November 11, 2014 by IdealisticRebel

It is One Thing to Believe in Sacrifices

It is one thing to believe in sacrifices, it is quite another to live with them. In the sixties, we didn’t get that and when guys came home from the Vietnam War, we ignored them or yelled at them. We wanted to make them feel ashamed for fighting what we perceived as an illegal war. It was illegal, but that wasn’t the fault of the soldiers or us, the government will forever carry the responsibility. It took me and many others a long time to get it.

My ah-ha moment was on a date. He was a Vietnam veteran. He was the only military person I ever dated. We were watching China Beach. I always watched China Beach. He asked me if I would let him tell me about his experience in Vietnam. No, was what I wanted to say, But, something made me say Ok. Not enthusiastic, but I committed myself and I sat and listened. I will not repeat his experiences out of respect for him. Three hours, many tears and a bit of shock later I wished I didn’t know. He had never told his story before but it was his truth. It was not a pretty story, but it was reality and I suddenly realized that not supporting the veterans accomplished nothing. The government was the villain and we had missed the point.

I have been to the Vietnam War Memorial erected in Washington, D.C. I ran my finger tips over the thousands of names etched into the stone. There were memorials and small tokens everywhere. A mom was holding a little boy who was touching a name and she was talking, I assume, about that soldier.

The Iraqi war was illegal. He lied to America and took advantage of the fear that spread through America after we were attacked on 9-11. There were no weapons of mass destruction and we sent so many of our youth to fight in Iraq. One young man was close to me and he was injured. The Army couldn’t actually find him for awhile. He was in Germany and he was having his hand treated.

Now, I look around at the severity of injuries that our young men and women have suffered and I am sickened. Why do we always resort to violence and war? We don’t need to. We need to show compassion, acceptance, gratitude, love, kindness. War never fixes anything. It just increases the level of violence. This violence is causing severe head injuries, the loss of arms and / or legs. The loss of dreams and abilities. Severe mental issues such as PTSD and many other mental problems.

Wounded Warrior Project and the other groups working to assist veterans and their families are doing important work. So today is Veteran’s Day and I want to say thank you to all vets, male and female. Though I continue to wish that there would be an end to war, thank you for what you have given to America and those of us who live here. Your bravery is an amazing thing to see.

Someday, I hope we will no longer need these terrible sacrifices on the part of our young people, our future. One day there will not be wars. Diplomacy will reign and calm, logical and rational thinking will replace greed and power hungry people.

So, veterans, Thank you for your sacrifices. I am sorry you had to sacrifice all that you did.

Flag unfurled by Americans

Veteran’s Day run held in various places around the country.

You have our support

November 10, 2014 by IdealisticRebel

The Beats

I don’t think I have mentioned that I like the “Beat poets”. Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997) is one of my favorites. He was born in Newark, New Jersey. He attended Columbia College, where he studied with Lionel Trilling, Mark Van Doren, and Meyer Shapiro. Jack Kerouac authored “On the Road” and based his character of Carlo Marx on Ginsberg.

One of Ginsberg’s most famous poems is “Howl” which he read at the Six Gallery in San Francisco’s North Beach in 1955. He was heckled by a guy in the audience and uttered the battle cry of the Beat movement. The poem was banned. Everyone wanted to read it.

At one reading, a man asked him, “What do you mean, nakedness?” Ginsberg responded by stripping off his clothes in response. Ginsberg did study with Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche’s maxim, ” First thought, best thought.” to express his philosophy about composition.

A Supermarket in California, 1955

What thoughts I have of you tonight, Walt Whitman, for I walked down the sidestreets under the trees with a headache self-conscious looking at the full-moon.

In my hungry fatigue, and shopping for images, I went into the neon fruit supermarket, dreaming of your enumerations!

What peaches and what penumbras! Whole families shopping at night! Aisles full of husbands! Wives in the avocados, babies in the tomatoes! — and you, Garcia Lorca, what were you doing down by the watermelons?

Allen Ginsberg, the Beat generation

I saw you, Walt Whitman, childless, lonely old grubber poking among the meats in the refrigerator and eyeing the grocery boys.

I heard you asking questions of each: Who killed the pork chops? What price bananas? Are you my Angel?

I wandered in and out of the brilliant stacks of cans following you and followed in my imagination by the store detective.

We strode down the open corridors together in our solitary fancy tasting artichokes, processing every frozen delicacy, and never passing the cashier.

Where are we going, Walt Whitman? The doors close in an hour. Which way does your beard point tonight?

(I touch your book and dream of our odyssey in the supermarket and feel absurd.)

Will we walk all night through solitary streets? The trees add shade to shade, lights out in the houses, we’ll both be lonely.

Will we stroll dreaming of the lost America of love past blue automobiles in driveways, home to our silent cottage?

Ah, dear friend, graybeard, lonely old courage-teacher what America did you have when Charon quit poling his ferry and you got out on a smoking bank and stood watching the boat disappear on the black waters of Lethe?

1955

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Later photo of Allen Ginsberg.

November 9, 2014 by IdealisticRebel

One Lovely Blog Award

onelovelyblogaward

Many thanks to dgkaye for my most welcome, nomination for this wonderful award. It touches me deeply that she finds me ‘inspiring’ and I highly recommend that you check her blog — and her books — out!

For this blog, the rules are to nominate and notify 15 bloggers, and to tell the 7 things about yourself.

About me:

I will go to great lengths to entertain myself on gloomy Saturday afternoons (look at yesterday’s blog)
I am new to Twitter, but learning
I am allergic to most animals — cats, dogs, especially birds. Not fish!
I used to raise tropical fish (see #3). Then I got bored
I have lived on a lake my entire life — I’ve moved to different cities, but always on a lake
When I was young the family had a hunting camp in the Allegheny mountains and we used to go there in the summer time. It had a well and an outhouse and we used oil-burning lamps. I wonder if that’s why I am a city girl?
I would love to spend this winter on a tropical beach. (If you’re going to dream, dream big!)

My nominees are:

November 8, 2014 by IdealisticRebel

Saturday Afternoon Easy LIstening…. The Rebel Way

Here in Cleveland, the afternoon is cloudy, grey and cold. So, I decided that I needed Music to brighten my spirits. Then I decided to share some of it with you.

I hope you all like it, and that, perhaps, it will make your day a little more fun, a little brighter and a little better, too.

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November 7, 2014 by IdealisticRebel

What do Women Think About?

Hello to everyone. I am going to share ideas and thoughts from women who are famous in some way. I was thinking about thinking and decided to share some very good thoughts. What do you think about what these women are thinking about?

“One can not be an American by going about saying one is an American. It is necessary to feel America, like America, love America and then work.” —Georgia O’Keeffe, American artist (1887-1986

“One is happy as a result of one’s own efforts, once one knows the necessary ingredients of happiness — simple tastes, a certain degree of courage, self-denial to a point, love of work, and, above all, a clear conscience. Happiness is no vague dream, of that I now feel certain.” —George Sand, French writer and novelist (1804-1876)

“I never did anything alone. Whatever was accomplished in this country was accomplished collectively.” —Golda Meir, Ukrainian-born Israeli leader. (1898-1978)

“I never ran my train off the track, and I never lost a passenger.” —Harriet Tubman, American abolitionist (1820-1913)

“Common sense is seeing things as they are; and doing things as they ought to be.” —Harriet Beecher Stowe, American writer and activist (1811-1896)

“Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all — the apathy of human beings.” —Helen Keller, American essayist (1880-1968)

“Action indeed is the sole medium of expression for ethics.” —Jane Addams, American activist (1860-1935)

“Action is the antidote to despair.” —Joan Baez, American folk singer (1941- )

“We, the women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.” —Julia Ward Howe, American activist, founder of Girl Scouts of America (1819-1910)

“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” —Lucille Ball, American comedienne (1911-1989)

Lucille Ball

Joan Baez

Jane Addams

Helen Keller

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Harriet Tubman

Golda Meir

George Sand, French writer

Georgia O’Keeffe, artist and painter

November 6, 2014 by IdealisticRebel

Khalil Gibran

Khalil Gibran is a writer many of us found in the seventies. He developed almost a cult following. He was born near the Holy Cedars of Lebanon. He and his family moved to America. He went to schools in Boston. The family sent him back to Lebanon to go to college. He later also attended college in Paris. He was a painter and a writer.

He wrote of Mother Earth and carried the torch of freedom that sprinkled through his writings. He felt everyone should be free.

” I love you, my Brother, wherever you are, whether you kneel in your church, worship in your synagogue or pray in your mosque.”

“Are you troubled by the many faiths that Mankind professes? Are you lost in the valley of conflicting beliefs? Do you think that the freedom of heresy is less burdensome than the yoke of submission, and the livery of dissent safer than the stronghold of acquiescence? If such be the case, then make Beauty your religion, and worship her as your godhead; for she is the visible, manifest and perfect handiwork of God.”

” They deem me mad because I will not sell my days for gold; and I deem them mad because they think my days have a price.”

“The truly great man is he who would master no one, and who would be mastered by none. ”

“A bigot is a stone-deaf orator.”

” An exaggeration is a truth that has lost its temper.”

“Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need.”

Khalil Gibran

An Interpretation of Khalil Gibran’s heart by Anita Krizzan

A Gibran verse

One of Khalil Gibran’s books. My favorite.

Wisdom of Gibran

November 5, 2014 by IdealisticRebel

A New Way to Look at Stress

My sister found this on Ted Talks. Psychologist Kelly McGonigal has a new take on Stress and what it can do in our lives, in a positive manner.

Just watching it gave me a new perspective, and new goals in dealing with the frankly large amount of stress I deal with, and have been dealing with for years.

I hope this will be as enlightening to you as it was to me.

November 4, 2014 by IdealisticRebel

Versatile Blogger Award

Thank you to the lovely Megan Elizabeth for nominating me for the Versatile Blogger Award. I’m just getting to know this lovely addition to my WordPress Family, and I’m looking very much forward to learning more and continuing to read her excellent blog!

versatile-bloggeragain

“When you consider nominating a fellow blogger for the Versatile Blogger Award, consider the quality of the writing, the uniqueness of the subjects covered, the level of love displayed in the words on the virtual page. Or, of course, the quality of the photographs and the level of love displayed in the taking of them. Honor those bloggers who bring something special to your life whether every day or only now and then!”

Here’s the rules:

If you are nominated, you’ve been awarded the Versatile Blogger award.

Thank the person who gave you this award. That’s common courtesy.

Include a link to their blog. That’s also common courtesy — if you can figure out how to do it.

Next, select 15 blogs/bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly. ( I would add, pick blogs or bloggers that are excellent!)

Nominate those 15 bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award — you might include a link to this site.

Finally, tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself.

About me:

My sister says I have to tell you I am impatient.

Sometimes, though, I can be very patient.

I am full of dichotomies (that’s what my late husband always said)

I love to read historical fictions, women’s journals and diaries, and poetry

My favorite color is fire-engine red

My favorite sound is the sound of a child laughing

My favorite smell are autumn smells of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, apples, zucchini, squash — all cooking in my kitchen

My nominations are:

ivonprefontaine

sophiaschildren

pethchary

maxima

petrel41

heartafire

michael lai

sunshinebright

Dr. Rex

Victo Dolore

hitandrun1964

justjan

ashiakira

just patty

Cindy Knoke

November 4, 2014 by IdealisticRebel

Visual Trip Across America

Why am I taking you on a visual trip of America? Because I want you to remember all we have here. This is our America.

These pictures are symbols of what we vote for. We vote because we have the right to vote and have since the Founding Fathers. We have the duty to each other and to America to speak up and let government officials know how we feel. We must vote, or everyone that has died fighting for our country and way of life will have died in vain. Even if you are not happy with our present government and if you see racism and sexism and judgmentalism as black marks against us, go out and vote. Just go. Send your message, send your thoughts, send a message of what must change. Send a message that is representative of your voice. It is ELECTION DAY. Go to the polls and vote. It is not too much to ask.

Smokey Mountains Photographed and copyrighted by Barbara Mattio 2013

To Majestic Mountains Photographed and copyrighted by Barbara Mattio 2012

My flowers in glorious bloom. Photographed and copyrighted by Barbara Mattio 2012

To your own home Photographed and copyrighted by Barbara Mattio 1013

To country roads Photographed and copyrighted by Barbara Mattio 2013

To Texas butterflies. Photographed and copyrighted by Barbara Mattio 2007

To butterflies. Photographed and copyrighted by Barbara Mattio 2007

To lakes Photographed and copyrighted by Barbara Mattio 2011

And oceans and islands Photographed and copyrighted by Barbara Mattio 2012

November 3, 2014 by IdealisticRebel

Election Eve

Hello to all of my readers. Do you know what today is? It is Election Eve. I know (for those in America anyway ) you are over all of the ads. Even worse the dirty commercials. Could that person have possibility have done that? What do I really think? My husband doesn’t agree with who I want to be our Governor. My best friend says I am completely wrong in my ideas. My kids think I don’t understand politics. Maybe I should just skip voting. It is supposed to rain tomorrow. I have several things I can do at the house. What should I do? Should I vote?

Ladies, this is an important election for us. Yes, there is a war on women. The GOP want us back in the home and they want us more restricted than we are now. Does that sound familiar? Perhaps you have heard it on the news from the Middle East. There are so many issues at stake, so many programs to help people that hang in the balance. The condition of our society depends on everyone voting. Our children’s education, your parents’ ability to receive good medical care, the ability to feed our children and keep a roof over their heads. We need to remember that Americans all live in one country. We look different but we have the same basic human needs. Despite economic conditions, if you flip burgers to support your children you are as important as the person who owns his/ her own company.

If you are an American man or woman, you have the right to vote. With that right that was granted to men by the Founding Fathers, and the feminist Suffragettes earned for us, comes a responsibility to use it. If you don’t vote you have no right to whine, complain, grouse or say negative things about who is elected. If you vote, then you can always say what you feel. It is your right. I have met many people who love to tell whoever will listen what is wrong with government. Inevitably, I ask if they voted. 90% of the time they have not.

You can research candidates with the League of Women Voters and in your local newspapers. It takes time, but not that much when you consider what is at stake. Take your state ID or Driver’s License with you in case you need to prove who you are. Don’t let poll workers prevent you from voting. It is your right and your vote is needed. Of all the democracies in the world, we have the lowest percentage of voter turnout. Right now, there are people who would give anything to have the right to vote.

Your vote is your voice. Your vote is your message to our leaders of what you want and it is really the only way they will hear you. So vote and let them know what you want. Let them know what you think America needs. VOTE!

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