Thursday, March 15, 2007

Alex is home from school and we have his friend Mitchell here too, which may be a mistake. Mitchell comes to our home every Tuesday and Thursday; it helps his family with a scheduling conflict. When I met Alex at his class he looked drained, pale and sad. He has fallen victim to the Virus II. He has a sore throat and headache, and he was suppressing a cough all day. I hope Mitchell does not pick this up too. Max is still very sick. He eats nothing and still manages to throw-up. He coughs all night. We are washing our hands and drink our C. We are law abiding, kind and caring. We are not worthy of this viral seige.

Ugh. I know, this is not original material I am covering here; Everyone is sick or is recently recovered, Geoff is sprinting to the finish line of a major project, I am ridiculously sleep-deprived, the house is half packed and half neglected and half gross, because I can only muster a half-assed effort. Haven't we been here before? Sigh. It seems even our move is not complete: The propane company continues to bill us for usage at the TreeHouse, which has been a nightmare to resolve. Oh, and I have had to catch three ginormous wasps/hornets that were patrolling in the house. They appear one at a time, from we do not know where. The doors have no screens, so they are never open and all the screens in the windows are secure, so *mystery.*

Is it true that "everyone" is talking about "The Secret?" I've listened to some discussions, and Geoff sent me a link to an article... where is it?... can't find it, but it talked about avoiding negative thoughts, so as not to attract negative energy and ruin your chances of becoming disgustingly rich and super skinny, of course. Actually on the skinny issue, it cited an example that suggests 'a person interested in losing weight should avoid fat people, including looking at fat people.' Ah the power of postive thinking, and the power of being positively shallow and greedy; not us, the author and her minnions.

Don't write me off as utterly cynical. I have a sufficient and healthy respect for spiritual power and gifts that exist in us all, and I believe we must apply effort as well as faith to making our dreams and goals become realities. I don't believe a handful of people should prosper from slick packaging and manipulative ideas stated as truths and science. I do not like the hype surrounding this so called new idea or method or philosophy, because it's rehashed stuff that comes around again and again, and what really concerns me is the cult-like message that implies you are either "in" or you are "out." It seems too simple and too much like blaming the victim: 'Not successful, beautiful, powerful? Then you must not be really trying. You must be to blame for not curing your own cancer, for not signing your own wage increase, for losing your hair, your cat, your way.' *The "secret" is that someone is depending on a lot of people to believe that they need a secret to find fulfillment and joy, and the frenzy over the book and tapes and merchandising mania will certainly go a long way to serving only one person's faith and positive energy, the author's.

That said, I do plan on making a little wish list, and thinking happy thoughts about making some dreams come true. It's no secret; we can make the world a better place for all.

*One last observation, since I just watched the "The Secret" trailer; apparently another component of "The Secret" is that "All the great minds, great leaders, great achievers, had one thing in common..." they were men. I thought we had come further than this.

No comments: