Tuesday, January 18, 2011

My Magnum Nope-us, or, Can't I Please Just Have Morphine?

I am bursting with - if not unfulfilled potential - then with unwritten blog posts.

One reason is that recently, I broke my right arm. It's not the worst thing in the world, not a bit. I don't even have a cast, just a sling and some woefully inadequate pain meds. But it definitely cramps one's style(enjoyment/pain threshold) when it comes to typing. (Many of you are already aware of the fracture, due to my persistent belief in the restorative powers of whining to anyone who will listen/read my FB status updates. I love you, people.)

Another reason is that I had the best visitor I could wish for, on a long, long visit. As someone who previously was alone most nights*, I had not appreciated the following fact: It turns out that people actually get annoyed when one allocates that which should be face-time to screen-time. Understandable. But not conducive to blogging.
(*This was not intended to seem as pathetic as I think it may sound.)

Now, after a long delay and a huge buildup of words bucking at my fingertips, straining for their turn to hammer the keyboard, I feel that nothing less than a magnum opus of a blog post is due. But that is procrastinator talk, my friends; not to mention hoplessly delusional.

So I'm just going with a micropost for now. The main thrust: the confounding co-existence in this world of unfathomably sweet goodness alongside the wretchingly bad. (I can't claim these are original thoughts; but my thoughts they are, often.)

Today, I sent up a signal (in the Internet) for help for my friend with the (wretchingly bad) cancer situation. Right away, people were volunteering, and choking me up with their powerfully kind words and exceeding generosity. When considering these acts, my heart swells and lifts me like a hot-air balloon to float far above all the sadnesses.

Then I got a letter from Li'l G's primary school. A predator-man (a type which Li'l G knows of academically as "a bad apple") has been approaching children on the playground at a neighboring school and trying to lure them into his car. The school reports that the children all wisely refused.

It sounds like Nothing happened, nor is likely to - not even to a self-assured six-year-old who is sooooo sure she can walk home from school by herself (ca. 10 city blocks!). It's just that it's a little revolting to consider this rotten apple with his hideous evil hellcar stalking the school recess yard. Enough said.

[Faintly tangentially, the school also reported that "the police are watching the schools and the neighborhood closely." .... Fleetingly, I started to regret our semi-urban surroundings. (It's crucial to note that this is "urban" by Swissy standards, not U.S. or international ones!) It's saddening if your child's- any child's - schools need to be staked out by the cops. On the other hand... perhaps in a more idyllic, non-city environment, predator types might be so unexpected that they might more likely go unnoticed (until it's too late)?]

4 comments:

  1. What is wrong with people? We just had a heartbreaking story come through our expat lines here. I heard it days ago and it still makes me cry to think about it. (I won't give the details to protect those ofrunstable mind.)

    But it's the neighbor who take the kids when I think I'm going to lose it or the friend who makes me laugh that keeps me from sinking.

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  2. Do you think that neighbor would take my kids for a couple of hours, too? You can tell her they are really nice kids.

    I've often wondered how we navigate our children through the trustworthy and untrustworthy around us. Like for the first 2 years of their lives we introduce them to people who we say are nice, even if they don't want to sit in aunt Wesie's lap, we put them there, then we spend the next 16 years protecting them from the bad ones we thought were good. And then they watch Star Wars and when they play fight they keep repeating: "I am your father."

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  3. Kooki, I am tempted to Google that and try to figure out what the story was... but I might just be one of those who are of unstable mind.... How awful. Does it make you personally feel worried? I'm guessing kids don't get to prance around free as in Qatar as they do in CH?

    Mrs. C., I was forced to scare the bejeezus out of Li'l G yesterday. I told her calmly how to react should the Bad Apple cast his shadow over her. And she insisted she would just yell at him about how bad he is, or tweak him in the nose to embarrass him - which did not satisfy me as to her level of preparation.

    So I had to keep raising the terror alert about how bad a Bad Apple could really be. She ended up tearful and saying, "I'm scared!" This might sound mean, but... it was actually rather cute, and I'm a little more satisfied.

    Your Star Wars comment made me laugh (especially considering some of the background we share)!

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  4. I think whining is restorative, too. Damn it.
    So sorry about your friend - I know it's tough.
    xo

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