I’m going to begin this update with what
might sound like a minor rant about 9/11, so if that might offend you whenever
you’re reading this in the future; flip the digital page and skip this journal
entry.
The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001
were awful, and I know that because I remember everything – even though I was
only seven months old at the time. While
my memories are perfect; my perspective is changing as I get older – and hopefully
a bit wiser. My problems with everything
I’ve seen and read about for the fifteenth anniversary of 9/11 boils down to the
hypocrisy that is so blatantly on display at moments like this. Sure, that hypocrisy is there all of the
time; but it is more obvious on a day like today.
Maybe I should include myself as one of the
hypocrites, since I wouldn’t dream of ranting about any of this publicly, but
that would be pointless and just get people mad at me, and while I don’t speak
out; I do live my beliefs as best I can – and can do that in fairly significant
ways through our family business.
My thoughts about this have been brewing
all day, and while I love my home town and everyone here; I also have to admit
that we’re collectively at least a bit hypocritical too. The only example I’ll use for that is from
church today. Pastor John led us through
a prayer for the surviving victims of 9/11 – something that I’m sure has been
done all around the country today. I
prayed too, and am all for that, but the hypocrisy comes from the fact that we
don’t do that for the casualties on the ‘other side’ of the so-called war on
terror. I’m not referring to the
terrorists here – though we should pray for them too; since their souls are in
gravest danger. I’m talking about all of
the innocents that have been killed in the conflicts and aftermath of 9/11.
The usual responses would include comments
that revolve around ‘us’ and ‘them’ for the most part, and that just reinforces
the hypocrisy; since we need to think about everyone in the world as ‘us’ – and
that needs to happen for every person before we can collectively change our
lives for the better. There will always
be bad people in the world – even after the next Ascension of the Light, but as
I’ve mentioned before; the armies of the world won’t be able to fix that
problem because they’re a big part of the problem. I’m not going to offer any platitudes here,
and instead suggest that the trillions of dollars that have been spent on
weapons could have done more to end worldwide violence if the money had been
used for providing all basic needs for the poorest billions of people in the
world. I’m also not suggesting that we
put all of those soldiers out of work – just that we give them better jobs
helping out around the world.
Yes, there’s a place for the military. I’m not against fighting when there is no
other choice – and I’ll need to fight for the Ascension of the Light; since the
Dark Magi are not going to give up their power willingly. The difference between what we – the Magi –
are doing and what military forces around the world is that we care about all
people first; and act accordingly. We’ll
continue to do that – even when we’re ready to become more involved in the
world and become more involved in the battle against the Dark Magi – and all
who follow that dark path.
I’m dragging this out too far, but before I
get on with the actual news of the day for my life; I’ll also mention that we
collectively spend too much time on the pomp and ceremony of remembrance in
general. I’m not suggesting that we do away
with Memorial Day, Easter, and all other occasions we have for mourning and
remembrance; but I am saying that they shouldn’t be ego-driven events. If we want to truly honor the people we
memorialize, we need to remember and learn from history; and then do better in
the future. In response to what I saw
and heard around the internet and on television today, I’ll predict that most of
the politicians that went out of their way to look and sound good at different
memorial services won’t actually do anything to help the ongoing problems that
we’ve helped to create in the fifteen years since 9/11. Being wrong about that would be great, but I
do have a gift for the Sight; and don’t see that happening anytime soon in our
near future.
Okay, I think I’m ready to move on to the
news of the day.
Tai Chi by the river was chilly by comparison
to the hot weather that has temporarily left us, but we still had fun with it;
and then I got to enjoy a gourmet breakfast with Michael and his family. That meant missing out on breakfast with my
family, Naomi, and Aiden; but I was overdue for a breakfast at Michael’s house
and we haven’t had much time with his parents – at least when it comes to
spending time together when we’re not working.
The Sunday service and our Sunday school classes were themed for the
day, and since I already mentioned how I feel about that; let’s just move
on. I went home after church; had lunch
with about half of our home town family; and then I spent the afternoon playing
and doing homework. The homework fun was
during Michael’s break from the Inn; and Tim and Rowen joined us for that. The play time was with the twins, Naomi,
Aiden, and some parents and grandparents.
We kept busy and entertained at the park
for most of that time; the studying came after that; and then I got ready to go
to work at the Inn for the buffet shift.
I don’t have any news from those hours of work; other than to mention
that we did have a major drop-off in business compared to most of the
summer. Yes, we still have a good
turn-out for the buffets, but we don’t need all of the extra seating we have
right now; so the heat was off for us in more ways than one today. We finished up earlier than what has been normal
lately; so I was home by nine-thirty tonight.
My work wasn’t done for the day then, but I multi-tasked some of the
work with a soak in my Jacuzzi; and time phased everything so I could still get
to sleep in decent time. Mom also came
up to my room after my bath for a bedtime Magi lesson, and since I was working
in a time phase anyway; she made that lesson about juggling time phases and
phase shifting; with an emphasis on the impact of both on different objects.
That might sound simple, but it really isn’t
easy to do things like maintain an internet connection while in time phase and
walking through a wall. Keeping track of
every bit and byte of data when it’s coming at you at full-speed in ‘normal’
time and then at something less than snail speed in the time phase alone is
tough – which is why I normally do my surfing in ‘real’ time instead. I won’t bore you with other problems – like keeping
a computer or cell phone working while in a phase-shift transmutation. My lessons now are more nuanced as I advance
in my abilities, but while it has now been years since I started learning how
to do phase shifts and time phases; there is always something new to learn
about them – and more that I can do with them too.
While I’m thinking about Mom and my lesson,
that reminded me that I don’t mention Silkie in my journal very much. She’s a much bigger part of Ethan’s and
Ehlana’s lives, but I do see her every day; so the only reason I don’t mention
her is because she’s just part of everyday life for me. I don’t write about cleaning Mandy’s litter box
either; but that does get done regularly – along with the rest of the daily
chores I don’t write about either.
Silkie does love me too, but she is definitely bonded to the twins; and
hangs out with them most of the time when they’re home. She hangs out with Mom when they’re at school
now, but that might be a temporary change; since that separation from them is
so new to her.
Anyway, I did my family business work
before and after my lesson with Mom; took care of my language studying after
that; and then did a full computer and email check before getting to this
update. Even with all of that, I’ll
still be sleeping before midnight – as long as I don’t drag this out much
longer.
The week ahead is going to be busy. We’ll be adding in our concert band practices
on Tuesday after school, and while we won’t be doing as much with that band; we
will still have concerts and parties to play at; and we can work on music for
the marching band too if we have the extra time. Dad has an extra week this month to get ready
for his week in the city, but he’ll be doing that this week; so he’ll have less
time for anything else. We’ll be going
with two lunchtime cheerleading practices, and that will help my schedule a bit,
but we have another away game on Friday; so that’s going to make for another
very long day on Friday. We don’t have
any major plans for the weekend, so if that works out for us; I’m going to
shoot for some fun time with Michael and our friends – maybe even a camping
night if the weather is nice. Dad will
have to work a lot this weekend too, but we might be able to get a ride out to
Quarry Lake for a play afternoon too.
Those are happy thoughts to take into
dreamland with me, and I have covered what bit of real news I have for today
anyway; so, until next time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
