Better

"It is better to live without knowing, than to live in error."
              So they say.


I like what Garth Last, MD and friend told me:
"I believe every single decision we make is made with inadequate information.  But we still need to decide.  We can correct course at a later point when more information becomes available."





I also like what Scott Peck, MD said,
"A rule of thumb:  if at a particular moment, we are in a position to choose a particular perspective concerning a circumstance, we should probably choose the most dramatic perspective- one that imparts the greatest possible significance." (paraphrased)
People of the Lie
Page 38


No, I do not believe it is better to live without knowing than to chance being in error.
We can go ahead and know, through a glass darkly.
In time we will see better and know more.

For now, we can dare to know what we think we know.

I can dare to impart significance to my life.

Keep looking, friends.
Avoid the "error-less" path.

Thanks for being you,
Riverwatch

Good shape, for the shape you're in!

Good Shape

Disturbed and anguished, she told me what her doctor said.


She is thinking about getting a new doctor.

But at her age, it seems daunting to find a new doc.  
Why in the world did her physician tell her she is "in good shape for the shape she is in" ??  

I mean, isn't there a limit to medical honesty?  

Having lived and worked behind the scenes in the medical field I can guess that doc was having a good day and thought he was relating well to the old woman in front of him. He was doling out the compliments like crazy that day my aged friend popped into his office.                       
Either that, or he was having a bad day and was in bad shape for the shape he was in.
Who knows?  


But I know what Liz means.
  
Here is what my Barely-30-Something doctor said to me:
"Go ahead! Try to look younger than you are.  If you look younger you will act younger and you will then feel younger.  Go ahead."    
Say what??
What the hell is this young doc trying to say to me?  
It sounds like a bit of a compliment when you read it,
but if you had been sitting there with me you would have heard and felt the mild contempt in his young voice.  
Not an upper.
Was this merely a "tacit permission" to continue dying my hair?
If so, he could have just said, "Nice dye job.  Fool the world.  You are not fooling me! I read your lab work!"  
That could have been a little bit funny (maybe, maybe not)  if there were no contempt attached.

But since my friend and I are both Medicare patients, I can tell you that the docs charge about $100 for an office visit and Medicare pays them about $50, or even less.  
Not an upper for them.
Heck, it costs more than $50 to get a massage! True it is that the massage lasts 50 minutes and the doc only sees you for 7 minutes max, but you did clog up his waiting room for 53 minutes.  
Oh, dear.

As my mom always told me, "Damned if I do, damned if I don't."

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Cheer up.  This too shall pass.

Thanks.
Your visit warmed my heart and that means a lot on a chilly day.
Riverwatch

Is niceness nice?

Is niceness actually nice?




There is something vicious about niceness
                                 because it covers up
                                                                   meaness,
                                                                     harshness
                                                                       abuse
                                                                         violence.

Cultivate honesty, not niceness,
    and you will be nice.

Dare to be brave.
Dare to be disappointed aloud.
Dare to be angry.



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Washingtonian
SO YOU WON!  (the vote....the amendment finalized in 1919 )

OK!!

We will give you MOTHER'S DAY!  ~   That'll teach you!

 Mother's Day: a proclamation in 1914 while women were in the streets, winning the vote.

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MOTHER'S DAY!

The final blow to women.

Oh.
Mother's Day is 100% good for you, you say?
You are special indeed.

Put your glasses on

and look around at other women:

 the barren,

   the extremely fertile,

    the mothers who jumped the tracks and fled,

     the mothers without support,

      the crushed mother who gets praise and honor from two of her three children,

the mother on the roadside looking in vain for her prodigal son or daughter,

       the mother in the looney bin,

        the  lonely old mother in the rest home,

          the mother bent over in the cemetery at the grave of her child.

Just saying.

I realize it was a woman who  advocated Mother's Day,
but then some women put the screws to women over and over, so please excuse me for not being impressed.

Equality will not be complete until Mother's Day is abolished.

Fathers do not suffer on Father's Day.  Nor should they.
Father's Day is no big deal.
Absolutely no big deal and dad's couldn't care less about it.

But Mother's Day is back-loaded with hype and obligation.  Advertising, hype, and duty.  Guilt and pressure.  Dumped onto emotional hormonal women who dared to win the right to vote.
No, this wasn't done to women by men.
This was done to women by a woman.

Just saying.


Riverwatch

Intergeneration Understanding

Playing Magic cards with my 16 year old grandson, I am flustered at all the many curves and rules of the game!
So of course, I ask again for an explanation.

My teenage grandson looks at me.
IDMb

"Grandma," he says slowly and evenly.
"I want to say this in the nicest possible way.              
You are old."
................long pause as he waits for this to sink in....

"and when people get old, things start to go."
....................long pause while he waits for this to sink in....

"And I notice that the first thing to go for you, is your hearing."



OMG.  I am scrambling to think of a witty retort.

...................long pause as he looks at me level, eye to eye to see if I heard.................

"but it won't be the last thing to go."




Well, I love him.
And he did say it in the nicest possible way.

Catch the curve,
Riverwatch

I am glad you had time to stop by.
And I want to say this, in the nicest possible way:
you must have been hard up for entertainment to visit this blog!