THE SIGNIFICANCE OF A DEFLATED IMAGE?

He sat deflated, forlon on a neighbor's lawn,  almost unable to move. Companions near him were on their  knees.

His bright color, gone. He was half the size from when I saw him last.  There on the lawn he looked more like a pile of rubble than the celebrated figure he was.
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How had this happened?  Was it a stray, tearing stone or a mean spirited person that brought him down? Was it an accident?  Could it have been avoided? What do we need to do?  Will he recover?

Somehow, as I passed this heap of plastic, inflated Santa Claus the scene represented  feelings of people morning the deaths of so many, even in the season of bright twinkling lights, morning also our loss of common sense as a nation.

EXPERIENCING TECHNICAL DIFFICULTY

During the first two weeks of December there may be a glitch in communications between my readers and me. I will be moving to experience another way of living here in St. Louis.

I have lived in my present apartment for almost six years opposite the majestic Cathedral of St. Louis. The location has provided me with a Parisian sometimes Roman view of the City. It also has provided me with a 15-floor, constantly moving panorama of life's sad and joyful moments.

I watched the elaborate installation ceremony for the new Arch Bishop as well as the quiet,dignified candle light demonstration by nuns and lay people opposed to Rome's edicts for nuns. I became a real fashion maven on the latest bridal wear as brides and their courts paraded below my windows on Saturday mornings. On solemn occasions, I heard the bag pipes and mighty Church bells tolling at funerals.

My fellow renters include a wonderful assortment of children, families, university students and dogs, many of them were known to me. Others were only fellow elevator travelers whose greetings were brief. The neighborhood was close by the Park and invigorating to walk through. I was able to recognize and greet home owners and small business people. I usually wound up at a favorite coffee house where the regulars became like family. To me the area represented the multifaceted joys and problems of urban living.

The new apartment I move to is once again a studio on the 6th floor where I will enjoy a cityscape of lights, highways and, on a cloudless night a sky filled with stars. The ages of other residents at my new address could probably be best described as in the new old, old and older age groups. Truth be told I am not sure what those terms mean. I suspect the terminology describes the clinical needs of people but tells us little about who they are. I hope to find out.

Because the City itself is so important to me, I expect to still discover many places not yet visited and continue visiting my favorite haunts. So, I ask for your patience and continued readership as Beverly's Notebook blog gets hooked into a new Internet system.

Oxford's Word of the Year

Oxford Dictionary selected "omnishambles" as the word for the year. According to the publisher, omnishambles is defined as a "situation that has been comprehensively mismanaged, characterized by a string of blunders and miscalculations."  It may be descriptive of the era in which we live, but I wonder. Whatever happened to "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?"

THE MILITARY AND ME

In the early 60s, I found myself headed toward Fort Stewart Georgia.  I had married a Major in the United States Army.  Fort Stewart was described to me as being a small base located outside the "sleepy" town of Hinesville, Georgia.

Little did I realize that I had been placed smack dab in the middle of the Cuban/Russian missile crisis. I found myself on the  military base which would become the one where  thousands of men, women and equipment would go to war if Russia would not back off.  I met people of all ages and experience from across the country and formed a number of friendships across the ranks.

I learned much about military life at Fort Stewart. Some of what I learned was in sharp contrast to the information provided to the public by the Army: discrimination, alcoholism, abuse of women and children, and an attitude held by many that the military were the only true patriots; justice was administered by officers who, along with  a training manual, the military felt were competent enough to defend men and women in civilian courts.

Since that time, I have been reassured that much has changed for the better in the military.   But with the recent revelation about the elite web of inappropriate Internet messaging by our military I wonder just how much has changed.

Any one of us can be intoxicated by superficial words and actions or dress.  The military holds no exemption to this, if anything is more susceptible to encouraging an attitude of elitism and privilege.
As an example,  whenever I entered or left the base, I was in a car with the Major's insignia on it.
Each time I came or went,  the guard at the gate came to attention, clicked his heels and gave me a snappy salute. Man, did I feel important and privileged!.

SHORT TERM STAY IN EXTENDED CARE

In October I had a fall.  Luckily, I am still in one piece but wiser for spending two weeks in a rehabilitation facility.

My experience gave me the opportunity to meet people who shared their life experience with me, sometimes in a halting way as if searching for a memory that seemed to evade them.

Where I stayed, the staff worked tirelessly to provide the kind of personal care I often take for granted, as well as helping each of us relearn simple skills.

Don't miss understand me.  All was not sunshine and roses.  Two nurses in particulare stand out in my memory.  One I called "nurse wretched" with whom I had major communication problems until I learned to ask may I? While the other, nurse Esther "loved my patients", and was truly an unsung hero to many of us.

There were funy moments like when I was watching the second debate.  I had sat through much of it quietly listening to the candidates.  But when Roomney began his slick sales pitch, I could not contain myself. 

I shouted at the television loudly, "I'm electing a president not a circus pitch-man" which brought everbody on the floor running into my room thinking there was some kind of emergency.

I am glad to be back home.  Writing again, grateful to friends and family for their support and encouragement and looking forward to my next adventure.

WHY DO WE SEEK EDUCATION?

In the heat of the political season I ask myself what does education provide? The question is easy enough to answer politically. It helps provide a step up the ladder. It sure does!

But is that enough of an answer? Because of simplistic rhetoric, I wonder can we meet the challenges ahead when so many of us remain uneducated, unfed people? Can we remain insensitive to the difference of others while being manipulated by dogma, political or religious?

Is the answer to all this the size of our government or an ism? I think not. Education gives us tools to measure the realities of our past, to appreciate today's opportunities, and help us recognize leaders who can lead us through the challenges of the future.

SPECIAL GIFT FROM NATURE

Recently I was given a small bouquet of purple and white flowers from an event I had attended. When I brought them home, I snipped their stems, freshened their water and placed them near a window filled with sunshine.

They thrived for about two weeks. When it came time to throw them out, I noticed two small flowers, still sturdy and with two unopened buds on their stem. On the chance the buds might still open, I saved them and placed them in the sunny window. Two days later, much to my delight, one bud opened.

As nature begins her new cycle of seasons and I begin my own season of contemplation, I feel as if I have been presented with a very special gift. I extend the hope for the same sense to all readers, friends and family.