Life Markers of a Political Blogger

November 22, 1963…. My great awakening: Life Marker #1.
I came home from school and saw my aunt sitting in front of the snowy screen of our black and white TV. She was sobbing like a little kid whose pet was just run over by a car. When I inquired about what happened I was told that the great American President, John F. Kennedy, had been assassinated. To comfort her, I sat in silence with my aunt in front of the TV while the news reports replayed over and over the clip of JFK’s last moments. My aunt stayed fixated on the TV screen sobbing bitterly for what appeared to be hours if not days.

Fast forward to mid 1990’s .... JFK, the creation of my Internet addiction: Life Marker #2.
I became addicted to the internet as a result of a project to which I was assigned while doing my MBA. It culminated in my discovery of the JFK library website. The audio clips (no YouTube then) of JFK speeches and the transcripts of them provided hours of fascination. To my horror, I discovered that by coincidence (if there is such a thing) and unknowingly, my husband and I had chosen the 12th anniversary of JFK’s death as our wedding day. To this day JFK’s “Ich Bin Ein Berliner” speech and my wedding anniversary bring tears to my eyes … just like my aunt in 1963.

August 31, 1997…. The death of all dreams: Life Marker #3.
As I watched the reports of Princess Diana’s untimely death on TV and, in the days following her death, the large number of people crying openly in public, I started to think that this mass of tears was about more than just a death of a famous person. It seemed to me like the true death was of something much bigger than a single individual … almost like the death of all dreams. Did my dreams die that week also?

We all have markers in our lives - moments in time that mark us forever… things we just cannot forget. Events replay themselves over and over again and no matter how hard we try to forget nothing allows us to erase them from memory. I have worked to keeping my life’s markers subdued for many years but without much success. A couple of years ago, as my markers started to invade my dreams, I started to realize that people who suppress their markers often define themselves in a negative way - as ‘NOT’ being this or that instead of positively as in, “I AM that”. It was at that time that I started to, first subconsciously and then consciously, revisit my markers and deal with them head-on. Simply put, I wanted to live in truth instead of make believe.

The realization I arrived at is that many of my life markers are extremely tragic, and almost always political and mysterious in nature. Previous to this I defined myself as apolitical but that was never the truth. With so many of the mysteries surrounding my life markers about to be revealed, it appears that my life is about to get very exciting. It should, therefore, come to no surprise to anyone that most of my blog entries will discuss daily political events, their (often hidden) meaning. I hope to help bring some perspective and relevance to the events of the day. While this is my journey, I sincerely hope that you will join me in my adventures.