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Carol H Tucker
Passionate about knowledge management and organizational development, expert in loan servicing, virtual world denizen and community facilitator, and a DISNEY fan
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beladona Memorial
Be warned:in this very rich environment where you can immerse yourself so completely, your emotions will become engaged -- and not everyone is cognizant of that. Among the many excellent features of SL, there is no auto-return on hearts, so be wary of where your's wanders...
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what is it about OMGIM?
Today is the 2nd day of the 29th week, the 18th day of the 7th month, the 200th day of 2016 [with only 159 shopping days until Christmas left], and:
- Global Hug Your Kid Day
- National Caviar Day
- National Get Out of the Doghouse Day ((nope, can no do – I seem to be in permanent residence these days))
- National Sour Candy Day
- Nelson Mandela International Day -- Nelson Mandela was born in Mvezo in 1918 .
- Perfect Family Day ((hah! Doesn’t exist, never has, never will, Norman Rockwell notwithstanding))
- World Listening Day
This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Monday, Wednesday or Saturday – I wonder why certain dates just sort out to certain days, I’m sure there’s some mathematical algorithm that explains it totally.
n 390 BC a Roman army was defeated by raiding Gauls, leading to the subsequent sacking of Rome. In the Great Fire of Rome caused widespread devastation, raging six days and destroying half of the city. In 1536 Parliament passed an act declaring the authority of the pope void in England. In 1870 the First Vatican Council decreed the dogma of papal infallibility ((I'll have to admit that I was surprised to learn this was such a recent ruling -- certainly the concept of a charism entrusted by Christ to the whole church has been referenced often enough in medieval times)). In 1925 Adolf Hitler published his personal manifesto Mein Kampf. 1969 after a party on Chappaquiddick Island, Senator Ted Kennedy from Massachusetts drove his car off a bridge and Mary Jo Kopechne, died ((we never did learn the full story of that night, I think)). In 1976 – Nadia Comăneci became the first person in Olympic Games history to score a perfect 10 in gymnastics at the 1976 Summer Olympics. In 2016 @NASAVoyager is 18 hrs 41 mins 49 secs of light-travel time from Earth (2016:199:120000:1L)
Ran across an article about hiring someone to listen to old folks ((http://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/jobs-caring-for-my-relatives-new-listings-available?mbid=social_facebook)) -- an old idea, modernized for the gig economy.
And that got me to thinking on more than one level about what that says about the state of our families and communities. You see, my knee jerk reaction was something along the lines of “wait, you can get paid for doing this?” Make $20 an hour while listening to someone -- that sounds pretty easy and it sure beats dog walking, neh? Those folks get $20+ a walk, and that can take longer than an hour ; on the other hand, you can walk more than one dog at a time [with some caveats]. Then again, just listening can turn pretty quickly into other tasks. Of course, this has always been an option of the well-off class – back in older times it was an impecunious relative [usually a spinster] who would come and live with the family and be a companion/servant in return for support.
And then I got to thinking about what this says about the role of the older generation in the lives of the younger generation. I sympathize with anyone who is caught listening to the same stories you don’t really want to hear, told again and again – Grandmom Riley’s younger sister, Great-Aunt Mary was a confirmed hypochondriac who could talk very loudly and very long about every ailment she felt she suffered and woe betide the victim she fastened on! And yet, while I was not always terribly happy with listening to my grandparents natter on, slowly a picture of a totally different life emerged and I found it interesting to think about how I might have grown up back in their day. I heard stories about the Great Depression, about the flu epidemic of 1918 and how it felt to lose entire families, and other small tales about how nicknames became used. It gave me context for the people who were sitting in front of me, the choices they made and how they came to be where they were. I look again at the story, and think what it means – I am rapidly becoming the older generation and realize no one wants to hear about party land lines, walking to school [uphill. Both ways!], when we thought it was funny that our parents didn’t understand how to program the VCR, demonstrating against ‘Nam in 1968, or not trusting anyone over 30. There are many stories about how the baby boomers ruined the world for their progeny and they always quietly infuriate me because I certainly was not a proponent of all that has happened since the 1980’s – but all those individual and family stories that are interspersed with the monologues …. Now to be farmed out as part of the gig economy rather than assimilated by the kids and grandkids.
No final conclusion to share as I ramble on about this. OTOH: it can be a life saver enabling irascible individuals to be included in family occasions easily. OTOH: it increases the isolation those same individuals are probably already struggling with. In the end it is neither good nor bad, just another idea where your mileage may vary, neh?
13th day without a PC and the CPU is on its way back to me. Might even have it up and running in time for the full Buck moon or Thunder Moon!
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