Messenger From the North

Posted on 15/01/2022 by Grumpa Joe

I watch a lot of movies, and I am particular about the themes. I prefer stories about real people and not those of Hollywood gangsters and shoot em ups. Some of that stuff might be going on in the real world, but not to the extent to which writers and movie makers lead us to believe. Maybe I am living in a bubble here on the edge of the mid-west near one of the largest cities in North America. Yes, we have crime, and yes, we have murders, but why make movies about them? Isn’t that reinforcing the bad behavior, i.e. by glorifying it in film?

A few days ago, I came across a movie titled Chloe and Theo. This story had all th elements of a great movie, it was funny, it was sad, it was tragic, and it had a message. The premise of the story is that a tribe of Inuit Indians living on the ice fields of the arctic circle have seen a trend of warming that is shrinking their ice, and forcing the animals inland, and away from their habitat which is the ice and the frigid waters of the arctic. They decide to send a messenger from their tribe to speak to the elders, and to give them a message of pending doom. They pick a single man named Theo not because he is a smart guy, or a diplomat, or a scientist, but because he is the only one in their village who can speak english. The village elders give him a pouch filled with cash to make the trip.

Theo lands in New York and is amazed at the tall buildings the hordes of people, and the noise. He often laments that where he is from there is a simple beauty to the empty, whiteness, and silence of the ice. He checks into a low cost flop-house and goes looking for the elders. Along the way he meets a young woman who is homeless after she recognizes him as an eskimo. She befriends him only because she thinks he is different, and she wants to know all about him. Theo asks her to help him find the elders. She takes him to her tented area in a dilapidated building where many homeless sleep. She introduces him to what she considers to be an elder. He is in reality a informal leader of the homeless group to which she belongs. Theo is not satisfied, so the group begins a brain storming session as to who they should try to get him to see. At first it was the President of the USA, but the idea falls apart when the FBI gets involved and asks too many dumb questions. Eventually, they break from the FBI and return to brainstorming. The elder in the group has a brainstorm, why not take Theo to the United Nations, and the story goes in that direction, but again proves to be fruitless.

Another plot is to introduce him to the producers of a big TV show, and they succeed in getting a meeting with them. The homeless group and Theo enter the building and are getting into an elevator when Theo balks, he wants to walk up the 62 stories to reduce his contribution to the carbon footprint left by the elevator. He walks while the homeless group is waiting for him to arrive. Nerves take over and the producers insist of leaving, but the homeless are persistent and make Theo’s pitch for him. The scene ends with all of them leaving the conference room as Theo finally arrives.

To make this long story shorter I will only say that these characters all made the story believable. Before the end of the film they are successful in finding a way to get Theo’s story to the Elders. They celebrate and give Theo a gift of a pair of shoes to replace the heavy boots he has worn since he left his Northern Village, and as he has always done throughout the story he takes a walk to try his new shoes, and to clear his head. Then something unbelievable happens and the story ends.

This is what I rate a five star film * * * * *

Filed under: Movie Review, Society, Warm and Fuzzy | Tagged: , , , | Leave a comment »

Are There More Stars Or Viruses?

Posted on 15/01/2022 by Grumpa Joe

For Every Star in the Universe There Are 100 million Viruses

This morning I had scheduled myself to attend a pancake breakfast with the Bradley Lions Club. The money generated was to support the families of two Bradley police officers who were shot in the line of duty, one died the other in serious condition. I did not attend. Why? I will try to explain my paranoyia as I go on.

Two days ago my wife’s 28 year old single grandson called to tell his grandma that he has COVID. Grandma nearly fainted and went into hysterics. He is her only family in this country, and she relies on him for way too much. He is more than happy to help her because she also is his only family here in America. She lost her only child, a son, last march in an accident that snuffed him out within an instant. The shock was overwhelming and she is still not over it.

My wife and her grandson being from Europe and living poor believe in practicing naturally healthy lives. Eat right, eat only chemically free food, drink only pure water, and breathe lots of clean fresh air, preferably forest generated. No one in her family believes in polluting the body with nasty things like vaccines. So when she heard her only grandson had COVID she was picturing him in a grave. From what I have heard about Omicron, the COVID variant, it is only a matter of time before everyone in the world has it, even double vaccinated me. One of my greatest fears is that I will bring it home to her and our moderately happy marriage will end. That is why I decided to skip the pancake breakfast this morning.

I shoveled the drive and walkways this afternoon, fed the birds and came in to rest. While resting I felt driven to post something, but what? For reasons unknown I decided to check the responses I get, and one of them was not checked off. I always address responses within a day at the latest. I searched for the response and couldn’t find it after perusing seven pages of posts. Then the brain finally kicked in and told me to work smarter. I looked at my dashboard and found a comment was in moderation. Why, That is another story, but I also learned how to search for the responses. While looking for it I came across the one I am posting to share with you. It is a very intelligently written and thoughtful piece that makes a lot of sense the writer obviously has a gift we call common sense

Her response showed me that I have fallen prey to the hysteria being touted over the airwaves. I have forgotten my own common sense attitude for avoiding COVID. When the thing first began to kill, I chose not to hunker down, but to rather lead a life which would avoid opportunities to catch the thing without becoming an inbound, stagnant-air breathing recluse. So far it is working, knock on wood, but I also believe in vaccinations as part of the protection scheme. Then I reread the comment from dolphin write of the understandingbloghome.wordpress.com, and it all makes sense again.

Remember, there are 340,000,000 million people in the USA, to this point there have been 66,317,293 cases of COVID. That means there are 273, 683,000. people who do not have COVID. True 66 million is a lot of sick people, but 273 million is a four times as many healthy people walking around.

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The following essay is a reply I received to my own Blog-piece titled

A Nation of Too Many Laws

response attributed to:
dolphinwrite Nov 18, 2020·understandingbloghome.wordpress.com

Controlled by what we can’t see:
When will people get it? A virus is a very tiny organism, in the trillions all around. There are billions of different virus. This one is one amid trillions of germs, bugs, viruses, and like many, is airborne.
If you wear one of those face shields (those clear plastic face guards), airborne viruses are entering you’re lungs as if you didn’t have one. If you’re wearing a face mask, right through the fabric, and certainly any side openings. Pull the mask from your face for a few seconds, no or very little help. And when you go to stores or anywhere else, touch anything, even just by being there, you’re covered with viruses and germs. Wear gloves and touch things, whatever you touched is on the gloves and whatever the gloves then touch transfers (i.e. door knobs, the steering wheel, your face, your shirt, your wallet, your shoe laces, and everything else). The only way to be “safer” is staying indoors, never going out, and using a ventilator. Okay, there might be some reduction, but we heard, from a doctor, they get more sick people coming in who wear masks and stay indoors than by those who don’t worry. Something like 65% with masks versus 35% without.
Why? We have immune systems. Even if a virus is knew, our body fights them. That’s how immune systems work. But we suppose the very real reason most of the people wearing masks and staying home are most of the sick patients is because they don’t go out, exercise, breathe the fresh air, and socialize. They’re often sick with worry. So, by worrying all the time about germs, wearing masks and gloves, washing everything, spraying everything, and stressing out, their immune systems are further compromised. Stress does that. Depression does that. Fear does that.
Which is why I shared a time when a friend and I worked at a zoo, clearing up after the animals, cleaning their cages, raking and shoveling the droppings, washing some animals, caring for sick animals, feeding them, bringing in supplies, chasing rats (or catching) away, cleaning the shops and storage rooms, butchering road kills for the big cats, cleaning up after those big cats ate, and so much more. And never getting sick. We really believe, being around all that strengthened our immune systems. Never, during those years, did we ever take any “sick” pills. Just being outdoors, breathing the fresh air, moving around working, and life was good. It is good. We are not designed to live in fear and worry.
And now we see “they” are going to close up everything. We wonder if it’s even constitutional or legal. More and more people will have to stay home, not socialize, and live in worry and fear, unable to go out and relax. That, in and of itself will lead to more stress and worry, causing increased sickness, and we believe more mob mentality, people frustrated and acting out. Just wait and see if all this continues. It happened before and is still happening.
Everybody, should the elections go one way, will find out what losing all your freedoms is about. When people choose for others to do what they can do on their own, where businesses makes decisions that best fit their company, but instead, rely on government for all their protections, we get socialism leading to communism. Unfortunately, people may need to find out the hard way. But making that decision for outer control and “good feelings” means anarchy then dictatorship right here, but also terrible consequences across the globe. In such a future, millions will die: people in democratic countries, innocent people, and the unborn who we wish have all the opportunities for life we have. But if we allow ourselves to be blinded by rhetoric, propaganda, and cutesy language, then we get what we get. I hope people never have to find out the hard way.

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