Peggy's Musings

Music Makes the World go Round

Naturally, music doesn’t REALLY ‘make the world go round,’ but it certainly adds a lot of pleasure to the trip. And it can be a great way of connecting with others – since it really is the ‘universal language’ in that people who don’t speak the same language can still enjoy music together.

Not only is music a great way of connecting with others, but it’s also a great way to spend time alone. In fact, when you’re alone, you can use music to either calm you down or rev you up. For instance, you can listen to soft, calming music to relax – or you can put on something very upbeat and dance yourself silly for the sheer pleasure involved. (And it’s also great exercise.)

I was reflecting on the versatility of music due to my own personal experience over the past couple of days. Last weekend I went to the local park where there are weekly outdoor music performances by different groups. This week it happened to be my favorite genre – the Blues. One of the great things about the Blues is that all ages seem to enjoy it. A lot of music is geared specifically toward old or young, but the Blues seems to be able to move everyone. In fact, the small dance floor in the park was quickly filled and people were dancing all over the grass, including kids as young as 3 or 4 as well as senior citizens. And many people danced without partners, which is indicative of the freedom inherent in this music. Even those just watching (and listening) were clearly having a great time.

Then today I received a CD I had ordered of one of my all-time favorite Broadway Shows, “A Chorus Line.” I saw the show on Broadway many years ago, and a touring version is coming to our town next month. Since one of my granddaughters is actively involved in singing/dancing/acting, I got tickets for the two of us to go to the local performance together – just another example of how music can be a great way of connecting.

I never guessed when I was growing up – singing and playing piano – that someday I’d have the pleasure of seeing these interests reflected in my grandchildren. I have three granddaughters, and while one is very much into musical theater, the other two are extraordinary pianists. Nothing pleases me more than to watch and listen to the three of them as they pursue their particular musical preferences.

The wonderful thing about music, however, is that you don’t have to have any musical talent to enjoy it. It’s available to everyone and can be a great way to either boost your spirits or to relax you. So I hope you’ll find your own way of incorporating the pleasure of music into your life - because it really does ‘help’ the world go round more smoothly.

The World is Flat

“The World is Flat” is the title of a book by Thomas L. Friedman (originally published in 2005 with updates in 2006 and 2007) in which he describes the patterns behind the most complex global developments in our world today.

Naturally, he doesn’t literally mean the world is ‘flat;’ he means it is ‘connected.’ No human and no country is an island unto itself. Rather, everyone is impacted by whatever happens anywhere in the world. This is not a ‘pessimistic’ view of what’s happening; it’s a ‘realistic’ view. But a failure to recognize this new reality can turn into a negative if we (people and governments alike) fail to accept this new world order and continue trying to live as in the past.

The book’s subtitle is “A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century.” It may sound strange to write about the ‘history’ of a century that is only 8 years old. But it’s not about trying to ‘predict the future;’ it’s trying to illuminate the present, pointing out where this could lead us in the future.

Perhaps you find these kinds of books to be too serious or too complex or too boring to spend time reading. But those who are the least informed are likely to be the ones most damaged by the dynamics in this new ‘connected’ world.

For instance, it’s relevant for each of us to be informed about the impact of China and India (and many other countries) on our own economy and our way of life. The cost of oil/gasoline and the pollution resulting from the expanding use of it is affecting all alike. We may hear about the growing automobile market in China (as well as their increased use of energy of all kinds) and fail to recognize its impact on everyone on the planet. Or we may look at the haze covering most of China, comparing it to the pollution in the U.S., and think we’re doing OK. But when you learn more about the interconnectedness of all these factors, you realize that you ignore it at your own peril.

The author of “The World is Flat” is not trying to ‘scare’ us; he’s trying to enlighten us about the new world in which we live. However, it’s not just books like this that provide ‘wake-up calls.’ We can learn about these changes just by paying attention to the many news stories about what’s happening to the way business is being done today. Examples of the blurring of lines between countries’ holdings include reports of the many purchases of U.S. companies by other countries. Most prominent in the news recently were the purchase of the Chrysler Building by Abu Dhabi and the pending purchase of Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. (makers of “America’s Beer,” Budweiser) by InBev, a company in Belgium.

The same kind of points are being made by another important author, Fareed Zakaria, whose book “The Post-American World” also describes the changes that are taking place in the world order, again focusing primarily on the rise of China and India. He is also not trying to ‘scare’ people. As he points out in the first chapter, “This is a book not about the decline of America but rather about the rise of everyone else. It is about the great transformation taking place around the world, a transformation that, though often discussed, remains poorly understood.”

Our challenge is to become informed so we can be fully engaged in the world of the twenty-first century. There’s no going back, only going forward. And the sooner we begin the path to recognition of what’s involved in living in this new ‘connected’ world, the better off we’ll be, both individually and as a society.

P.S. You can read more about the two books mentioned above by going to Amazon.com. See: The World is Flat and The Post-American World.

Taking your Medicine

Most of the time when you hear the phrase ‘taking your medicine,’ it refers to having to face the consequences of some unwise action. But I mean it literally. I’ve been taking 3 different medicines for a week now (with one more week to go)—and I hate it. I take no medications on an ongoing basis, so this feels like an insult to my system. Actually, it’s just an aggravation due to the side-effects, particularly the constant metallic taste in the mouth caused by one of the medications.

I know it’s silly to complain – because many people have to take some kind of pills every day. And maybe the fact that I’ve been so fortunate in avoiding that situation is what makes it all the more difficult to deal with. Also, it’s hard to remember what to take when – since I take 2 in the morning, 1 at noon and 2 at night.

I’m really good about dealing with health issues that others would find more difficult – like the fact that having a blood test involves repeated efforts before finding a vein (5 tries last time). I can watch that process, even offering suggestions based on my personal experience with what works best in succeeding. But it’s the basic garden-variety health issues that get me down.

I think my impatience with minor health-related problems is because I work so hard to AVOID them. Of course, rationally I know that we don’t have the power to control all the things that can go wrong with our bodies. (In fact, it’s amazing that more things don’t go wrong more often, given the complicated machine that is the human body.)

I may be more sensitive to health problems because of the environment in which I live – which is a ‘senior community.’ (Actually, the age requirement is only 55, which hardly seems ‘senior.’) But since there also are a lot of elderly people who use walkers or wheel chairs, they serve as a constant reminder of the difficulties when the body fails to function well.

I try to use my regular exposure to people who are struggling like this as a reminder to be thankful that I’m still fit and healthy. In fact, another constant reminder of how well people can cope with health problems is my mother-in-law who is now 100 years old! Understandably, she has quite a few health problems, but she never complains and constantly says that she’s thankful she can still be ‘up and around.’

So those of us who are generally healthy need to keep the perspective of how fortunate we are – and not complain about minor irritations like I’m experiencing. In fact, I hope that writing this will reinforce my determination to overcome the foolishness of my complaining about the temporary inconvenience of taking my medicine.

Summer’s County Fair

Both for better and for worse, County Fairs offer a little bit of everything. I spent an afternoon at our local county fair this past weekend, and I must say that for me personally, the ‘people-watching’ was my favorite activity. There was a huge crowd made up of all kinds of people from all walks of life—and, as usual, I found it absolutely fascinating.

Strange as it may seem, one of my favorite activities at the fair is watching what is billed as the ‘Swifty Swine Racing Pigs.’ These are races around a small track involving 4 little piglets. I had seen it before and looked forward to it again this year—and it did not disappoint. For a ‘simple pleasure,’ it doesn’t get much better. They are, like most little animals, ‘too cute.’

Lest I seem incredibly shallow, I also enjoyed many of the ‘nicer’ features of the fair. My favorite was a very large judged exhibit of furniture and other items made of hardwoods. My husband has been a life-long woodworker, having made many beautiful items from hardwoods. In fact, many years ago we briefly had a gift shop where he made all the display cases as well as some of the items we sold—from chess sets to wooden earrings. So I’m able to appreciate exceptionally fine work, and the exhibit at the fair was the BEST!

Another simple pleasure at fairs like this is finding real bargains in the exhibit areas—as long as you’re careful to only buy items you really want and need. For me, it was ideal in that I found a very unique gift for my youngest granddaughter’s birthday later this summer.

Speaking of children, the fair offers many, many rides—which seem to delight all the young people. I once enjoyed many of these rides, but after a pretty harrowing time on a rollercoaster a couple of years ago, I’ve decided I’ve had enough and will leave this to the kids.

Another potential pleasure at the fair is the food. But it’s also the greatest potential danger—because almost all the food seemed to be fried, including ‘fried Twinkies.’ However, I made a couple of very enjoyable food stops, once for a charbroiled chicken kabob (shared with my son) and later a frozen banana dipped in chocolate. The food, combined with logging well over my 10,000 steps for the day, meant it was an overall positive day physically as well.

Fairs obviously exist in a kind of ‘other world’ that I wouldn’t care to visit more than once a year, but they’re somewhat representative of what summer is supposed to be. It’s such a traditionally familiar scene that it can be comforting to briefly visit that other world as a reminder of one of this country’s many simple pleasures.

Laughter that Makes us Think

The best kind of humor is that which makes us laugh – AND makes us think. That’s a good description of the humor of George Carlin, a unique kind of comedian whose voiced has now been silenced. He had survived several heart attacks and bypass surgery, but his heart finally gave out and he died on June 22, 2008.

I just read some of the reporting about his death and began reflecting on my fond memories of his work.
Back in the 70s when he turned ‘hippie,’ he became very well-known for his famous routine, “The 7 words you can’t say on television.” In response to some of the criticism he received for this routine, he turned it around, saying: “Tits doesn't even belong on the list, you know. It's such a friendly sounding word. It sounds like a nickname.” I couldn’t help but agree with his assessment of the arbitrary nature of the 7 words. In fact, years later this word was even glorified in the Broadway musical, “Chorus Line,” by one of the breakout songs, “Tits and Ass” - referring to what a dancer needs beyond talent.

As a mainstream wife and mother of two kids, I was an unlikely fan, but somehow his mischievous spirit captivated me – and my whole family. In fact, when we took a family vacation to Colorado in the summer of 1976, we couldn’t resist attending a George Carlin concert outdoors at Red Rock. We found we were not alone in our interest in his humor. People from all walks of life and all ages were in attendance – including our own two kids, ages 14 and 12. (We had some of his recordings at home, so they were familiar with his routines and were not exposed to anything they hadn’t heard before.)

Anyway, while his early days were ‘entertaining,’ in later years his humor morphed into a heavy focus on ‘social commentary.’ For instance, several years ago I saw him do a routine on TV about ‘saving the planet’ in which he stated the obvious (which many others are now pointing out as well) - that ‘the planet’ will go on just fine, regardless of what we do to it. The real danger is to the survival of us ‘humans,’ not the survival of the ‘planet.’ (Apparently cock roaches can survive long after our abuse of our home planet has made us ‘humans’ extinct.)

George Carlin’s influence on the public discourse was NOT just because he had some interesting insights; his influence was only possible because he delivered those insights with a heavy dose of humor. He recognized the same truth expressed by Mary Poppins: “Just a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down.” We were much more likely to think about what he had to say because he first made us laugh.

A sad footnote to his death is the fact that many doctors recommend ‘laughter’ as part of the treatment of many illnesses – including heart disease. For instance, one study made the following observation: "We know that exercising, not smoking and eating foods low in saturated fat will reduce the risk of heart disease. Perhaps regular, hearty laughter should be added to the list.”

It’s unfortunate that all the laughter George Carlin provided to others through the years was not sufficient to heal his own damaged heart. But his example can serve as a reminder that most of the time we take ourselves far too seriously and that life could be far richer, both for us and for those around us, if we took more time for the simple pleasures in life – like laughter.

If you’re interested in hearing George Carlin’s 7-minute rant on ‘saving the planet,’ you can check out this clip on YouTube: Saving the Planet. (This routine makes extensive use of ONE of the ‘7 words you can’t say on television.’ And, be warned that if you’re so inclined, YouTube has several versions of the old routine about the 7 Words.)