Now let’s move a little closer to home. The neighbor’s next door. Big red brick house. I’m
still
trying to figure out who lives there. I’ve only seen a 12 year old girl and a cat or two.
I’ve
heard the phlegmish hacking of a smoker and a yelling of a mother (I pity this girl).
Shelly
has related to me a story that angered her a little. We have three squirrels who we
feed
peanut prasadam for the happiness of their taste buds and their spiritual lives. Oh, and
for our
sheer enjoyment as well. :) Anyway, she spied a squirrel sitting on the fence and
held up
a nut for the little critter to eat, saying, “Here little squirrel, I got a peanut for you.”
They
will come right up to you. At that time, the fellow next door walks up to the fence
and says
to the squirrel, “hey, come over here and get your nuts.” It was obvious he heard
shelly
and was... um jealous... yeah. Odd to say the least.
But not NEARLY as odd as out neighbor across the hall. We started noticing her oddness
right
when we moved in. We found a note written in shaky grandma scrawl telling whoever
was
picking her up (for work I imagine) that she was up all last night with stomach
problems
and could not go to work today. She ended the note with “I’m not lying.” As
the days
went by, still not seeing her face to face, the notes began to show up regularly.
Mostly to
Meals on Wheels (an organization who delivers food to the elderly and disabled...
even
though our neighbor isn’t either, and to the people who pick her up from work. The
wording
is always freaky at best. She leaves words out, misspells even worse than I do and
calls Meals
on Wheels “Wheels on Meals.” Some road kill fetish I assume. There are also
very
funky smells escaping from her apartment whenever she opens the door. Or maybe
they simply
seep out through the cracks. I met her only once. She was leaving as I was
coming and
she said to me, “I don’t think we’ve met yet, I’m P--- C----, my husband died
nine
months ago.” In my wonderment I said only, “um.” And smiled. At any rate, every
morning,
around 5:30ish we hear either the paper boy or her open the door and leave or
come or
something. We’re still working out the details on that. I do know that sometimes
she leaves
very early. She also talks to herself and yells to herself and just shrieks for
reasons we
know not. On Saturday morning around 3:30, she was up and running a LOT
of water.
I could hear her talking and generally making a lot of noise. Then she started
banging.
At first we thought it was the people who are refinishing the upstairs apartments.
But we
then realized it was this lady across the hall. She was banging something for 15
minutes.
Then it stopped and we thought we heard her leave, but it may have been the
morning
paper arriving. We’ve not heard anything since. The papers of two days have
piled up
and her Saturday mail is still in the box. Her cats are also still in the house. They
like to
sit in the windows.
So we’re wondering if she’s ok. Even though she’s pretty crazy, I wouldn’t want anything
horrible to happen to her. I’ll keep you posted. Ah, life.
6.28.99 - Well, she's not dead. Late last night we heard her banging
something around. The two days worth of newspapers are gone now as well.
At least she's not dead. That's always good.
Reading from 7th Chapter of the First Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam. Early
morning readings are the best. So very nice. I read it out loud, even the
sanskrit. I'm having a hard time remembering what I've read though. I know
it was the 7th chapter, I know it was just after Narada Muni described his
previous birth... Also something about the Battle of Kuruksetra. A lot of
realizations while I'm reading it. I wonder if they stick with me through out
the day. Are they lodged somewhere in my skull and I unconsciously (or
spiritually) pull them out when I need them? I just don't know. The
Bhagavatam is spiritual, and spirit is eternal, so all that knowledge must
also be eternal. Just stands to reason.
On a less confusing tip, here is a picture of our new Lord Nrsimhadeva.
6.29.99 - Some guy in Indiana confesses to enacting this
three year murder/revenge plot against his wife. For those who don't
know, it goes like this: Three years ago, this guy and his (then)
girlfriend are on a vacation in the Bahamas when this guy's father
dies and his girlfriend refuses to end the trip short to console him
(his words). Yes, if that's true, it was a pretty crappy thing to do,
however, I guess this really pissed the guy off. At that time (he says)
he formulates this plan to marry this girl, get her pregnant, then
murder her baby (their child). Apparently, he put plastic wrap over
the baby's face and then put on his pj's and brushed his teeth, later
going to check if the baby was dead. The baby was. He confessed
two days later. Sick.
A 70 year old Philly woman confesses to killing 8 of her babies 50
years ago. She was put on 20 years probation so "they" could study
her. Sick.
In New York, after finding out that many schools are turning out
kids who can't read, fired many school principals and school
superintendents thinking that this will somehow help. Sick.
Of course there are the Denver school shootings with the left and right
blaming each other's politics, the right saying it is TV and movies and
video games, the left saying it's people's obsession with guns and
their easy availability. Neither side giving a thought that it could be
both. Both sides proving that it's about politics, not the kids. Sick.
I could go on. What's the point? It's Kali-yuga. The Age of Quarrel
and Hypocrisy. These things should be expected, I guess. People
are acting like animals. This is what's supposed to happen, I guess.
The new issue of Back to Godhead magazine arrived yesterday.
Urmila Devi Dasi's article was about kids and how they are not a
gift for the materialistic, animalistic parents who want nothing more
from life than a high paying job and social status. I agree. Why do
those kind of people even have kids? Just to stick them in day care.
I understand that parent's now-a-days have to both work to support a
family.
That's the way our economy has been set up. Actually, that
is the result of the so called Women's Liberation movement. They
said let it be socially acceptable that women work (which is fine), but
the affect of that is now to raise a family, ALL women have to work.
One parent can't simply go to work while the other takes care of the
house and children (which is by far the more important and often more
difficult job). Our society teaches us that the kids aren't important.
Take a look at children's entertainment. Long ago, there was Aesop's
Fables, the Pancatantra, and Jataka Tales. They taught kids morals
and were very entertaining. Not all that long ago (my father even
relates this to me) children's entertainment, while less cultured, was
at least educational, and sometimes moral. While I was growing up
it was GI Joe and Star Wars. Both brought in violence, but still tried
to convince parents that they were teaching us morals. Which, though
deceptive, at least there was some appeal to the parental concerns.
But take a look at children's entertainment now. Spice Girls, teaching
young girls that if you dress to expose yourself it's not only cool, it
gets you lots of neat stuff and you get to be famous. Or how about
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (yes, they're still around). Aside
from being on the same quality level as 1950's Japanese horror flicks,
I don't think they even TRY to convince parents that they've got a
edge in the moral department. Also, Mortal Combat. Kids love it.
It's just very graphic and violent. Teaching nothing at all.
So are these to blame for our kids shooting each other? No, probably
not. Not totally anyway. They are simply a reflection of how much
parents in general care about their kids. I'm not really talking about
how we should focus on the family and push family values and all
that right wing christian political garbage. This isn't at all about
politics and the sooner we realize this, the sooner it will end. The
sooner we STOP looking to the politicians to solve moral and family
problems the sooner it will end. You can't legislate morals! You
can't legislate good parents! We as a society have to change. We
as a culture, MUST look to other cultures and see why this never
happened for them. We must realize we are not the greatest culture
the greatest country in the world. This is NOT a political issue.
Politics will not solve anything EVER.
Maybe we need to learn to live simply. Maybe our kids don't
need literally $1000 worth of Christmas presents. Maybe we shouldn't
let the TV babysit the our kids. Maybe we shouldn't have a TV.
Maybe if we have kids, we shouldn't have jobs. Maybe we should
find a way to make this work. Maybe we should all live on communes.
Maybe we should dissolve the government and work from and on
the county or local level. Maybe maybe maybe maybe maybe maybe.
I'm tired of maybes.
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