THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - VICISSITUDES

My Uncle Eddie was a rather unsympathetic character except for his own personal woes, which, according to him, were many.  Whenever anyone complained to him, his stock response was, "That's the vicissitudes of life." What he meant was, "This is about you, and I don't want to hear any more."

Since I've been accused of being overly concerned about correct grammar usage, I do realize that Uncle Eddie's statement is not grammatically correct.  The statement is a quote, an exact quote - I know because I heard the words often.

Perhaps I should have titled the post "Uncle Eddie's Thought For the Day", but the thought is mine, though the words belong to Eddie.  Eddie was a character in more ways than I can count.

UPDATE: Len wanted to know a bit more about Uncle Eddie, the character.

I remember Eddie calling his wife and my aunt, "Evaaa, bring me a glass of water," as he sat in his chair. She would. Eddie was puny and had asthma, but we were never quite sure how sick he was - surely not too sick to get a glass of water. Eva coddled him, and maybe she was right to do so.

Eddie's major claim to fame was that he once played with the New Orleans Pelicans minor league baseball team back in the day before a man had to be a hulk to play baseball.  Also, he proudly carried the name of an old New Orleans French family.

Before she met Eddie, Aunt Eva dated a Baptist gentleman for 20 years, but they never married because Dukey (real name John Blank) would not agree to raise their children Roman Catholic. When it was nearly past time for them to have children, Eva was suddenly swept off her feet by Eddie, and they eloped. Eddie was divorced, and, of course, there could be no church wedding, but suddenly that was not so very important to Eva. We never could figure out what was so attractive about Eddie to cause her to do such a thing.  Perhaps she was intrigued by taking on the old French family name, for there was not a whole lot else about Eddie that the rest of the family considered impressive.  He may have been a bit of a wit, but I can't remember any specific witticisms.

KVETCHING ANYONE?

On Facebook, I noted a number of instances of kvetching that the media over-hyped the threat posed by Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene. As I watched the news coverage of Irene, I did not at all see the coverage of the storm as overdone. Predictions of paths and intensity of hurricanes are not precise, even with the technological resources now available to track the storms.

Some who were only mildly affected by Irene seemed almost to be a tad disappointed that effects of the storm were not more serious in their area. Since I live near the coast in south Louisiana, I've endured the watching and waiting many times, and I've never thought news coverage was overdone, and I'm no great fan of TV news. Each time the worst effects of the hurricanes or tropical storms by-passed my area after we appeared to be under threat, my reaction was one of relief and gratitude, while at the same time I felt great sympathy for those who were affected badly by the storm.

From CNN:

Flooding emerged as a major concern Monday for states hit by Irene, which hit the East Coast as a hurricane and then a tropical storm over three days.

Even as Irene weakened to a tropical storm, authorities warned that its impact was not waning, especially in Vermont.

"Many Americans are still at serious risk of power outages and flooding, which could get worse in coming days as rivers swell past their banks," President Barack Obama said Sunday, adding: "The recovery effort will last for weeks or longer."

Officials said the storm had knocked out power to more than 4 million people and was responsible for at least 21 deaths.

Never, ever will I forget the commentary after the worst of Katrina had passed through New Orleans that the city had, in effect, 'dodged a bullet', only to have the levees break and flood large areas of the city, killing nearly 2000 and wreaking massive destruction. The kvetching has now died down as we know more of the devastation that resulted from Irene, but what I read pained me at the time.

Let us pray for those who were killed in the storm.

Let us pray for those who grieve for lost loved ones.

Let us pray for the safety of those who may yet be in danger from flooding.

Let us pray for those whose homes were destroyed or massively damaged in the storm.

Let us pray for those who lost their businesses or their jobs.

Let us pray for those without electrical power, especially those who may be without power for days or weeks.

I've only scratched the surface in listing those who are in distress from the storm. Pleas pray for all who were harmed in any way by Irene.

Click on the link below to watch a slide show.

Photos: Hurricane Irene Aftermath | Denver Post Media Center — Denver, Colorado, Photos and Video

Do read Rmj's post at Adventus, titled 'Still the view from Manhattan'.