The sadness of hands

That a man should have hands, and feet, and all these things that kit him out to be a person, and for them to be so vulnerable, so easily lost... why don't I see more amputees from the war? Are they being hidden? Is the sadness so great we need to obscure what waits for us all?

Every day we're all in danger of having our personhood, our selves, our most treasured things hacked away and left to the crows.

And yet you think there's something heroic about bringing a child here? To help it as best you can?

People who don't exist don't need your help, and I prefer the heroism of a lonely old age and the restraint of my baser instincts.

Back to My Usual: Today's headlines

UNTHINKABLE SUFFERING

THEY WERE CHAINED IN THE BASEMENT

MISSING CRUISE PASSENGERS

DEATHS FROM BANGLADESH FACTORY COLLAPSE TOP 900

TOT MISSING AFTER MOM, TWO OTHERS ARE SLAIN ON FARM

"JUST GIVE ME THE DEATH PENALTY QUICKLY"

WOMAN DIES AFTER CHOKING ON BASEBALL PARK HOT DOG...

AND

Doting mother Alessandra Ambrosio looks good in neon as she carries little Noah on her hip...


 Do you feel the cognitive dissonance yet or are you JUST NOT LISTENING? 

Here's a cheerful song (apologies for the ad):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_PQTFrIa40

A practical thought on something frivolous

I have no idea why, I'm not an evolutionary scientist or a sociologist, but it occurred to me while shopping for mother's day—in the process of which I spied, at a very good price, an object which I fancied a male platonic friend who's on a budget might enjoy offering to his wife—that it's pretty easy for most women to buy another woman a gift she'll like. It's harder for a man to buy a woman he's in love with a gift, and hardest of all (for me anyway) is for a woman to find a gift for a male platonic friend, particularly one that isn't personal enough to cause his partner discomfort.

I'm talking about small gifts, of course; if you have a thousand dollars lying around for each of your friends I suppose you can make all the male ones very, very happy if you buy them whatever expensive piece of [insert hobby] gear is just outside their budgets. But the small, mid-budget pleasant things that women enjoy in life are different from the small things which appeal to men... which is perhaps the reason most men have trouble picking a girly thing out, especially when they're in love with the recipient. They might know their lady better than anyone, but they don't know mother of pearl from a hole in their... well, whatever small stuff it is that dudes appreciate. If anything.

Which led me to wonder. What if instead of trying to buy my platonic male heterosexual friends gifts for themselves for Christmas, I just gave them something nice to give to their girls the next time they have a birthday or whatnot? Give the gift of giving the gift for him! The autism-spectrum monkey in my head thinks this makes perfect sense, and is the most thoughtful thing I can do for my pals. But is this in reality intrusive, or weird, or something I need to explain? Or is it something lots of people should start doing to save each other time, money, worry, and relationship stress? Well... as it stands I think I'm going to go back and buy that thing. If my buddy doesn't give it to his wife, I can sure use it. The best gifts are the ones you envy.