What happened to Thursday?
I try to write publish or at least write
my blog on Thursday. Suddenly it was Friday, and Thursday was gone.
Oh, I saw the day; I just didn't give it
a name. Neither did I see it come or go. I completed my book on Vision Training
(Hello Beautiful, The Art, and
Science of Vision Training Using the Bates Method), created a cover, went to town, took a walk
with daughter number one, her dog, and mine, and carried home
Kentucky Fried Chicken for dinner. Oh, that's more than you want to know.)
I do want to thank all of you who asked
for more on Vision Training. I didn't think I had more to say, but I did.
And writing that little booklet has made
me more aware of taking care of my eyes. I now frequently look up from my
computer. I look near to far to rest my eyes, and for relaxation, I palm them.
That's easy and restful. No sweat.
When I was looking up jokes from my
11-year-old-grandson, I found this one that rather pertains to what I am
writing about: "Why was six afraid of seven?"
"Because seven eight nine."
Yeah, he might think it's corny too.
I'm concerned with all of you out there
who are in this morass of craziness with masks. Indeed, wear them; I'm just
worried about all this "Social distancing," lay-offs, and businesses
closing.
Are you Okay?
Don't you feel a bit odd that some
people practically run when they see you coming, or they can't cast an eye in
your direction? Will this fear of each other carry over after Covid19 is over?
My Chiropractor said, "I have never seen so many people frightened over a
flu."
I had a flu from hell a couple of years
ago, so my druther is not to get one. However, we're social beings, and making
us fear each other is a big problem. And what's it doing to kids? I feel that
they should stay home and virtual school than go into a classroom and wear
masks and "Social distance."
Well, people have lived through covering
their windows at night, so bombers don't see the lights of houses (Britain
during WWII), so I guess this flu epidemic is minuscule compared to that.
We can do it.
Here is something my youngest daughter brought
home to me:
Did you know
we once had a woman President?
President Woodrow Wilson had a stroke
while in office, and encouraged by Wilson's doctor, his wife Edith Wilson took
over.
Edith Wilson was the
First Lady of the United States from
1915 to 1921. Mrs. Wilson, a widow herself, met Wilson when he was grieving his
first wife's death.
For Wilson, it was love at first sight.
And although the cabinet tried to squelch Wilson's budding romance, thinking it
would harm his chances of being reelected, Wilson and Galt married anyway.
Mrs. Wilson remained devoted to her
husband until his death at age 67.
Edith Bolling Galtin, coincidentally,
was a direct descendent of Pocahontas (I love that), had honed skills of taking
care of herself and managing her previous husband's Jewelry business after his
death. She became wealthy enough to regularly travel to Europe and become
interested in fashion.
Despite her wealth and what one rogue
dubbed "kittenish" good looks, Edith was barred from high society's
echelons simply because she earned her wealth instead of inheriting it.
(Horrors.) And she shocked high society by driving around town in an electric
car.
All that changed one chilly day in the
early spring of 1915. when she met Woodrow Wilson.
As it turned out, she was quite capable
of stepping into her husband's footsteps as President. She managed the office of
the President from October 1919 until the end of his term in 1921. This role
she later described as a "stewardship."
"I myself never made a single
decision regarding the disposition of public affairs," she later said,
"The only decision that was mine was what was important and what was not,
and the very important decision of when to present matters to my husband."
In 1921, Joe Tumulty (Wilson's chief of staff) wrote: "No public man
ever had a more devoted helpmate, and no husband more dependent upon her
sympathetic understanding of his problems ... Mrs. Wilson's strong physical
constitution, combined with strength of character and purpose, has sustained
her under a strain which must have wrecked most women."
During WWI Mrs. Wilson followed the protocol of rationing of
food along with the rest of the country by observing wheatless Mondays and
meatless Tuesdays. To save manpower she had sheep grazing the lawn of the white
house. The herd numbered 48 at one point, and made $52,823 for the Red Cross
through the auction of their wool.
President Wilson is remembered as an advocate for democracy, progressiveness, and world peace, including winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Wilson
left a complicated legacy that included re-segregating many branches of the
federal workforce. Wilson was a college professor, a University president, and
the Democratic governor of New Jersey before winning the White House in 1912.
Once in office, he pursued an ambitious agenda of progressive reform that
included establishing the Federal Reserve and Federal Trade Commission.
Wilson tried to stay neutral during the
First World war, declaring that "To
fight, you must be brutal and ruthless, and the spirit of ruthless brutality
will enter into the very fiber of our national life."
He was forced into the War when American
ships were repeatedly bombed.
Though Wilson's legacy on world peace,
women's rights, and labor reform are exemplary, his record on race was dismal.
Perhaps it was his Southern upbringing, or maybe he was just a product of his
times when most Americans considered racial inequality normal.
After a private screening in the White
House of the movie, Birth of a
Nation, Wilson is reported to
have said, "It is like writing history with lightning, and my only regret
is that it is all so terribly true." (Birth of the KKK and such.) Later,
he reportedly called the film an "unfortunate production" and hoped
the film would not be shown in Black communities.
"When
we know better, we do better."—Maya Angelou.
"Here on the pulse of this new day
You may have the grace to look up and out and into your sister's eyes, Into
your brother's face, your country And say simply, very simply With hope,
"Good morning."—Maya
Angelou.
