SITTING IS THE NEW SMOKING

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“Sitting is the new smoking,” is a phrase that I heard for the first time the other day. I’m pretty sure that I am months, if not longer, behind the curve on this one. For someone who works 3 – 4 days a week in an office sitting in a chair and staring at a computer screen for 7.5 hours a day – well it hits home. I am very fortunate that I have one of those adjustable desks that allows me to raise it and stand whenever I wish, which is now much more frequently.

As I raise my awareness, along with the rest of me, I notice that other people are standing by their work stations like gophers in a prairie field checking the landscape for potential dangers. While standing, I find that I can raise my foot up onto my desktop – the desk part that doesn’t raise up – and get a nice stretch going in my legs, thighs and other nether regions.

BOOMER TUNE ALERT

This is an easy one this week. Otis Redding died in a plane crash before his iconic hit “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay,” became the first posthumous number one hit on both Billboard and the R & B charts and went on to garner Otis a posthumous Grammy, as well. He was only 26 when he died in 1967 but this song still makes me want to sit on a bench overlooking the ocean – however, perhaps I should now be standing instead.

From my position of heightened enlightenment I can view the smokers (now recognized as social pariahs in the building) huddling together, the mandatory 30 meters from the front door, having a smoke and sharing their various stories. The good news is that they are standing and not sitting – which would be so unhealthy.

POLITICAL EXHAUSTION

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Is it just me or is anyone else becoming politically exhausted? No matter where I turn these days, it is 24/7 of political commentary, opinion, breaking news, blah, blah, blah. And it is much more than just the latest ranting and raving of Trump and his family, supporters and detractors – it seems to be worldwide – Britain, Canada, Germany, OMG – the Mideast, Philippines, China, Venezuela,  Brexit, EU, trade wars, immigration and terrorism – just to name a few of the politically charged stories that are inundating us. I don’t know if it is age, or the age we live in, but it seems impossible to escape as we see wall to wall videos on YouTube, Facebook and TV news, along with constant news updates on our car radios, newspapers (there are still some left aren’t there?) and virtually every social media opportunity that exists.

Everyone seems to be getting in on the act as politicians of every stripe and intelligence level weigh in on everything they see (whether they have any real ability to effect change or not) and anyone with an audience is compelled to let their opinions be known to their followers. I’m simply getting tired of it – what about you? Social gatherings require us to respond to questions about what we think of this crisis or that. In our own city, just the possibility of building a new hockey arena has become a source of accusations and political invective that is laced with personal accusations and blame – get over it – build the damn arena – there’s enough money to pay for it!

People are turning away from the political arena by the thousands as they tire of the never ending diatribe and become wary, as well as weary, of the constant bickering and accusations, unfounded criticism, and outright hatred foisted upon us as “news.” “Aye, but there’s the rub,” a much bigger danger than exhaustion lurks when we choose to ignore the political unrealities of the day, but first a work from our unsponsors…

BOOMER TUNE ALERT

OK, hands up anyone who doesn’t have a copy of “RUMOURS” by FLEETWOOD MAC in their music collection. I didn’t think so. The eighth highest selling album of all time with over 40 million copies sold, it was released in 1977. The band seemed to be in constant turmoil with members coming and going, romantic relationships on and off, and various members leaving and returning but wow, could they turn out the hits. Rumours sat on top of the Billboard list for over 30 weeks and garnered awards and still commands an incredible amount of play time on stations worldwide.

Lindsey Buckingham leads the way on “Go Your Own Way”  and may seem an apt addition to this post.

Go ahead, listen again and turn it up louder – I can wait.

The real danger of political exhaustion is that intelligent people stop listening. They ignore the posturing and nonsense that surrounds the political arena. Political freedom and democracy are messy, tiresome and full of people who are there only to promote their own agendas. The scary part is that if history teaches us anything, then we cannot afford to ignore what is being done in our name. Smarter people than me have warned that if good men ignore what their leaders are doing, then the leaders easily become demagogues out for their own interests and that becomes something far more complicated and scary than democracy. That is when totalitarianism becomes reality. Stay focused and make these leaders remain transparent and accountable. Read not only the viewpoints that you agree with but the opposition as well – alternate ideas may help pave the way to true freedom and democracy.

F#&K OFF

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The F word became a topic of conversation following dinner with friends last night. (What, you don’t have conversations with people like that?) The F word is used everywhere these days by male and female alike, no matter what their age and stage. We see it all over the internet, social media and it is rapidly becoming acceptable on our TV screens (try Netflix), in the office, and has been used in mainstream movies and comedy for decades. The whole purpose of the F word is to shock us but what its users don’t understand is that it is no longer shocking but merely annoying. It has little or no meaning when it is used so commonly and frequently.

It is used as a noun, verb, adjective, adverb, and a punctuation mark interchangeably. It is meant by its users to get our attention, to express some sort of shock or awe. But what it really is is lazy language. Rather than describe, articulate or make a meaningful point, we would rather use the F word to try and accomplish the same thing – lazy. It would have so much more weight to use actual language to make the point, so much more powerful because most people simply dismiss the F word and the thought around it. Consequently, what was trying to be accomplished is lost.

I am definitely not holier than thou so I am going to make a conscious effort to eliminate the F word from my own language choices. I will allow myself dispensation when whacking my finger with a hammer, although a forcefully used, “Shit!” may perchance make a suitable substitute.

BOOMER TUNE ALERT

There is no connection between the title of this blog and the title of this tune by the Righteous Brothers. I heard it on the way to the grocery store. Back in the day, it seemed like every dance seemed to close with this song. This 1964 offering was produced by Phil Spector and is usually thought of as one of his best recordings. Bobby Hatfield and Bill Medley (cool name – I wonder if it’s real) had several top 10 hits including Unchained Melody. Their stage name came from a marine who used to attend their concerts and after each one would yell, “Hey, that was righteous, brothers!”

Lazy language is everywhere but wouldn’t it be much more impactful if people, ourselves included, actually used descriptive language to express their feeling and emotions to shock us? I suspect it would be. My sexism is going to show here but I still get a twinge when I hear a woman using the F bomb although I don’t think it makes it any more acceptable for a guy to use the lazy way out either.