May 22nd, 2008  a Thursday

Honestly, I haven't been feeling all that zen lately, despite my best efforts.  It just seems like everything falls apart and all that zen crap becomes a distant idea that has nothing to do with you.  When you feel this way, the people you hang around with seem extra annoying and the things you don't like about them seem bigger than life, out of proportion to the things you love and usually notice.  You complain about the weather.  In my case, living in the desert, a spell of extra hot temperatures too early in the season combined with wind made me feel nothing but despair as to how long the summer was going to be.  The exciting political race that usually makes me feel lucky to be part of in my lifetime wears thin and you think if you hear Chris Matthews interrupt one more political guest, hear Keith Oblermann insult George Bush one more time, or watch Hillary Clinton cook up yet one more way to spin the race so she wins, you are going to turn off the tv until election day.  That'll show 'em.  You wake up to stories about the earthquake in China and how many traumatized orphans are left behind.  Or how the Myanmar government won't let aid into their country to assist with the fall out of the deadly cyclone.  (And I'm complaining about the weather.....now I feel even worse.)  Then there is the front page photo that ran in a Georgia newspaper showing Barack in the cross hairs of a gun sight for a story about death threats by Southern White supremacists.  You say everything will be better once the Olympics begin what with their ideals of world peace and harmony but then you see the footage of protestors tackling the runners carrying the torch.  (In all fairness, I did love that a senator stated, in reference to Teddy Kennedy's recently diagnosed malignant brain tumor, "I would hate to be that tumor".  That's the spirit.  Sometimes cancer just doesn't know who it's messin' with.)

The only way I know to snap out of it is to escape to a cold, dark theatre and see a movie.  What I didn't count on was that the producers of this movie would be so excited to put two big names together on the poster that they actually forgot to make a movie that was watchable.  I guess they figure if the names on the poster get you in there, what do they care once they have your money.  It was actually painful and sunk me deeper into 21st century malaise (how's that for a little French bear influence).  Where, I wondered, could I go for inspiration?  All my usual tricks just weren't working.  Even the Dbacks just lost two in a row.  Maybe they were in the same funk as me.  Maybe it's catching.  My channels are so clogged I may need a bottle washer to clean them out. 

And then a story about another tirade from Geraldine Ferraro, the woman who was a vice presidential candidate back in 84, ground breaking at the time.  In March, she stepped down from her role in Hillary's campaign over remarks she made that Obama's success was due to his race.  She's at it again only this time saying that Hillary has been a victim of sexism at the hands of Obama.  She cited a remark he made after Hillary began referring to her (never before mentioned) experience with guns as a child while trying to ally herself with a pro-gun crowd.  So Barack responds by saying "who does she think she is, Annie Oakley?".  Geraldine took offense at that.  But she shouldn't have.  Not at all.  She obviously doesn't know much about Annie. 

Annie Oakley was a sharpshooter described as an amazing talent, star of the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show.  She could shoot a .22 at 90 feet splittling a playing card edge on, putting 5 or 6 more shots in it before it touched the ground.  She was mentally and physically abused as a child by a local family who helped raise her because her own family was so poor, referring to them as the "wolves".  She began hunting to support her many siblings and her single mom, making enough selling the game to pay off the mortgage on their house.  She promoted the use of women in combat and offered President William McKinley a company of 50 lady sharpshooters in case the US went to war with Spain and they would even bring their own arms and ammo.  So she was a breadwinner, a media superstar, a good daughter, a women's rights activist, and a beloved wife.  In fact, when she died, her husband was so crushed, he refused to eat and died 18 days later. 

So Ms. Ferraro, no matter how Barack intended his reference, you and your Hillary made quite a mistake in taking offense to the Annie Oakley comparison.  She was a great gal who was a real fighter, something Hillary has promoted herself to be.  She could have taken that one all the way to the bank.  And I'm sure Annie would have been proud for her memory to be resurrected in the name of women's rights.  An opportunity missed, ladies.

I don't know what it was about Annie Oakley, but she just lifted me out of my funk and made me feel a whole lot better.  So today I'm grateful that Geraldine shot off her mouth (again) and led me to the story of a woman ahead of her time.  As a bear with a blog, I find it very inspirational.  I think Annie and I would have been the best of friends.

GR