Anger Has No Eyes

I got the idea for this poem a couple of days ago from our local newspaper. Under “Words to Live By,” there was this ancient Hindu saying : “Anger has no eyes.” That line inspired me to expand it into a poem, which I completed in less than two hours.

In the poem, I have tried not only to capture the essence of anger as a negative human trait but also to distill the emotions and the dynamics involved in its expression. Although anger has many different sources and manifestations, I am limiting the poem to the general negative meaning of anger to which I believe the Hindu sage was referring. This is just a rough first draft. If the poem were to be considered for publication, it would need many more hours of polishing.

Anger has no eyes
Says the ancient sage.
It boils in a cauldron of hate
In the bitter juices
Of unremitting rage.

Anger has no eyes
To view the outer world.
It sees only its own fears
And its remembered tears
Amid a seething swirl.

Anger has no ears
To hear the voice of Love.
It has a clenched fist
In an iron glove,
And strikes at the torrid air.

Anger has an acrid tongue
To launch a bitter slur
That slashes and burns
Digs up and churns
A past that is but a blur.

Anger feels the fiery frenzy
Of tempers heated with hate.
That erupt in a rage
And let the demons uncage
In the grip of a spiteful spate.

Anger has the smell
Of a stagnant well
That fills the air
With the stench of despair
And opens the gates of hell.

Making a Movie

Last week I posted a story about a woman poseur. She deceived a wealthy friend of mine into believing that she was the widow of a famous general and also that she was a gynecologist at a local hospital. Later, the truth came out - she actually worked at a drycleaners. I said I thought it would make a good movie. This post is a sequel to that one.

If some major event or events in your life or the life of someone you know were to be made into a movie, what title would you give it? Assuming that you or the person you know could not play the lead role, what actors would you choose to play yourself or the other person and the others in the movie? Do you have a favorite director for directing the movie? Why would you choose that person? Would the movie be a comedy or a tragedy? Would the movie have a lot of action in it? Woody Allen always has a lot of music in his films. What songs and performers would you like for the soundtrack? What kind of rating would your movie have? If you so desire, write a narrative such as the one I did titled “Mistaken Identity"; or you might choose to write a plot synopsis of the movie. Here is an example of a plot synopsis of a 2006 movie “Just Friends”, starring Ryan Reynolds and Amy Smart:

Remember that fat kid in high school who was “best friends” with the hottest girl in school? Well , the odds are that you do remember him, or you were that guy - probably minus the hot chick. Well, imagine if 10 years have passed and he is perfectly fit, rich, and dating models.

The year is 1995 and Chris Brander and Jamie Palamino are best friends. Chris loves Jamie, but Jamie does not acknowledge it because he weighs 350 lbs. When Chris is publicly humiliated by classmates and rejected by Jamie he swears to return to New Jersey a different man.

The year is now 2005 and Chris Brander is a much leaner, wealthy, suave record company executive. When some unexpected events land Chris back in his hometown, he can’t help but feel that he has something to prove. He finds old friends and an old love, and an opportunity for redemption.

Pretend that I am a movie producer and you are submitting your story for my consideration. Good luck.

The Number of the Beast

One the bloggers on Blogstream, commenting on one of my recent posts, said that she is not superstitious but has some concern about the number 666. That number is seen as an evil number and almost puts terror in the hearts and minds of some believers. The final book of the New Testament is Revelation, and for centuries theologians have pondered its highly symbolic, prophetic language. Revelation tells of impending Armageddon, an end of all times when a great war will be fought between good and evil, and God will triumph. In Revelation, "the beast," also called the Antichrist, personifies evil.

Revelation Chapter 13 speaks of the beast and how to identify his followers. According to verses 16 and 17, they will have the mark or the name or number of the beast on their right hands or foreheads. Verse 18 introduces the number 666 itself: "Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six."

Many people find ways to avoid 666, the "Devil's number", even in contexts that would seem on first sight to be far removed from superstition. For example, when the giant CPU manufacturer Intel introduced the 666 MHz Pentium III in 1999, they chose to market it as the Pentium III 667 on the pretext that, since the actual clock speed was 666.666 MHz, 667 was the more accurate approximation—conveniently ignoring their own usual rounding practice: as examples, consider the earlier 66.666 MHz 486-66, the 466.666 MHz Celeron 466, or the later 866.666 MHz Pentium III 866.

In 2003, the designation of U.S. Highway 666, which runs through Utah, Colorado, and New Mexiso was changed to US 491. This action resulted from the theft of numerous 666 highway signs and the growing controversy over the use of the number of the beast for one of the nation’s highways.

I just recently have heard that some supermarket meat departments will not sell prepackaged meat that has a total of $6.66 on it. They will add just enough meat to bring the price to $6.67. The meat departments have found that many people will not buy a package of meat with the number 666 on it.

The concern of the previously mentioned blogger, as expressed in her comment on my post, brought to mind a little gem I picked up a number of years ago at, of all places, a carnival. That blogger’s concern is based on Rev. 13:18, the last verse of the chapter, which says that the number of the beast (AntiChrist) is that of a man, and that his number is 666. The verse then challenges us to have wisdom to calculate the number of the Beast. "Here is wisdom, Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six."

There might be some of my younger readers who have not heard this story about the number 666. Apparently, when Nazi Germany was on the march in Europe in World War II, there were those who claimed that Hitler was the beast mentioned in Revelation. And to prove that he was the beast, the purveyor of the story used the following argument:

If you number from 100 to 125, and assign successive letters of the English alphabet to each number, the letters in the name of HITLER add up to 666.

100 A
101 B H = 107
102 C I = 108
103 D T = 119
104 E L = 111
105 F E = 104
106 G R = 117
107 H ___________
108 I
109 J The total is: 666
110 K
111 L
112 M
113 N
114 O Was Hitler the beast that was prophesied in Rev. 13:18?
115 P
116 Q Obviously, he was not. He is long dead and buried. Then the blogger
117 R who fears the number of the beast and other believers like her must
118 S think that the AntiChrist is still waiting out there somewhere ready to
119 T pounce on us. Would you care to hazard any guesses as who the man is?
120 U What is your evidence? Does it have to be a man per se? Could
121 V it also be a group of persons or corporations (which legally have the status
122 W of persons).
123 X
124 Y
125 Z
What about the mark of the beast as mentioned in Rev. 13:17.

And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Reporting technology is currently in place which eventually could be used when the edict is issued to take the mark of the beast in the right hand or in the forehead in order to buy or sell or be killed.

Are you ready to "Get Chipped"?

According to some authorities, a rice grain-sized microchip implant placed under your skin somewhere in your body would contain your financial world, medical history, health care — it would contain your "electronic life". If cash no longer existed and if the world’s economy was totally chip oriented; — there would be a huge "black-market" for chips! Since there is no cash and no other bartering system, criminals would cut off hands and heads, stealing "rich-folks" chips. How would you like to "borrow" Bill Gates' chip for a few days?
Terry Waite, the Anglican Church envoy who spent five years as a hostage in Beirut, sounded a similar alarm concerning biochip implants:
"It is very dangerous because once kidnappers get to know about these things, they will skin you alive to find them," (New York Times, June 20, 1999)

Well, what do you think? Please add your comments to my post.

Remembering Those 1960’s TV Commercials

How many of these TV commercials from the 1960’s can you identify?

1. What was the name of the product that advertised “Take it off, take it all off?”

Remember the guy who shaved to the strip tease music, while the lovely female model enticed us with the can? This was one of the most effective ad campaigns of the Sixties.

2.What cleaned like a white tornado?

Critics would often cite these commercials as examples of what was wrong with TV advertising, complaining that they were infantile and condescending to women in particular. But they got results.

3. What was the product that advertised “He’s got Go-Power?”

This is one of the first spots featuring a cartoon character. In the early sixty second commercials (later reduced to thirty seconds), everything rhymed and the kid would save the village from all sorts of natural disasters. When he only had thirty seconds, he went from saving the entire community to rescuing his girlfriend Sue.

4. What sugary cereal was advertised by Tony the Tiger?

In the Sixties and Seventies, cereals were proud of their sugary content, and many cereals featured the word sugar prominently in the product name.
That practice went out with the health conscious Eighties, the word sugar was replaced by words like 'golden' or just dropped entirely. Not that the sugar content dropped any, just the wording.

5. What was the color of the jolly giant who lived in the valley?

This one's from the mid-sixties, as the food giant was moving into more specialized products. The voice of the jolly giant was Elmer "Len" Dresslar Jr, who died in October, 2005.

6. What product softened your hands while you did the dishes?

Outspoken Manicurist Madge delivers the shocking news for the first time in this spot: "You're soaking in it!" She went on to deliver that same line to her hapless, dried-out customers for another three decades.

7. What product featured a white knight on a horse who would point his lance at people in the park and their clothes would turn magically clean?

This product also claimed that it was stronger than dirt.

8. What product was heavily advertised during Saturday morning kiddie cartoons with the catchy jingle: "The rai-sunniest bran under the sun - that's me!" ?

The character of the unhappy sun who wanted to be a raisin was dropped after a year or two.

9. What product angered Hispanic groups in 1970 by creating a stereotyped character who went around stealing their product from everyone? What was the name of the character?

Mel Blanc provided the voice of the character.

10. What product had a little guy who went around promising liquid refreshment but instead delivered a sock on the jaw?

This little animated character started out as the one being picked on, but when the commercials were cut to thirty seconds, he suddenly became the aggressor. There was no time to show the little guy being pummeled, the justification for his outrageous behavior.

11. What company gave us the initial appearance of the doughboy?

After three decades of the doughboy, ironically, Americans are starting to look more and more like him. Or maybe that's not ironic at all.

12. What product had a flavor so good, it was fit for a king?

Later the slogan changed to "So good it's fit for a queen".

Well, how did you do? If you are 55 years old or older, you should be able to identify at least nine of the commercials. If you are between 50 and 54 years old, you should know at least seven of them. If you are between 46 and 49 years old, you should recognize at least five. If you 45 or under, you should recognize at least three of them.

Answers:

1. Noxema Shaving Cream
2. Ajax Liquid Floor Cleaner
3. Cheerios
4. Kellogg’s Sugar Frosted Flakes
5. Green
6. Palmolive Liquid Dish Detergent
7. Ajax Laundry Detergent
8. Kellogg’s Raisin Bran
9. Fritos (Bandito)
10.Hawaiian Punch
11.Pillsbury
12.Imperial Margarine

How to Mend a Broken Heart

When wealthy Japanese mend broken objects,
They repair the damage
By filling the cracks
With gold.

They believe that when something
Has suffered damage
And has a history,
It becomes more beautiful.

So the next time
You have your heart
Broken by another,
Do not try to mend it
With the epoxy of despair.

But repair the damage
With the gold of hope,
And the promise of tomorrow.
And know that your mended heart
Now has a history,
And will be
Even more beautiful.