All Categories - trish hermanson

Whatever Happened to the Age of Aquarius?

10/30/2021

A half century ago the age of Aquarius promised me personal perfection with bliss as sublime as a stroll along a beach. But since then, I’ve aged fifty years with wrinkles to prove it. So here’s my updating of the anthem “Aquarius”:

When my decades increase
And my back’s not feeling fine,
Orthotics guide each step,
Everything’s out of line.
This is the dawning of the age of A-A-R-P,
Age of Medicare Part B.
Seniority. Seniority.

Vegetables and lots of fiber,
Surgeons and prescribers.
No more flattery or delusions.
Golden living with confusions.
Hope I don’t get a contusion
Or go into some seclusion
From Forgetfulness. Forgetfulness.

When my decades increase
And my sight isn’t clear,
Myopia makes things murky,
Can’t see from there to here.
This is the dawning of the age of A-A-R-P,
Age of Medicare Part B.
Geriatrics. Geriatrics.

Aquarius was nonsense,
Like today’s QAnonsense - a modern-day sin.
So let’s give up all false hopes
And conspiracy tropes - toss them in a bin.
Let’s look to the light to give insight - may the truth roll in.
Face reality. Embrace reality. Let reality in.

We Got Trapped in the Covid Maze

10/15/2021

Question: how many of Snow White’s seven dwarfs visited Duane and me these past two weeks when we were trapped in the Covid maze?
     Answer: All seven. Between us, we received visits from Sleepy, Dopey, Sneezy, and Grumpy (sorry, honey). We were in touch with a Doc, and we had to be Bashful - required to quarantine at home. Oh yeah, I didn’t mention the seventh dwarf, Happy. He visited when friends and family texted, called, and left food at the door - wonderful!
     It could have been so much worse. Our names could have been added to the list of the more than 700,000 who have died from Covid in the U.S. Each death is a loss, someone missing from the dinner table. However, we were both vaccinated, so our symptoms were lessened.
     If you haven’t been vaccinated, I encourage you to do so. We know of one man whose vaccination was scheduled in four days, but he contracted Covid and died - a tragic end to his life, a traumatic grief for his family.
It doesn’t have to be that. Please don’t wait.

Covid Stole His Career and Home but Not His Heart

9/30/2021

The Covid financial downturn stole Rollins’ career and his home - but not his heart.
     With degrees in astrophysics and molecular biology, Rollin had sold scientific equipment for two decades. But the pandemic dried up his business and his bank account. “You think this will never happen to you.” He smiled as we talked in a park. “But it can.”
      Rollin turned to traffic flagging until some guys stole his wallet and i.d.s, then he ended up huddled by a dumpster at night. It was next to a Christian mission where humble folks offered him food and hope.
     “I’d blamed God for everything,” he says. “Then one day I heard an audible voice - not from a person - that all this happened for a reason.”
     “What reason?” I asked.
     He smiled. “So I can give.”
     Then a medical setback. A doctor who offered free medical care told Rollin that with his ongoing muscular sclerosis he has only a year to live. “First I was depressed. But I decided to see what I could do in 365 days.” So each day he walks streets where the homeless hang out, telling about the hope he has from Jesus. “They trust me.”
     As we talked, he shot his trademark grin at some homeless near us. He excused himself to greet them and approached with a friendly “hello.” Observing him, I wondered what I would do if I knew I had only a year to live. Perhaps I should do those things now because I don’t know what my life span is.

September 07th, 2021

9/7/2021

I knew Patti growing up - same little town, same little church - until time and geography separated us. Then I read that she’d become Dr. Patti Giebink, Planned Parenthood abortion provider, wearing a bullet-proof vest and carrying an S&W 357 Magnum for security. By providing abortions, she wanted to protect women from back-alley procedures.
     But Patti’s done an about-face. Today she regrets providing abortions. Why? Partly because she says the cultural and medical landscapes have changed, and partly because “we’re left with one final thing to reconcile: Life, no matter how small, deserves protection.”
     But what if Roe v. Wade is overturned? Could we end up with back-alley abortions again? Patti doesn’t think so. In her compelling new book “Unexpected Choice,” she says, “…we are not in those times anymore - socially or technologically.” She believes the stigma of being an unwed mother is gone. “If anything, it shows admirable strength and fortitude to take on single motherhood.” She points out that the majority of pregnant women in America today are unmarried and in monogamous relationships, not considering nuptials necessary.
     “Abortion is not the panacea we originally thought it was,” she says. “There are no longer any noble reasons for resorting to it. And we now recognize the risks and residual effects that abortion creates.”
     So instead of arguing over “rights,” perhaps it’s time to extend compassion to those who are considering abortion or who have had abortions.
     We’re in “a new dawn,” Patti says. Times have changed.
      ***
  Patti Giebink’s remarkable journey, “Unexpected Choice,” is available here.

Why Didn't I Listen to the Lorax?

9/3/2021

Five decades ago a prophet name Lorax
foretold the future from the heart of his thorax.
He warned about greed in harvesting trees
and smog and pollution and coughs and a sneeze.
Now fifty years later we’re fighting the fires
and storms and mud slides that make our lives dire.
We’re mopping our brows from heat that consumes us
and wondering if all of this climate will doom us.
So why didn’t I listen to the Lorax back then?
What did he say to which I could attend?
I go to the words of the Lorax and Seuss
and hope that my brain will not be obtuse:
“UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
So what can I do from my home and my scene
to make this world better, more green and more clean?
It’s really not all that terribly confusing.
Turn off lights when not using, drive less - no excusing.
Recycle, repurpose, be water-use wise,
then my carbon footprint might decrease by one size.
I’m only one person, that’s true of you, too.
But get us together, we’re a human zoo
of people who dare to care for this space
and take it back now from how it’s disgraced.
We’ve got a great calling, it’s big and it’s great
to care for God’s Earth - let’s not wait!