I remember thinking, from a distance, that the kibbutzim seemed a step
in the right direction. My coworker, Walter Kiksmann, returned to
Germany, to his home town, taking his wife and mother-in-law, in order
to take advantage of an offer by the German government to pay a
monthly pension to those Jews who moved home. But he wrote me saying
that "home" was not the same as when they had fled back in 1937, so
they were moving to Israel to a kibbutzim. About two or maybe three
years later Walter called me. He and his wife, her mother had died,
were now back in Seattle at the Nettleton Apartments, where they had
lived for so many years. When I asked why the kibbutzim did not
satisfy them, he said there were too many restrictive rules.
I think of Walter from time to time, when I'm singing the praises of
Co-ops. As a person who could not live buy the rules of any Church
Institution, the Democratic Party, the National Federation of the
Blind, Capitalism or Marxist government, I have to wonder why life
would be better in a co-op system.
Carl Jarvis
On 4/20/19, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
So after I wrote the last message on this subject, I began thinking about
when the State of Israel was first proclaimed. One of the reasons that it
was beloved by Leftists, was its kibbutzim which were self sustaining
agricultural communes. So here's a vision to add to that Green New Deal
video that I forwarded to the list the other day. Communes in which people
live together, work together to fill their needs, and care for the children,
the elderly, and the disabled, communally. State Socialism has never
particularly appealed to me, but small commonly owned businesses and
socialist communities seem to be where we should be going. The only way to
rid ourselves of impersonal, uncaring systems is to go small and socialist.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Saturday, April 20, 2019 12:32 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: Jennifer Ford <dandjford88@xxxxxxxx>; jamesjarvis98
<jamesjarvis98@xxxxxxxxx>; brianandrenae@xxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Isolating the Elderly: Is It an act of
kindness? or just good business.
Absolutely right, Miriam.
While our imaginations have us back in the late 1800's, down on the farm,
small town USA, extended families, over the river and through the woods to
grandmother's house we go, our real world has changed to the point that many
of our basic values, once believed to be handed to us by God Almighty, no
longer apply.
When I first entered college in 1954, my Sociology professor talked about
the shift from the "Extended Family", to the "Nuclear Family".
That began with a mother, a father and 3.5 children. In a quick move that
nuclear family became, A Parent or Guardian and those for whom they are
responsible.
Today we have trimmed down to a definition of a single unit. The
Libertarian. I'm for me, First, Last and Always Me! Self Serving.
"Get it while the getting's good". "Them what has, gets".
And so what appears to be an act of kindness and generosity, building a
pretty prison for our Seniors, turns out to be linked to our move toward
Isolated Libertarian ism.
Of course it's a complex situation, not clear cut. Since we are driven by
our Capitalistic Culture, it is important that we place a monetary value on
everything. We exploit our children, our health, and our Seniors. At the
rate we're changing, the day will come when we will simply dispose of any
part of our population that cannot generate profit.
But back to those long forgotten days of the 40's and 50's when grandma or
grandpa had a back bedroom in the family house. And often times it was
actually their own house. But they were a problem, cleaning up after them,
feeding them, listening to them bitch and complain. We convinced ourselves
that it was for their own good to move into a "Senior's Center", where they
could "enjoy" retirement with other folks of similar age. Financial
investors saw this as an opportunity to turn a buck. Build a fancy facility
and then put it on the market. Large corporations began to figure how to
squeeze profit out of these Elder Care Facilities by cutting corners just a
little...at first. We've seen, over the past 25 years, beautiful, well
staffed facilities trimmed back to bare bones. Light housekeeping extended
from weekly, to twice a month. Activity
directors terminated. Office staff reduced to part time. Dining
room servers replaced by volunteer high school students. The list goes on,
anywhere a corner can be cut. But worst of all is the fact that these
Seniors have been placed outside of their communities.
They are in a pretty prison. A few "busy" activities, but no real purpose
in life. Just waiting for the grim reaper to wander through.
One day Cathy and I entered the Willows, an upper end Senior Apartment
Facility, with all the amenities, and we beheld the most beautiful display
of quilts. It was the culmination of a quilting contest. At the time I
said to Cathy, "next thing you know, they'll be selling the quilts to pay
for some of the "free" services." About ten years later we entered the same
building and beheld the display of quilts and other home made items, with
price tags on them. The money from the sales of these items would go toward
paying the building's van driver.
This service had been provided as part of the huge rent folks paid, but had
to be cut back because of the cost. One client told us that she had been
there for five years, and each year her rent had gone up
$50 a month. In five years she was paying $250 per month more than her
original rent. But her fixed income had barely increased. She feared she
would not be able to afford another increase.
And here's the sad news. Many of these folks living in the Senior
Apartments are good, lifelong Republicans.
My grandma Ludwig(1892-1985)proudly said, "I'm an Abraham Lincoln
Republican". But old Abe had been dead 27 years prior to Grandma's birth.
Abe would not have recognized the world Grandma lived in.
Which reminds me, I just deleted a Spam Message telling me that FBI
statistics show that States with laws permitting concealed weapons, have
8.5% lower crime rates than those States without such laws. Of course the
note was placed by a company selling me hand guns and ammunition via the
internet.
What a delightful plan! We really ought to drop any age limits to
purchasing guns. After all, it seems that Idiocy knows no age limits.
Carl Jarvis
On 4/20/19, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Carl,
Those luxury facilities for the elderly which you mention and which,
immediately deteriorate because of lack of funding, they are the
symbol of how our society feels about the elderly. Everyone else is so
busy making a living, trying to care for themselves and their
children, that segregating old people has seemed like a perfect
answer. That doesn't happen in traditional cultures and it never used
to happen here. Jusst as children were integrated into families, so
were the elderly. Now we talk about child care and elder care. It's a
sign of the times. It's a whole change in family kinship systems. And
what kind of work do we honor? We honor tech experts and experts in
finance. We don't honor people who care for our children or our
elderly or our sick. Yes doctors, the people who look at our charts on
computers, but not so much nurses or nurses' aides.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Friday, April 19, 2019 10:10 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Attempted murder
Hi Miriam,
Yes. I do understand. But I'm also driven to do what I can do to
prevent our clients from killing themselves, or others.
Because of our Capitalist System, we are constantly struggling to make
gains in conditions for older folks. We gain a little ground, and
some corporation swallows it up and triples the cost, or shuts it down
as unwanted competiition.
We arrived where we are today, as much through Greed as through
Compassion.
One day we enter a new senior facility full of all sorts of amenities.
A couple of yuears pass buy and some national corporation buys the
facility and begins cutting services iuntil the building is falling
into disrepair and the staff only work part time.
We fight for door to door transportation. We finally begin to see a
system that meets the basic needs of Seniors and Disabled folks. Then
the next budget cuts funding, and it becomes harder and harder to
arrange for basic transportation. But we got ourselves into this
mess, and we'll need to be the ones to get us out. The Ruling Class
finds ways of diverting our tax dollars, insisting that we can take
care of our own special needs. Let churches and volunteer services
pick up the services being cut from our budgets.
It's taken many years to come to such a social mess. It's going to
take a long time to get out of it...if we have enough time.
Carl Jarvis
On 4/19/19, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Carl,
The thing is that we have a society which has been organized to
depend on individually owned vehicles. Becoming old, finding that
one's health isn't as good as it was, losing some eyesight, some
hearing, becoming forgetful, all of that is terribly hard for people
in a world which worships youth and beauty. And then their
independence is taken away. Being unable to drive in our world means
for most people that that you are like a dependent child. I
understand why they will hold onto driving for as long as they can.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Friday, April 19, 2019 8:20 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Attempted murder
Roger and Miriam,
I'm assuming that your adventure happened at the time you still had
decent vision.
But it brings to mind many, many stories Cathy and I have heard from
older clients who just can't face the fact that their sight has
dimmed to the point that they should quit driving. Because of never
having had decent vision, I grew up knowing that driving after dark,
or at dusk, or on grey rainy days, would endanger both myself and
anyone within striking range. So I seldom drove, and as a result I
did not miss the freedom which so many of our clients missed. Even
so, because I learned to drive with only one eye, it took a great
deal of energy to "see" all that was going on around me.
Also it took considerable luck.
"Oh, I can see distances just fine," they tell us. "It's just up
real close that things get fuzzy." We patiently explain the impact
on the Retina, and how our brain can trick us into believing we're
seeing more than we really do see, but they are wanting to believe
that they are the exception. "Even if you do see distances well
enough", I insist, "what you miss is the ability to see quickly
enough to avoid disaster in an emergency". And in today's heavy
traffic that is a daily event.
One dark winter evening a year ago, Cathy and I were coming home
after a rather long day. We came off highway 101, onto Snow Creek
Road, our county gravel road, and made the long sweeping right hand
curve up a steep hill.
Suddenly Cathy hit the brakes. I felt the thump. "Oh God!" Cathy
groaned, "I hit a deer. It just jumped from the hill right into our
path". After driving that road since 1987, this was the first
encounter we'd had with a deer...or anything other than a suicidal
bird. As many miles as she's driven, and as sharp as her night
vision is, there was no way of avoiding that deer. Our headlights
confused it and it bolted for the far side of the road, and the
safety of the forest. It rolled and then jumped up and dashed into the
brush.
Hopefully it was just bruised, not damaged fatally.
But our new Toyota Tacoma had over $1,000 damage to the grill. That
repair, which, thankfully, was covered, reminded me of how cheaply
today's vehicles are put together. Inside our truck we feel safe.
But when one bump can cause so much damage, what would we look like
if we'd struck an oncoming vehicle at 25 miles an hour, each?
Carl Jarvis
On 4/19/19, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I didn't hit him. He jumped out of the way just in time. That image
of him that I have burnt into my brain was the sight of him in mid
leap.
---
Christopher Hitchens
“ What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed
without evidence. ”
― Christopher Hitchens,
On 4/19/2019 9:18 AM, Miriam Vieni wrote:
Other people might not have laughed in that situation. I've never
driven a car, but if it were me, I'd have been horrified that I'd
inadvertently hit someone whom I hadn't seen, relieved that he
wasn't hurt, and terrified about being arrested. I suspect that if
you were African American, he probably would have arrested you for
attempted murder, and you might not be here to tell the tale.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Roger Loran
Bailey (Redacted sender "rogerbailey81" for DMARC)
Sent: Thursday, April 18, 2019 10:10 PM
To: blind-democracy <blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [blind-democracy] Attempted murder
Since I was using attempted murder as an example of how one could
be charged with a crime when the intended crime was not committed I
reminded myself of the time a cop threatened to arrest me for
attempted murder. I tell you this only because I thought you might
find it amusing. In retrospect I do. I was driving along once at
night. I came up to an elementary school on my left and sitting in
the parking lot was a police car with its blue lights flashing, its
headlights on and a door standing open. There was no cop in it nor
outside of it that I could see. That made me curious and so I was
looking at it wondering what was going on. As I passed it I
returned my eyes to the road just in time to see the cop. The image
I saw was burned into my brain and I still recall it in detail.
Right there in my headlights was an airborne cop. He was actually
in the air above the road with arms and legs spread out, with a
flashlight also in the air and detached from his right hand by
several inches, and a look on his face that could only be utter
panic. I hit my brakes just in time to avoid hitting the stopped
car that was partially in the road and partially in a deep ditch. I
could see that the car was stuck and that the cop had been
directing traffic around it, but because I was distracted by his
cop car with all of its lights flashing I did not see him until too
late. It was his leap that I caught part of in my headlights that
saved him, not my application of the brakes. The application of the
brakes only saved me from hitting the car. Once I had stopped here
came the cop from the foliage that he had leaped into. From his
mouth came a flurry of invectives each of which was preceded by the
words god damn. It was god damn idiot, god damn moron, god damn
fool and god damn everything else.
Between the god damns he threatened to arrest me for reckless
driving, attempted murder and numerous attempted other crimes. Even
while all this name calling and threats were going on I was hard
pressed to not laugh.
What struck me as so funny were all the leaves and twigs adorning
his uniform and his hair too. He must have landed in a real thicket.
Amazingly enough, though, he finally said that he had other things
to deal with other than me and he told me to get out of there
before he really did arrest me. I left without even a ticket.
