Susan's Scribblings the Blog

Category: Commentary

• Mo-Vember

  Posted at 3:17 pm by kayewer, on November 1, 2025

  There are only 61 days left in the year, now that we’re on the first day of November. These are the crazy times when the day after Halloween begins a frenzy of food, shopping, travel and other insanity until we start a new year. This is the month for more of everything. More food, more frivolity, until somebody’s waistline or energy timer says “no mo.”

  Writers–of which I hope to be counted as one–may have started off the day at midnight holding an unofficial version of the event once called NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), which as an entity went dark earlier this year. The staff were forced to shut the whole operation down, and it suffered an unexpected death at the hands of a variety of evildoers, including criminals trolling the official website for potential underage victims, causing a scandal. Also, they were done in by a business model system lacking in a complete and helpful path of guidance to help the uninitiated navigate the process while protecting the brand from disaster. If you check out YouTube, you will see a video explaining much of what happened to NaNoWriMo; a cautionary tale and warning to others excited about the prospect of becoming a highly visited presence on the Web. Learn to crawl and everything-proof your surroundings before you walk.

  But back to getting November off to a rousing start. Writers are coming up with creative alternative ways to make the month count for something. Heck, I’m doing that myself right now by writing this post. I may not get to 1600 words, but this is a month I am hoping to make more progress on my quartet of novels, of which I am in the draft phase of book two and have some foundations up for books three and four. I have a critique group which is putting up with reading my drafts, because I am writing dark fiction. My critiquers don’t normally read it. Some specialties fare better when read by folks who share enthusiasm for the genre, but they gamely offer the feedback they can, and I love them for it.

  My other projects for the month of November include shifting the household around and putting things back where they belong. After a year of decluttering and maintenance which was overdue, I have rooms filled with stuff from other rooms. Once I shift it all around, I will have my space back, and some old spaces will have their original purpose back.

  Finally, I plan to pick up my crochet hook this month. I ordered an advent calendar filled with crochet delights for 24 days, and I have supplies of yarn enough to open a shop, but instead I will craft some wonderful things just in time for the holidays and year-end.

  My fridge has some ingredients for tomorrow’s Sunday dinner, and my turkey for Thanksgiving is already occupying a space in the freezer. I’ll just need the mashed potatoes and dessert. Holiday shopping is finished (go ahead and hate me). That gives me some room for taking a deep breath and preparing for whatever comes next. The next word, the next project, or the next trip up flights of steps for restoring order to a home filled with chaotic mismatched items.

  If it isn’t writing month, it’s shifting month. And it’s only 30 days long.

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  Posted in Commentary | 0 Comments | Tagged Books, creative-writing, NaNoWriMo, november, writing

• Cause and Effect

  Posted at 8:59 pm by kayewer, on March 29, 2025

  When my primary care doctor recommended I see a foot specialist, I felt no urge to protest. I hadn’t had any major issues with my feet for a long time, so I was likely overdue for a check-up. The appointment was set, I went and met my new best friend who would help my feet carry me into my golden years in good health.

  She examined my tootsies and prescribed a cream to help with dry skin, and I immediately began using it. Over the time I’ve been applying it, my feet have never looked better, and for that I’m grateful.

  However, any time you use something to get rid of one problem, other problems can take their place.

  Anybody who watches prescription drug commercials here in the US and New Zealand (the only two places in the world where they are allowed to air on public TV networks) knows that the most common side effects of most prescriptions are headache, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. Other side effects we often hear about are pain at the site where a medicated injection is given, tiredness, or even thoughts of taking oneself out of the picture permanently (usually grouped under “thoughts or actions,” as if one who is past the ready and aim stage and are ready to “fire” whatever end means they plan to employ are going to interrupt it to think “Gee, it might be that new medication”).

  My side effect is that my feet are so devoid of the protection from that dry skin, that today I managed to kill my heels. My better shoes, used for trips to the theatre and more mature activities which call for leaving the sneakers at home, betrayed me by not only leaving color residue on my nylons, but chafing both heels to the point of blisters. I needed to walk around like that this afternoon, then come home and apply the giant-sized adhesive bandages to my poor aching peds. It will be days before they are healed.

  My heels are healing.

  Which leaves me with an interesting quandary. Do I enjoy soft feet, or do I allow for the protection of calluses? How will my new doctor take the news, I wonder. I certainly don’t want to give up nice shoes, but considering years of the awkward growth of my wide feet (which makes shoes expensive), damage from pointe ballet in my youth and weight gain in old age which can put a burden on those important transport body parts, maybe I need to compromise.

  Fortunately I got enough walking done that I won’t be at a deficit on my weekly step count, but boy are my feet sore. No marathons in my future.

  Oh, and as part of my day’s routine, I picked up two new pairs of shoes.

  And the circle in the life of my feet comes around once again.

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  Posted in Commentary | 0 Comments | Tagged fitness, health, hiking, lifestyle, shoes

• Invasión española

  Posted at 3:07 pm by kayewer, on October 26, 2024

  We have often been taught about the conquering explorers of old who sailed to find and take over lands beyond the horizons of the great seas. In the past, we were taught, a bunch of men would run a small boat onto a patch of land, stick a flag in it, declare it the property of some great country’s regal leader and then set forth to kill anybody already living there, or put them to work making a new version of the same old country they sailed in from.

  Today, the conquerors just send email.

  My main account was blown up recently by a variety of offers from merchants I don’t even patronize, saying I won this prize or had a special offer on that merchandise. The peace of my email junk box was destroyed by some sender with a “dot ES” in it. On every single piece of junk, the same email address with a different company in front of it. Definitely potential scam material. I took a good guess at what it could mean, but looking it up confirmed it: I was being mail-bombed by somebody with origins in Spain, or España in the native tongue (thus the ES in the email address).

  Some of Christopher Columbus’ great ancestors are trying to conquer my inboxes! Nigeria, take up your things and go home; the Spanish are coming!

  The same sender was bombarding me with two of everything. My AOL inbox has been bad enough (even with spam blockers which I pay for), but I couldn’t tolerate this. I did what any American patriot would do. I began reporting and blocking. Yes, they had a link for unsubscribing. No, I don’t think it means anything. After that task was done, I checked AOL. It was much cleaner than I would’ve expected.

  I felt good that, the next time I sign in to check email, my junk mail will be less crowded. Then, just moments before starting to post this story, I sated my curiosity about some of the options available on my service by clicking on one. What came up was. . . .in Spanish.

  I’m trapped in a horror movie in another language (on Halloween weekend, no less). Messages in Spanish are coming back from the digital dead to torment me.

  The last time I took any Spanish was in college and, unfortunately, my abilities as an English-speaking writer don’t translate well to another language. I passed the courses, but have no command of it, meaning I couldn’t tell off the junk mail bombers without the aid of Google Translate. I also can’t ask my service provider to give me an English version of what I’m looking for. Well, that’s their loss.

  Queen Isabella, on the other hand, would have been incensed at my ignorance. She probably would’ve put me on the Santa Maria for a one-way ticket home to what she assumed were the spice islands.

  Imagine me on a boat with a hundred smelly men who don’t speak English. I think I would’ve had the entire vessel to myself in half an hour (and no lifeboats). I suppose the Pinta would’ve towed me.

  They didn’t have a boat club version of AAA in those days.

  So I’m dealing with dozens of Spanish junk mails and a benefit which I can’t use since I can’t read it.

  And I’ve gone off on a tangent about Spanish email employees and long-dead boatmen helping Columbus discover new lands.

  Please don’t complain to my inbox.
  

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  Posted in Commentary | 0 Comments | Tagged email, gmail, inbox-zero, technology, writing

• It’s Curtains: The Fall of Drapes

  Posted at 3:05 pm by kayewer, on September 7, 2024

  I have been on a one-person campaign to update my sun porch and turn it into an office space. It may be the second most expensive thing I will do in my childhood home (the first will be electrical in nature). The room is not insulated; in fact, a doofus of a roof installer had an infamous argument with my father some three decades ago by calling it a “shed” so he didn’t need to put shingles on it. There are three other houses within eyesight built exactly the same way to refute that insult. But I digress. It means I may need to either put out for interior wall insulation or use a space regulating system (air in summer, heat in winter), but I think it will be wonderful to have that part of the house in a usable condition again.

  One of my most recent projects involved a handyman putting up new shades, which was step one of the window treatment process. Step two was putting up new curtains, which I did (and put a valance up wrong side in, but that’s another digression). Step three is in progress and involves taking down the old curtains, which have been up since we moved in. Yes, they were that good and that sturdy that we didn’t need to replace them. They’re a neutral color and were insulated themselves, so their replacements, if I go that route, would be the same.

  These drapes were hung with hooks which resemble an EKG readout, inserted into a series of metal tabs with holes and run with ropes to open and close. The new ones will likely be rings and poles and operated manually, if I elect to close them at all. The sun comes in much of the day in summer, so the area is toasty and perfect for plants. Winter will be a different story, which I will improve upon as I go.

  Over last weekend I put together another bookshelf for that room and moved it in. A couple of days later, one of the window shades popped out and fell. Either the handyman didn’t click it into place properly, or my house is haunted. Both are possible. Last week a picture I hung, using those wonderful adhesive strips with three letters in their brand name, popped off the wall and landed on my head before settling in my lap. Fortunately the picture weighs nearly nothing. I remounted it with a hanger that takes up to eight pounds, so we’ll see if a poltergeist is behind the incidents or not.

  As I remounted the shade, I also took down another curtain. This involved popping each hook from the bracket while navigating nearly eighty inches of stiff fabric and standing precariously on a ladder. Some of you would say, “Stay off that ladder at your age,” but doing these little tasks are what will keep me going until I reach another “at your age.” One at a time is part of the key to success, and not pushing too hard past one’s limitations.

  The curtains must come down before shifting any more furniture, since some of it will go into the corners where the drapes are, well, draped. The project is half finished, and once completed, I can have the handyman measure and mount the new curtains if I get them. Move the other pieces around, assemble my L-shaped computer desk, have an electrician check for voltage safety, and I can then hook up my work and personal gear and move in.

  By that time, I also expect to be a little more broke, but when the curtain closes on one part of life, it opens on a new one.

  Hopefully well insulated.

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• In Hot Water

  Posted at 3:24 pm by kayewer, on August 24, 2024

  This past week, I found out that using hot water isn’t as easy as it seems. My faucet produces a decent temperature of steamy H2O, but one doesn’t work on all, as I found out. Let me explain.

  In the mornings I eat oatmeal for heart health, and I’ve found the best deal in steel cut oats which take a few minutes to heat in the microwave. For my beverage I have been drinking hot tea, which is loose leaf and prepared with the aid of a Keurig (I recently posted about this in another blog entry).

  My morning oatmeal calls for 3/4 cup of water. As the average person would do, I added plain tap water at room temperature to start, since there were no indications of what temperature water to use. The combination produced soup with minimally moistened flakes. I learned by trial and error that using the hottest tap water resulted in a wonderfully creamy, fragrant bowl of joy. Using boiling water instead causes an oatmeal volcano. When I temporarily used oatmeal in a microwavable cup, the cups actually exploded. Lesson learned.

  On the other hand, loose leaf tea is best prepared with boiling water. My Keurig heats water to 192 degrees, just short of the ideal temperatures. Guidelines call for a maximum boil of either 185 or 212, depending on whether you are preparing green or black tea, making it slightly off both ways.

  So here I am needing two kinds of water every morning like some entitled bedridden dowager who keeps a thermometer by the bedside, ready to fire underperforming butlers and maids who can’t prepare water at the proper temperature for the task at hand.

  Instead of struggling, I broke out my electric tea kettle, and the full value of its worth in the kitchen has saved my sanity. I can prepare my tea water in the kettle while putting the hot tap water in my oatmeal. My utility bill will also reward me (my July bill just arrived, and it was the highest in the whole year).

  Now I’m faced with what to do with the Keurig. Place it in storage, perhaps, until it is needed for something else, or to fill in should my kettle whistle its last. Since it seems possessed, making noises even when unplugged, maybe I should put a cross on the box to prevent its escape. And yes, I keep the boxes for my appliances. Old Depression-era parenting ingrained that into my brain.

  Meanwhile, my countertop will be more open, and my hot water will be in keeping with directions. A hot bowl and a hot cup. Who could ask for more?

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• The Clack is Back

  Posted at 3:20 pm by kayewer, on August 10, 2024

  We are all familiar with the sound of a computer keyboard. It’s become as commonplace in everyday life as ring tones, car alarms and Mister Softee. We have been raised to enjoy the soft clicks of keys being tapped and spacebars being given the sides of our thumbs in salute, and people under 50 are not as familiar with any other way to record letters and words for reading.

  For those of us over 50, we remember typewriters. The old-fashioned keys were metal arms tipped with a smooth circular resting place for our fingers with each letter proudly displayed on top. They also weighed two tons and were made mostly of metal. Later we began using electric typewriters with tapered block keys. Those were also heavier than a toddler and unwieldy to carry. The most famous was the IBM Selectric, which relied on balls for printing the characters in various fonts.

  The sounds coming from a high school typing class were a cacophony of clacking and dinging. Each line ended with the need for a carriage return, signaled by a bell in the machine. You can look up “The Typewriter Song” on social media for more. We then moved up to data entry on a computer, with no loud clicks or dings and no bell, because word processing does its own returns and can practice “widow and orphan” control to make each line of print a marvel of efficiency, perfectly placed.

  In the olden days, students could center typing line by line on the typewriter and create art: the most common task would be Christmas trees made with one letter centered on line one, three letters on line two, and so forth. The end result was always in black.

  The problem with computers is that they are connected to the entire cyber world. Unlike the task of typing which demands your full attention (you are in charge of actual paper, ink ribbons, and carbon paper sheets for copies, not to mention bottles of correction fluid for mistakes), one is often beckoned away from the task of typing by emails, social media engagement or shopping alerts. It’s hard sometimes to reach a word count goal when pop-ups from your favorite family members or local binge spending mecca demand your attention.

  In order to avoid some of these distractions, I made an investment on a hybrid method of typing which combines a bare bones computer with the missing joys of using a typewriter. The device is for drafting only. Text appears a few lines at a time on a small screen, and you can correct or delete and then send your creation to an email destination for storage. The best part is the return of the clack of keys as you type. Who’d have thought that one could bring nostalgia back to one’s hands after all these years? It’s a lightweight, portable, simple gizmo with just a USB-C port. Nothing fancy.

  So far I have set up the Wi-Fi connection and sent a test draft to my drop box, successfully and quickly. It’s encouraging to see that I can now back away from the many alluring detours of computers without dealing with paper, ink ribbons and carbon sheets. My plan is to spend more time with this device during the week for at least a seven-day trial, and see how much bigger my word count can be.

  The only thing missing is the bell for carriage return. Maybe I can get one on Amazon and use it like the guy in the Typewriter Song. Would that make me a crazy typing lady? Ding ding ding.

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• Wrong Way

  Posted at 4:05 pm by kayewer, on July 20, 2024

  Over the past few decades, we seem to have forgotten that life works well when we keep certain things to a prescribed plan which has been tested and proven. All of the “fail” videos we watch with amusement are testaments to what happens when we go about life as if everything we do requires no responsibility. Let me explain.

  Let’s say you decide to go to 7-Eleven and buy a Slurpee(R). This sounds like a simple thing, but it has several components to the experience. For the purposes of this example, we’re placing you in front of the dispenser for your purchase. First, you choose the size cup, then you have the initial task of selecting the lid to fit onto that cup. Your next responsibility is to fit the lid onto the cup securely so that your cup won’t pop the lid off when you fill it. You will also hold the cup firmly but not squeeze it. Then, you place the nozzle for the flavor you’ve selected over the hole in the lid and operate the lever to begin filling the cup. You are responsible for watching the process to stop the dispenser before you overflow the cup. Finally, you select a straw, remove its paper cover and deposit it in the provided trash container, and place the straw into your drink and proceed to the register.

  Any deviation from this task list can result in a problem, in the form of a spill or explosion of the cup or, in the case of a conscious choice, leaving loose straw papers about which are “somebody else’s job” to clear.

  The key to life, folks, is that we are all “somebody else.” That means if you take on a task, you should complete every aspect of it. It is your job to perform from step one until the last step. Many people are not taking on that responsibility. It shows in everything we are doing today.

  We are sharing the road with drivers who have never changed the oil on their vehicles. Worse, they let their tires go bald, and when rust develops, hold the undercarriage of their vehicle together with everything from rope to duct tape to spray foam. Buying a vehicle carries with it the responsibility to keep it maintained so it’s safe on the road. Ignoring the processes which keep a vehicle safe causes accidents and fatalities. People who buy a vehicle and do nothing except put gas in the tank are examples of folks not following the responsibilities which come with vehicle ownership. Shops can’t do anything except record what they see (for a look at some examples, look for “Just Rolled In” on social media).

  People who have children sometimes don’t do so responsibly. Their parents’ methods don’t always work raising today’s children. Occasionally the methods wouldn’t work with anybody, and the excuse “well, they didn’t do it right, but I turned out okay” is a copout. Some concepts of good parenting are well-proven and appear in online tutorials as well as self-help books. The duty of a parent is to take on the responsibility of guiding children through those years when they learn the basics, explore and test their environment and begin the quest for independence. This requires interaction from changing their diapers to picking them up at two in the morning wherever they find themselves. Too many parents can be found not engaging their children in anything resembling basic life skill learning.

  Your pets should be spayed or neutered before they hit puberty. Your kids can witness the miracle of birth on one of a jillion videos online without bringing more mutts or alley cats into the world. Besides, the old rumor that “giving birth calms a mother dog/cat down” refers only to the short span of nursing time when females are happily jacked up on oxytocin, the hormone that helps the nursing parent endure the rigors of being a 24-hour feeding machine for a growing family. As it does with humans, it goes away and the original demeanor restored. It’s not an excuse to add to the population, for animals or people.

  Back in the “good old days,” if you look at old photographs and advertisements, you will see that people followed a general ideal for daily living. People dressed neatly, children were well-mannered, nobody wore a logo on their clothing, carried around a support animal sporting multiple DNA backgrounds or drove a “clunker.” The results of mutual cooperation were peaceful and safe lives for everybody. We could have that again, but it would require a different mindset for the population, and some others would complain about it. The more we deviate from what works, however, the worse our world becomes.

  Remember that next time you get ready to dispense that beverage.

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• Number 8

  Posted at 3:30 pm by kayewer, on July 13, 2024

  Over the summer I have had a few experiences with people who don’t follow the basic rules in life. Oftentimes I read about them in social media, but I have stories of my own about integrity and honesty which I feel are worth sharing.

  The other week I was at a coffee shop with some fellow writers. Naturally the shop had a merchandise table, so I added a tee shirt to my purchases for the afternoon (along with my pastry and parfait). I dutifully brought the items to the cashier, and tapped my credit card. When I got home later, however, I realized that, even though I had placed the tee shirt on the counter, it wasn’t rung up with my purchases.

  Some folks might be thinking, “It’s their loss if they weren’t paying attention.” To me, though, this tee shirt still does not belong to me. This means a trip of some 20 miles to go back and pay for it. My conscience will thank me later.

  My most recent big shocker about integrity came when I went to buy some supplies at a major chain whose name I won’t divulge for reasons you will see in a moment. I came out of the store with a little bag for an upcoming project, and the total bill came to over $100. The cashier told me I could become a rewards member and get this discount and that offer to offset my purchase, and while we were discussing it, I was told the story of how certain people make a regular visit to the store with the sole purpose of robbery, to the tune of thousands of dollars. The store personnel are advised by corporate–as they are in many stores and chains–to not engage.

  This means that the money you spend honestly is being thwarted by those who steal. The stores may end up in bankruptcy and shutting down because of these dishonest johns making a mockery of the process of earning and spending for their own greed and eventual doom.

  Stay with me now, because we are going to go to the lectern in front of the church for a few minutes to make a point.

  One of the Ten Commandments specifies not to steal. Okay, you think, this means that the folks who rob the store are in big trouble from On High. It’s worse than that. Because these people are absconding with large value items not for their own use, but to pad their pockets with tax-free income. They will put their pilfered products on the market in back-alley thrifty retailers, street corner vendors or through private commerce. Every cent they make will be profit because they only used gas funds on the getaway car to get the stuff.

  So what, you ask?

  Using an example made famous by late comedian George Carlin, let’s dig deep here and see where this path goes. First, the ringleader decides, “I’m going to go to (store) and nab some stuff.” They then employ assistants to help them with the heist, so now you have the ringleader who has concocted a sin, and a few others committing the same sin. They plan out the heist, which is a sin. They go to the place and bring paraphernalia to commit the actual sin. They make it out of the store, unhindered, with their ill-gotten merchandise, and the sins keep piling up. They now divide the spoils among themselves (another sin), send it off for resale (another sin) and collect their cuts (ad nauseum).

  But wait, there’s more.

  The people stocking and repricing it are sinning. The so-called innocent consumers buying the stuff are also sinning. If you’re buying a $200 item on a street corner for $80, you must know something is wrong with how that item is sitting in front of you; if you do it anyway, you’re contributing to that wrong.

  If these thieves can concoct such elaborate processes, they could have a legitimate job that did not have police battering down their doors. Instead, they are bringing the entire system of commerce down, and us with it.
  
  There is a reason why there are products labeled Good, Better and Best. Your income can determine which you can afford, or your determination can earn you something in a higher price range by saving for it. All products are supposedly monitored for quality, so the lowest-priced version should work well, and the higher- with some minor differences. What’s important is that the product does its job.

  My mother always looked at how car dealers tout the beauty of what their newest model looks like on the outside, but when you’re driving it you can’t see how it looks. You’re more concerned that it will consistently get you where you need to be. With your needs and your wallet in mind, you should find something in a price range for you without resorting to fibbing about how thick your wallet is.

  I don’t feel guilty buying off-label, but I allow for some nice things in my budget, which was why I was in this particular store willing to buy a handful of things for $100. They will last me for months, so the breakdown in actual cost is small.

  The folks who take stuff while I’m buying them will deal with the fallout at some point in their lives. Meanwhile, I do my best to be honest and proud to say I have a receipt.

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  Posted in Commentary | 0 Comments | Tagged george carlin, retail theft, Ten Commandments

• Can’t Bear to Watch

  Posted at 4:30 pm by kayewer, on May 4, 2024

  A video news article this week showed a group of children taking a birthday party trip to the zoo. In a glass enclosure was a brown bear whose habitat also included a female duck and her brood of ducklings.

  I don’t know for sure how avian nesting works, but for all I know the poor mother duck got stuck in an urgent situation in which she knew she had to lay her eggs in the bear enclosure. Any woman due to have a baby can tell you that when the baby comes, you can do nothing about it. In the case of birds, they have more than one baby coming, and they don’t undergo labor as we know it. Eggs pop out one at a time, and then the mother duck is held captive while she incubates them. She happened to nest with a pair of bears named Juniper and Fern. The ducklings hatched, and as they usually do, imprinted on mama and followed her around. She took a dip in the water, and they followed obediently in as well.

  Bears are known to have omnivorous habits; particularly in the wild, anything edible is fair game for bears. The video which went viral showed the birthday party children looking on in horror as Juniper took a look at the ducklings swimming behind their mother and instinctively pictured convenient snack food; Juniper proceeded to devour every duckling in turn.

  The Woodland Park Zoo put things into perspective, saying that wild fowl are discouraged from nesting in carnivore enclosures, but they go where they choose and, in this case, the mother duck apparently suffered the consequences.

  Fern, the companion bear, had no comment.

  In the course of this past week, I also had the opportunity to see a male gorilla make whoopie with his female as zoo visitors watched, and I saw another video in which a group of tourists on a safari truck ended up with a pair of lions engaged in the “wild thing” atop the vehicle.

  Two things can be learned from this. First, the circle of life is all-encompassing, and you never know when a free lesson will be presented to your youngsters. Second, never click on a video unless you’re ready to become an unwilling subscriber to anything even remotely connected to it.

  Juniper’s snack I could handle, but the rest did nothing for me. I would get more excitement out of another marathon of “50 Shades of Grey.”

  As for mama duck, I hope she has better luck next season. Maybe she should nest in the children’s zoo.

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• Setting Rights Right

  Posted at 3:41 pm by kayewer, on April 27, 2024

  As an American, I have a natural–as well as a lifelong cultured–allegiance to my country. Besides serving in two military branches for eight years, I have read and been taught about what it took for this huge piece of continent on Earth to become what it is. Some of the historical references have been altered or become fuzzy with time, but there are things to be learned about the good and bad that shaped the nation we live in. Sometimes we can learn the most by what wasn’t said.

  My search engine produces some interesting topics which can turn into deep rabbit holes of trivia; one such venture mentioned a popular phrase I sometimes heard from my own parents: “My country, right or wrong.” The words do seem like a boast of blind devotion which might be better left to extremists, and preferably from other places where such things are more accepted (think North Korea). My country when it is right, I can certainly go along with. My country when it is wrong is a different concept I can’t necessarily follow blindly without knowing why I should do so.

  It turns out the phrase has a story to tell, and it came from a resource which has evolved into a fact provider* in search engine home pages, and which I stumbled upon by accident. I think that in an election year it’s good to tell the story behind this saying.

  The original phrase was uttered some 200 years ago by Stephen Decatur, who was an officer in the United States Navy’s infancy, enlisting at age 19 and rising to the rank of Commodore. He offered a toast after a dinner sometime in 1816-1820, saying, “Our Country! In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be in the right; but right or wrong, our country!”

  The translation is that we are always America, with our good and bad characteristics. When we are acting with other countries, we do so hoping we do what is right, but always keeping in mind what we represent when we do it. This doesn’t suggest that we own up to our mistakes when we do wrong, and say that we apologize as a nation for the slight. It simply says that we are what we are in totality.
  
  In 1872, the 13th Secretary of the Interior, Carl Schurz, made an amendment to the toast. “My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right.” This from a German immigrant who served in the American Civil War (fighting at Gettysburg) and helped in the formation of the Conservative Republican Party. These were men^^ of some standing, trying to put patriotism into perspective.

  So this is a legacy we should quote in its entirety, rather than misquote. The duty of an American is to keep right what is right and to correct wrongs. To simply state a support of anything “right or wrong” is like saying doing wrong doesn’t matter. It does, indeed.

  My country; still growing after 248 years. Still trying to right wrongs, as well (we hope) this election year.

  *(Resources: Cracked.com, Wikipedia)
  ^^(Carl Schurz’ widow went on to help form what we know as kindergarten for early learning youngsters; women did contribute to our nation.)

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  Posted in Commentary | 0 Comments | Tagged carl schurz, my country right or wrong, patriotism, stephen decatur

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