true story – Sillyfrog's Blog

Sunday Poser #117- Pay it forward…Never look back.

Posted on 01/29/2023 by Susan St.Pierre

Sadje’s Sunday Poser brought to my mind a beautiful memory along with the usual ‘food for thought’.

Doing generous acts of kindness feels SO satisfying.
I’ve often wondered if getting such satisfaction from it wasn’t a little self-serving because I get so much pleasure from it.

I’ve described doing such things as similar to Johnny Appleseed who spread his seeds hoping that some would grow. He didn’t need to stand around waiting for that ‘fruit’ because he had faith that some would take root. It wasn’t in his hands to tend them or even find out which ones grew. He got enough satisfaction from the act.

That’s how I see “Paying it forward”.

A few, maybe 5 now, years ago, a lady was walking through our grocery store wearing a gentle smile and carrying a bouquet of roses. She was about 60 years old. When our eyes met, she walked up to me and asked would I like a rose? (I love flowers but wondered what ‘the catch’ was yet there was something about her that made me graciously accept a rose.)
Then she made my whole day and gave me a memory that still warms my heart.

She explained that she was the caretaker for an elderly woman who no longer was mobile enough to come to the grocery herself. The woman said that the elderly lady asked her to purchase a bunch of roses and hand out some ‘sunshine’ for her.
(I’m tearing up as I write this.)
I never asked for that beautiful soul’s name, but I assure you that her act of kindness has not been forgotten. I’m proud I am able to share it further with all of you.

Sometimes I wonder if that lady has passed on to Heaven. We all know that she would be welcomed home there.
I hope she somehow knows how far that kind gesture has traveled.

https://lifeafter50forwomen.com/2023/01/29/sunday-poser-117/

Writing Prompts

FOWC -WHOLE- Dear 2022… Better days ahead.

Posted on 01/10/202201/10/2022 by Susan St.Pierre

My whole life I respected authority.
Of course, the teen years meant I resented authority too, but the overall trust in my elders was strong.
Then, I raised a family. As I aged, I realized that elders, doctors, and experts were not perfect. They don’t actually know everything, but I was cautiously confident that they all were dedicated to the best possible outcome. Hey… life’s dangerous and a personally complex journey.
Then, I became an elder. It was humbling to realize that the ‘truth’ was hard to ‘nail down’ and that the state of ‘perfect’ didn’t actually exist.
Enter 2020.
An unknown ‘novel’ virus threatened us all. Experts step forward to reassure us. Media offered us information and statistics. We were going to ‘work this one out’ together.
THEN things started to smell suspicious.
Mistakes were bound to be made. We were taken by surprise, after all!
BUT they weren’t being admitted nor were they corrected.
This was not a ‘novel’ virus but a version of other viruses we knew.
The handling of this pandemic was the only novel part!
Soon, the media numbers were exposed as arbitrary… and later it was clear they were manipulated.
We weren’t protecting the vulnerable and we weren’t taking swift action in early treatments.
Governors assumed extreme powers never citing clear scientific suggestions.
Then we found out that the Chinese government purposely spread a deadly experiment through the world. Whether it escaped or was released may never be known.
All trust left the building once Big Tech, our federal government, and our health agencies spoke in unison, telling us their ‘facts’ (never backed with scientific studies) and censoring ‘misinformation’ (which was any contrary commenting). This was science, right? Scientific research is an ongoing diverse questioning not a conclusion.
World famous scientists and hands-on doctors were being silenced. They wanted to focus on therapeutics because they wanted to save lives. They had data to share and ideas!
Ultimately, most people were never offered treatment but were asked to come to the hospital once they were dying!
Hospitals were paid large incentives to label hospitalizations and deaths with Covid-19.
The FDA gets 45% of its funding from vaccines. They pushed vaccines… only vaccines.
Big powerful companies (with lobbyists) were allowed to flourish while small businesses were sentenced to ‘die’. Churches (with specific Constitutional protections) were militantly closed, while liquor stores, lotteries, and large chain stores remained open.
And people kept dying… kids were kept out of school, our economy ground to a halt, and our Southern Borders were sprung wide open. (Covid-19, Fentanyl, terrorists, and criminals uncounted)
No longer was there any hope that the ‘best outcome’ was even a consideration.
Our health wasn’t the highest concern.
Our well-being wasn’t important.
Our children’s futures were cast aside. (The added debt will be only a part of their future struggles)
Our compliance was the only goal. Power and greed prevailed.
Fear, blind trust, and ignorance worked wonders.

Dear 2022,
Trust may be gone but,
Fear is waning and
Our eyes are open.
We’ll work this one out, together.
Better days ahead…

FOWC with Fandango — Whole

Writing Prompts

MLMM- Tale Weaver- True Story

Posted on 09/16/202109/16/2021 by Susan St.Pierre

Our prompt is to write about an abrupt change in climate. Truth is ALWAYS stranger than fiction.

It was Mother’s Day and we were camping.
May was the beginning of our seasonal camping and we brought shorts, hot dogs, marshmallows, and of course, cold beer on ice!
The morning awakened us to a bone chilling drizzle and temperatures in the upper 40’s F.
Mid morning brought winds and an arctic blast turning the drizzle to snow!
Our disappointment could not be hidden as we added layers to our clothing for warmth. No one thought to bring mittens and scarves.
We warmed soup, and coffee, and discussed heading for home when a midday sun broke through the clouds and blue skies lined the horizon.
We shed layer after layer as the day moved along.
By 4:00 pm, all the campers were wearing shorts and sandals under a bright sun that wasn’t done with us yet. It was 75 degrees F. and still warming!
The breeze finally died away leaving us in a humid 88 degree swelter by 6:00 pm.
That night, we ran fans and slept in t-shirts.
This is a true story. We live in New England, U.S.A. where we have a saying: “This is New England. If you don’t like the weather, wait a few minutes… it will change.”

https://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2021/09/16/tale-weaver-16-09-21-climate-change/

Sideshows

One more tale…

Posted on 02/15/201102/15/2011 by Susan St.Pierre

There is an unfortunate *true story* that haunts me. Since I am in good voice today, I felt the need to record it.

About six years ago, a news item was brought to my attention. I believe a group of people, made up of family members, were vacationing at a wooded resort in New York State. Those people were “city folk” and unfamiliar with wildlife first hand. A black bear wandered by their area and the sight of the beast sent them running for their motel rooms. All safe inside, except a five month old baby in a carriage. The bear sniffed out the unsupervised infant and the result was the infant’s death from the bear carrying it off as an object of interest.

I was shocked!

I would not have left the baby!
I would have confronted the bear!

The facts didn’t even make sense to me. In my world…

There would have been no danger scary enough to afford NOT attempting to protect the child. ( The time to react was immediately…I suspect that being unfamiliar with wild animals was the ultimate deciding factor.)
The act of a frantic adult charging a bear would have probably been enough to send it away. ( I read further after this post…the bear climbed a tree when bystanders tried to rescue the baby by throwing rocks at it. Nothing could be done by then.)
As an adult, I would have stood a significant greater chance of surviving a bear attack.
Doing nothing would NOT have been an option!

How did that happen is all I can ask? That worst case scenario would have not taken place in my presence!

*I looked up the incident and found it took place in the Catskills in August 2002. Some reports say that the parents were shuttling their other kids inside when the bear tipped the infant out of the carriage. Other reports tell that the child was abandoned due to the fear and the bear had the opportunity to get the infant. I have a feeling that the bear did not charge into the area and the adults may have saved the baby if their instinct was not to flee.

Many people hear about Grizzly Bears on TV and the “play dead” defense. Black bears should be handled differently. Be for warned and read the following excerpt.

Black Bear Encounters

Compared to brown bear attacks, violent encounters with black bears rarely lead to serious injury. However, the majority of black bear attacks tend to be motivated by hunger rather than territoriality, and thus victims have a higher probability of surviving by fighting back rather than submitting. Unlike grizzlies, female black bears do not display the same level of protectiveness to their cubs, and seldom attack humans in their vicinity.^[39] The worst recorded fatality incident occurred in May 1978, in which a black bear killed three teenagers who were fishing in Algonquin Park in Canada.^[69] The majority of attacks happened in national parks, usually near campgrounds, where the bears had become habituated to human contact and food.^[39] 1,028 incidences of black bears acting aggressively toward people, 107 of which resulted in injury, were recorded from 1964 to 1976 in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and occurred mainly in tourist hotspots where people regularly fed the bears handouts.