Day: May 9, 2024

Answer Me This — Fundamentally Speaking

Fandango4 Comments

Suze, over at Obsolete Childhood has introduced a new prompt called “Answer Me This.” Suze says it’s weekly alternative to the WordPress Daily Prompt, which she characterized as “ones that totally suck and are focused upon the young people here.

Her prompt question today is this:

What values are fundamental to you and why?

I suppose that, within the framework of what is legal, what is ethical, and what most people would say is moral, my fundamental values are the rights and freedoms that enable me to be me, to be who I am.

I realize that some of the definitions of what is legal, what is ethical, and what is moral are subject to change over time. For example, I used to smoke pot when it was very illegal to do so. And even today, the purchase and use of cannabis for recreational purposes, which is perfectly legal in my state, is still illegal at the federal level and remains illegal in half of America’s 50 states.

And up until the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, abortions were legal in all 50 states. But since then, 25 states have banned abortion or tightened restrictions. But 25 states and Washington, DC have maintained or strengthened abortion rights. I live in a state that supports a woman’s right to manage her own healthcare.

As to what is ethical and moral, Donald Trump is the most unethical and immoral (and amoral) person who has ever been POTUS. Now, with half of the population ready to vote him back in the White House, it seems that we are now free to each come up with our own definitions of what is ethical and what is moral.

So, as a liberal atheist who is free to express his views on sex, religion, and politics without fear of reprisals or arrest and imprisonment, I’m a happy camper. As an American, I have been taking these rights and freedoms for granted my entire life. But in what may become the “new Trumpian America,” I fear that these rights and freedoms are at risk.

And that is something every Americans should be seriously concerned about. In my liberal atheist opinion, anyway.

Follow-up Question

Fandango25 Comments

A few days ago, in this post, I quoted Washington Post Editor-at-large Robert Kagan’s question, “How do you explain voters’ willingness to support Donald Trump despite the risk he poses to our system of government?”

Kagan pointed out that, “Too many voters no longer care enough whether the system the Founders created survives and, thus, they are ceding the ground to those, led by Trump, who actively seek to overthrow what so many of them call ‘the regime.’ This ‘regime’ they are referring to is the unique political system established by the Founders based on the principles of universal equality and natural rights.”

One reader, tenzenmen, at 1994ever.com, commented, “As an outsider looking in, there’s nothing wrong with changing something if it is no longer working and it seems many people feel like it is no longer working. I think the rest of the world is actually quietly looking forward to it.”

For those of you who are outsiders (not Americans) as well as for those of you who are Americans, what do you think of what tenzenmen wrote?

My thoughts are that most Americans don’t, in fact, want our current representative form of government to be tossed aside or abandoned. Sure, there are problems with the way our system is working, but regime change in the U.S., where our current system would be replaced by an autocratic and/or theocratic dictatorship, is not a solution.

Yet nearly half of American voters are too blind to realize the implications of voting for Trump. And if Trump does win in November, returns to the White House, and does what he has promised, and what his MAGA supporters are encouraging him to do, I think they will, sooner or later, regret that they let the democratic republic of the United States slip through their fingers.

I wholeheartedly agree with the comment from eklastic, at eklastic.wordpress.com or picturesimperfectblog.com, who wrote, “What is not working? Things are not perfect. They’ve never been, they never will be. I hold with Winston Churchill (at least in this instance): ‘Democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.’”

So again, what are your thoughts? Is it time for “regime change” in the United States? Or should we strive to preserve our status as a democratic republic, imperfect as it may be?

Image credit: Joan Wong, The New Yorker.

Thursday Inspiration — Nobody’s Fool

Fandango13 Comments

For this week’s Thursday Inspirationprompt, Jim Adams has asked us to write a post using the prompt word “nobody” and/or a bunch of other things or “anything else that you think fits.” I’m going with the “anything else” option.

Also, I woke up this morning sneezing, coughing, and feeling generally miserable. So I might just go back to sleep and spend the bulk of my day in bed.

However, in order to respond to Jim’s prompt on this Thursday, I am inspired to repost a post I wrote on August 15, 2019 because I think it fits perfectly with the theme word “nobody.” Here you go.

The Fool on the Hill

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Day after day, the man on the hill slowly walks alone with his walking staff in hand. Nobody knows who he is, or why he walks the hill day in and day out. He walks there all day long until the sun goes down, watching as the world spins around and around.

Most of the townsfolk refer to him as the fool on the hill. Some of them have tried to talk to him, but he never listens to them and he never has an answer to their questions. In fact, he never even seems to notice them. He just smiles with what they call his foolish grin. Hence, nobody wants to join him.

He knows that they don’t like him and they really don’t want to know him. They think he is just a fool with his head in the clouds. But he doesn’t care about them. He actually feels sorry for those townsfolk, who live their hectic lives without making the time to explore nature and to appreciate all that it has to offer.

They may think of him as the fool on the hill, but in his heart, he knows that they are the real fools.

Written for this week’s Thursday Photo Prompt from Sue Vincent.

Simply 6 Minutes — The Good Deed

Fandango21 Comments

“Okay, guys, listen up,” Bert, the turtle, called out to all the members of his bale. “We’ve got a situation on our hands and we’re all going to have to pitch in to come up with a solution.”

All of the turtles in the bale swam over to Bert, their leader, and listened carefully. “Do you see that young duck over there on the north shore? Well, his name is Danny and he has a sad story. You see, he was orphaned when the last hurricane blew through here and he then got separated from the rest of the ducks in his waddle.”

A murmur rose up with the bale of turtles. One yelled out, “Yes, that is, indeed, a sad story, but what does that have to do with us?”

Bert responded, “With no mother or father and sisters or brothers around to teach him, Danny never learned how to swim, so he has been lonely and landlocked. But Danny recently heard that some other members of his waddle who survived the hurricane that separated Danny from his family and friends have settled down on this large pond’s south shore. Danny really wants get back to his waddle, but he can’t swim and it’s too far and too risky for him to walk all the way to the other side of the pond.”

“So how can we help, Bert?” a different turtle called out.

“I’m glad you asked,” Bert said to the turtle who asked the question. “Here is what I want us to do. I want us to line up single file to form a straight line from the north shore to the south shore and we can let Danny Duck walk across our backs to the other side of the pond.”

“But there aren’t enough of us to make it all the way to the other side of the pond,” another turtle said.

“I know, but as soon as Danny passes over each turtle’s shell, those turtles shall quickly swim from the back of the line to the front,” Bert said. “I think this will work. So who’s with me on helping another member of our pond’s family?”

There was another murmur from the members of the bale and in unison, they shouted, “We are!” and immediately started forming a single-file line of turtles from the pond’s north shore to its south shore.

And Danny, the appreciative orphaned duck, started scampering across the backs of the helpful turtles on his way back to join the other surviving members of his wadde.

Written for Christine Bialczak’s Simply 6 Minutes Challenge. Image credit: Ryan Sims/Comedy Wildlife 2022

FOWC with Fandango — Miffed

Fandango10 Comments
FOWC

Welcome to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (U.S.).

Today’s word is “miffed.”

Write a post using that word. It can be prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. It can be any length. It can be just a picture or a drawing if you want. No holds barred, so to speak.

Once you are done, tag your post with #FOWC and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Please check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, ÿplease manually add your link in the comments.

And be sure to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this prompt. Show them some love.