She had a magic mirror. Every morning she stood before it, looked at herself, and said:
"Mirror, mirror, on the wall,"
"Who in this land is fairest of all?"
"Who in this land is fairest of all?"
To this the mirror answered:
"You, my queen, are fairest of all."
Then she was satisfied, for she knew that the mirror spoke the truth.
So, you think this is a fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, do you? Where do you think the story "Snow White" came from; why do you think it was written?
The answer is obvious, should you look for it and think about it. It is based in a fundamental truth: There are such people.
We all feel that way to a degree, but some people really, actually, truly do more than merely think it .... some absolutely believe it .... and, there even are some who look in the mirror and see not just beauty, but a self beyond ordinary mankind. They see someone who is greater than special, someone who is uniquely unique, someone who surpasses a mere mortal. In reality, they are not special; they simply are pathological .... often dangerously so ....
We all feel that way to a degree, but some people really, actually, truly do more than merely think it .... some absolutely believe it .... and, there even are some who look in the mirror and see not just beauty, but a self beyond ordinary mankind. They see someone who is greater than special, someone who is uniquely unique, someone who surpasses a mere mortal. In reality, they are not special; they simply are pathological .... often dangerously so ....
Vladimir Putin is one.
Barack Obama is one.
Saddam Hussein of Iraq was one until the hangman ended his life. Muammar al-Gaddafi of Libya was one until he received a bullet in the head. Hugo Chavez of Venezuela was one until natural causes ended his life. The "Castro boys" of Cuba -- Fidel and Raul -- continue to be. Bashar al Assad of Syria continues to be one. I could name any number of others, including some in living memory much more notorious, such as one an Austrian/German and one a Georgian/Soviet, but I suppose a few people would object to identifying true heavy-weights with light-weights. These are men who would be dictators, tyrants and are, in fact, lawless psychopaths to one degree or another.
The bottom line is that these are (and there are many) individuals whose entire lives revolve around their narcissism. Some people are paranoid; some people are schizophrenic. This is true. But, less recognized (or, at least, less acknowledged) are people who are so absolutely and profoundly wrapped up in their own "mirror, mirror on the wall" mentality that they are incessantly obsessed with a "grand illusion" of themselves. And, if they have a certain amount of charisma and ambition, they have the ability to lead people like lemmings over the abysses into some sort of destructive oblivion.
The next time, for instance, you are being led down a path following someone proclaiming "global warming" as the "greatest threat" civilization faces today (Obama's words), pinch yourself, look in your own mirror, quit being a hero worshipper and examine the motives/psyche of the piped piper who is leading you in that direction. Frankly, I think it goes beyond that level, but enough for now.
Some people wonder why civilization advances so slowly. It really is fortunate it advances at all, given the fanatics who rise to power on occasion and interrupt order and stability with their grandiose self-indulgences -- and, by that means, disrupt (and sometimes end) the lives of ordinary people. Beyond that, there are times when civilization is at a standstill or, such as now, when it even retreats a bit simply because there are too many mirrors in the world.
To conclude with this thought from Lewis Carroll in "Alice in Wonderland:"
"Take some more tea," the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly.
"I've had nothing yet," Alice replied in an offended tone, "so I can't take more."
"You mean you can't take less," said the Mad Hatter: "It's very easy to take more than nothing."
The moment is gone, but not the memory
As for the music, listen to it. It explains
in itself why music from the 1970s and a few years on either side, give or
take, surpasses more before it in a contemporary sense and absolutely anything since then. Actual art actually is not present for every generation that comes and goes on this Earth. Just about everything in life is hit or miss, which most of us figure out somewhere along the line.
Finally and most importantly .... happy birthday, kid .... the day you were born -- March 5 -- is locked into my memory .... in my mind, I am there once again in the blink of an eye .... happy shooting ....
Finally and most importantly .... happy birthday, kid .... the day you were born -- March 5 -- is locked into my memory .... in my mind, I am there once again in the blink of an eye .... happy shooting ....
22 comments:
I found your post via A Cuban in London, discussing English grammar and "the way wot she is spoke" type of thing.
Your comment there was interesting and pertinent. I then went to your blog and this too is most interesting.
I shall keep an eye on you!
Greetings, Philip ....
I have seen your comments on CiL's page from time-to-time, and appreciate your visit to my page. I began this blog in 2009. CiL and I have formed an actual friendship (I feel) over the years even though, in many ways, we are point/counter point in terms of our beliefs. Cool, hah ?? Only one other, a young lady from Norway, Anita, has been a constant and (almost) consistent companion between our blogs since 2009 in the sense of leaving regular comments. Others sometimes come back, but seldom leave their words. It fits my belief that the blogs create few actual friendships.
As you can tell, I have a habit of rambling on and on.
I will visit your blog in a day or two, and I hope our visits to each other will continue. I need to learn more about life among the Brits ....
Thanks for your reply.
I fully understand how you feel about 'friendships' in blogland. I have NEVER met any of the people I've followed but some have had a massive impact on me. Three have passed away and I felt a huge sadness when they died. One was a brave lady who posted under the name of 'Nolly Posh Dreaming' and at first I had no idea that she had been battling cancer. Her constant insistence that she was winning was inspiring. And then came the sudden punch on my heart that she had "gone home", written by a loving relative. I wept. And even now, years later, just writing this makes me feel deeply sad. There were two others who died after a long illness.
Now I consider two people as real friends and I know they both have painful problems.
So, like distant pen-pals of yester-year became friends without ever meeting them we now have Blogger and I am sure many firm friendships have been made as a result.
I seldom post on my blog nowadays, preferring to read others instead. I comment on them now and then.
There are thousands of 'bloggers' and most come and go. It is such a pity that many excellent writers tire of posting and just fade away but I can understand this.
Glad to meet you, so to speak.
Regards, Phil
Thanks for a very honest post. Would that honesty were common amongst our politicians, both back home and in our adoptive countries :-)
Love Kansas, love Dust in the Wind. Thanks.
Greetings from London.
Dear Fram!Thanx for mention me in your post to Phil:))
Agree with your words in this post..Its soo good written I am astonished.You can write so well.
Beautiful pick of images too..and music!
I hope all is good with you and family Fram!I got not soo much to talk about,,very tired after working many nightshifts..Only listening to music and watching old movies of course!
Hope to see more from you soon!
Greetings Anita xxx
I would like to comment back in length about blog friendships/relationships, Phil, but I am packing and preparing to depart early (for me) Friday morning for a long weekend with my son and my former wife. So, I will go with a few sentences now and pick up on it again another day.
I have written periodically about the coming and going of people on the blogs, and I am the type who does have a tendency to worry about someone who abruptly vanishes. I also have two or three people I look for in addition to CiL and Anita who visit me with frequency, but who rarely leave comments. I have had ongoing email communications with three or four others during the past six years, but, usually, not at the same time. And, I have made it clear I am keeping my eyes open for "Ms. Perfect," should she drift by in the ethereal realm of the internet.
Well, I will leave you wondering where I am going with this .... maybe, into a new post in the days ahead. Thank you, for your return and I will find my way to your blog in a day or two.
What can I say, CiL? I am as guilty as anyone of playing the games people play, and, you might recall, I have written about my "talents" as a chameleon when working as a reporter. I have used people and lied and become a "friend" to some I disliked simply to get a story. But, I like to think these things were done in the sense of public service and not for personal glorification or some abstract feeling of superiority.
Anyway, I "calls them the ways I sees them," in terms of my beliefs and opinions, even if it means shooting myself in the foot (figuratively speaking ) now and then.
Thank you, for stopping by, CiL, and, for sure, Kansas was a great band and "Dust in the Wind" may well have been the band's greatest song.
Hey, Anita .... of course, I would mention you when talking about blog friendships because you probably have been with me the longest among those who still regularly and routinely visit me and write a comment. CiL has to be in the same neighborhood in terms of longevity. Think of it: We have been together since early 2009.
As I told Phil, I am heading out in the morning to spend a long weekend with my son and my former wife at her home, so it will be an interesting and, I think, an enjoyable few days.
Thank you, for the compliment about my post. As I have noted in the past, I have some uncles and cousins who are Lutheran pastors and others who are medical professionals, including a psychiatrist. There are times I seem to look in a mirror and to think I see a reflection of those professions in my face/psyche, and I produce a sermon in the form of a post. (Actually, I consider my first journalistic experience to be writing objective analyses of sermons .... I might explain that sometime ....)
Thank you, Anita, for sticking with me. Perhaps, our paths will cross on a beach in Cyprus some day.
Well you sure know how to make an working class hero girl happy.How much would i love to sit under the lemons tree and dicuss a book or a movie with you!
May be it will happen too..who knows..Alex is getting older and more indepent I get..You know kids is the most important thing right now..Love or deep friendship is actually a second priority ..
I rembember well the first time i met you.I was in a state of Love hurts feeling and started to blog about it..You suddenly dropped by out of nowwhere..and told me..I love to see woman knitting and embrodering..Then the story started between us.All those moments..-You in a little rented house..Snowing in..Me dreaming about Minnesota and The Emigrants with Liv Ullman and Max von Sydow..
To make a long story short..Yes the friendship has been good.Entertaining and sometimes difficult.You are not the man you think will agree with you in all kind of things .And thats good.I dont like to be treated as a puppy or a love doll..but simply as a woman.A human.(I think hehhee)
Ok off you go with your family and enjoy your self!Interesting you got a son!what his name!and is he like you?
Iam so happy you get along very well with your former wife..The best that could happen.
Here in norway I got some time free from work.A female friend of mine wants us to drive all the way The Vidden..(the high mountains.).To Geilo or Hønefoss..But I really dont want to get stuck on in a snowstorm..Sitting in a car--so we will see..
Have a good weekend Fram..Iam off to make breakfast to Alexander.Schooltime.
Greetings Anita
xxx
Hope you have a great weekend with your son.
Greetings from London.
Olá Fram!
A imagem é bonita e bem curiosa.
Os contos de fadas versus realidade foi bem tecido e elaborado. Políticos são todos iguais. Todos eles são perigosos e cruéis. Mente como fosse uma coisa normal, como estivesse contando uma piada. Acho que por isso que o mundo anda de mal a pior.
Adorei o videio, sou fã de Kansas, gosto muito de Dust in the Wind. Uma das minhas preferidas. Ela foi gravada por alguns cantores brasileiros.
Gostei muito da postagem!
Uma ótima semana!
Um ótimo mês de março!
Um punhado de sorriso !
You have been busy here at my post and at your own blog, I see, Anita, while I have been absent.
I am glad you have pleasant memories of our blog history. I am pleased our paths crossed six years ago, and find it fascinating that we have had ups and downs here at times, but always "kiss and make up" and remain friends. That makes me curious, in a way.
I will not try to reply to any of your recent comments specifically. Last week and this post seem so far in the distant past that I cannot focus on them this evening. In fact, I am having a bit of difficulty focusing on the present. My mind is in the future.
So, I will say thank you, Anita, for coming here once again and for a very sweet and considerate response to my post and my comments. I will visit your blog during my Tuesday.
To quote an old, old cliché, CiL: "A good time was had by all."
Thank you, for coming to visit me once again. I have read your last post, and I will stop at your blog again later in my evening to comment.
I see you have a new post, Smareis. I will travel to Brazil through the magic of the internet later during my Tuesday to read it.
In the meanwhile, thank you, for coming here and for leaving your words. The image was one I simply found on the internet and used; the song is a wonderful piece, for sure; the words are mine, and probably reveal too much of the contempt I have for "men who would be kings." In some ways, I wish dueling still were legal .... or, in the least, medieval-style jousting. I have a number of gauntlets I would be throwing down.
And, mostly, thank you for your "handful of smiles." They often keep me going when I am blue ....
Obrigada Fram pelo comentário inteligente na minha postagem.
Fizeste boa viagem ao Brasil pela magia da internet? Sorriso!
Foi bom te receber no Brasil risos.
Um punhado de sorrisos!
Ótima semana!
Well, maybe, just maybe, some day I will reach Brazil my means other than the internet.
Although it is a considerable distance from where you are, Smareis, I have wanted to take a river trip up the Amazon since I was a boy. I have been on a number of rivers, but I think the Amazon would be the most majestic and the most frightening upon which to travel.
Incidentally, I learned only a few days ago how strong a relationship the United States and Brazil had during World War II. That was very pleasing to discover.
Thank you, Smareis. I always enjoy your presence and your words.
I'm lost as to how narcissism relates to a comment about global warming or any other claim. I have no idea whether Obama is a narcissist or not, although I wouldn't be surprised if he were. You omitted mention of other recent presidents, so I wondered how you felt about them. I very much enjoyed the music.
Greetings, Snowbrush .... I just noticed your comment on this post I published a couple of weeks ago. It is approaching 2:00 a.m. for me, so I will give you a brief response.
The first point to me is that anyone who, after observing six years of Barack Obama's presidency cannot grasp the magnitude of his narcissism either has not spent much time studying human behavior or has not paid much attention to Obama's actions. As far as other recent presidents, he is the only one in office right now, consequently the only one I am interested in at the moment.
Again, without going into detail, thousands of people in the Mideast are being murdered, for instance, many in an atrocious manner. The United States has the power to lessen these atrocities, and anyone whose primary activities are fund raising events and who publicly states global warming as the most serious problem mankind is facing is either delusional or completely obsessed in a narcissistic manner with his own agenda. Frankly, I think Obama is morally bankrupt. I think he has done damage to the safety and security of the U.S. and to the world that may never be undone.
Again, it is late at night for me. I do like to do point/counter point commentaries, but I am not into long, drawn-out arguments between people who have their minds made up, and it appears we both do in a political sense.
I saw your new post this evening, and plan to comment, but not until the sun shines again. Take care and thank you, Snowbrush, for coming to visit, to read and to comment.
“The first point to me is that anyone who, after observing six years of Barack Obama's presidency cannot grasp the magnitude of his narcissism…”
I wouldn’t spend time denying your point, but I couldn’t see how it followed from your example. Also, I would assume that most politicians are narcissistic, but the extent to which this accounts for their bad behavior is generally unknown. You’ve heard, I guess about the Congressman who just resigned. Now THAT guy is a screaming/jumping-up-and-down narcissist who is so into himself that he’s clueless about how he appears to anyone else. I suppose what I get most from Obama is that he’s so mad that he has a fuck-you attitude toward the entire world. The man does appalling things—all of his gum-chewing for example is so tack and contemptuous that it’s like writing graffiti all over the oval office.
“Frankly, I think Obama is morally bankrupt.”
Yes, pretty much. He’s a failure in many ways and at a deep level.
I guess this was like hamburgers and French fries for me. Barack Obama and global warming/climate chance and narcissism may not create a logical example in this instance, but the things I get the most worked up about are Obama's (lack of) style of governing and the rhetoric of doomsayers regarding global warming: When I think of one, I think of the others.
Write this off to amateur hour if you wish, but as a once-upon-a time reporter and a once-upon-a time "mini" prison warden, I have spent the proverbial countless hours observing actions, styles, body language and other aspects of individual behavior to determine their honesty and their opinions of themselves. Imagine having to decide if a convicted felon is ready to be released on a work-release program or on parole. There is no room for error. I did hundreds, and never missed once. I take my evaluations seriously and professionally, and admit there is a certain amount of luck involved. And, I had the opinions of counselors, case managers, psychologists and correctional staff to consider, as well.
And, which does not mean political beliefs are not present, as well, when Obama and politics are part of the equation. But, Obama displayed many characteristics present in convicted felons who I interrogated and/or interviewed (both words apply), that I actually left the country for a while after his election. I came back for a family situation, and I would have left again had not a series of family circumstances arisen one after another.
To be honest, I had never heard of the congressman you refer to before his resignation, but I would place him in a "mirror-mirror" context, and more in the category of being overpowered by grandiosity than narcissism. (Maybe, they are the same thing.) Apparently, he also has been voted the "best looking" man in Congress by some media or other in the past; I was voted the boy with the best looking hair and legs in high school, and it still makes me smile and goes to my head a bit. I can only imagine the congressman's vanity. The incident with the congressman leads me to believe only individuals between the ages of 50 and 60 should be eligible to serve in Congress.
All of us are narcissistic to a degree, but I think Obama's self-image/self-indulgence are pathological, psychotic and dangerous to a measurable degree, given the powers he wields. If I were a Christian, I would be praying he does not mess up this country or the world any more than he already has during these last two years he is in office. To be honest, I really think he is delusional; that he has significant mental health issues; that he makes Richard Nixon look good.
Nice to see you again, Snowbrush, and I will try to keep some distance between narcissism and global warming in the future, even though both apply to the Obama persona.
“the rhetoric of doomsayers regarding global warming”
The doomsayers being climatologists, I tend to agree with them, and am glad that I will most likely be dead before things get too bad.
“Obama displayed many characteristics present in convicted felons…”
I’m not the least bit surprised. My disgust for him is such that I have no interest in anything he has to say about anything, and I too envision him as potentially dangerous, although I would actually worry even more if a Republican were in office because they are as rigid, petty, and mean-spirited as the Church of Christ people that I grew up among. Juliana’s remark about Obama “not loving” his country rings true for me. I think he went in with high hopes, was treated atrociously, and is consumed with contempt and a desire for revenge. I doubt that he will go completely off the deep-end, but nothing would surprise me.
If there is a more inexact science than climatology, I am not sure what it might be .... scientology ??
The earth's climate is in perpetual motion, constant change. Witness "the Little Ice Age," for instance, or "the year without a summer" -- 1816 -- the result of the volcanic eruption of Mount Tambora. Things mankind does might affect earth's climate in different ways at different times, but "spaceship earth" is its own master and commander, from my viewpoint, and it largely does as Nature pleases. The quest for money and power form the seeds which opened the climate change debate.
I had no candidate to vote for in 2008. Barack Obama was a two-bit phony, a con man, I thought from the very beginning. John McCain was a politician who "never saw a war he did not like," I have thought for a very long time. I have difficulty believing a man with his background could so consistently be on the wrong side of issues. He really is not very bright.
As for the 2012 election, I think Mitt Romney would have been good for America from an economic and societal standpoint. Foreign policy was the question mark, but it is difficult (for me) to believe anyone could have done a worse job at it than Obama.
Take care, Snowbrush, and see you around ....
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