TheBanyanTree: A Cold Day in Hell

[Margaret R. Kramer]

Yesterday’s warmth gave way overnight to a cool, icky, and cloudy day.  Joe
and I went out to the cemetery to place Ray’s wreath and also to put on my
grandparents’ graves their Christmas decorations.  Earlier this week, Joe
placed a small Christmas tree at Alice’s grave.

The cemetery was jammed with people.  People were doing exactly what we were
doing.  Bringing their loved ones wreaths and then taking pictures of the
decorated graves.  We all wanted to get our wreath stands in the ground
before the ground froze.

I was thinking about the couple who crashed the President’s state dinner the
other night.  And the balloon boy and his family hijacking the news for most
of a day last month.  And they’re not the only ones.  Is being on TV so
important to people that they lose their sense of perspective and do insane
antics just to have a shot on a reality show on a channel which is barely
watched by anyone?

Maybe having a million hits video on YouTube or millions of friends on
Facebook is the new definition of “being the life of the party.”

I just can’t imagine being that desperate for attention.  But then, what do
I know, I’m an introvert.

I read that the woman who was the gatecrasher at the state dinner had spent
seven hours earlier that day in the beauty parlor.  And I wondered what did
they do for her?  Her hair looked like dried straw from a scarecrow and her
dress was not anything special.  

Maybe I should go into the beauty business . . . just use a curling iron and
flop the hair around a little and charge a lot of money for doing nothing.

And then we have Tiger Woods still being evasive as he’s watching millions
of dollars slipping away from his endorsements.  I just wish he could be
honest.  “My wife was beating the crap out of me after she found out I was
having an affair.”

Joe commented that it seemed like only Bill Clinton walked away fairly
intact from his infidelities.  And Bill’s wife is our Secretary of State, so
she was also able to move on.

But it seems like when a celebrity man is caught, it’s like he can’t believe
it.  He believes he should get some immunity because he is a celebrity.

I can barely watch Lettermen anymore without wondering who he’s messing
around after the show before he goes home to his wife.

Or that South Carolina governor.  Did he honestly think no one would notice
he was in Argentina instead of his state?  What a nut case.

And the women.  They’re damned if they “stand by their man,” and they’re
damned if they don’t.

You can tell it’s been the long Thanksgiving weekend and I haven’t been
thinking about looking for jobs.  I’ve been drawn into the world of too much
TV, too much internet, and too much eating.

Well, tomorrow, it’s back to the job search.  I have a job networking group
tomorrow morning.  And I’ll be back at my night job tomorrow, too.

I’ll have to leave the celebrity world behind week and catch up with the
Tiger story next weekend.            

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at comcast.net
margaret.kramer at polarispublications.com
www.polarispublications.com
www.linkedin.com/in/margaretkramer

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are
conscious of our treasures. 
-Thornton Wilder