The Museum, World War I, Peace, Starvation and the Maria Dolens!

History is a mystifying seductress to some of us.  Everywhere we look we find a piece of history that we are curious about.  Myself  I am continually looking into the history of everything and many times finding that I know very little of the history of things at all..

Every year we all set goals for the next and this morning as  I am sitting drinking a cup of coffee I am doing just that, I have struggled, poured much energy and money into keeping the museum open and with this year's pie sale that was pulled off with a struggle and made a success in part on
Sunday sales... with local support, the question that came to my mind was,...”should I continue after more than 20 years?”  

I thought about the new year as most of us do and I tried to find something that would guide me.  I asked myself if you didn’t work on the museum...what would you do?  The answers were pretty simple since I try to do them now… 1. Help wipe out poverty!  2. Work to end all War and Hatred..

I am adamant that we are in a terrible time of class separation, I remember a line from a song…”The hands of the have not’s have fallen out of reach!”  They have and are becoming more so everyday...even though we are in the middle of a supposed boom economy here in the USA. We are also in a time of world war, causing starvation of millions and skirmishes that are killing thousands of innocent people...and for what....Religion and Power....Riches?

So with the recent celebration of the 100th Anniversary of WWI..."The War to end all Wars" I went online to find out what  has been said in the past...   Pope Francis...who signs everything just Francis…in his  New Years message a few years ago for the 48th anniversary of the Day of World Peace spoke in front of a screen that had the Maria Dolens bell ringing in the background.  The Maria Dolens? And so I was off on my newest history quest.

The Maria Dolens is the name of a bell that was cast from the bronze of many of the cannons - 19, one from each of the countries that participated in WWI.  It sits in Roverto, in today’s northern Italy and it rings 100 times each day in the evening to honor the fallen and to many to act  as a symbol for peace and an end to war.

The Bell was the idea of Don Antonio Rossaro,  called the Bell of the Fallen.  It was given the name Maria Dolens and placed on the Malipiero tower of Castello di Rovereto.  It has been recast many times because of fractures from ringing 100 times a day no doubt... but it has always been recast and returned to the tower where is nightly reminds the world of the price of war.  The latest recast was blessed by Pope Paul VI and on November 4^th, 1965 was placed on the Colle di Miravalle where it today rest above the city of Roverto.

On the bell, which is the second largest swinging bell in the world, were added at its recasting the statements of the Pontiff Pius XII "With peace nothing is lost. Everything is to be lost through war." John XXIII: "In pace hominum ordinata concordia et tranquilla libertas."

Today, as always, it rang 100 times at midday...in Italy as I am writing this..... just as it  was shown on the large screen in St. Peter’s square that day.

It is said that it tolls in the hope that Man, in the memory of the Fallen of every war and every nation in the world, may find the path that leads to Peace….

I say AMEN to that…!

Caregivers, the elderly, cancer, Right to Die and DEPRESSION.

I picked up the Sunday Syracuse paper on line this morning and went to an article on families taking care of the elderly, their troubles, their sorrow and most importantly the depression that many of them suffer.

I can relate to that article.. 5 years after the fact…I am still in a state of depression. 

My story started with my father who could no longer able to do what he had to do and who died (at home except for a few weeks) to my mother who was a burden on him… He passed his bourdon to me.  Then my best friend of 37 years in Eaton was dying of Cancer…she needed help.

.

Since I was running between Eaton and Solvay plus Doctors visits in Syracuse and Syracuse to Eaton every day for a number of years …then not sleeping… trying to listen for my mother’s calls…I became depressed.  It was like a nightmare you could not escape from. I finally had to put mom in a nursing home.  If you think that can relieve the stress think again.

The care facility was terrible…luckily mom had her mind…some of the workers were nice…but most were underpaid, overworked and working with a mental problem and its drugs… proved to be a horrible experience.  Once they overdosed her so bad by changing her medicine she was out of control until I took control. 

Mom died in January and then my friend died in April at home …where again nights had become long. 

It was over I thought….no…it was just beginning.

I am still trying to find my way back to a happy life or to one that seems normal or worthwhile.

Luckily my parents had enough money for me to hire some wonderful young aids while I was in my daily travels back and forth…and both had good doctors care…. but to “honor your mother and father” is a Commandment that takes a large measure of your life away from you.  Ironically the same struggle, if done well, that they suffered through bringing you up as a child.

As I reflect on this article and our caregiving system at present I feel we have lost a basic element…the large family…all in one place or area…no spread out.  Now we assume that with our lives we can’t return home to our parents to care for them…time and money constraints.

However leaving their care to a system that is overloaded is not a good answer either.

In my depression I have thought about ending all the thoughts and trouble and awful tiredness behind…but I like so many continue on…one thing is for sure…we are living too long!

Health care has become an enabler to unhappiness and poverty of both the people and of the system.  The cost of care is ridiculous... to relieve the family of burden it cost almost everything you have.  Cancer care costs are outrageous. 

I think we should live our days to the fullest while we have them and then be able to go out much like the old Indians who left and wandered into a field or were carried to a field where they chose to die, leaving nothing but a good memory behind.  Those that fight "right to die" should look down the road to their end and think again!

The true forest, poverty, Gordon Lightfoot and me the old folksinger!

I am totally sick that people can’t see the trees from the forest.  I have a number of FB friends who forward me stories on the homeless and the poor… yet do we really try to do anything about it… and yet things rage in Congress on cutting social programs, people who won’t work... minimum wage.   Nobody wants to live on the street unless they have mental problems... or are poor and unwilling to take a social program... or live in an area where there is no safety net!.

We are happy to pay big bucks to go to a game or movie and look with disdain on anyone who might be standing on a corner looking for a handout.

Other FBers go on and on about people unwilling to work…. without the causes of unemployment or the mere fact that after being down so long they are not fit for public employment because of looks, disabilities or even worse… ignorance. 

We forget that not everyone is born with enough common sense or intelligence to care for themselves...they need help. What if they have no family?

Oh yes let us not forget our red, white, and blue flag wavers who fail to feel compassion for Vets who have come home with mental problems and who “litter” city streets as the homeless. 

As I sat in the cold stoking my woodstove… alone… I thought of a Gordon Lightfoot song I had sung for many years when I was into folk music… and had lots of friends and family.  Got out my old guitar and sang it…I leave the words with you... and I have shared the actual song being played at the end of the lyrics…listen and learn.

Oh the neon lights were flashin'

And the icy wind did blow

The water seeped into his shoes

And the drizzle turned to snow

His eyes were red, his hopes were dead

And the wine was runnin' low

And the old man came home

From the forest

His tears fell on the sidewalk

As he stumbled in the street

A dozen faces stopped to stare

But no one stopped to speak

For his castle was a hallway

And the bottle was his friend

And the old man stumbled in

From the forest

Up a dark and dingy staircase

The old man made his way

His ragged coat around him

As upon his cot he lay

And he wondered how it happened

That he ended up this way

Getting lost like a fool

In the forest

And as he lay there sleeping

A vision did appear

Upon his mantle shining

A face of one so dear

Who had loved him in the springtime

Of a long-forgotten year

When the wildflowers did bloom

In the forest

She touched his grizzled fingers

And she called him by his name

And then he heard the joyful sound

Of children at their games

In an old house on a hillside

In some forgotten town

Where the river runs down

From the forest

With a mighty roar the big jets soar

Above the canyon streets

And the con men con but life goes on

For the city never sleeps

And to an old forgotten soldier

The dawn will come no more

For the old man has come home

From the forest....

Harry Chapin, World Hunger & hunger right here in our area!

Thanksgiving is over…and for some it never was.

December 7^th is a well-known date to historians…Pearl Harbor Day – A day that will live in infamy!  Musicians might remember it as the day Harry Chapin was born in 1942.

Chapin was a musician/songwriter/world class humanitarian & a reformer of sorts.  Not that he preached for political change… but that he sang' performed and gave his heart to a cause that has been in the forefront of the news lately – Hunger!

On the political front he was an important part of the Presidential Commission on World Hunger in 1977.

His efforts on behalf of all causes was the result of a self - propelling will to make a difference in this "world" with his life. He championed even small causes like a benefit concert for the Landmark Theater here in Syracuse, a thing he did twice.

Harry became an inspiration for hunger causes not only around the world but also because he worked to bring out the plight of the hungry here in the United States… A hunger that has not gone away but has gotten worse!!

I recently worked on a hunger study because of the cancellation of dollars for SNAP (food stamps –WIC) programs.  I was shocked to read the figures and I was shocked by the hypocrisy of politicians giving so many tax breaks and subsidies to "big" agriculture and ridiculously placing a humanitarian program in the same funding category.

One humorous thesis I read was - that if you own a home, a car and a color TV then you can afford to feed your children. 

!1-   Who really owns their own home?  Loans, insurance, and taxes on a fixed income...count for what here??? 

  2 – Car?  A good majority of the poor live in rural areas where an old car of any type is a necessity, needed not only to run around in… but to get to stores to buy food, to go to doctors, and to get to WORK since there is no real rural transportation! 

 3 – A color TV?  Everyone who has children or needs to be informed has a TV… people give them away for free… as they upgrade to huge flat screens!!

Chapin realized the importance of not only having events to raise money but to work to find the root causes of the problem so he affiliated with FOOD FIRST an organization that claims “abundance not scarcity best describes the world’s food supply“… for information visit their site... www.foodfirst.org.

I think it is high time the foolish politicians who fuel hateful remarks about the poor being lazy and worthless are voted out of office… and also that the people who foolishly believe all “poor and elderly on SS are takers”  get called out… Harry would have wanted it.

For his effort Chapin was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold medal for his work… and what interests me most is he carried a humanitarian message with him to his grave…  a message we should all heed and strive to achieve.  On his gravestone is carved his motto from one of his song “I Wonder What Would Happen to this World”:

Oh if man tried

To take his time on earth

And prove before he died

What one man’s life could be worth

I wonder what would happen to this World!

He died on July 16^th 1981…too bad we don’t have him now to fight against politicians whose programs and greed promote hunger and poverty not eliminate it!

Listen to the songs and enjoy!

Thoughts on poverty - after flood conditions - and the future elections.

The flooding is over and with a little help from Mother Nature things will get back to normal.  From experience I have to tell you…they don’t get back to normal for a long time.  The price that you pay is not just in cost of items and repair of houses, it’s also in the stress of family relationships both personal and financial.

In a society that values what money can buy more than the things money can’t buy… we are trapped in a daily cycle of work, bills, and rising costs.  Money cannot buy back the time-spent worrying about things… and the emotional toll that brings nights when you are unable to sleep.  When this all kicks in…it shakes even the best of relationships.

When you add poverty to the mix the situation becomes unbearable.  I have heard about “flood insurance” but the cost of this commodity is far above the ability of many people to pay and so they throw the dice and hope it rolls in their favor!

That is what I have done over the years…I have never won. (I am not good at gambling)  The only thing it has taught me is to just carry on.

The compounding factor is that people in my rural area who have low paying jobs or retirement benefits… are also most likely unable to find full-time work that pays enough to have a car on the road and to travel to it.  Part-time jobs do not make it when you factor in the cost of gas, repairs and insurance.  In Madison County’s case you have to factor in that there is no bus service, hilly terrain, and almost no industry.

The majority of people work in school systems or health care, or local governments.  Good paying agricultural jobs with benefits are few and far between.  Madison County ranks number 3 in the state for lost population… no wonder why.

Continually badgering people who get food assistance is just ridiculous.  Even our friends to the north in the more populated area who work for places like Walmart do not have adequate pay to live.  When they retire...what?

The Amish families have moved into the vacant farms and have returned to basic life.  But are we as “a people”… willing to forgo our current life style of easy communication, entertainments, work saving devices and… most importantly education of our children?

The flooding in my case has been caused in a great part by lack of adequate infrastructure repair.  But I cannot afford more taxes and once again it is industry that pays taxes and provides jobs that allow the citizenry to pay taxes.  It is a “catch 22.”

So when it comes time to vote this fall in local elections…think about it… we need younger more in tune thinking.  We need Change! We need to be proactive rather than reactive… In our comments on line via social media like Facebook that are hateful to hard working retired or poor people…. remember but for the Grace of God you might one day be in their situation… and if costs and our society continue… your children may be in this situation!

So help your friends… be kind to your neighbors and family… and think about the future for everyone…  Where are we going as a society?  How can we improve?  And more importantly… how long can we carry on without sincere change?

***Here is a great video..great historic pictures..worth a watch!

The week in review, MLK Day, Lincoln, Guns & Gordon Lightfoot

This week has been another week of bitter and mean comments about guns, the president, elderly on social security - labeled as living off the system, families needing food stamps because of job loss or poor paying jobs, fracking, Hurricane Sandy relief, war, choking smog in China, snow in Europe, heatwave in Australia, death in Syria and Mali…. and on an on.  I just could not stand it …so I off’d Facebook comments that bothered me…..and tuned out the news.

Martin Luther King Day and the Inauguration are on the same day… I found that almost ironic.  The hatred and bigotry that he faced is still here today, it has just resurfaced because we have a “black” president. … Humorously he is half white so why not call him a “white president”?

It occurred to me that instead of going after food stamp people who are poor or elderly and need it, perhaps we should check those on programs that can afford to buy multiple guns and ammunition that cost over $1 per round?  I pondered this whole situation…no answers!

I wondered if the biggest haters of the newer gun laws were those who had run-ins with the law and were afraid they wouldn’t pass the background check...motivated by FEAR!!

The movies this week brought Lincoln into view.  The new Lincoln movie has shown a light on Lincoln as a “saint” of sorts and “Great Emancipator”, yet I know he was a racist of sorts…he only wanted to preserve the Union at all cost knowing slavery was the Union’s most divisive problem…and cost it did… almost 600,000 people died in that bloody conflict…

Really... it wasn’t until MLK and the peaceful freedom marches and the desegregation movement took place ... that blacks could finally see a small light at the end of the tunnel.

So I slunk around the house all week chopping wood to relieve the stress by day and took out my old guitar and sung a few songs at night…The one song that kept coming back to me was by my favorite...Gordon Lightfoot...it is called “Too Late for Prayin’”…. and says it all eloquently in a nut shell…..

**Please take the time to view this video and listen to the words…friends, foes, teachers, preachers, poets, workers, haters, and everyone.  There is a message….and some harsh truth for us all to ponder!!