Porthole

Where's home?

flash's comment is excellent. Once one knows/sees the face/name/sprit of a being (be it a tree, a monster, your neighbor, an alien) it's much harder to kill/muder/exterminate. That's why Jackson's story "The Lottery" is so horrifying; it breaks that rule. And why dehumanizing dead civilians, referring to them as 'collateral damage', allowed the War in Iraq to not evoke as emotional response (in the US) as the American hostages held by Iran in '80. Much easier to care about missing famous people than the girl down the street you never spoke to. So yes, a ghoul may have the same response. Never look at dinner's face; never give breakfast a name. Much harder to eat Piglet than pigs raised on a factory farm.

For Friday's QotD: "Talking to my friend who has agreed to be my lawyer lifted a burden and put a smile on my face. Since I don't trust anyone it was important to cross that bridge. It's a load off my mind. Because I've stepped over the threshold of old age I need to have a will, health and financial proxies, someone on my side. I really needed that years ago, but that's history. Looking forward, aging isn't guaranteed to be easy."

I was in deep anguish at a school in the Great Lakes. I will not mention which one. I despised my dorm and my roommate; the feeling was mutual. I couldn't drop out unless I wanted a one-way ticket to Viet Nam. My draft number was #49. I was a goner. I decided to switch schools.

Excerpt from Road Trip 1872 (plus 100 years) [ASR] from On The Write Path 

Third Place in Week 2 of Octoberfest 2021

Award by 🌑 Darleen - QoD
to

Firefly  (13+) this gossamer weighing nothing / alighting upon my bones that hold spare flesh #2260230 by Kåre เลียม Enga

I wrote and posted 4 poems today the 17th.

On to the 18th.

I told Viv: "I felt at home when I lived in Kansas in a way that I didn't where I grew up. I moved to different places to grow but they were never home. Oklahoma was enticingly alien, but not home. Kansas part deux wasn't as easy after 40 years; we both had changed. Montana can be comfortable in some ways but it isn't 'home'.

To an extent we are like turtles, we take our home with us. I felt perfectly safe in Japan and Taiwan but could they be home? The Balkans would take some adjustment, but I feel good there. Norway is extremely safe and pleasant but it's hard to make friends. Portugal is closer to where I'm at ... but I will change as will the Portuguese.

I adjust. Or I leave. I should never have moved back 'home' years ago. The price I paid was too high."

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