Out of the blue I got a message from an old friend who I haven’t seen in almost 9 years. She is a Christian Nationalist. I am a Christian Democrat.
She begins with name calling done by a pastor. Her message emits hate. And a reminder not to discuss politics. I only texted to ask for her daughter’s address so I could send her a card following surgery.
Why do people are the far right get so angry and hateful?
Do you believe in karma?
In Hinduism, karma is the universal principle of cause and effect in which a person’s thoughts, words, and actions shape their present and future experiences, including rebirth, with good deeds leading to positive outcomes and harmful ones to suffering.
Americans believe it means what goes around comes around.
We all know that lots of people at all levels who do horrible things and never answer or suffer for their actions. My ex is a perfect example. Lots of government officials fall into this category. The young men raping girls and women who get a slap on the hand fall into the category. I could go on and on.
Or it’s the belief I deserve what happened to me because of something I did in a past life. I don’t believe in past lives or reincarnation. And thinking I deserve all of the hurt and humiliation pains me. To believe the struggles I have now are due to something I did before, is wrong. My suffering was caused directly from the actions of another. I’m not saying I haven’t caused any of my own problems. I’m saying my big struggles were not caused by me.
So no I do not believe in Karma.
How do you write what people actually want to read?
When I got divorced, I was devastated. I went from a very comfortable secure life to a life not knowing how I’d support myself. $9000 cash and no spousal support left me raiding retirement.
I started this blog and named it Liferewritten because I felt like that’s what I needed to do. I needed to change my life and take it from an unhappy marriage, followed by a devastating divorce to something better.
So rather than complaining to my daughters or ruminating over my heartbreak, I would vent on the blog.
A couple years ago, I went back and deleted my darkest, saddest and most angry blogs. I wanted to separate myself from those memories, but I wish I hadn’t deleted them. I would like to see how far I’ve come.
So I write to share my journey and if no one reads it that’s okay, but it leaves a record of my life for my daughters.
I am currently reading Factfulness by Hans Rosling. It is one of the most interesting books I’ve ever read.
It helps put all the numbers we hear in the news into perspective and it’s not boring.
Take the free quiz and then let me know how you did? Don’t think or research the answers. Just answer them based on what you know and hear.
My view of the world has changed.
How do you make time for self-care?
I agreed to marry a man I didn’t really know. We had 4 dates and he asked me to get married and I said yes. We married 4 months later. My parents drove me to Iowa with my belongs. I stayed a week and returned home.
We didn’t see each other again until a few days before the wedding. I knew almost nothing about his family or their family dynamics. If I had, I would have never married him. I didn’t know any of his faults or struggles. If I had known them, I would have never married him.
If I had known he had no interests, never read books, was not interested in what was happening in the world, hated museums and only wanted to drink alcohol or lie on a beach or lie by a pool, I would have run away.
So NEVER marry someone you don’t know well.
What’s a place you visited that felt like home?
I can’t say I have ever felt at home anywhere. I didn’t feel at home growing up because I was odd man out plus we moved several times between ages 9-14.
Then when I married we rented and lived in 4 places in 3 years. When we finally bought a house, I definitely felt grown up. And it probably felt more like home than any place I’ve lived in since then.
My idea of home is family and my family hasn’t been together for 14 years. We don’t have to live in the same house but near enough to get together.
So for now and the foreseeable future, I have a place to live but it’s not home.
What’s one thing that would instantly improve your city?
My city would improve with a change of leadership. Our mayor profited off the data center. The zoning committee has yet to require new communities to have sidewalks.
The roads are in bad shape and they seem to repair the same roads over and over but leave really bad roads in the same condition.
They have yet to pursue a high quality private non-religious school to open here. It is either public school, homeschool, a strict Christian school or a half and half program of homeschooling and religious education.
The mall has died. There has been no intervention to try and save it. All major retailers have left except for Dillards.
If I could leave this town and this state, I would. However I need to remember to buy a lottery ticket so I have a chance to win. Then I could leave.
What’s the longest book you’ve ever read?
Has to be one of the books in the Outlander series. They all click in around 850 pages.
God is an Englishman was 695 pages.
What’s the best advice you’d give to someone younger than you?
As someone who has a usual name which is a Hebrew version of a Greek name, I can assure you naming your child something original is a huge mistake. I rarely tell people my legal name.
The children and then adults will spend their lives having to correct people on pronunciation and spelling. They will have people say don’t you mean your name is X? I’ve lost count of how many times people have corrected me on my own name.
You don’t have to give a most popular name of the current time. Search names popular in a different time period for something less common now but spell it correctly.
I saw a boy with his name embroidered on his backpack. It was Kamdyn. Not Camden like it should be. How many times in his life will he need to correct people on the spelling? That’s just one example.
I need to make it clear that if the name has a traditional spelling in another language, then go for it. But if you just want your Liam to be Leeham don’t do it. I once met a boy named Shun. I think the parents just didn’t know how to spell Sean/Shawn. So if your son or daughter is Emerson don’t spell it Emersyn. Totally different sounds. Same with Jordan not Jordyn, Charlie and not Charleigh.
I won’t even mention always having your name as marked as misspelled in a computer document. It’s a pain.
With so many things to deal with and worry about as you grow up, don’t add to the angst by giving them a huge hurdle at the very beginning.
What’s the longest trip you’ve ever taken?
The summer between my freshman and sophomore years of university, I was 18 years old. A poster advertising six weeks in Europe for college students grabbed my attention.
I called, long before emails and internet, and asked for references. They sent me a couple names and phone numbers. After being assured they had a wonderful time, I was ready to go.
I saved my money, and signed up. I had an adventure, 13 countries in six weeks. I had a wonderful time and it began my love of international travel. We traveled to countries that no longer exist. Yugoslavia, East Berlin, Czechoslovakia which now are not on the map.
One young man had grown a beard. They wouldn’t allow our bus into Czechoslovakia. He didn’t match his passport photo. We waited a very long time while he shaved off his thick beard without any scissors to trim it down.
We went trip through Checkpoint Charlie, which is now a visitor site, but not so in 1978. We were instructed not to lose our passports because the GDR would see that as helping an East German escape. I distinctly remember walking out of a very colorful and vibrant city, West Berlin, into a depressing, gray, sad world, East Berlin.
I was gone somewhere between 6-7 weeks.
I have been on one longer trip. It was 3 months in France but I stayed in one city and went to school.
If your pet could talk, what would be the first thing it says?
Why do you take so long to get us breakfast and dinner? Why do you get upset when we use the furniture to sharpen our nails?
Thanks you for taking us out of the city adoption center and giving us a forever home.
The Power of Story
Pieces of the Whole
Writing New Chapters when Life takes a Detour
read what you love
Enriching my life with books
