With news of Congressman Anthony Weiner's indiscretions the word "Hung" has frequently been heard. "Hung Over" too entered our conversations. Many asked if he was. "Hung Up" played a powerful role in reflections. "Hung Out to Dry" seems to be the consensus. Crowds of Congressmen and women, citizens from each political Party, and even those who claim no loyalties, say, The Representative must be renounced. Few wish to admit that Anthony Weiner is but you and me.
Supreme Court Justices, who served under Chief Jurist Brennan, perhaps, make three. Any of us might easily say, as the Justices did decades ago; on the subject of obscene or outrageous, "I Know It When I See It." We each do. Still, the definitions vary.
While few of us are officially appointed to write "codes" of conduct, as the Supreme Court Justices are, we too avidly watch the actions of another and judge.
Another year has come and gone. Everywhere she goes she hears people speak of New Years resolutions. They all say this time will be different. I will decide to do as I had not done previously or at least had not done well. Countless commit to a life of calorie counting. Others merely muse that they will exercise more. Drugs, drinking, there are also discussions of these concerns. People are confident. This year I will deliver myself from what I think evil. A few philosophize as to their personal career path. Change is the objective. A greater goal is thought to be golden. As Author Mary Anne Radmacher reflected and now millions whisper as their mantra, "Live with intention . . . Choose with no regret. . . . Do what you love. Live as if this is all there is." Therein lies the problem.
Come 2009, I will commence on a new path. I will exercise regularly, smoke not at all. A healthy diet will become my regime. On Monday, January 5, my life mission will be realized in my work. The opportunity to inaugurate again, to give birth to me at my best will inspire a rejuvenation. Today, I resolve to . . . not make a single New Years resolution. In truth, I never have committed to change. Yet, the person you see before you is not the same being that might have appeared on any other day, of any other year. I have evolved, and so do we all.
As the calendar pages were torn away, with few left to view before the New Year, she would ask herself, "How did I let this happen?" She knew. Yet, she did not wish to speak to what had occurred. It was easier, more socially acceptable to assume that she just overate. Thus, she would look at her body and study the bulges. There were more lumps and bumps than there had been before. As the months passed, her bulk increased. She could just as well have watched her frame dwindle to nothingness and asked the same question. However, were she to be thinner the thought might not have occurred to her. As many are, she would have been blissful to be skinny. That definition was not hers to hold. This woman was fat.
They observe how little she eats and then they say, "She eats like a bird." She wonders, ??Do they know how much birds eat?' Might I inform them that birds will eat their own body weight daily? Would it matter to them? Why should I bother to discuss truth, for they are certain they know exactly what truth is. They think they know me; yet, they do not even know themselves. Criticizing me is their entertainment. I can show contempt towards myself well enough. I do not need their help.
They watch my weight and say that they are worried. They are awaiting my passage. They believe I want to die and think I am working towards this vision. I am not; I never was.