Wednesday, November 20, 2013

The Panda Bear on Thanksgiving, Literature and Modern Repression

Next week is Thanksgiving Day which is a day where Americans are supposed to be grateful for what they have. The Panda Bear can accept that for one day in the year we can take time to appreciate what we have. However, there are some people who feel we should now have a gratitude month where we spend the month feeling grateful for what we have. The Panda Bear has tried to follow some Facebook pages which for everyday in November its followers are supposed to list something for which they are grateful. After a few days of these upbeat pages the Panda Bear will get impatient. Why can't people just admit that life is nasty, brutal and short? The Panda Bear starts feeling pressured to be happy which she rebels against. She will start feeling that it is her right to be grumpy
and gloomy if that is what she feels.

In a similar overly optimistic vein, the Panda Bear read an essay by a literary critic which stated that no more great novels could be written because we modern folks did not experience tragedy and repression like they did in the good old days. The Panda Bear was wondering what on what planet this critic lived. The United States right now experiencing war, random violence and high unemployment rates. Probably many people in the United States lack basic human necessities. Many people are in physical pain (Mr. Panda has had a toothache for the past three weeks and Mother Panda hurt her leg so the Panda Bear has recently been hearing of people complain about being pain all the time). People still die. There is much corruption in politics. In the United States do we have any privacy at all with the NSA spying on us all the time? We are still experiencing the stuff of great writing.

 However, the Panda Bear things one reason people like old books is because it is safer to experience the emotions that come with yesterday’s problems then come with today's problems. Our present chains are still invisible to usand to function we need to repress some of our conflicts with modern society. The Panda Bear knows what bothers her about modern society. She dislikes the constant rushing around; she wants more leisure to enjoy life. She thinks there must be more to life then jobs that have grown stale and chores that she dislikes to do. The Panda Bear wants to relaxed and creative rather than busy and organized.

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

The Panda Bear on Colds, Feeling Tired and the Federal Goverment Shut Down

Today at work the Panda Bear was feeling tired. A coworker said to the Panda Bear, "What is the matter with you-you are always complaining about being tired." The Panda Bear was upset; she did not think she had complained that much about being tired. True for the past couple of weeks the Panda Bear was more tired than usual. She found the time change difficult. The Panda Bear wishes there was daylight savings time all year. She would rather it stay light at the end of the day than have the extra light in the morning. The earlier it gets dark the earlier the Panda Bear feels sleepy. In addition, the Panda Bear had a cold over the weekend. She spent almost two days sleeping but is now feeling better. The Panda Bear used to have colds that lasted all winter.

The Panda Bear has learned to slow down when she has a cold; she does believe that this makes the colds shorter. The Panda Bear realizes that she is fortunate that she can take it easy for a couple of days. The Panda Bear Blog is about the right to be tired. It is a human and animal emotion. Recently, the Panda Bear has heard some hard working people complain that they have days that they feel tired and don't get much done. The Panda Bear feels everyone could use some down days from time to time. About ten years ago, the Panda Bear was feeling tired all the time and had colds that lasted a long time. She was working full-time at a stressful job and going to school at night among other activities. Finally, the Panda Bear realized she had to slow down. However, the sad thing is that no one told the Panda Bear to slow down. Indeed, the Panda Bear had to learn to say no to people. The Panda Bear never heard "Panda you work so hard-now just take some time off". The Panda Bear learned that the more you do the more people often expect from you. Now that the Panda Bear has slowed down she still feels tired SOME of the time which is better than being tired ALL of the time.

In some previous posts, the Panda Bear stated she had written to her US Representative and Obama requesting that the US immediately withdraw its military presence from Afghanistan. The Panda Bear received an e-mail back from her US representative stating he supported President Obama's policy. She has not received any acknowledgement from President Obama regarding her e-mail. The Panda Bear wishes to end this post by stating that she things the shutdown of the Federal Government was the greatest waste of government money ever. Many people don't realize that the Federal workers were paid in full for the period that they weren't working. Now as a taxpayer the Panda Bear the Panda Bear would much rather pay people to work then not to work. The Panda Bear thinks if the plan is for the Federal workers not to lose any pay, the US government should keep them working while it tries to resolve its budget problems.