SMALL TOWN THERAPIST ON PITA

 

Some days you just can't win or even break even. That's been my fate for the past week. Compared to what's going on in this country and what's the plights of other's lives who are struggling with food insecurity or homelessness, sincerely this is nothing.

About a week ago I got a canker sore on my tongue after biting my tongue (do not laugh) while eating too quickly, a tragic habit. I'm one of those people who is prone to canker sores. As a young teen I had to be taken to the ER because the sore was so bad I couldn't eat at all for 10 days. I remember even water hurt. Silver nitrate to the rescue! Although that cure did hurt it solved the problem. I have been repeatedly warned about not paying attention to how I'm eating and tend to forget and ignore the truly dreadful consequences. Behaving has never been one of my finer features. I'm going on more than a week of soft foods only and I'm thankful for milkshakes.

At the same time of the canker, my husband started a cold which he sadly gave to me. Now every time I sneeze the explosion in my mouth triggers a zapping pain from the canker and I yowl. Not fun.

Another unfortunate consequence is it hurts to talk. I can hold the side of my face and squeak out a few words but gingerly, because that hurts too.  So not a lot of talking.

I asked my husband, "what's it like to have an almost silent wife?" 

His response was a smirk and then he slowly responded saying, "I refuse to answer on grounds which might incriminate me."

Oh well. I guess sometimes I am verbose. Oh well. I guess sometimes I am a Pain In The Ass. But hey, no fair, my body doesn't need to turn on me as well. 

Enjoy the good times

 

SMALL TOWN THERAPIST ON WE CAN DO BETTER

 

Photographer: Alex Mittelstaedt

 I'm going to state that even though we are currently saddled with a con man and his illegal alien we can do better. Hope is on the horizon. Midterms 2026.

Currently there are massive protests all over our country and the world. The press is slow to negligent to report on these worldwide protests. People are  demanding democracy.  Many people, the world over are worried, with good reason, for our and their democracy hence the protests. 

One of the frightening ideas that is currently being touted, especially by young people, is the longing for a third party in this country. They desire a party that has no flaws and are hypercritical of the Democrats. Of course, they are appalled at the Republicans who are supporting a convicted felon, tearing apart our country with hate rhetoric and racist policies and allowing Elon Musk to defund our programs.

Are the Democrats perfect? Far from it. However, please read the two platforms put forth by the major parties. If the young people, and many of us older folks, would read the platforms they would discover where the Democrats want this country to be. This is a far cry and big contrast with where the Republicans want to take us.  I believe they would see a 90% agreement with the D's and a 10% disagreement with the Democrats. This would be dramatically different split in for and against with the Republican's platform. Democrats are all for: following the Constitution; Respect for Women's Rights; concern about the environment; feeding the hungry; taking care of all our citizens and educating and protecting the children of this nation. The Republicans? Not so much. 

protests are the people's right to protect democracy

Because many of these young people were toddlers, teens or very young adults in the 2000 election, they don't know the history of that race. Al Gore, who had been a Vice President under Bill Clinton was a stellar candidate. Gore was the man who tried to educate the U.S. about the danger of climate change.  He labeled it 'Global Warming', which of course we know is accurate, but the ignorant Republicans made fun of him and it. One Republican congressman even brought a snowball into congress to prove that the earth wasn't warming. Now, twenty years later we are saddled with out of control weather---hurricanes in states that never had them before, flooding with catastrophic results and incredible destruction and loss of lives and property. We could have had Al Gore all those years ago. Instead we got George Bush and an unnecessary war. Why do we continue to put inadequate and incompetent people in office?

Here's some of the reasons we have elected less than good people to be president.. 

1. People choose not to vote. In the last election 93 million people did not vote.
2. People choose to vote for a third party candidate. The third party candidate in the 2000 election was Ralph Nader, who had only one issue important to him: car safety.
3. People choose not to read the platforms of the Republicans vs the Democrats.
4. People believed that both parties are the same.
5. People were angry this last election, with some justification, at the Democrats for sending arms to Israel.
6. People were reactive to Kamala Harris as not being liberal enough.
7. People were angry that Democrats protected Biden who was apparently failing with age.
8. People were afraid of a liberal, intelligent, brown skinned woman leading the country.
9. People believed that Trump was a stronger person and, being male, had better answers.
10. People didn't realize that even though they agreed with 90% of the Democrats platform, they decided not to vote for the Democrats, the anger was really only about the 10% disagreement. 
11. People all over the country were subjected to gerrymandering and suppression of their legally cast votes.
12. People trusted that Trump was telling the truth and was going to make things more efficient in his government, never realizing that Elon Musk was going to fire qualified people.
13. People want the perfect which is the enemy of the good.
14. People listened to right wing pod casts and television and believed lie after lie.

Here's the frustration many of us feel--- why can't people listen to real threats? Why would they believe that oligarchy is a good alternative to democracy? Once our democracy is gone do they really believe that things will be better? This country was founded on the belief that all men/women were created equally. We all deserve life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Can any of us really want the .01% of our population to have all the power and control? Is it right to turn our democracy into a corporation of the rich, by the rich, for the rich, so help us god? 

susansmagicfeather 2025 Susan R. Grout