tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post8342122368611137143..comments2024-03-28T22:01:11.059-04:00Comments on Murder is Everywhere: We all will be together, if the fates allow…Ovidia Yuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749549092493567689noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-35096962379233506192015-12-08T14:33:25.940-05:002015-12-08T14:33:25.940-05:00I echo Kate Gaaison's good comment! Thelma St...I echo Kate Gaaison's good comment! Thelma Straw , also a New Yorker of almost 50 years!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-62616445919181176662015-12-07T14:42:52.485-05:002015-12-07T14:42:52.485-05:00Kathy, I am so glad you liked this idea. I send y...Kathy, I am so glad you liked this idea. I send you and yours a Merry Christmas and many blessings in the New Year!Annamaria Alfierihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12311596277267789834noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-59717161092102046272015-12-07T13:35:03.608-05:002015-12-07T13:35:03.608-05:00Annamaria, thank you for sharing your beautiful tr...Annamaria, thank you for sharing your beautiful tree and ornaments with us. I, too, have a hodgepodge of ornaments, and they are, each and every one, so special to me. And, I have those special ornaments from favorite places to which I've traveled. Your close-up photos gave me a great idea to take such pictures of the ornaments and label them so my children and grandchildren will know their significance. I've talked to them about where and when the ornaments are from, but a written record would be awesome.Kathy Reelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17004247271452356577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-10591234172117606312015-12-07T09:53:17.591-05:002015-12-07T09:53:17.591-05:00Thank you, Kate. Love to you and your family!Thank you, Kate. Love to you and your family!Annamaria Alfierihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12311596277267789834noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-23832894237442475932015-12-07T09:52:07.801-05:002015-12-07T09:52:07.801-05:00Bro, my tree is a pagan one, I guess. Lights and ...Bro, my tree is a pagan one, I guess. Lights and evergreens are symbolic. Have been for millennia. You were in NYC after 9/11 so you must remember how it was then that we all starting lighting up any trees we could find. The city still does that. AND we light menorahs. And buildings. And windows. And fires escapes. Those lights light me up! Annamaria Alfierihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12311596277267789834noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-62734822223158704832015-12-07T09:47:39.252-05:002015-12-07T09:47:39.252-05:00I had hoped that. Love to you and yours!I had hoped that. Love to you and yours!Annamaria Alfierihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12311596277267789834noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-50234501663983592015-12-07T09:46:21.492-05:002015-12-07T09:46:21.492-05:00You are so right, EvKa. Having lived very close t...You are so right, EvKa. Having lived very close to the 9/11 attacks and lived through it with my family, my friends, and my city, I can tell you this: Within hours of the fall of the towers, we were taking about standing up to it. The only people I saw who were fearful, including my own daughter, had very young children to protect. One colleague who lived only a few blocks away was forced to leave town. It was a year before she could come back because her apartment was contaminated. But NO ONE said anything but "We REFUSE to be terrified."<br /><br />Sadness is another matter. A friend was the CEO of a company that occupied floors 94-97. They lost 79 people. He was never the same.<br />For me, it is that sadness that needs the comfort I found in my memories--of all those anonymous people in all those places, who were lovingly going about their business. The world is full of beautiful them. Mostly, everybody is beautiful them.Annamaria Alfierihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12311596277267789834noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-15353520322664941292015-12-07T09:43:35.453-05:002015-12-07T09:43:35.453-05:00Ah, beautiful. Thanks.Ah, beautiful. Thanks.Kate Gallisonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06107289413804236810noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-76238729771784805282015-12-07T08:09:33.829-05:002015-12-07T08:09:33.829-05:00Thank you, Sis, for reminding me of the Christmas ...Thank you, Sis, for reminding me of the Christmas trees of my youth. Not mine I assure you, but of my friends. Heirloom family ornaments brought out each December from carefully tucked away storage and hung on real trees to create a different world for a few weeks in the tiny living rooms of working class Pittsburgh.<br /><br />That's the only new world I'm up for.Jeffrey Sigerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00718317707555064653noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-40726087576814852882015-12-07T04:50:19.989-05:002015-12-07T04:50:19.989-05:00Thank you, Annamaria. I think we all needed this.Thank you, Annamaria. I think we all needed this.Michael Sears (of Michael Stanley)https://www.blogger.com/profile/09886295534214542834noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-75331813543608816212015-12-07T00:53:04.120-05:002015-12-07T00:53:04.120-05:00We, too, have a green pickle ornament. We hide it...We, too, have a green pickle ornament. We hide it inside the tree, and then whoever finds it first gets a special prize.<br /><br />As for the murdering, hating bastards out there, f*ck 'em.<br /><br />One morning, years ago now, I was driving to work in my usual drive-to-work fog, thinking about who-knows-what, and there was a car in front of me poking along. I wasn't really thinking too much about them, and when we came to a straight stretch, I pulled out and started to gently accelerate to pass them. After a little bit, I realized I wasn't gaining on them, and about that time they started pulling ahead, as they were accelerating, too. So, I pulled back over behind them, and the young woman in the passenger seat stood up and waggled her arse at me, then sat back down, laughing and flipping me off. I started to get pissed off, then suddenly came to my senses: I was not about to let THEM control my emotions, ruin my morning. So they went their way, and I happily went mine. It took a very conscious effort of will to maintain a pleasant attitude and ignore them, but practice makes perfect. Their punishment was that they had to live the rest of their lives with themselves, while I got to live the rest of my life with myself.<br /><br />Now, I realize that's pretty minor stuff compared to mass murder. But it relates: I refuse to let these murdering sh*theads force me to live in fear, or to turn my life into an armed camp, or to otherwise ruin what's good about OUR lives. They may be able to take my life or the lives of others, but until they do, they won't take anything else from me. They may be able to choose some of our deaths, but *WE* choose everything else about our lives, not them.<br /><br />Choose well.<br /><br />Everett Kaserhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12371555243187874414noreply@blogger.com