The Last Time

“Well I told you once, and I told you twice but you never listen to my advice.”
(With thanks to Sir Michael Jagger and Keith Richards)


I have Republican friends. I expect them to vote Republican, even regarding issues they are against, and for people with whom they don’t always agree. I can understand that and although it disheartens me I am not shocked by their actions, but they still remain my friends.

I thought I had friends that were Democrats, but they became obsessed with conspiracies, with illusion, with fantasy. These people decided to pull the country down around our heads to make a point, thinking that out of destruction and flames a phoenix would arise and bring about a New World. 

Well, they got their wish, a brand spanking New World Order, the flames have been lit but there will be no phoenix out of the ashes; the hatchling is instead a dragon of desecration, of dissent, of hatred, misogyny, manipulation, and contempt for everything that they claim to stand for. Instead of “Of the People, By the People, and For the People” their determination to stick to their delusions have brought us “To the People, and Screw the People” with each and every Third Party vote, Write-in vote, and boycotting the vote. 

Now the American people will get what they apparently deserve, the utter end of the “Dream”, the end of “Greatness”, the contempt of the world with the exception of Russia, North Korea, and China, the losses of every gain made in the last eight years; every platform for which their political messiah stood has no chance of being enacted. Their hallucination has become our national nightmare. 

Those true believers are no longer friends of mine and I despair at what will come, but look with perverse delight at their eventual realisation that their obstinate votes against the ‘System” brought us chaos, anarchy, and apocalypse. I blame them, and I blame their arrogant knight in grizzled armour for striking the flame; I hope they’re all pleased with themselves.

9 November 2016
Ronda R. Scott-Marak

Some People

“Some People think they’re always right, others are quiet and uptight”

(With thanks to Julian Casablancas)

Some people project their worst behaviours and thoughts onto others.

They react to slights that were never considered, to attacks that didn’t exist.

Some people take every other person’s words and deeds as personal affronts and accusations.

They see fingers pointing at them; hear allegations when no blame was attached.

Some people see the worst in other people because they see the worst in themselves even if they can never admit it.

They perceive questions as attacks due to unacknowledged feelings of guilt.

Some people cover pain, and discontent with anger using incivility as armour.

They can never see their own unhappiness is the result of their self-imposed isolation
but they are certain to impose it on everyone else.

Ronda R. Scott-Marak

© 27 October 2016

Harmonic Resonance

"They say that all good things 
must come to an end..."
"Wish you didn't have to go"
(With decades of thanks to 
Chad Stuart and Jeremy Clyde)

Sounds… scattered vibrations, 
calming influences, soaring,
synchronised melodic splendour; 
dulcet chords in minor and major scale soothing hearts by way of pricked ears.

Alignment of merged voices in counterpoint,
together and separate, 
united richness of timbre and tone; 
forlorn or joyful, bluesy or folky, with opinion, or humour through their music… we muse.

Ronda R. Scott-Marak
© 20 October 2016

Constricted

If you're lost you can look and you will find me...
(With thanks to Cyndi Lauper)

Knots in my muscles,

Knots in my gut,
Snarling, entangling, entrapping my thoughts;
knotty problems a’twist in my mind.

Struggling with Angels, wrestling Demons,
Struggling ‘gainst conflict, with myself as the foe;
endlessly fighting my body, my instincts,
trying to unravel double knots in my brain.

Ronda R. Scott-Marak 

© 18 October 2016

Drive-Time Thoughts

"Me myself, I've got nothing to prove"

(Thanks to Tracy Chapman)

My mother has frequently said that my blessings are my empathy, my strength, my compassion, and my forgiveness, as well as my knack with words, open mind and generous heart.

She also has stated that my most dangerous qualities were my empathy, my strength, my compassion, and my forgiveness, as well as my knack with words, open mind and generous heart; I do not hold grudges, but tend to hold injuries and hurt close and silently inside. I do forgive... I just never forget!

Today’s analysis:

On both counts my mother is right.

RSM

14 October 2016

U’Netaneh Tokef

On this Yom Kippur Eve… My reflections based on High Holiday liturgy

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(On Rosh Hashanah it is written, and on Yom Kippur it is sealed.

How many will pass and how many will be created?

Who will live and who will die?
Who in their time, and who not their time?
Who by fire and who by water?
Who by sword and who by beast?
Who by hunger and who by thirst?
Who by earthquake and who by drowning?
Who by strangling and who by stoning?
Who will rest and who will wander?
Who will be safe and who will be torn?
Who will be calm and who will be tormented?
Who will become poor and who will get rich?
Who will be made humble and who will be raised up?
But teshuvah and tefillah and tzedakah (return and prayer and righteous acts)
deflect the evil of the decree.)

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This has been a year of Destruction, a year of dissolution, a year of devastation.

We have watched lands crumble, waters rise, air gyrate;
seen friendships disintegrate, families collapse, and lives ruined.

What part have we played in this maelstrom?

People are in pain, loss, fear, sorrow…
What role have we played in their relief?

For any share I have played in their misery…
Forgive me, Pardon me, Grant me Atonement

I want, I try, I need to forgive them in turn for any unhappiness others have brought to me by their actions, words, deeds.

We have allowed people to barely survive in squalor, 

ignored those reaching out in need.

We have not been concerned for those whose lives were nightmares, dying with their dreams unlived.

We have given no thought to those who lived without beauty in their lives, dying with their music unwritten, their art undrawn, or their words unscripted.

We are obliged, as human beings to repair the world, especially as we are the most avid destroyers of her. Tefillah (meditation), Teshuvah (efforts to change ourselves and repair our relationships), and Tzedakah (charity) as well as Gemilut Chasidim (deeds of loving kindness) are our tools for that healing.

Look inward; strive to be, give to others of help and your compassion, and be an enlightened soul…

Ronda R. Scott-Marak
©11 October 2016

10th of Tishrei, 5777

“Every day, several times a day, a thought comes over me”

(With thanks to Woody Guthrie)

I feel like the little Dutch boy trying to keep the dyke from collapsing;

I can hear the roar, and feel the power
behind the steady drip and gush around my too slight fingers.

There is a never-ending torrent behind the crumbling wall,
the crack of looming collapse, the rush of catastrophe and ruin.

So much, and so many depending on my slowing down the storm, turning the tide;
my hands and shoulder press uselessly against the fissures.

I am not strong enough, not brave enough, not wise enough, or patient enough;
I fear going under.

Ronda R. Scott-Marak
© 25 August 2016