Inside My World...HFireman

A very eclectic and far-ranging blog. A glimpse into my mindset... things I find interesting, provocative and worth thinking about... things visual, things fictional, observations and commentary,... and questions that we need to be asking ourselves. Welcome to my world.

Name:
Location: Houston, Texas, United States

Thursday, May 25, 2006

FYI: Check out creators.com

If you are one of those types who loves the op-ed page, you will love a website I came across. It has a variety of fare including op-ed pieces from a huge variety of well-known columnists of every stripe, from liberal to the most rabid conservative columnist. It has political cartoons. A really great web site so far as I can tell.

Go to: www.creators.com

Give me some feedback about what you think about this particular website.


Kindest regards,

HFireman

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Of The Past and What We Missed Along the Way

Random Conversations - 1

Late one evening, not so long ago, two old friends were enjoying several very nice bottles of Malbac. In the course of the night, they proceeded to ponder the imponderables of life. With each refilled glass of wine, both became increasingly intoxicated and certainly more philosophical as their conversation wandered from one subject to another.

Somewhere in the conversation, around 11 PM or so, the first fellow remarked, "Do you realize that there are places and events in this world that we will never have the opportunity to experience."

His friend looked at him quizzically. "I don't exactly understand what you mean."

"What I mean is that some of the places I would have very much enjoyed visiting are simply no longer there. Places like The Windows on the World Restaurant, at the World Trade Center. Can you even imagine what it must have been like to sit at a table and look out at the world from the 107th floor of the World Trade Center. That view had to have been breathtaking."

"I suppose so," said his friend.

The first fellow continued. "Are you telling me that if there were such things as time machines, you wouldn't want to go to a place in the past that is gone now? Or to some point in time in the past at which extraordinary things happened?"

His friend swirled the wine in his red bordeaux wine glass and considered the question. He mused to himself that he was thinking with remarkable clarity, given that he had already had 3 or 4 glasses of wine. "Actually yes there are. I would have liked to have been at the Ed Sullivan Show the night the Beatles first appeared in the US. And it would have been really something if I could have been at the first Woodstock. What else would I have liked to do? I would go back in time and go to London to catch the original West End production of Chicago, the musical, with Ruthie Henshall as Roxie. Or I would go back in time to New York to see Zero Mostel in Fiddler on the Roof or in A Funny Think Happened on the Way to the Forum." He stopped for a moment and looked at the first fellow. "Okay, those are the places I would go. Where would go? What are the things you would want to have experienced?"

"Good question. Where would I want to go back in time? What would I want to see for myself and experience the moment? First, I think I would like to have been there at Gettysburg, when President Lincoln delivered his famous address there. Then, I would have liked to have been at the Lincoln Memorial when Martin Luther King delivered his I Have a Dream speech.

"And you know what? What I really would have wanted to do was to be in New York on 9/11. Why? I would have wanted to see the people there and the human drama that was going on at that moment. That was a moment in time that changed the world as we know it, and I was somewhere else. I know, mercifully so. But the real drama was there, that day and the days that followed. It is strange, I guess to have wanted to be there in all the turmoil and the chaos and the uncertainty. But of all the places and moments I would like to return to, that would be my first pick."

His friend looked at him didn't say much for a few minutes. "Now that is crazy. Ablsolutely a crazy idea, even for you. While you are at it, why don't you beam yourself down to the Titanic, the day it sank? That is nuts. You have no idea the danger you would be putting yourself in."

" What would be the point of being there? And anyway, do you really think you could actually handle being there on that day, knowing what you know about what was going to happen? Even now, I am almost brought to tears when I see the videos of the two towers on fire... of the towers collapsing. I almost cannot bear to see the images anymore. And the images of the people falling from the upper stories. And the people running away and the pain in their eyes."

"Look, 9/11 touched us unlike anything that has ever happened to us. That day is never very far away from us. Like it happened yesterday. I would be trying to find something very important if I could go back. I would be looking for the good things we found out about ourselves... the amazing resiliance and generosity that people discover in themselves, when awful things happen to them."

He continued, "At a moment like that, how does one find the strength to simply put one foot in front of the other and get beyond the paralysis that sets in? How does one just get on with the daily things we have to do... to cook a meal or to take out the trash or to put the kids to bed at the end of the day? Where does one find the will to just move on with one's life? And yet the people there did just that. I would want to have been able to mix with those people in New York City on that day and talk to them and to comfort them and to draw on the fierce will they had to keep on living in spite of everything that had happened."

"Would you mind if I had another glass of wine?" His friend suddenly had become far too sober.

"Does my wanting to return to the day of 9/11 really seem all that irrational?" the first fellow asked.

"Yes, it does. What I don't understand is why you would want to subject yourself to all the pain you would experience if you did go back to that day. I know that I would be absolutely overwhelmed by everything that would have been happening around me."

"I don't know if I would be able to handle the sadness and the pain that would surround me. But somehow I feel the need to know what that feels like. If one never feels real pain, it is as if one has never really lived. If you have never felt deep loss or grief or deep sadness, how can you truly experience great joy and happiness? It is not a question of subjecting myself to unnecessary pain. How can I understand the human condition if I have never had to endure the pain and the loss and the deprivation that goes along with being human?"

"And that is something you actually feel the need to experience firsthand? Not me, thank you. I'll pass. Give me my safe, boring suburban existance any day of the week. And since you holding the bottle of Malbac, pour me another glass of wine, please."

The first fellow poured his friend another glass of wine. After he did that, he fell silent for a long moment. "I know that what I would like to do doesn't make a lot of sense. But I have this need to know what it felt like to be there that day. Not just to view it like some sports spectator in the stands, but to have lived that moment myself. Maybe if I could go back, I might begin to understand how such a thing could really happen and what it does to people." He poured himself another glass of wine and said nothing more.

"You just don't get it, do you? Even if you could go back and be there on 9/11, you couldn't change the outcome. You couldn't make things better for any of those people on the street in New York City. You are the biggest bleeding heart type I know. And, had you been able to go back, nothing that you would have seen and heard would have helped you one iota to make any kind of sense of that terrible day. You know the difference between you and me? I don't work myself up over things I can't do anything about. Sometimes this world really sucks, but when it does, I know when to cut my losses." He finished his wine and put the glass on the table. He got up and found his coat and keys.

With that, the evening sort of played out and his friend left to go home.

After his friend had gone, he finished the last glass of wine, put the wine glass on counter and went over to his bookcase. He took out a collection of photographs of the posters that people put up, after the towers fell, asking, "Have you seen my brother?" or "Missing? If you see my son, call ..."

He leafed through the book and when he reached the point at which he could no longer bear to look at the photos, he put the book on a nearby table and placed his hands to his face and sobbed, experiencing the same overwhelming emotions he had felt on September 11, as if it had just happened yesterday .





Sam and Emma: A Love Story in Emails - 2

From: Emma Landauer
To: Sam T.

January 8, 2006

My precious Sam,

Received your email. You are so intense. I do love that about you.

Arrived okay. Am temporarily staying with a friend of mine here in Bonn. I have been here only a few days and I already hate it. Have been in US so long that I am more American than German. I never really liked it here even when I was a kid. Oh well! I am here and that's that.

Very busy trying to get connected to old contacts. Not exactly sure about how to get work as a dentist here. Getting a job here is not the same as in the US. Things have changed much since I left years ago. Desperately need to get a job very soon. Money will run out in a few weeks and I am beginning to get very depressed. I always get depressed, don't I, except when I am with you?

It doesn't matter how far apart we are, don't worry. I still love you very much. You were always so insecure about that. Don't know why. Our relationship can only be what it is. Anything more is impossible. We both know that. But no matter what, you are very dear to me and always will be.

Will write soon.

Hugs and Kisses

E.

To be continued

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Sam and Emma: A Love Story in Emails - 1

Love need not die
Nor wither away
Because two hearts, two souls
Are miles apart.

Though time and space
Put each beyond
The other's reach
The love remains

And even if an ocean lay between
Two lovers
Enduring love connects the two
Until the end of time.

**************

From: Sam T
To: Emma Landauer

Date: January 7, 2006

My Dearest Emma,

You have been gone for only a few days now. I still go to the phone to call you, before I stop myself. I am having a hard time adjusting to the fact that you have returned to Europe. Who knows how long it will be before we are able to see each other again. I am really afraid that when I have taken in that reality, there is going to be a terrible void in my world. I sense that a little even now. But I have not yet felt the full impact of that realization.

Please know that I miss you already. Our love for each other has survived despite impossible odds and difficult circumstances. And now you are gone and I am here and you are there. What are we to do? All we can really do is take things one day at a time and undoubtedly we will find out how all this is going to play out.

I hope you find what it is you are looking for. What I am afraid is that you are running to Europe to get away from your demons. I hate to break it to you, but you take your demons with you wherever you go. And I can't be there to help you get through the bad times, now. So I worry about you, because I care about what happens to you.

No matter where you go, you have left your handprint on my heart. No matter how far away you are from here, you are a part of my life and will always be a part of my life.

After you have gotten settled in, please write me and let me know how things are going.

With great love,

Sam

To Be continued

New Connections: Syfox in Sydney Down Under

Weblogs are amazing. We are able to connect halfway around the world with people we would have never ever connected up with. Syfox was kind enough to pass my blog's internet address in the internet on to his readers down in Australia. I really appreciate that.

So please allow me to return the favor. Syfox has his own take on the world from the perspective of an Aussie teenager. To visit his mindset on the world, go to
Syfox133.blogspot.com.

Hey Syfox, best regards, kiddo.

Setting A Course for My Blog

Since this blogging enterprise is likely to be a long-term endeavor, I want to lay out what I would like to accomplish in creating the entries for Inside My World.

I will write about many things in the months and years to come. The articles which will be added will explore many areas of human experience and try to make sense of the stories coming out of the media. I will endeavor to enlighten and hopefully at the same time entertain you. As often as I can, I will try to model myself after Art Buchwald, one of the great newspaper columnists of all time. He labelled himself "the cruise director on the Titanic." Many times I feel that I am just that.

Occasionally, I will write a piece to stir you to action when I see a cause that needs to be promoted. We are citizens of what is arguably a great nation. We are citizens of the world. And when I see the need to stir your conscience and to empower you to rise to the occasion, I will do my best to do that.

There is no need for me to comment, at great length, on the darker side of our lives and our world. All we have to do is look around to witness the sad realities of of our times. Look at the front page of the newspaper. Turn on the evening news. Apparently, bad news sells the media a lot better than good news. Ah, well! That is not what this blog is about. I want Inside My World to provide with you a respite from all that. Come here to get a laugh, to find some inspiration, to be uplifted and to find some understanding about things human that did not make a lot of sense to you in the past.

Understand that I may sometimes touch on the very things I wish to avoid here. But only with a very light touch and only in a way that will enable you to come away from that posting with a clearer sense of yourself or your world.

So that is about it. No really grand aspirations. I just want to create an island in the internet that you will serve you well and one which you will want to revisit from time to time to see where my mind has been meandering. I look forward to your visits to my blog very soon.

Kindest regards,

H Fireman