SAINT OLYMPIAS AND ME

Saint Olympias

"Olympias the Deaconess"

born between 361 and 368 in Antioch or Constantinople

died July 25, 408 in Nicomedia

Today we celebrate the feast day of another shirttail relation of mine, Saint Olympias (the younger) an early deaconess of the church. If the early saints are not actual relatives of mine, they all seemed to know my relations and interact with them. In this case, Saint Olympias (the younger), daughter of an Antiochian Greek noblewoman, Alexandra and her husband, the wealthy Greek Seleucus. She was named after her paternal Aunt Olympias who was once engaged to Roman Emperor Constans, who was the uncle of the wife of my 48th great-uncle. Did you get that? (My Ancestry family tree automatically figures out relationships, thanks be to God, because I never could!)

Constans

Augustus of the Western Roman Empire

born 323

died February 350

When Olympias was orphaned as a child, her fortune was put into trust. She was raised by prominent people in the Roman world until such time as she may accept a husband. As with all women in possession of great fortunes in that day, she received many proposals of marriage. Typically, the man would then have control over her money, and it is no wonder that these women were extraordinarily picky when it came to accepting any one of them as husband, because the husband would rule over her and spend her money according to his desires. It was an incentive for celibacy and religious life!

She eventually married the prefect Nebridus, who died not long after that. Subsequently, my great grandfather, Emperor Theodosius, put her fortune in trust, once again, until the arbitrary age of 30, probably in retaliation against her. She had rejected his choice of second husband for her. I suppose he thought she must be mad to defy his guidance. What a frustrating time for women!

Theodosius I "The Great"

Emperor of the Roman Empire

born Jan. 11, 347

died Jan. 17, 395

My 47th great-grandfather

When she finally got her full estate in the year 391, she began her spiritual works of mercy in earnest. She was consecrated a deaconess and founded a community of religious women with several other monied ladies. She established a hospital and an orphanage, gave considerable assistance to the monks of Nitria, and was a strong supporter of Saint John Chrysostom after he was expelled in 404 from Constantinople. (He had become her spiritual director in about 398, six years previously.)

Statue of Saint Olympius - 

On the facade of Saint Peter's Basilica

Because of her support of Chrysostom, her community was disbanded and her charitable works were prohibited. As usual, power hungry men, whose method of ruling was basically force and punishment for everyone who came within their orbit, persecuted her for the rest of her days.

She was sick and alone at the end of her life, her friend Chrysostom in exile in another place from which he encouraged and comforted her. She died in Nicomedia July 25, 408, less than a year after the death of Chrysostom.

Saint John Chrystostom

Friend of Saint Olympias

This story sounds so very familiar to me! I have compared notes with other independent religious women and all of us have plans for religious institutions and charitable projects, should money ever fall into our hands. All of us have succumbed to societal and survival pressures for husbands, who STILL, in this day and age, want to spend our money on obscenities like booze, guns, pornography and mistresses. After working an entire lifetime with nothing to show for it, I have something to say about the disparity of income between men and women, the need for equal pay and equal protection under the law and the inherent immorality of men asserting dominion over women in any sphere, including religious.

Brutal, money-hungry despots still prowl the world, using force and deception to gain power over others, especially women, who they publicly malign and despise, but regardless of the power and supposed "prestige" they manage to accrue, history will record their shame.

I am thinking of Donald Trump and his enablers while I write this. I am thinking about his crimes, his immorality, his ethical bankruptcy, his misogyny, his xenophobia and his other prejudices that are the antithesis of the Christian way. I am thinking of how he used so-called "charities" to line his pockets and fund his campaign for power.

I am thinking, especially, of how he ripped babies, toddlers and children from the arms of their parents and stuffed them into small cells behind chain-link fences to sleep on cement floors with little or no medical care and how thousands of them may never see those parents again because he and his minions did not see the necessity to keep track of their whereabouts. I am thinking of the babies that he let die from the flu because they were denied simple flu shots, and the crowded conditions did his dirty work for him. Just like the blankets infected by small pox that were given to the Native Americans in the early days of America.

These type of men have always been with us - whether you call them "Prefect Optatus," "Emperor Theodosius" or "President Trump," they are all the same. Their reigns are short, but human memory is long and tends to regard the saintly with a kindly eye while itt records the names and supposed "accomplishments" of tyrants and oppressors with disdain.

To whom will you attach your wagon?

I, for one, am on the side of the saints. Not Prefect Optatus. Not Emperor Theodosius. Not Donald Trump.

God save us all from the tyrants.

Silver Rose
Sannyasini Kaliprana

YOU ARE ENOUGH

It occurs to me that I should leave a message on the occasion of this auspicious birthday.

I want to encourage spiritual seekers of all paths. Spiritual disciplines challenge us and we sometimes feel we are not up to it. Sometimes we might judge ourselves harshly. Put that aside. Remember that, regardless of what others see in us and interpret as 'defects' cannot keep us from experiencing the "kingdom of heaven" among us, provided we actually want that experience. Do you want it?

As you know, I have practiced several traditions of meditation, prayer, and disciplines. I have found a harmony of purpose and practice among most of them. If I were to synthesize the most significant idea of practice, it would be this: Train your attention on the Divine. Call it God or Ultimate Truth or Divine Love, or whatever you like. Throughout your daily life, in practice and outside of practice, rest your mind with the Divine.

When you wash the dishes, wash them in concert with Divine Love. Just be aware that the Lord is with you, and you are washing the dishes together. Simple. When your mind wanders, bring your attention back quietly, without the fanfare of frustration. We will never have perfect practice, so it is not helpful to pretend that we "should" and to then get mad at ourselves for our shortcomings. Your method of bringing the mind back is as important as the serenity experienced when the mind is where you intend it to be.

It will help you in meditation and prayer if you maintain this mindfulness practice throughout your waking hours. Catholics who pray the rosary, for instance, may find greater ease in attending to the meanings of the prayers recited on each bead, and they may experience an increase in the perception of the Divine Presence. (Keep in mind that God is not more with us at this time than at any other. It is only our awareness that has changed. We are not bringing God to ourselves. We are opening our consciousness to what is already "right in front of our noses," so to speak.)

You could credibly spend a lifetime on this practice alone, so I will leave you with the two ideas. (1) You are enough. That is, if you want the experience of God, you have everything you need to do that; and (2) rest your mind on the Divine gently, with serenity and confidence.

Silver Rose
"Sannyasini Kaliprana"

A BIG BIRTHDAY APPROACHES

In this photo, I am obviously a little toddler.
I used to love talking on the phone - for many

years, actually - but in my old age, I would

rather pray.

I am turning 65 years old this week, and my thoughts naturally turn to a review of my life and of life in general, which is looking much more fraught with difficulties than I'd imagined for my golden years.

I am about 3 or 4 in this picture. I LOVED my rocking horse,

and I later became an expert horse woman.

~~~

At the same time, I have been watching an Amazon miniseries, The Man in the High Castle, and throughout this dystopian vision of an America that LOST World War II and became subservient to both the Germans and the Japanese, there are references to the casual, matter-of-fact incarceration and euthanasia of disabled people, which hits far too close to home for comfort, as you can imagine. In one scene, a surprisingly sympathetic Nazi chief is faced with his teenage son's sudden diagnosis of some wasting disease and the prescribed euthanasia he is expected to perform himself. The doctor is matter-of-fact about the whole thing. This is what one does to the disabled when the prejudices against people become institutionalized. It is a fearsome warning of the future.

I am 6  years old in this picture, hunting for Easter

Eggs at my Grandmother's house in Auburn. I think

we were staying with her while our parents fought

over their divorce.

~~~

You know why, of course! I was reminded of Donald Trump's very vocal prejudices and how he mocked the jerky motions of a disabled journalist, as well as the fat body of one of his supporters. Unattractive women are regularly disparaged and maligned with his filthy language. You will remember the clerk at Smith's Grocery Store on Constitution and Carlisle telling me that he "believes in Trump's law" and that, because I didn't have two arms cut off or two legs cut off, I wasn't really disabled and did not deserve to use my handicap placard. I had hoped that by the time I reached this distinguished old age, the world would have improved, but in Trump's transactional world view, America is a land where very few of us have any value.

I am somewhere between 7 and 9 in this photo.

~~~

Earlier this week, I saw a special edition of "Carpool Karaoke" with James Corden and special guest Paul McCartney, and I was struck, once again, by the love and positivity that radiated from all those old Beatles songs, and which characterized my world view when young. I had anticipated a better world, a kinder world. I thought that by the time I reached this age, the arc of the moral universe that Martin Luther King Jr. referenced would have bent a little bit closer to justice than it has. I remember when he was assassinated. It was an omen of times to come, apparently. Anyone who preaches radical love and forgiveness is the enemy of the powerful and wealthy.

My graduation picture. I was only 16, but

graduated high school a year early.

Note the peace sign around my neck!

I have always been committed to peace.

~~~

Just yesterday, an old man in a giant red truck deliberately smashed into the bumper of my car in a shocking display of parking lot rage. I had gotten into the drive-through line before he was even in the parking lot, but he evidently had his eye on that spot in line, so he rammed my car with his giant bumper and kept ramming it until I called the police. Here I was, a single old woman in a battered 23 year-old car with one window missing, and all kinds of religious bumper stickers on the back end. I was obviously harmless, which is likely the point. When the police officer asked me what the man looked like, I turned to see a short old man whose head barely came up over the dash board.

This was my prom picture. I think it was the junior

prom. I took my junior and senior classes in one year.

That was Chris, with his arm around my waist. (He

was a very nice young man. I always wondered what

happened to him.)

Yes, I had hoped for more progress on the peace front, but, instead, the monetization of people has gotten worse. Prejudice, bigotry, xenophobia and misogyny have grown worse. Cruelty abounds. Free floating rage is endemic.

My son was about 2 or 3 in this picture.

He died when he was 40 from a combination of things.

Diabetes, alcoholism, drug addiction.

Very sad.

~~~

Of course, Trump didn't start the monetization of people as commodities. He is just coarser and more blatant about it than others.  Human beings have long looked down on poor people, people of color, old people, the fat, the disabled and the frail. I have experienced considerable discrimination and cruelty as a large woman with big feet and eyeglasses. There was a continual drumbeat of insistence that I conform to the visual image that others wanted me to present so that I would please them. During my fat years I was tormented horribly. I was a bit thin between the ages of 16 and 24, but I STILL got comments from people that I would be pretty if I lost even more weight. Did they want me to disappear altogether? Maybe that is the point.

We like our women to waste away. We hobble them with high heels and ridiculous tight fashions that keep them bound up. In personality also, I noticed that the weak, passive,  female voice was preferred. No loud mouths, please! We want our women to be subservient. In movies, no matter how smart the woman, she always ends up weeping when the going gets tough - needing to be rescued because she is just so frail and tender. Then, when one is old and is REALLY frail and tender, the world has no use for us.

After the whole Nixon debacle, I was under the mistaken impression that our government was fine enough and good enough to eliminate any bad egg that might come along. I mistakenly thought that we were safe and that no president would dare to be so corrupt. The current occupant of the Oval Office is far worse than Nixon. Not only that, but the Republican Party has become infected with his love of power and is making his reign even worse. They enable him. It is horrifying. And I really didn't expect it.

This as taken about 1975 in San Francisco. I was with my

grandmother, and we were eating at my favorite restaurant.

~~~

My son was about 6 in the above picture. He and

I were meeting my father at a favorite restaurant

on Melrose Avenue in Hollywood.

~~~

The class structure that displaces so many categories of people is taken for granted by the privileged. For instance, when your birthday approaches, Facebook asks you what charity you would like your friends to support instead of sending you a present. People who don't have difficulty stocking the refrigerator probably welcome the opportunity to deflect unnecessary monies to those poor wretched people over there somewhere. It makes them feel good.

My friend, Richard Desiato, took a series of photos

for an anticipated foray into acting. I decided against

it, but the photos were grand.

~~~

The media and social platforms never speak to poor people. Forty million Americans are routinely ignored, not from some deliberate effort to exclude them but because the subconscious, underlying assumption is that they are not part of the audience. Only people with money constitute the audience. Why? Everything is monetized: poor people have no worth because all worth is determined by personal resources that may be useful to other people. Youth, beauty, wealth, power, connections - all have their perceived value. If you possess something that someone else may want, then you have value.

I was about 32 in this picture, enjoying the company of

my guru, Swami Swahananda. This was when I became

very serious about my spiritual journey and joined

the Vedanta Convent in Hollywood.

~~~

This picture was taken just before I joined the Hollywood

Vedanta Convent. My father was in the background, but

he is cut out of the photo.

~~~

Americans find many ways to discount the plight of the poor by claiming they are not poor at all. Either we have too much stuff, or we are not poor unless we are the poorest on the planet. We are required to appear to be poor to the casual observer, but since we live in an affluent culture, American poor people are often the recipients of castoffs from those who are better off. Consequently, we do not fit the mental image of what poor people are "supposed" to look like. My pink leather couch is a perfect example.

This was about 1994, when I moved back to Northern California

for a while. My health wasn't great, and I was having trouble

supporting myself. Salaries being offered were much lower

than in years past.

~~~

These are my sannyas pictures from 2003. My knees had

given out on me, exercise wasn't possible, and I packed on

the weight really fast. Later, I took much of it off.

~~~

I have a 40 year-old pink leather couch that was given to me by a fellow parishioner. A leather couch is considered to be a luxury item, but it is not even possible to sell the damn thing, even if I wanted to. I can not safely invite strangers to come into the apartment of a disabled, single senior lady and risk being robbed or killed. In the alternative, where should I sell it and how could I transport it there? And, after paying for transport, when I get my $100 for the darn thing, will I be able to buy a couch to replace it? No, of course not. I would have to buy someone else's old couch, and it won't be as suitable as the hand-me-down 35 year-old pink one that I have and that I love.

The famous pink couch.

This was in about 2015

~~~

But that pink couch that some may cite as proof of my fabulous wealth doesn't pay for dental work, which Medicare does not cover and costs thousands of dollars. All of your grandmas and grandpas are worried about their teeth because the average monthly income for each of us is about $1,000 a month! When dental work will cost three times a person's monthly income, what are they supposed to do? 3/4 of seniors have serious dental needs by the time they retire. Only the bottom third of poor people qualify for Medicaid, which pays for certain TYPES of dental work. Basically, it will pay to have your teeth removed. That is it. They may help with dentures after all your teeth have been lost.

This was about 2014, 2015.

The weight is starting to come off, bit by bit.

~~~

Another popular idea is most of the 40 million poor people are crooks with larcenous hearts and drug and alcohol addictions. This is a lie. There are no more drug addictions among the poor than among the middle class and wealthy.  The wealthy do a better job of hiding it.

If you have inherited a smart phone and if you have been given a computer, then you are likewise told you are not poor - but neither of those things would pay for that $3,000 dental work.

Facebook became my friend in my years at home after disability.

Being an artist at heart, I loved playing with the photo frames!

~~~

Compare this situation with what happens in all the other industrialized countries, and one has to wonder WHY, exactly, the richest country in the world cannot do what all the other industrialized countries do, despite those countries having far less wealth overall. Our corporations make gigantic profits. American corporate executives make 400 times what the average worker makes. Our entire system is designed to keep millions of us poor and a few people at the very top rich beyond the wildest dreams.

As I approach my 65th birthday this week, my sympathy for my brothers and sisters who belong to this HUGE class of people has been increased. I have a depth of understanding for what seniors, the disabled and the working poor are enduring because I am experiencing it myself.

This is me at age 60. Disabled for 10 years, but still

SMILING.

~~~

As a nation, we need some honesty and integrity to return to the political and social discourse. Prejudice against the poor and vulnerable is just one of the popular lies that is being employed by the wealthy to justify their own criminal, selfish intentions. If we do not turn this trend around, we will end up in a very bad place. Those of us with a serious spiritual life must remember that the bulk of Jesus' message was in favor of the poor. It is harder for the rich man to enter heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. Our value structure must be based on His criteria - not Donald Trump and men like him. Not the transactional attitude of big business and corporations.

With regard to this issue in general, I would ask you to consider supporting government programs that give health care to everyone. It is shameful that Americans are sometimes actually DYING from an inability to get dental care. Ignoring dental issues can and sometimes does result in heart problems and death. This does not happen in the other industrialized countries, even though they have far less wealth than the Americans do. Haven't you ever wondered WHY this is? If you do not believe what I have written here, please do yourself and all of us the favor of investigating and researching original sources and legitimate journalists.

For myself personally, I ask that you consider donating to my Paypal account so I can get some dental work. The eyeglasses for which I went through such agony to find the money six months ago have now fallen apart and need repair. My service dog himself needs dental surgery, amounting to between $500 and $800, otherwise he will have to be euthanized much sooner than otherwise. My personal papers and projects are in boxes all over my house because I need storage furniture, a writing desk, some filing cabinets, in addition to the aforementioned electric bed.

See the link to the right, above. I also have a BIRTHDAY WISH LIST on Amazon that includes a bed. Amazon has my address and will ship to me direct.

During the 33 years that I worked and supported myself, I never dreamed I would have to ask for help, but I do it regularly now because I am both disabled, senior, and without resources. What little family I had stole the inheritance my father arranged for me by changing his will after he got Alzheimers and after I became completely disabled. The man who signed his death certificate was a quack who went to jail for giving prescriptions to people he had never met and in amounts that would kill. My father's death was suspicious, but by the time I knew he was dead, those closest to him had quickly disposed of his body by cremation. These few facts tell you all you need to know about my little family. I leave them to their fate - in God's hands. In the meantime, what can I do? Just as others around the world, I must ask for help from the world at large. If help comes, I praise God. If help does not come, I praise God.

If you are able to help, I thank you in advance. If not, you may be one of the 40 million poor people who are struggling to make ends meet, and I will continue to pray for you. Or, you may be one of those people who disparages the poor and blames them. I pray for you also. I pray for everyone.

One day, I hope all Americans learn to treat others as if they were made in the likeness and image of God, instead of just mouthing that biblical platitude.

In the meantime, despite the multiple difficulties, I find meaning, joy and lessons in all of it and I still maintain an overriding sense of gratitude for my long life, which I hope continues for some time. Life is still good, and I still feel blessed. I hope you do likewise.

May all people have peace and happiness. As the Indian sages chant;

Shanti, Shanti, Shanti. Peace, Peace, Peace. May Peace be unto all people.

Silver "Rose"
Sannyasini Kaliprana

PREJUDICE AGAINST "BABY BOOMERS" IS NOT OKAY EITHER

Me in my early 20's

When I was young and knew nothing, I had scores of people clamoring for my opinions, my friendship, and my heart, especially when I was a young, fairly pretty screenwriter, selling my work to a major Hollywood studio. But now, despite years of experience, education, adventures and wisdom, I am fighting a general tendency of others to treat me as if I am a dunce or a mental patient, simply because I have reached a certain age. Being poor, disabled and needy probably has something to do with my sudden status as an imbecile. Too often, I am the recipient of the unwarranted rolled eyeballs. You know what I am talking about.

I am aware that, in the spiritual realm, this treatment is supposed to be good for me, and I try to bow my head to it as much as possible, but it goes against the grain, having been an entirely independent woman from the age of 17, when I walked out of my natal home with nothing but the clothes on my back and South Indian hippie purse that contained little more than a hair brush and some lipstick. It is my life experiences that have taught me to speak out against injustice and prejudice, otherwise the next gal will get an even worse time of it. I owe it to her to put the brakes on, if only just a little bit.

In the wake of the Trump era, I have experienced incidents of discrimination having to do with my disabilities, which is made worse by ageism and fat prejudice. You may remember that grocery clerk at the Smiths store who told me that he believes in "Trump's law" (whatever THAT was) and that, unless I have had "two arms cut off or two legs cut off," I am not really disabled and don't deserve to park in the handicap parking, despite being actually disabled and having a legitimate, state-issued parking placard.

Many people in our culture are making these decisions about the worthiness of others, based only on what a cursory glance tells them.

Last Friday, I had a horrible experience with a passport agent at the post office who was unreasonably nasty, personally offensive, and condescending to me in a way that I never experienced before the addition of wheels to my life; wheels on my walker, wheels on my electric scooter, and wheels on a car I cannot live without because walking has become impossible. I had nightmares for two days afterwards.

Today, I endured the sneers, rolling eyeballs and tsk tsking of fellow shoppers at Whole Foods, as I tried to maneuver down the aisles in the electric cart that is far too big, the dimensions of which were blatantly ignored when the clerks placed their food displays in the narrow corridors. One woman was so keen to circumvent my little parade, she pushed her cart with great force from the checkout line to the far wall. It neatly clipped my shuddering vehicle. She glared at me, as if it was MY bright idea to send a grocery cart careening across the waxed floors, unmanned.

When my groceries were finally rung up, I discovered, to my utter chagrin, that I'd left my debit card in my other purse, something I have never done in my life, and thereby earned a withering glance from the cashier. It was then that I learned that Whole Foods does not take checks and, though owned by Amazon, has no method of getting payment from you if you leave your card at home. It's cash or plastic, and that's it. I seem to remember it being very easy to read someone's check, in day's gone by, but apparently, that is too simple. The cashier was completely devoid of empathy. He said he could put the groceries aside for me to pick them up later or they could put them all away. He and the packing clerk exchanged ugly glances.

One of the reasons that my apartment is not suited to my needs is that I live in a food desert. There is one very small neighborhood market with highly suspect, extremely expensive fruits and vegetables. Expiration dates are very near or actually expired and I suspect that the storage in the back room is not air conditioned properly because the fruits and vegetables wilt within a day of buying them. ALL of the grocery stores that carry healthy foods are MILES away from where I live, and shopping trips are very hard on me. I was a long way from home, with no debit card. I just couldn't come back.

I couldn't see myself driving 20 minutes home to get my card, 20 minutes back to the store, 20 minutes home again. I could not do that extra hour and also put away groceries that would be half ruined from sitting out for so long. I opted to have them put it all away. Neither the cashier nor the packer uttered a single kind word. I don't know why I was apologizing, but I did - probably because they were making it clear that I had wasted their very precious time. I received no sympathy or fellow feeling or recognition that I was still a customer. No. Just those ugly glances.

I was in so much pain by this point that I was unable to walk, and when I tried to take the electric cart to my car, the stupid "sensors" did not want to let me through the door - not because you're not allowed to take the carts to your car, but because the sensors have been installed so that you won't run into the towers of groceries that I previously mentioned were placed in the aisles of the store. As I worked furiously to try to get the cart to go through the exit doors, an indignant man stood inches from me, his face black with rage. I was inconveniencing him. There was another exit door a few feet away. He could have used that, but no, he wanted to make it clear to me just how mad he was that I dared to interrupt his flow through life.  If I had been my former 21 year-old self, he would have been falling all over himself to help the pretty young disabled lady, I would bet. I finally got out the door and drove home wondering what the hell I was going to eat, since my cupboards were bare and I was hungry.

This hostility toward older and disabled people is really disturbing.  It wasn't until I'd read a sullen and resentful diatribe against "boomers" written by a Facebook connection, that I began to comprehend the strong sentiment that is being generated by our progeny and their kids. They blame all of us that were born during certain years for somehow not leaving them a nice enough world to live in, completely missing the fact that only the very wealthy among our generation had any realistic power in which to operate, and the comparative ease of the older boomer's lives was dictated by economic factors that no longer exist.

As in all ages, it is the people who have money who hold the power in the society. The rest of us just scramble to hold onto the edge of the bowl so we don't fall in. As much as I tried to educate my Facebook acquaintance about this reality, her hostility and bitterness toward all people in that generation came gushing from her in a torrent of resentful words, and I had to walk away from the negativity.

I am having a curious ride, between the ageism and the sexism and the disability prejudice and the fat shaming and the misogyny. Being a member of several vulnerable groups can be exhausting. Of course, people of color are the experts on this sort of thing, as the prejudice that is thrown at them constantly is often life threatening. At least no one has made a move to kill me when I got in their way in the grocery store.

Recently, a member of my former parish started circulating an anti-boomer meme that was couched in the form of a comic cartoon. It was really only a pretense of humor. It was bitingly mean and the kind of thing that has a corrosive effect on society, if left unchallenged. When I explained to him that it was insulting and inappropriate, he coolly told me it was a joke and that he found it funny. I tried to reason with him, but his smugness let me know that he considered this particular prejudice to be okay to cultivate and it didn't bother him if anyone was hurt by it.

I found it an odd attitude for a well-churched young man to take. Frankly, I had expected better from him, given his education, but one can't force enlightenment on anyone.  Ageism is wide spread in America. I have heard that this is less of a problem in other cultures where they revere their elders and treat them with respect, but here in the U.S., many take it for granted, assuming their prejudice has some basis in fact.

The baby boomers aren't the first generation to experience discrimination. I remember when my father hit his 40's and he was constantly telling me of the ageism that he was experiencing. He began to have trouble finding work. People dismissed him as an old hack. I discounted his constant carping and assumed that he had earned this treatment because he really did have an unpleasant personality, with no appreciation for social norms.  Clearly, I was missing some information that only experience could provide.

The prejudices expressed by those entitled young people on Facebook aren't even logical. The fact of the matter is that each generation contains all sorts of people. Some are selfish and couldn't care less about the kind of world they leave to their children and grandchildren. Some spend all their time and money on worthy causes. Some are in their own world and live for whatever hobby horse has captured their imagination. Many people - perhaps most people - just struggle to stay ahead of the daily grind.

Wages for the middle class stalled from 1970 to 2005, basically the baby boomer working years. At the same time, however, corporate profits and CEO wealth skyrocketed. Whatever value the baby boomer created by her effort benefited only the company and the executives, leaving her desperate to feed her kids and stay ahead of the repair bills on the car, which is probably why her kids resent her so much. Mom was always working. If she wasn't at her full time job, she left the kids alone in the apartment at night and on weekends while she worked her side hustle.

The kids are blaming their boomer mom for leaving them to their own devices much of the time, but it's an unfair complaint. Life got harder and harder during those working years, from 1970 to 2005. From my personal perspective, I ended up making less money in real dollars in my 40's than I had in my 20's. The economic machine was sending all the value of my work to the bank accounts of a few people at the top of the pyramid, leaving me scrabbling for table scraps that fell from above. Who can build a world for the next generation when you're survival is at stake? It is a rigged system. This is the fault of capitalism, which MUST be regulated, or it naturally results in all the money being concentrated at the top, shared with just a few people.

Older people can be repositories of great wisdom, information and inspiration. That isn't true of all elderly people, of course. You know the saying, "with age comes wisdom, but sometimes it comes alone!" To pretend that every gray haired granny is a wizened old sage would be just another type of irrational prejudice. One must recognize, though, that the wisdom of many years is certainly a latent possibility in every person of a certain age. By very definition, they have more years of experiences than the young and, even if they DO start to become a little addled, don't they deserve simple human kindness? Jesus would say so.

It would be wonderful to think that writing a blog would disabuse scores of people of the notion that older people are all losing their minds and have nothing to offer the world. I don't have a prayer of changing the entire culture, but I will do my bit here. I am the perennial advocate for the misunderstood and maligned.

If you consider yourself a spiritual person, a religious person, or a person of honor and integrity, then you must agree that prejudice is evil. Condemning someone or ridiculing anyone, based solely upon some general group to which they belong, is an injustice to that person and shouldn't be tolerated. Pretending that comical character assassinations are benign is, likewise, dishonest. Don't encourage the incorrigible by laughing and then passing on the sentiment!

Jesus clearly wanted us to be kind to one another, and that doesn't include expressing contempt toward your elders in the mistaken idea that they are somehow less than you and that therefore it is alright to be prejudiced about anyone over the age of 40. There is no prejudice that is "allowed" or is culturally acceptable. Just stop it!

My postal carrier commiserated with me today, making the observation that, "it's a very strange time in America. People are so MEAN." This is true, but we have to fight this tendency as hard as we can. This meanness is not a holy stance to take, and it is incumbent upon Christians to follow the commandments of the Lord to the best of our abilities - and that means that we are to love everyone.

Read the Beatitudes again. That's a good place to start.

God bless us all.

Silver "Rose" Parnell
"Sannyasini Kaliprana"

ARE YOU TOO COOL TO BE SYMPATHETIC TO THE PAIN OF OTHERS?

"Rejoice with them that rejoice;

weep with them that weep."

Romans 12:15

I have many happy days in my retirement, despite painful disabilities, and if you ask me, "how are you?" on any given day, I will usually say that I am "great" or something similar, but there are days, like this one, when I wake up to excruciating pain and can barely walk, but walk I must. Anyone who lives in an apartment with a dog knows what I am talking about. We are in service to the animals - especially first thing in the morning when they just have to get outside to accomplish their ablutions.

So, there I am, with little doggy bag in hand, and a neighbor asks me how I am and I tell him that today I woke in horrible pain - that the change in weather got to my bones.

Instead of expressing sympathy, the guy completely ignored what I had said and started talking about what a great day he was having.

I have seen various iterations of this type of thing. The men tend to ignore the comment about pain and will pretend they haven't heard it. Or perhaps they DON'T hear it. I am not quite sure about that. The women, especially if the conversation is on Facebook, will usually give some unsolicited advice, laden with criticism for daring to "complain" about pain. (I often say that THIS is why men are in charge of the world. Women are too busy criticizing one another and flapping their lips around rumors and gossip.)

Sometimes, I am gifted with some cosmic poo poo armchair philosophy that demands that I not mention the pain when asked, but that I should be "grateful" instead, and I should "count my blessings." This is a nasty thing to do to someone. What it communicates is a negative assessment of one's character.

I have my own unsolicited advice for these people. If you do not care about the well-being of the person, don't ask. If you DO care, and you hear that the person is in agony of pain, then be sympathetic.

First of all, sympathy is healing and peace-inducing. Read the chapter of the quote above and consider why Saint Paul recommends it. I would also like to point out that sympathy is free. It doesn't cost you anything to be sympathetic to the sufferings of others, so why not be sympathetic?

If your reaction to someone else's expression of pain or unhappiness is irritation, what does that say about YOU? Perhaps you think your precious time is being wasted, or perhaps you do not know what to say. In that case, let me tell you. Use some version of this:

"I am so sorry to hear that! I hope it gets better soon."

Put some warmth in your voice and add a smile, if you can manage it and if you haven't given out your daily allotment of smiles.

I find it odd that I have to write a blog post like this one. It seems a no-brainer to me. I try to always be sympathetic and, if I am close to the person, I might ask if there is anything I can do to help alleviate whatever the complaint happens to be. I don't consider it my right to "train" the person in the art of pretending there is nothing wrong. It is not healthy to make other people erect a false front of blissful, uncomplaining perfection because it is a big fat lie.

Life is messy and sometimes painful. For those of us with chronic illnesses and disabilities, it is QUITE painful at times. Pretending otherwise is a waste of time. Now, if you want to pretend that your life is perfect and if you have a personal philosophy that requires you to never admit to a pain or difficulty, that's your business. Go ahead! Pretend the day away, but don't burden the rest of the world with your criteria.

To be fair, I have to visit the other side of this troubling coin, and that is the fact that there are people in the world who do nothing BUT complain. I had a person like this in my life for some time. The woman complained to me constantly, despite the fact that her life is much more advantaged than mine. She's been married to the same man her whole adult life. They have a bunch of great children. They own a large home in a really good part of town. Her husband makes good money, and they frequently travel overseas on vacation.

This woman did nothing but complain about her blessings. Example: She would complain that a specially formulated medicine cost $500.00. She had the money to pay for it. She was complaining that it was expensive. Or was she bragging? I was never sure. The fact that she was complaining about spending $500.00 on medicine to a woman who goes WITHOUT many things she needs felt like abuse to me.

There is no reason to entertain people like this - people who complain about their blessings. That is a different kind of pretense entirely. After trying to get this person to understand that she was punching down on me by complaining about her blessings to someone who had so much less than she, I finally had to stop talking to her on the phone. She didn't try to draw me back in or to modulate her inconsiderate behavior. She just stepped up her litany of complaints to other people.

Even THIS person got my sympathy when she wasn't complaining about her advantages.

My bottom line is that, unless you're dealing with a person who complains about her good fortune, please just try to be a little sympathetic.

Silver Rose

(Sannyasini Kaliprana)

Silver Cottage Ashram Hermitage

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Copyright © 2019

All rights reserved.

UNFAITHFUL CATHOLICS CAUSED THE ABORTION CRISIS

Every Catholic who abandoned their religion and began using artificial contraception and/or surgical sterilization, put a nail in the coffin of Catholic moral teachings. Every Catholic who had sex outside of marriage laid another weight on that coffin.

Contraception leads to the abandonment of chastity, which leads to "unwanted pregnancies" which, in turn, leads to abortion. The correlation is direct.

Abortions are legal because people want them. People want them because they do not adhere to Christian moral teachings and thereafter find themselves inconveniently pregnant.

The society, reflecting the will of the people, is not geared to accommodate many children because we live in a fornicating, masturbating, promiscuous society that has shifted focus from love and commitment to self-gratification. This societal sickness did not descend upon us like a cloud of locusts from hell. We created this situation by our behaviors, behaviors that are fed by ideologies that are inconsistent with Christian moral values.

The law is responding to the people. Unlike China, which forces abortion on its population, our law allows abortion in response to what the population wants. It is not the law that caused this problem. It is the people. If abortions were legal but no one wanted one (or felt they "needed" one), there could be an abortuary on every corner and they would all be EMPTY.

We have not evangelized the world and educated it about the importance of chastity because we ourselves are an unfaithful people.

I have seen a lot of Catholics fly into a rage about various political figures who believe in abortion on demand. Many of these Christians are self-righteous, hostile, argumentative and blaming, blaming, blaming. Not a whiff of humility to be found.

It is well past time that Catholics accepted that our failure to follow our own religion and our subsequent failure to evangelize the culture with Catholic moral values is the cause of the abortion crisis in our country. Marching, carrying signs, and writing hot Facebook posts might make us feel better, perhaps even superior (because we, ourselves, can't imagine having an ABORTION), but it just makes us all look like a bunch of hypocritical kooks.

It is much harder to follow our religion, live chaste lives, and evangelize from that position of faithful strength than to march around like self-important, judgy Bible thumpers. We have to live the Bible FIRST, and that hasn't happened over the last 50 years since "the pill" became available.

Now that we find ourselves living in this hellish culture, where you can kill your baby until the minute before it is born, we do have to try to stem the tide of this horror, but the answer to our dilemma is not some politician who claims to be "pro life." None of the politicians are pro-life enough to do anything about it in the legislature, and their efforts will be wasted anyway because the citizens who want abortion to be legal outnumber the people who don't.

We need to change those numbers, but we can't legislate the heart.

Fixating upon the unlikely chance of a legal solution to the abortion problem has dumped us right into this wretched situation where we have an apparently insane head of our government who lies even when caught in lies. His entire method of communication relies upon lies, and it appears that he thinks that all he has to do is continue to lie, insist upon the lie, and acts as if he thinks that the lie will somehow become true. He forces his representatives to support his lies and fires those who will not do it. Satan is the father of all lies. Wherever you see a person who relies upon lies to feed his ego needs or obtain something else he wants, you also see Satan. Satan is very close to a person who behaves like this in an habitual way.

In addition to the lies, our president acts, at times, as if he is in line to become the first dictator of the U.S.A, adopting all of the typical methods of other well-known dictators, such as Lenin, Stalin and Castro; discrediting, misdirecting and corralling the media so that Americans know less and less about what is happening in the White House than at any time in the last 40 years, for one thing.

His cabinet is composed of billionaires with suspicious ties to Russia, and his paranoia is so great that the White House offices are empty because more than 500 positions remain vacant. He probably doesn't know 500 people who are unreasonably loyal to him, and he won't hire someone who ISN'T.

Trump has moved his family into the White House, giving his daughter an office, with access to the most highly sensitive intelligence information. She is a fashionista with no government experience whatsoever. What does she offer to our people? Nothing. Her husband is stuck to Trump's side like velcro, but his job description is sketchy. We don't know what he does or what he brings to the table.

Every weekend except one, Trump has spent at his luxury country club, treating the White House as if it is an office where he works a 40 hour week. These luxury golf weekends are costing the American taxpayer a fortune. In the two months he has been in office, he has cost us more than an entire year of our last president's travel. The infuriating hypocrisy of this is almost funny when one considers the fuss that the Republicans made about our last president's travel costs, which were modest, compared to Trump.

Because the president's wife won't move into the White House, we have to pay for security for her residence at Trump Tower.  Security services has to cover her, AND the White House AND the luxury country club that has members of the public crawling all over the place. It is a security nightmare.

It is like the Romanovs have taken up residence in the middle of our democracy and are rapidly dismantling it, with the help of Leninist Steve Bannon, another odd member of Trump's entourage!

Despite his claims that he wasn't going to be like the rest of the republicans, that he would protect Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, and that he would make sure that EVERY American was insured with health care, that the health care would be cheaper, and that the quality would be better, he is pushing a health care plan that would, within the next 10 years, kick 24 MILLION people off of health care, pushing us back 10 years in time. The people who pay the most insurance premiums are those who can afford it LEAST, especially the elderly and the disabled. The health care plan is engineered so that the insurance companies may charge them 4 times more than what they charge young healthy people. ONCE AGAIN...ANOTHER BIG FAT LIE.

Trump's misogyny, prejudice and bigotry toward refugees from war torn countries are obviously anti-Christian values, and anyone who thinks otherwise needs only to read that Bible.

The entire world has been rocked by all of this crazy behavior of this president - all for the sake of the impossible dream that a man who has never lifted a finger against abortion will magically become a pro-life warrior and will appoint a judge who is sure to make abortion illegal. Meanwhile, the poor, the elderly and the sick will die because they won't be able to afford the health care that the president is currently pushing.

One thing he didn't forget to do is arrange for a billions of dollars of tax breaks for his cronies...other millionaires and billionaires.

I lay this all at the feet of Catholics who abandoned the faith and started this snowball rolling.

Silver Rose Parnell
Copyright (c) 2017