Category Archives: cyber bullying

how humans can be like a flock of chickens, or navigating parenthood

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So, I am but a few short years into this whole parenting thing, but by no means an expert or veteran.  I am an engaged novice at best. However,  I now understand further why my parents and a lot of my friends’ parents had limited involvement and interaction with a lot of school parent groups, PTA, and so on.  It’s often a no win proposition situationally.

Just like some work on the Victorian theory of children should be seen and not heard, it can also apply to the parents.  Truly, it’s fascinating. To me it can be like watching humans behave like a flock of chickens.

Chickens form flocks, flocks have pecking orders. If the pecking order is ignored or feathers are ruffled, often chickens will turn on one and other.  Remarkably, we will also do this to one and other as human beings. And it can be quite cruel and mean spirited.

I have now experienced marauding chickens first hand. Sadly what I have learned is just because someone is a parent, it doesn’t mean they will behave in an adult fashion.

My observations on all of this are simple: we all don’t have to be each other’s best friends and live in each other’s pockets but we are supposed to be the adults. We are supposed to (in theory)  be able to tolerate and appreciate differences in others. That is something I do not find from some parents at times.  I find that sad as we all share a common goal and core value of wanting the best for our kids.

I am very independent minded and unafraid to speak my mind, and always have been. I understand and appreciate that I can be considered an “acquired taste” . But I do always do my best to try to do the right thing. I respect this in others as well. But what I am learning is the path to good intentions is paved with the corpses of parents who thought they would try to help.

No school is immune to this phenomenon.  Check out any school of any kind whether public, private, parochial, or whatever and you will find this flock of chickens.  As long as your world view matches their world view, it’s all good.  But deviate from their comfort level or even just have a differing opinion and you will discover a world of hurt.  They will come at you hammer and tong. And trust me, it can be most unpleasant until you consider the source. They don’t call it bullying, but it is a form of bullying behavior in my opinion. It’s also fascinating to observe from a sociological perspective.

I will admit that for someone who was once a member of a sorority and who has headed up non-profit volunteer committees I am not much of a joiner. I was as a high school kid also not part of particular cliques or social circles. I enjoyed many different friends from many different groups and I am still very much that way today.  But independence like this is often very threatening to others.

With my 50th birthday came the renewed and self-inflicted wisdom that we should learn that sometimes tilting at windmills can be a fruitless proposition. But maintaining your independence and standing up for what you believe in shouldn’t have to resemble tilting at windmills either, should it? Yet sometimes it feels that way doesn’t it?

People will often fear and judge what they do not know or understand.  I have been guilty of that in the past as it is simply put, human nature. But as a parent when I see this it makes me sad. But now as a parent the positive is I can gain perspective if I am open to it.

We are all supposed to have common core values of wanting the best for our kids. So why is it some parents need to decimate other adults to attain this goal? How is it we are supposed to teach our kids to be better human beings when by our very example we are doing what we don’t want them to do?

But back to the theory of humans as flocks of chickens.  We should be better than pecking farm birds, shouldn’t we? (And I say this as someone who actually really likes chickens!)

Navigating parenthood is a tricky proposition.  I am learning something new every day. I just wish more of these adults, these parents, could be more open to learning at times.  We all can’t be perfect, and we come to the table with different life experiences. I guess it is what we do with those experiences that matter, right?  We should NOT expect everyone we meet to be cookie cutter images of us, should we? Wouldn’t that make us all Stepford Wives on this life bus if so?

I endeavor to try to learn and go forward a better human being.  I am not perfect. But I do try to do the right thing. And I am reminded again that I can only be responsible for my own behavior and actions.

Thanks for stopping by.

 

being christian at christmas

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How some people define the spirit of the Christmas season in West Vincent baffles me.

Please see below as another one of those nasty and pathetic missives is making the rounds. I was told this was found on a Ludwig’s Village community bulletin board.

West Vincent is such a beautiful place, but it’s like it has a rotten core, doesn’t it? This is unfortunately still a place with a handful of pious hypocrites who claim to “love thy neighbor” yet do things like this and isn’t that terrible? These people give the really nice people who live in this Chester County community a bad name and I think that is truly awful don’t you?

Being a Christian isn’t faux piety, it’s actually living what you preach. A lot of these people preach a good game, but are some of them really good neighbors? My opinion is the answer is a resounding no. Normal, emotionally healthy people do not do things like this to other people.

One day those of you who do things like this to your neighbors will find yourselves in a time of trouble. Will people lift a hand to help you? Or will they say “we’ve had enough of those bullies” and turn their backs?

People who do things like this during the most holy season of the year are held in the highest contempt by me.

Also it may appear contradictory, but I do actually pity these people for their meanness. They are missing out on so much in life by hating.

This man who is being victimized has run good and honest businesses for years. He and his wife are the kind of people that would give you the shirt off their back no matter what you had done to them. They are truly good people. I am proud to call them friends. We have used him professionally in addition.

If I were in this gentleman’s shoes, I would take all these missives to law enforcement. And a TV station or two.

I don’t know why it is that some people are not content unless they make other people unhappy. They should be ashamed of themselves. The sad thing is, I know they are not. However I believe karma is a very, very real thing. Everything that goes around eventually comes back around.

To the rest of you I say it is Christmas, so if you see one of these missives floating around West Vincent pull it down and give it to the police and tell them where exactly you found it and what day and what time.

It is time for this to stop.

If you know the people who are doing these things, it’s time to stand up and tell them to stop. Or call them out publicly. (Cowards like this hate having a light shined on them even if they secretly crave the attention.)

Christmas is but a few days away. Let’s get back to the real reason for the season, shall we?

Thanks for stopping by today.

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laughing out loud

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I had to giggle at this. The utter absurdity of it and misplaced sense of entitlement meets an up-country flair for the dramatic.

The ultimate irony is this is part of the same tired mantra of a small group of people in essentially a small town who regularly declare war on anyone and everyone who doesn’t agree with them. They practice the Northern equivalent of the Southern “bless your heart” tactic. I find them extremely amusing. I also find them sad as their limited lives are entirely too consumed by their petty vendettas.

And remember….this blog is NOT endorsed by This is West Vincent on Facebook….it doesn’t have to be.

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from blue dress infamous to social activist

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From blue dresses and White House scandals before there was the television show Scandal, to a line of failed (?) purses (see article in New York Magazine from a few years back), to social activist, Monica Lewinsky has spent years being an unfortunate household name stemming from poor choices made literally as a kid while a White House intern.

She opened up about the blue dress years and the aftermath of being a fallen star in the Clinton universe in the June 2014 edition of Vanity Fair. It was her article and it was fairly well written and interesting, I must admit.

Like millions of others at the time I remember thinking “What was she thinking and why can’t this politician keep his pants zipped?” (Face it, Clinton might look like the grand papa bear of Democrat politics today, but the man has had his issues with the ladies à la Pennsylvania’s own Ed Rendell, right?)

I don’t have the moral code that is able to justify cheating, or justify why a very bright young woman couldn’t stay away from a married man who happened to be the President of the United States, except I am guessing that was exactly why she couldn’t stay away.  However, after the first few weeks of hearing about her and that, I felt as if it was enough already.  There were after all, far bigger issues going on in the Clinton administration, weren’t there?

So now Monica is what? About 40 years old give or take? And she made a whopper of a mistake and has spent almost 20 years paying for it.

Yesterday she spoke in Philadelphia  on the subject of cyber bullying.

I have to give her props for stepping out onto the stage at the Forbes Under 30 Summit.  That took guts, all things considered. I am sure she was amply compensated for her time but her topic was of personal interest to me. Her topic was cyber bullying and that is also apparently now her personal cause.

I listened to the replays of her speech and could totally understand when she said “It feels like a punch in the gut.”  After all, cyber bullying = abuse.

That isn’t the first time I have heard a similar description applied to being cyber bullied. Of course those who perform the cyber bullying always blame their victims. Much like abusers who tell their victims it’s their own fault they had to beat them.

I make no bones about the fact that I have perverse admirers, otherwise known as cyber bullies. In part, when you become a writer or a blogger it sort of comes with the territory.  It shouldn’t, but it does. Only my main bully doesn’t bully me because I am some random blogger she doesn’t like, for her it’s personal. She used to know me, and used to be in my life.

It is odd to think about this late middle aged woman from several states away being so angry and so hateful because well she was someone very supportive of  me when a few years ago now, my ex abandoned me and his old dying dog quite literally and then a year or so after that when I was diagnosed with breast cancer and isn’t that strange? How can someone go from being caring to being pathologically angry and hateful when there was no fighting or anything like that?  This person chose to leave my life so what was I supposed to do? It was her choice and I tried to respect it. It’s like she had this weird unrequited crush on me and I am being punished for ignoring that, and her. It’s truly bizarre.

It came as a shock when I realized I not only had cyber bullies, but they had been essentially stalking my life.  I am not a public figure. I am just an ordinary woman living my life.  Yes, I write, and I am not just a blogger given my published bylines here and there (albeit local and regional), but I am just a regular person. I write more about my recipes and gardening these days than anything else. I share my photography, as well. Apparently and ironically, it is very upsetting to people when you are happy. And apparently it’s all my fault they have to bully me because I am happy in my life and they are miserable and stuck. Bullies like other forms of abusers have a limited sense of personal accountability, have you noticed?

Since this cyber bullying and cyber stalking began shortly before my 50th birthday I have been fascinated by the people who have supported the efforts.  People I have never known or spoken to. And why do they cheer on negative and spurious activity that there are laws against? I guess because at some point in time I wrote something they didn’t agree with and isn’t that so bizarre coming from “adults”?

But as far as adults go, I have seen a lot of strange behavior. Especially recently.  Take for example parents of teenagers who not only support their teen’s scorched earth bullying behavior, but in essence bully other parents themselves and how crazy is that? People who are parents and who you know love their children but who can’t see right from wrong on their own?

People spend so much time hating and why put all that negativity out there? Its not so much a Zen or spiritual thought as it is  that I just don’t get people of any age who wake up with the intent to be mean or malicious. Life is a precious gift and having survived breast cancer I know full well we are all on borrowed time on this earth so why not try to be better human beings, not worse?

Cyber bullying is as pervasive and invasive as physical bullying.  And there is a certain disconnect from reality with it on the part of the bullies.   These bullies seem to think in their minds their behaviors are justified, and that they are invincible, which of course couldn’t be farther from the truth.   They also only have power if you allow them to have power because the truth of it is, bullies are cowards. They only accept their version of reality as the ultimate reality and get totally tweaked if you mess with their perception of how it should all be. With mine I marvel at how literally crazy and unbalanced they are and pity them at the same time.  This hatred is all they have to do all day, and that is truly and incredibly sad.

Cyber bullying is something, however, that not enough people take seriously even if it is illegal. So if Monica Lewinsky wishes to use her unfortunate celebrity to shine a light  down the dark rabbit hole of bullying, I am all for it. After all, bullying happens most often to the less obvious in this world: ordinary people both adult and kids.

Monica Lewinsky being a social activist will take some getting used to. Of course she was immediately trolled after doing this. In addition to the article excerpts below, follow this LINK and check out an interesting perspective in the Washington Post and another CNN article.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Lewinsky makes emotional plea to end cyberbullying

By Dan Merica, CNN
updated 6:46 AM EDT, Tue October 21, 2014

(CNN) — Monica Lewinsky told an audience in Philadelphia on Monday that her new mission in life was to end cyberbullying. Her speech — and her goal — come as the former White House intern steps into the public eye after years of trying to live privately.

“Having survived myself, what I want to do now is help other victims of the shame game survive, too,” she told the audience at Forbes’ 30 Under 30 summit. “I want to put my suffering to good use and give purpose to my past.”

Lewinsky, who as an intern in 1995 had an affair with President Bill Clinton, said she was “patient zero” of online harassment.

“There was no Facebook, Twitter or Instagram back then,” she said. “But there were gossip, news and entertainment websites replete with comment sections and emails which could be forwarded. Of course, it was all done on the excruciatingly slow dial up. Yet around the world this story went. A viral phenomenon that, you could argue, was the first moment of truly ‘social media’.”

Forbes:  Monica Lewinsky Speaks: ‘It’s My Mission To End Cyberbullying’

Clare O’Connor Forbes Staff

Monica Lewinsky has broken a decade-long silence to announce her campaign to end cyberbullying and today’s toxic culture of internet shaming.

In her first ever public address, the former mistress of President Bill Clinton revealed her plan to launch a “cultural revolution” against the sort of online harassment she experienced firsthand in the late 1990s…..Lewinsky described her life since the 1998 sex scandal that resulted in Clinton’s impeachment by the House of Representative and subsequent acquittal by the Senate as one marred by a deep sense of shame and even suicidal thoughts….She intends to share her story with victims of cyberbullying and online harassment. There are many of them: almost 54% of young Facebook users describe being bullied or harassed online.

Forbes:Full Transcript: Monica Lewinsky Speaks Out On Ending Online Abuse

(Click on hyperlink above to go to the Forbes website and read the full transcript.)

what do you think of adults who approve of cyber-bullying?

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cyber-bullying-posterAs many know, I have been the victim of cyber bullies for a couple of months now.  Cyber bullying happens to adults as well as kids.  People have liked and commented on the cyber bullying, which is tantamount to approval, is it not?

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People who are actual cyber bullies (as in doing it) are  individuals with serious issues who hide behind a keyboard.  They go well beyond First Amendment rights. People who like cyber bullying are sad people as well.

The objective of cyber bullying is to hurt.

I am a blogger.  I am also a writer.  My opinions vary from the opinions of many on occasion. It’s life.  I am being bullied not because of that but for a much more personal reasons.   In a nut shell, I am being bullied because I am happy and love my life and crazy as it sounds, I am being bullied by people who chose to leave my life . These people  don’t even live in Chester County and they don’t know and have never met the majority of the few who like their efforts.

imageSome of the few people who approve of what is being done to me live in Chester County, but have never met me.  A volunteer at the Chester County SPCA is one who has liked things (out of deference to my friend Pat who is President of the board at the CCSPCA I haven’t mentioned this person.)  A couple of folks who may or may not be involved with other animal rescues but did not like things I wrote are others. Some people who have liked things on this page are what can be described as innocently naive to a lot of what is social media and who had absolutely NO idea what they were “liking” at first and then were mortified when they figured it out.

A few of these people who support this page (and there aren’t many who actually do support the cyber bullying efforts) live in or around West Vincent. They think they are above the law and like to tell people they are “connected” and what does that mean other than they know a couple of local and limited politicians who will eventually be out of office in a small, rural, and dysfunctional municipality?  The reason these West Vincent related people dislike me is  because quite simply I stuck up with my friends who have been quite literally victimized by the politics and pious hypocrisy of a small cabal in that township.  That and I objected to things like eminent domain for private gain when it was discussed a few Christmases ago with regard to the Ludwig’s Corner Horse Show. It makes me chuckle that these strangers consider themselves relevant to my life, because they simply aren’t.

pious hypocrites

These people have never met me. They have never had a conversation with me. Yet they “hate” me. Does it sound like middle school lunchroom bullying to you or is that just me? And the irony is participating on a cyber bullying site only hurts them, not me.

Cyber bullying however, is no joke. The difference between adults being cyber bullied and kids is that as an adult you have the ability to tune the noise out and to consider the source. As an adult you have the ability to discern that someone is mentally messed up, kids can’t necessarily do that as they don’t yet have the emotional maturity.

Cyber bullying is wrong. And there is a big difference between blogging and writing and cyber bullying someone.  As a breast cancer survivor I am made of tougher emotional stuff than others. So can I handle this ultimately? Yes, because these are mean people who don’t matter.  But the reality is that I am one of millions of children and adults being cyber bullied every day. So I decided to share this today. And the people who applaud this kind of harassment and egg it on are just as bad as those perpetrating the cyber bullying.

Cyber bullying is indeed against the law. I choose to ignore my bullies for the most part because they only want attention, and yes they exhibit stalker-like behavior (think Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction only far less polished).  They have this twisted obsession when it comes to me which shows their mental state, unfortunately.  And I have indeed had feedback from law enforcement about this as well as mental health professionals.  It’s sad, but their issues are their own, not mine.

Take a stand against cyber bullying and cyber harassment and cyber stalking. And if it could happen to me, it can happen to you. Or your kids.

For more on cyber bullying read:

It’s the permanence of online abuse that makes cyberbullying so damaging for children

Also see stopcyberbullying.org and the FBI website (which has a lot about cyber bullying and similar behavior.)

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are we hearing “voices” again in west vincent?

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west vincent voicesPeople often ask me what it is that bothers me about the politics in West Vincent, Chester County. See above.

Above is a letter penned by a “concerned” West Vincent resident to another West Vincent resident.  I am hoping the author is not one of those “West Vincent Voices” because wow, do you think they could move on from anonymous missives like this and anonymous broad sheets on the United States Post Office wall?

The song remains the same meets Groundhog Day? Now I know these people don’t care for me or this blog, and well, good for them, everyone needs a hobby, right?

The man targeted by this latest bit of nastiness was in intensive care on one step removed from life support and these folks were running around calling him Chickenman. Until January 21st, 2014 when Chickenman posted an interesting update. Now this gentleman is the “source” of Chickenman’s “lies”. That makes me giggle because well, why let a little truth get in the way of local yokel politics, right? And if you can’t git him, well why not git his wife, right? (His wife is one of the loveliest and most genuinely nice people you will ever meet too.)

So now these people are back to penning poisoned pen letters? I hope they remember to wipe off their fingerprints, don’t you?

I am touched by their fealty to those like Farmer Supervisor to the stars Ken Miller, but seriously, wow do they blame everyone else for everything?

And speaking of the Supervisor to whom they pay their fealty, is he going to step down as Supervisor at the end of his current term?  That is what the chatter has been for months, right?   Being an elected official is tough, so time will tell, right?

But as for Truth in West Vincent?  They need to by a clue.  But again, maybe they are just hearing “West Vincent Voices”, right?  After all, who else would be so deliberately unkind as to continually try to hurt one of their neighbors, right? But then again people like this love to hide behind a keyboard.

I just find it sad.  Why? Because they are correct that West Vincent is an awesome and beautiful place. But by their actions the show the world that their apple has a rotten core, don’t they?

Truth for West Vincent found HERE.

West Vincent Voices found HERE – a lot of very nice content. Here is a link to the latest newsletter – West Vincent Voices July 2014 – all sorts of cool tidbits! And if you want to see some beautiful photos and learn more fun stuff about this beautiful part of Chester County, check out ThisIsWestVincent too!

Community involvement is to be commended.  Sending anonymous hate mail, not so much.

 

 

 

 

 

thankful thursday

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DSC_4209I am thinking #ThrowBackThursday is a hashtag getting a bit overdone.

So how about switching it up a bit?

What about #ThankfulThursday?  Isn’t #ThankfulThursday a hash tag with heart? I like the sound of #ThankfulThursday, don’t you?

I was thinking this morning as I tended my garden, how thankful I am for my life as it exists now. It is not perfect every moment of every day, no life is, but it’s terrific.  To love and be loved and to be alive is an amazing thing. To be happy is a gift in and of itself.

A few short years ago my life might have been very, very different.

Which makes me even more thankful.

What are you #thankful for?  Start a new trend, celebrate #ThankfulThursday !

 

 

 

keep your joy

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How do you keep your joy? How do you keep your joy in the face of unpleasantness?

It is very true that you cannot control the actions of others, you can only control your own actions and behavior.

As a writer and a blogger I have been a target of unpleasantness. It is nothing new, but that never makes it right. When you write, you are putting yourself out there. You will have fans of your writing as well as the detractors. Sometimes the people are those you know, but a lot of the time they are just strangers.

When people love something I write, or a photo, or a recipe it is such a nice feeling. That is what makes blogging so fun. It’s a very neat connection at times.

I am blessed with meeting some very cool people throughout the years I have been writing. I have also had some unpleasant experiences. The two topics that seem to cause unpleasant experiences always seem to get whittled down to two topics: politics and animal rescue. That is why I don’t write about these two topics very much any more.

One of the newer topics I have touched on a couple of times now, and will continue to cover is cyber bullying and cyber stalking. It’s real, it happens every day. It happens to kids and adults alike. It is an unpleasant side of the Internet.

I have been a victim of this welcome to bizarre-O world behavior for a while now. It began a couple weeks before my 50th birthday. The people doing this to me used to be in my life. They left my life of their own accord years ago. Only they didn’t really leave. They have tracked me via the Internet.

It is sad and disturbing at the same time that these people have nothing better to do. They pore over blog posts looking for ways to twist topics I have written about. They skew and oddly sexualize things. From a psychological perspective it’s obvious they need help, and a lot of it.

For the most part, I ignore the whole thing. You see it is pretty simple why they persist: they are miserably unhappy people who want to steal the joy of others and pervert it. It’s sad and stuck all at the same time. But I can’t control their actions, I can only control my own. And I choose to be the better person in the equation.

But what this experience has done in addition is spurn an interest within me. Cyber bullying and cyber stalking is a very timely topic in this country. Today I read about U.S. Senator Al Franken (D-Minn) and his efforts to do something about cyber stalking.

In a Canadian publication I found the story of a mom crusading for most simply put, respect. You see, her teenage daughter committed suicide after being cyber bullied by a thirty-five year old man.

In The Providence Journal in late May there was a very thoughtful editorial on cyber bullying. The writer points out the high profile cyber bullying cases we hear about are the ones that lead to suicide and so on . Basically, if the case is dramatic and flashy, it gets attention.

The thing is this: I am an adult. I can consider the source and tune it out. My rational mind knows that it is the handiwork of truly messed up people. But not everyone can process cyber bullying pragmatically for lack of a better description, especially in a lot of the cases, the young.

There is a fascinating editorial in the New York Times today. Here is an excerpt:

The Opinion Pages / OP TALK New York Times : Rise of the Internet Hate Machine
By JAKE FLANAGIN JUNE 16, 2014 11:37 AM

Welcome to the age of Internet hate, when “it’s never been easier to send an anonymous death threat,” writes Jack Shafer for Reuters…..The Internet and social media have drastically altered the conventions of traditional bullying, threatening and harassment. Phenomena once thought native to playgrounds and high school locker rooms are now a bug of human interaction through technology — for children, teenagers and adults alike.

Has the Internet made us more hateful? Or has the Internet simply made it easier for us to exercise our in-born spite?…..”I was so puzzled by people who were telling us that anonymity was the reason there was so much vile meanness and attacks online,” said the Canadian journalist Paula Todd in a video interview with the National Post. ….Ms. Todd is the author of “Extreme Mean,” which examines “motives and machinations behind cyber-abuse — tormenting, trolling, harassment, cyber-bullying, stalking, and sexual extortion — and the toll it is taking on children, youth, and adults around the world.”

….In a cover story for the January 2014 issue of Pacific Standard, Amanda Hess relayed her own personal encounter with cyberabuse: a Twitter account set up for the express purpose of issuing threats — like stalking, rape and decapitation — to the popular Slate staff writer. “I felt disoriented and terrified,” she recalls. “Then embarrassed for being scared, and, finally, pissed.” She continued, “headlessfemalepig was clearly a deranged individual with a bizarre fixation on me. I picked up my phone and dialed 911.”….But online misogyny need not always be wielded by men. There are countless examples of women utilizing the Internet and social media to spread hate. …..Women victims of Internet hate also aren’t limited to progressive ideologies. Ms. Hess is a celebrated feminist writer with a largely liberal readership, but conservative women are no less exempt…..

Take the time to read the entire op-ed, it is fascinating. My bringing up cyber bullying on my blog will without a doubt cause a renewed flurry of bullying attempts towards me. I expect it, and I don’t care. Their behavior is theirs to deal with. But this topic of cyber bullying is garnering more attention every day and that is a positive thing.

Even the United States Supreme Court is getting interested in this with regard to Facebook in particular:

Huffington Post Politics: Supreme Court Will Hear Appeal Over Online Threats
| By By SAM HANANEL
Posted: 06/16/2014 10:05 am EDT Updated: 2 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will consider the free speech rights of people who use violent or threatening language on Facebook and other electronic media where the speaker’s intent is not always clear.

The court on Monday agreed to take up the case of an eastern Pennsylvania man sentenced to nearly four years in federal prison for posting online rants about killing his estranged wife, shooting up a school and slitting the throat of an FBI agent…..For more than 40 years, the Supreme Court has said that “true threats” to harm another person are not protected speech under the First Amendment. But the court has cautioned that laws prohibiting threats must not infringe on constitutionally protected speech. That includes “political hyperbole” or “unpleasantly sharp attacks” that fall shy of true threats.

The federal statute targeting threats of violence is likely to be used more often in the coming years “as our speech increasingly migrates from in-person and traditional handwritten communication to digital devices and the Internet,” said Clay Calvert, a law professor at the University of Florida.

Calvert, one of several free speech advocates who submitted a legal brief urging the court to use a subjective standard, said people mistakenly seem to feel that they can get away with more incendiary speech on the Internet, in tweets and in texts.

According to the Justice Department, 63 people were indicted on federal charges of making illegal threats in the 2013 fiscal year. That was up from 53 cases the previous year.

At the end of the day, it’s simple: don’t let people steal your joy. You know who you are and so do the people who love and care about you. There are a lot of sad and disturbed individuals on this planet, don’t make their issues yours. Also remember that God don’t like ugly and neither do most individuals with a conscience.

Thanks for stopping by!

joy

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What brings you joy? Does your life bring you joy?

My life brings me joy.  I am reminded again this week, how lucky I am.  If you had asked me ten years ago this week if I thought I would be here, I would have had a different answer. But lives change, and through events set into motion now a long time ago, my life is blessedly very different. And to an extent, I am different. And I am glad.

Life experience changes us. It shows us what we like, don’t like, want, don’t want. The past ten years have been a whirlwind. The whirlwind has been a jumble of things: life, loss, love, growth.

But here I am. Ten years older and definitely a little wiser.

As human beings we grow over time. Or that is what the theory is.  There are some who stay stuck, railing at the world instead of moving on with their lives.  Those are people to be pitied as they live stagnant lives imbued with misery.  They hold onto the negative with both fists.  Hard. It’s sad really.  I am very grateful that I am not one of those people, and I don’t have those kinds of people in my life. Life is too short.

And that is the thing of it: we are all only put on this earth for a finite amount of time. As human beings, we aren’t designed to be perfect, and we aren’t.  We learn through age and experience that we can’t control the actions of others, only ourselves.

In June I will be breast cancer free three years.  To me, that is an important milestone. More so than even a birthday. Breast cancer was a harsh, yet necessary teacher in my life.  I learned a lot about myself.  I learned to appreciate life for what it was, and not for what it wasn’t.

Being alive + being loved = joy.  Stepping outside on a beautiful spring day is joy. Everyday life and simple pleasures of the ordinary are joy.

As I get ready to turn fifty, I can see more clearly than I have in years. And I appreciate my life.  I love it and the people in it bring me joy. Truthfully, I wish that for everyone.

“When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength. Give thanks for the joy of living. If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself.”

~Tecumseh

lipstick on a pig: parody blogging

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CCR1-001I am blessed with some really wonderful friends.  They alerted me to a parody page of my blog literally created in the past few days.  They found it when looking for my blog’s Facebook page.  It (the parody) is on Facebook. I thought I would share some screen shots for your amusement. I know I was amused!!

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So apparently I have spawned a clone.  And while they don’t have it quite right, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?

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I can’t be sure who the witty author is, but I have a vague idea. Especially since I saw the name of the one sole person who likes any of the posts.  I am very amused they still find me so fascinating. Or my life now so fascinating.

I am not going to apologize for being truly happy and taking joy in everyday things like keeping house, gardening, taking photos, writing,CCR3-001and living. So maybe if they continue the parody, maybe they will learn to be happy as well?

I like it when my writing and photography make people happy.  After all, life is too short to be miserable, right?

So check out the page.  The wit is razor sharp.  They don’t live in Chester County, though, so don’t be mad when they don’t get it.  They can’t help it. They are just jealous that they can’t live in Chester County.

If Chester County Ramblings can’t introduce Chester County Rantings to the world, who can? But wow I don’t get their pig obsession, do you?   I prefer horses, cows, goats, sheep, and chickens like you,my dear readers, know.  Pigs smell….anyway enjoy the parody!

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