Mattress Money

Sam came out of the 'Men of Steel' bathroom and Simmy stopped him in his tracks, shaving cream still clinging to Sams' face, and she said, "I'm thinking of writing a blog on 'Your bank, the Prostitute' but I don't want to insult prostitutes.
Sam chuckled and said, "Well, credit unions used to be better than banks but people don't really see them that way anymore now that their practices are starting to look the same."
"I really think that the new banking practices are threatening to create a keep your money in your mattress mentality again. These new fee methods are being developed for the person who can't do simple accounting."
"Mmm Hmm," Sam said and went to wash the shaving cream off his face.
Simmy recalled two incidents in the last month that had her steamed over what the bank was doing.
The first one had come in the form of a letter informing them that the bank would be charging a $35 fee to all of their customers who were allowing the bank to pay their property taxes for them. In years past this was a 'banking service' that was offered freely and, should one stop to think... yes, the government would likely desire this method of service as well because, then, they could possibly, get the property tax money into their coffers, to re-distribute it again, more quickly? (This story will not be discussing where the government distributes the money... that is for another day.)
So, Simmy had got on the phone quickly to speak to a person at the bank...
Conversation between Simmy and bank employee...
"I want to know how I can make sure I don't have to pay this fee," Simmy said.
"Well, you can close that account and put the money you have in there, into a savings account," bank employee said with perfect suggestion training.
Simmy thought, 'I have been thinking it is a good thing to get people to save a little bit of money and placing responsibility squarely on each person individually must be where we start so... this seems good.'
Verbally she said, "What is the interest rate for this account and, if you can calculate quickly please, what I would earn in interest, if I leave this amount of money in the bank for a whole year... not withdrawing any, you know."
"Well, you would earn approximately $5 for the year," said bank employee.
"Well, doesn't that seem outrageous to you? You get to charge me a fee that is 7 times, in one fell swoop, I might add, what I can earn in a year with the interest rate that you are offering me. That is unconscionable!"
Simmy was so proud of herself for keeping the street vernacular out of the conversation.
Fast forward two weeks to 'Letter #2 from the bank' informing Simmy of a $50 fee for the service of opening a business account for her small business. Please be informed that the bank had no problem giving Simmy a credit card with a limit almost twice the amount she had borrowed for her small business.
If you look at the picture, above, closely, you will see a list of fees, for that credit card, that is longer than a RAP sheet, 'Record of Arrest and Prostitution, sorry, Prosecution.'
A similar conversation ensued about the reason for this fee and, this time, Simmy was not successful... if you are a business owner, the rules are more strict and unforgiving... whether you make money or not.
The bank will get theirs... if you know what I mean.

Revenge Series- Part II

Simmy got up early on Saturday morning.
'On the coffee table' was the book 'Dreamers of the Day' by Mary Doria Russell. There were so many parallels to the conversation she had with "who resembles God?" just two days ago that the irony of reading this book, at this time...
Well, let's just say, coincidence is a word we reserve for the unbelieving, yes?
"Who resembles God?" had come home for Christmas break, although her teaching engagement was in Cairo, Egypt. She had extended her vacation to stay for the funeral of the 18 month old baby... her cousins' child.
The story she told of a modern-day tussle of Sarai being spurned by Rachel because Rachel had been chosen by can't remember the Egyptian man's name, was just too much of an Old Testament compilation of stories... all being woven in with 'Dreamers of the Day' that all these three webmaster stories were just too coincidental to be, as I said earlier, a coincidence.
Definitely, all of this intrigue had the unmistakable hand of The Web Master in play.
Ooh! What a great play it would make, too?
Title?? Lawrence, Rachel, and Sarai... on Broadway... oh, what do we do with Churchill?
Or maybe... "Canadian Pyramids of History?"
Too vague and not catchy enough!

What is Fair?

Simmy sat down to think about... fairness.
"What is fair?" Simmy mumbled.
Many much greater people have applied themselves to this question but it is asked more times than many other questions.
Just yesterday, Simmy had been informed that an 18 month old baby had died of cancer. The 20 year old Mom was likely asking, or maybe not asking so much as saying 'this is not fair...,' or maybe even shouting it.
I think most people would agree that this situation is unfair.

So,... how can we come up with a more workable question in a world that is unfair?
'How can I create some equality for someone today?' Maybe this is a helpful question.
Construction son had created some equality for Simmy yesterday.
The story goes like this... it is a simple, good story that demonstrates, 'How can I create some equality for someone today?' in one moment of time... for one young man... who has been gifted with the ability to think and feel and learn and observe and be present... and who has just enough information about a situation to choose... in that one moment, to bring a little equality to his Mom.

Hummer needs to go into the garage... where it was purchased.
Construction son happens to be working less than a hundred yards from this car dealership.
He volunteers to take it in and because this dealership is way across the city, it is a huge time and energy saver, for Simmy, if he does this.
He pulls into the garage just before 7 a.m. and hears someone holler, 'No car washes for vehicles today! The hot water tank just blew.' He pockets this information and walks across the parking lot to his job.
After a long day of work, he walks back across the parking lot and picks up the Hummer but he has to wait 45 minutes because it isn't ready. Inconvenience.
The dealership refuses to replace the door handles citing... 'This is the way these door handles perform.'
Simmy's version of that statement, 'We know the door handles of this Hummer are rubbish, you know the door handles of this Hummer are rubbish. We do not care if this Hummer is still under a full warranty. We will spray a little WD-40 on them and tell you we have fulfilled the warranty as, we have the power to do that. Oh, and, by the way, what are you going to do about it?'
Simmy struggled to come up with an answer... thinking, thinking, thinking, but then she thought... yes,... I do have a response... of course, I have a response...

The response on the right fulfills what Simmy felt she experienced from the car dealership and what she she thinks of their full warranty service... the perfect palindromic response.
Back to story...
Construction son drives the Hummer home after paying for the oil change... the price seemed a few dollars more than other places but, oh yes,... a can of WD-40 costs about $7.00... the door handles.
Somewhere in the half hour drive, all the information that construction son has about 'the crap his Mom is willing to do for others and the crappy way she is often treated' culminates into...
"I'm going to treat her to a full inside and outside cleaning of the Hummer."

Simmy heard the rather sturdy sub-woofers pull into the driveway. As the story unfolded, Simmy enjoyed hearing all the 'stuff' that had occurred to create this story. She repaid construction son for the oil change and thanked him for the car wash.
After a day of hearing the awful news that this little story started with, it was just the perfect thing to...
help a Mom feel loved... especially one who is trying to love others.
http://romancedesigner.blogspot.com/2010/12/department-of-waylaying-handle-it.html
At least I didn't use street vernacular this time... that's progress!

All Comes Down to Motive

Sam and Simmy just finished watching a movie called, "The Oxford Murders."
"The only perfect crime that exists is not the one that remains unsolved, but the one which is solved with the wrong culprit." -quote from the movie.
"I have been really struggling to understand the 'moves' people make to repay the perceived wrongs that have been done to them and I have decided that all behaviour has a root in some type of motive."
"That's pretty vague," Sam said.
"How many people have you and I met in life who create a 'oh, I'm so poor' scenario and then when you've known them for a few years... you find out that their definition of 'poor' means that they may have to cash in an R.R.S.P. to help their daughter pay for a wedding... just an example. It was that way with Northerner and 20th Century free woman."
"What?" Sam laughed. "Who is that again?"
"You know, that couple we used to go to church with who had themselves an awful itch when the woman who held both of their investment portfolios' started attending the church."
"Oh, yes," Sam was highly amused now, "we had no idea they had investment portfolios' until they confided in us about how uncomfortable they were with her attending the church and having that information."
"I was kind of angry at expecting everything free 20th century woman after that," Simmy said.
"Oh, you've spent your life being generous to the point of bankruptcy. You're just angry you gave some of your resources to her because you later found out she had plenty and was just willing to take what little you had," Sam ruffled her hair.
"Um, yah, that always makes me mad. Seriously, what was her motive in trying to create this persona of poverty?"
"Um, yah," Sam mocked her back, "she wanted to keep her money exactly where it was."
"My parents raised us to stand tall and deal with it when things are tough... and eat oatmeal. It's cheap!"
"People don't exactly perceive hard times the same anymore, love. You'll have to realize that," Sam said to his idealistic wife. "Most people would live in a cardboard box as long as they don't have to give up their cellphones and, of course, the cardboard box must be within Wi-fi proximity."
"So, wi-fi...ght it?" Simmy imped.
"Funny, very cute," Sam said with his drone tone.

Right Thinking vs. Wrong Thinking

Simmy asked youngest construction son what the topic of their sermon had been on Sunday.
"It was about new thinking," he replied.
"Hmm, new thinking is a good topic but, when I pray, I ask for right thinking," Simmy replied.
"Well, how can anyone know what is right thinking? Everyone thinks they think right," he said.
"You need to develop a series of tests for yourself to constantly run your thoughts through... kind of like the pre-trip inspection every truck driver is required to do before they set off on their day. The reason for the pre-trip inspection is, 'so that all harm to the driver and all others on the road can be avoided by spotting possible problems and fixing them before the driver sets off.' Or, think of it as a water purification system, always filtering out what is bad for you to give you the chance to operate at optimal capacity."
"What are some of the questions?" Young son challenged.
"First question, I believe, is... who or what will suffer harm if I do this or don't do this?" 
"If you want to hear it in the positive... who or what will benefit if I do this or don't do this?"
Those two questions should fulfill both the alpha and the omega thinkers.

Revenge Series- Part 1

'Revenge served up cold'

Simmy thought, "I'm now ready to write about my thoughts on 'revenge.'
The last year and a half had been a long healing process from the effects of experiencing the knife of revenge.

Wikipedia has a good definition of 'Revenge (also known as vengeance) is a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. Although many aspects of revenge resemble justice, revenge is usually depicted as more injurious and punitive as opposed to being harmonious and restorative.
Whereas justice implies actions undertaken and supported by a legitimate judicial system grounded upon a foundation of ethics and morals of the majority, revenge implies actions undertaken by an individual or narrowly defined group outside the boundaries of judicial or ethical conduct whose goal is to force a wrongdoer to suffer the same or greater pain than that which was originally inflicted to a party.' End quote.

A review of separate, yet equal, incidents of revenge, perpetrated on Simmy and Sam had very similar components.
1. The vengeful actions all came from relatively close individuals.
2. The perpetrators and victims had all expressed a connection to God at some point in their lives.
3. All the perpetrators involved, expressed, 'innocence in their actions' or 'remained mute on the subject.'

'There is an old saying that tells that... the best payback is the one that comes with planning, and that brings the most horrendous pain to the enemies when they are not expecting and are just enjoying the fruits of all the dishonour they brought upon you. One must wait so he/she can really inflict pain to those who wronged them. Careful planning is necessary so your enemies will suffer terribly, but you won't be harmed by the Law or by your enemies' allies.' Somewhat revised quote taken from Urban dictionary.

"I would suggest," Simmy said to Sam, as she showed him the photos of her experiment, "that the good taste of revenge probably lasts as long as the lapsed time in the photos... maximum a minute."
Sam just nodded his head.
'Within a minute, I'd say that the arguments and reasons and actions all blur into confusion, leaving the perpetrator of vengeance wondering what this is all about anyway.'   
Oldest construction son looked over at the computer with annoyance and spoke into his earphones, "My Mom is uploading some photos onto the internet."
His tone was such that Simmy knew he was joking with her. He turned around and said, "Those look like teeth ex-rays."
"Oh," Simmy looked at the photos again, "Thanks, I'll use that."
She re-worked the photos and,... Voila!

The mouth shape was a little wonky but... that is what happens when we enact revenge instead of forgiveness, yes?
So, here is my thinking on revenge vs. forgiveness.
At some point in a process of offense, a person decides whether they will take revenge or offer forgiveness.
Revenge is usually obvious... the perpetrators and their cohorts know when it is being enacted, and the victims know when it is being enacted. 
Forgiveness is less obvious if the victims walk away from a gang of perpetrators because 'nobody can change the mind of others, yes?'
That work must be left to a higher power.

Little Mountainview Road

At Little Mountainview  Park, Simmy snapped a photo of a tree and Sam asked, "Why are you taking a picture of that tree?"
"Are you kidding? It's a Tom Thomson tree!"
"Okay, if you say so," Sam said.
There were no trails indicating cross country skies had made an appearance in the park this winter, yet.
The only thing marking and covering the ground were dog tracks.
Lots of them.

"Hold still," Sam laughed as he took another wonky picture of Simmy.
"Let me see," said Simmy. "Erase, erase, Oh, not a good one,...
Erase,
Ooh, Yuk!
"This one's okay!"
"Okay, your turn. go pose! Stand by the tree."

"Okay, you are a poser, Sam. I didn't know that," Simmy laughed.

"Want to stop and have a little sit down?"
"Are you kidding? It's -20 C out here. Let's get back to the Hummer."

Great day to take photos. The air is so cold and crisp, you can photograph breath.