HOMO ESCAPEONS

Sunday, May 25, 2008

COLONIZING

According to my new National Geographic, there are still OVER ONE MILLION HUMANS who live under Foreign Rule.

Apparently 50 years ago the UN decided that Colonialism must end.

Can you guess which two countries refuse to comply with the UN and are keeping the 'Colon' in Colonialism?

The first two guesses don't count!

(cue Jeoprady theme)

doo doo doo doo

doo doo doo

doo doo doo do dooo do-doo-doo-doo

The United States &

the United Kingdom!

The present SUPERPOWER, the USA,

is still hanging on to American Samoa, Guam, and the Virgin Islands.

The previous SUPERPOWER, the UK,

is still on the hook for Anguilla, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, Pitcairn Islands, St. Helena, Turks and Caicos Islands, and the British Virgin Islands.

New Zealand is dealing with Tokelau and France is letting New Caledonia vote next decade.

Whatever!

Check out this list of countries what a schmozzola!

Now there are 192 members in the UN and all sorts of other made-up thingamabobs called overseas collectives, unincorporated territories, blah blah blah and places that other countries don't recognise like Taiwan.

Why does the Vatican still get a free ride?

What Century is it anyway?

Unfortunately Homo Escapeons don't like to share and I'm all for a good neighbour fence but isn't it time that we started getting the next generation to start thinking about being Earthlings instead of (insert Nationality here) ?

THE GRANDADDY OF ALL CHRONICLES

These are my Maternal Great Grandfathers,

Jacob Fast

b. 1867 Russia, d. 1928

Johannes Simonson

b. 1875 Sweden, d. 1956

my Grandfathers,

Joseph Coppens

b. 1906 Belgium, d. 1979

Mel Simonson

b. 1907 USA, d. 1968

This is a photo of my Father,

Firnie,

who passed away at the age of 46 on May 29, 1980...

I can hardly believe that in a few days he will have been gone for 28 years.

Here is a cool old photo of my Dad with his Dad way back in the 30s,

and me and my mine way back in the 50s.

Because my Dad died in his mid forties, I have assumed that I have been living in what I have called the bonus time.

Naturally I really started really thinking about my mortality when I turned 45,

and when I actually made it to 50,

I breathed a sigh of relief.

Tomorrow I am going to yet another funeral.

BradHughes, who I had known for over three decades, died of Cancer at the age of 53, leaving behind a wife and a very young daughter, who is about the same age as my youngest son.

The worst thing about LIFE,

is the unpredictability of your term..

which is why you need to enjoy it,

NOW!

However I realised the other day, that because of this silly blog, someday my kids may have children of their own, and my future grandchildren will not need to stare blankly at some crappy, old, musty, sepia, photo, and wonder what their Grandpa was like.

All of these postings and comments will give them a pretty good idea of what I was like...

in fact, they will prolly know far more about their Grandpa (and even Great Grandpa) than they ever wanted to know...

well TFB!

That is cool though isn't it?

Hopefully they can do a post of their own that starts off with something like this..

This was my zany Grandfather

Donn

b. Canada 1957 d. 2057...

Friday, May 23, 2008

ARE YOU DAIMONIC?

Do you think that we invent the our authentic self as the Existentialists believed, or do we discover it, as Socrates pondered when he said that the unexamined LIFE is not worth living?

Here is a new term for you to chew on.
EUDAIMONIA

Which means a state of well being and full functioning that derives from a sense of living in accordance with one’s sense of authenticity.

According to an article in Psychology Today some of the characteristics of a eudaimonic life include;

“Being open to experience without censorship or distortion
Living fully in the moment, so the self feels fluid rather than static
Trusting inner experience to guide behavior
Feeling free to respond rather than automatically react to life events
Taking a creative approach to living, rather than relying on routine”

Here is their technical description of authenticity;
“the unimpeded operation of one’s true or core self in one’s daily enterprise.”

To thine own self be true.
Self awareness requires honesty. We are all both Extrovert and Introvert.

Believe it or not I was once a painfully timid and shy kid who would wait in the car while my parents visited friends.