"Listen to the scientists!"

Which ones?

"Follow the Law".

Again, which ones?

Arguments abound .

The one and only thing I am 100% sure of is that there will be no kumbaya moment where all minds will come together and there is peace and brotherhood throughout the land.

It ain't gonna happen.

We hold these truths to be self evident?

Which TRUTHS?

We can't agree on what truth is and we certainly can't agree on any of what follows that statement.

I for one refuse to even pretend to have an intelligent conversation around any of this.

First because I myself am certainly no expert.

Second because I am not going to sway anyone nor will anyone sway me in my beliefs.

Mostly,though, because the minute I try,people go completely bat shit crazy!

70 million plus people hate the guy in the White House.

Another 70 million plus hate the way things have been for the last 50 years or so.

Am I going to change any of that? I don't think so.

If those in office are of the mindset that I support,I'm happy. If the other side is in charge,it's a safe bet that I won't be.

Loads of people are wearing masks,social distancing,getting tested and self quarantining.

Just as many absolutely think that much of what is going on is overreaching and overreacting.

So where will we find common ground.

Usually that happens when we have a common enemy.

Anyone up for a good war?

There is no such thing as constructive debate.

What there is is a whole lot of nastiness from both sides of the issues.

Sadly, there is nothing on the horizon in my view that will mitigate any of this.

Truths are what we each individually believe them to be.

That will not change.

Neither will anyone's deeply held beliefs and opinions.

At some point,reality outweighs truth.

And the reality is there will be no great coming together anytime soon.

Shabbat Shalom

Blinded by the light

 It is a spectacularly glorious sunny day here in the Northeast.

The sun is shining and the temperature is unseasonably warm.

There is a gentle breeze blowing causing the brilliantly colored leaves to dance on the trees before pirouetting down to the ground.

Given that we are well into November, this is a rare and unique gift to many.

Not so much for me however.

I've shared this with you before.

I am not a huge fan of sunny days.

As we move deeper and deeper into autumn, the sun appears lower and lower in the sky making glare a really significant issue for me. I spend 5 hours each morning sitting behind a glass wall navigating the roads of Bergen County.

On sunny days, heading east means battling the sun directly.When I turn to the west ,the issue becomes reflected glare.

In any direction, the end result is a lot of squinting.

The autumnal equinox brings a different sun problem than the rest of the year when the sun might be higher in the sky, beating down on me and overheating my rolling hot box.

It's still a huge annoyance and inconvenience.

Now I know what you are thinking.

Why don't you just go buy some sunglasses?

Well, for one thing,I don't like wearing them.

For many, going through life wearing rose colored or any other tinted glasses makes sense.

Not so much for me.

I find it unsettlingly unnatural and uncomfortable.

I know others feel differently than I do about sunny days.

Many people love them. Good for them. The problem becomes when people try to tell me that my reality and experience around sunny days is wrong or somehow perverse.

They insist that I should be enjoying sunny days and that somehow I am weird and incorrect in my aversion towards them.

It's quite a conundrum.

There is a beauty to sunny days and many feel that this is the way we should all live, bathed in sunshine 365 days a year.

That may be their reality.

It's not mine.

I for one love a cloudy day.

I appreciate a rainy day.

I have even become accustomed to the occasional blizzard and hurricane.

These are all part of my reality.

The sunshine is nice, as long as I can find my patch of shade to live in and get to enjoy it without someone forcing me into that harsh sunlight.

I really dislike being blinded by that light.

If you don't have anything nice to say..............

 How many times have I been told or used the expression"if you don't have anything nice to say ,don't say anything at all!"?

I can only guess too many times to count.

It's just one of life's golden rules in my book,often easier to preach than practice.

As you can surmise by my lack of communication ,( I haven't written in over a week), I have not been in the mood to say nice things lately.

Not that I have a lot of un-nice things to say either.

I just find myself self at an energetic loss to conjure up any really positive thoughts to share with anyone.

It's been a rough couple of days when it comes to being enthusiastic about life.

The last time I wrote was 8 days ago.

The next day,was dark, dank and rainy and I spent almost 8 hours driving around Bergen County making deliveries by myself.

Not exactly a "woo hoo this is loads of fun" kind of day.

By 10:30 in the morning my sweatshirt was damp and that never changed until I did when I stopped by the house at 4 before continuing on my not so merry way.The newly donned dry hoodie was a great relief. It probably would have helped if I had changed my squishy soaking wet shoes and socks as well.

It was just one of those days.

While the weather may have changed dramatically by the next day, things in my world didn't respond accordingly.

What ever malaise had set in on Sunday, seemed to hover around me all week long.

Hence, nothing nice to say.

Further hence,no writing.

While I can't say that sunrise today brought about any sort of significant change in my atmosphere, I did feel it was high time for me to find a way to rise above all of this and reach out.

The Sun is shining as it has been most of the week. The weather is unseasonably warm allowing for some outdoor activities.including taking Susan to lunch today.

Those are some nice things to share with you.

I just had a possibly aha moment.

I last wrote the day before we changed the clocks back.

Since then, evening has crept in around 4 pm and nightfall has been upon us shortly there after.

Darkness!

Ya think that might have something to do with it?

Not sure, but I'll give it some thought.

Until I figure it out....have a nice day!

Shavua Tov!