Golden Rule Day ~ April 5th

The student is correct, but the teacher fails.  She apparently does not know that the Golden Rule is a universal principle shared by nearly all cultural, spiritual, religious, and secular traditions on earth.  She may know only one of these versions in the Christian New Testament.

• Matthew 7:12 ~ "In everything, do to others as you would have them do to you, for this is the law and the prophets."
• Mark 12:31 ~ "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
• Luke 6:31 ~ "Do to others as you would have them do to you."

The Jewish scriptures are also in the front of her Bible, but the teacher doesn't seem to know that.  The Torah says:

• Leviticus 19:18 ~ "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
• Leviticus 19:34 ~ "You shall love the alien as yourself."

Islam also has a version of the Golden Rule.  Muslims find theirs in Surah 4:36 of the Qur'an and in the Hadith:

• Surah 4:36 ~ "Do good to parents, kinsfolk, orphans, the poor, the neighbor who is near of kin, the neighbor who is stranger, the companion by your side."
• Hadith ~ "As you would have people do to you, do to them; and what you dislike to be done to you, don't do to them."

The student has faithfully quoted from his holy book.  Yes, Hindus read the Golden Rule in the Mahabharata.

Mahabharata:  "Do not to others what ye do not wish done to yourself."

"The Golden Rule is not an option — it's the key to our common survival."

— Karen Armstrong

Click on this chart to enlarge it.

This chart shows that other religions and traditions teach the Golden Rule, too.  Let's celebrate it today by treating others — and the planet — as we would like to be treated.

Make your own face masks

You can make your own face mask from a bandana and two stretchy hair ties.  There's no sewing involved, and it takes only a couple of minutes, once you have those three things.  Here's a video/gif on how to make it.

Activities

TIME ON MY HANDS

I was browsing Picnooga Companion on Facebook and found this photo of a block in downtown Chattanooga.  It's East Eighth Street between Georgia Avenue and Cherry Street.  In the mid-1950s, I worked after school as a file clerk for my uncle Roy Chandler Reynolds at his National Teachers Agency, located in an upstairs office in one of those buildings.  I remember Vanderstoop's Shoe Repair, just to the left of the Bill Shores sign.  I think I made 75 cents an hour.

ACTIVITIES for ADULTS

I've found some mysteries you can watch while staying safe at home, including Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot.  Or as the AARP site says, "nine thrilling series and where to binge them."

ACTIVITIES for CHILDREN

"Spell your name in the GIF bar (below) and post the first picture that pops up," my daughter posted on Facebook.  This is what I got:  the itsy bitsy spider.  This cartoon version is NOT what I ever imagined happened to the spider.  Did you play this finger game as a child (with hand motions) or sing it to your own children?  Here's how it goes:

The itsy bitsy spider went up the waterspout.
Down came the rain and washed the spider out.
Out came the sun and dried up all the rain,
and the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again.

Alternately touch the thumb of one hand to the index finger of the other to "go up" the water-spout, like this one.  Hold both hands up, and wiggle the fingers as the hands are lowered to show the rain.  Sweep the hands from side to side to "wash the spider out" of the drain spout.  Raise both hands and sweep to the sides to form a semicircle as the sun comes out.  Repeat the wiggly fingers while as the itsy bitsy spider climbs up the spout again.


Here's a video so you can learn (or remember) the catchy tune.  I think I'll be humming it to myself for days, now.  After you watch it, find a child to sing it with you.  Maybe while social distancing and staying at home, you could Skype or Zoom with your grandchildren, or using whatever electronic means you have available.

It's very appropriate that the second selection on this collection of children's ditties is "Rain, Rain, Go Away," after rain washed the itsy bitsy spider out.  When I learned to sing it, the next words were "little Johnny wants to play."  This version is careful to include girls and boys and even their parents

I didn't watch the whole thing because it is 42:42 minutes long, but the first ones are cute and catchy for little children.  I did click here and there and found the hokey-pokey (the illustrations of children represent different races) and Hickory Dickory Dock, which shows all sorts of animals going "up the clock."  What do you think happens when an elephant tries that?

I couldn't figure out how to change the size of this video, as I usually do.  So you may prefer to view it on YouTube.

UPDATE

Someone has removed all those books from the table in the hall near the library that I blogged about on Tuesday.  When I went by there on my way home from walking Clawdia yesterday, the table was completely bare.

Blogging, getting outside, and looking at swag

Today, Google posted this image.  When I scrolled over it, these words appeared:

Stay Home.  Save Lives : Help Stop Coronavirus

Look at the letters.  The first G is reading a book.  The two Os are making music, one singing and the other playing the guitar.  The second G is talking on a cellphone with the final E, and the L between them is exercising with two weights.  Thanks, Google.  What are YOU doing to keep busy and/or entertain yourself?

GETTING OUTSIDE

At 2:00, the temps here in St. Louis reached 73, so I opened the windows for Clawdia (and me).  She jumped up on the windowsill to look down at the budding trees below our windows, and I went to shower (finally, in mid-afternoon) so I could take her out for a breath of fresh air and a walk in the grass.

DR. FAUCI SWAG

No, really!  You can now buy Dr. Anthony Fauci swag, like mugs, socks, fan club buttons, lawn signs, candles, cushions, and tee-shirts.  Fauci is now saying he doesn't know why the United States hasn’t instituted a nation-wide stay-at-home order amid the spread of COVID-19.

VIRUS ECONOMICS

"Virus economics" is a term I heard today, uttered by Austan Goolsbee on CNN.  He's an economics professor, who says (I'm paraphrasing), "We have to fix the virus problem before we can fix the economics problem."  I don't have to tell you how many people have suddenly lost their jobs because we're staying home and not shopping and traveling and meeting in large groups.  We are all either feeling lost in the middle of so many changes or feeling that lots of folks around us THINK they are experts.  Let's listen to the experts.

CONNECTING

The lobby in my building is now COMPLETELY empty, unlike the day I discovered the "shocking" almost-empty lobby a couple of weeks ago and took a photo.  Instead of two chairs and a few table, there are no pieces of furniture at all except the little table with hand sanitizer and a lamp on it.

So now we call each other.  My neighbor Faye came home from the hospital Wednesday, so I called her yesterday and talked for almost half an hour.  Tiny, Susan, and Pamela called me, and I called to wish David and Sharon a happy anniversary yesterday.  I read what a neighbor has written on her Beverly's Notebook blog (she's not as wordy as I am), and showed Helen how to solve the visual puzzle I'd posted (click the link to do it yourself or read the comments for the long, convulated way to get the right answer).

I've been in touch with several people on Facebook and by texting, like Rosy and Lauree, who sent pictures of her cats.  While I was typing this, I got a text from Sharon down the hall:

"Fresh cornbread outside your door."

And it was still warm!  I ate it immediately, with a glass of good cold milk.  Clawdia thought I should share, until I put a crumb in front of her and she changed her mind.  She was trying to take a bite (or maybe just sniff) before she noticed the camera aimed at her.

A nice surprise

CROWN CARE PACKAGE

I was playing a lazy game of Solitaire just after 10:00 this morning, when someone knocked on the door and yelled, "Maintenance."  I jumped up, since I hadn't yet bothered to get dressed or even brush my hair.  It was Floyd, already two doors down, leaving something at each apartment door.  Galina, across the hall, was wearing a robe when she opened her door.  With nowhere to go and nothing much to do, we are in no hurry to "look presentable."  I reached down and picked up...

...a cellophane bag with several items in it:  a small of bag of Cheez-its, a fresh orange, Planters peanuts, small package of trail mix, a single pack of Quaker Oats (maple and brown sugar), a sealed cup of juicy cut-up peaches, and one small piece of Hershey's Krackel chocolate, like the ones Donna gives people going by the link desk when she's the volunteer on duty.  It isn't much, really, but it brought tears to my eyes.  (That surprised me!)  Then I unfolded the paper that was in the goody bag.  "You've Got This!" it says.  It's a Crown Care Package (Bubbe Approved!) to send us support from the staff.  "It's just a small way to let you know we are thinking of you and know you can do this.  Stay positive and, if you have time, call a friend and make their day a little brighter."

On the back of the sheet is a Word Search puzzle.  Crown usually puts out stacks of Word Search pages every weekday in the library, so seeing this didn't surprise me until I read the list of words.  There are names of twelve staff members on the list:  Amy, Donna, Floyd, Katie, Laura, Megan, Nikki, Randi, Scott, Theresa, Tim, and Yoram.  Ha!  The first name I found was FLOYD, who delivered this care package.

Oh, yeah, Clawdia enjoyed the pretty green ribbon.  I bounced it in front of her, and she tackled it.  She batted it around.  Then she bit it, getting it stuck on her teeth when she chewed through it.  I had to almost tackle her to take it away when she couldn't spit it out of her mouth.  But she had FUN with it.  She thanks you, too, Crown Center.

LAUGH A LITTLE

Before you leave, I'm going to send you to a 2012 blog post I entitled "Monday Madness ~ you can't fix stupid."  If you read on down into the comments, you'll find the "stupid" thing I did on the day I got my first computer.  (Hmm, I need to tell Andy it was his dad Joe who was my computer gugu back in 1984.  Andy probably needs a laugh today, too.)

April foolishness? Not much of that around here

Vincent van Gogh's "The Starry Night" at MoMA (The Museum of Modern Art)

ACTIVITIES

Google has assembled links to many, many museums all over the world in their Arts and Culture collection.  You could spend days exploring the world.  Even just looking through the list of places could take hours.  Pleasurable hours.  Take a look.  I noticed that the World Chess Hall of Fame here in St. Louis is on the list.  Clarence House in London may be of interest to my Brit-loving friend Joy.  One called Frogs and Friends in Germany may intrigue a child bored by having to stay home all day, every day — and it may be fun for the inner child in each of us.  You can choose to visit museums in the Netherlands, Croatia, Mongolia, Israel, Nigeria, Puerto Rico, Italy (yes, it's safe to visit Italy online), Slovakia, Denmark, Brazil, Spain, Japan, Sweden, and (oh, yes) the United States.  And that's just a tiny sampling of what Google has put together.

View from one of my windows in 2014

CONNECTING

Once again, my neighbor Galina and I talked across our hallway when David delivered three meals to each of us.  The 2-page information sheet he also brought gives tips for getting through this time of isolation.  Here are a few, summarized:

• Washers and dryers are now free for us to use, but please take turns being in the laundry rooms in order to practice social distancing.
• Take turns using the elevators, too.  Not all jammed in together.
• Allow only one crucial caregiver to visit, not family or friends or other guests.
• If you have gloves and a mask available, use them when you must go out.
• Even if you're not already part of Crown's meal delivery program, this is a great time to participate.  It isn't exactly "room service," but you can sign up for it and start getting it from now on.
• The pages also had cheery notes from some of the staff working from home:  Theresa ~ "Isn't it weird that you can trust your dog to guard your home, but not your sandwich?"  Megan's 5-year-old ~ "Hi, everybody at mama's work!  I miss the cookies from your cafe.  I hope everyone is safe.  Miss you, love you, bye!"

Jenn and Bonnie

I love the shout-out from Megan's child.  I also chatted with Donna and Jenn on Facebook, two conversations going at the same time, with one person in the same complex with me and one who used to live in St. Louis years ago.  The only time Jenn and I ever met in person was at the end of 2010, when she and her family were returning to St. Louis from Florida and stopped to visit me while they were passing through my town.  It feels like yesterday.

Marie phoned and we chatted for over half an hour.  Susan called while I was on the phone, but didn't leave a message and didn't answer when I returned her call.  Faye Stickney "has a voicemail box that has not been set up yet," so I didn't get through to her.  Even while "sheltering in place," I'm in contact with a lot of people, including Laura, who called me earlier.

I've been chatting on Facebook today with Laurie, who was working on the puzzle I posted yesterday.  Then I got a friend request from Gina and chatted with HER for awhile.  She now has children about the age she was when I last saw her.  More people are home, and we have more time to reach out to folks we haven't seen in awhile.  And while talking to Gina on Facebook, I got an email from Joanne, which said:

"Trying to get in touch.  I hope this reaches you and that you are well!  It has been over 2 years since the last email I received from you, Christmas 2017.  Please forgive me for not keeping in contact.  I retired from the library in May 2018 and have been quite content in retirement.  If you receive this email, I would love to hear from you!"

I called and left voicemail for Joanne and also emailed her.  She called while I was still "talking" on Facebook with Gina.  And now it's almost an hour and a half later, and I'm finally going to post this on the blog.  I enjoyed talking to you, Joanne.  Catching up was fun to do.

Jane Eyre from the National Theatre in London

MORE ACTIVITIES

After Laura and I talked by phone, she sent me information to share with everyone about National Theatre at Home.  The website says, "Enjoy world-class theatre online while we're closed."  Click here for more about the shows being streamed.

• "One Man, Two Guvnors" ~ April 2-9
• "Jane Eyre" ~ April 9-16
• "Treasure Island" ~ April 16-23
• "Twelfth Night" ~ April 23-30

What have you been doing today?  Have you connected or re-connected?

Active Coping Calendar ~ in the time of coronavirus

Click to enlarge the calendar

The world has changed drastically since last month, and now we are all trying to COPE with life in the time of coronavirus.  We are in crisis.

Keep calm, stay wise, and be kind.

Here are 30  things the Action for Happiness folks suggest we do during April 2020 to look after ourselves and each other as we face this global pandemic together.

April 1
~ Make a plan to help you keep calm and stay in contact.
April 2
~ Enjoy washing your hands.  Remember all they do for you.
April 3
~ Write down ten things you feel grateful for in life and why.
April 4
~ Stay hydrated, eat healthy food, and boost your immune system.
April 5
~ Get active.  Even if you're stuck indoors, move and stretch.
April 6
~ Contact a neighbor or friend and offer to help them.
April 7
~ Share what you are feeling and be willing to ask for help.
April 8
~ Take five minutes to sit still and breathe.  Repeat regularly.
April 9
~ Call a loved one to catch up and really listen to them.
April 10
~ Get good sleep.  No screens before bed or when waking up.
April 11
~ Notice five things that are beautiful in the world around you.
April 12
~ Immerse yourself in a new book, TV show or podcast.
April 13
~ Respond positively to everyone you interact with.
April 14
~ Play a game that you enjoyed when you were younger.
April 15
~ Make some progress on a project that matters to you.
April 16
~ Rediscover your favorite music that really lifts your spirits.
April 17
~ Learn something new or do something creative.
April 18
~ Find a fun way to do an extra 15 minutes of physical activity.
April 19
~ Do three acts of kindness to help others, however small.
April 20
~ Make time for self-care.  Do something kind for yourself.
April 21
~ Send a letter or message to someone you can't be with.
April 22
~ Find positive stories in the news and share these with others.
April 23
~ Have a tech-free day.  Stop scrolling and turn off the news.
April 24
~ Put your worries into perspective and try to let them go.
April 25
~ Look for the good in others and notice their strengths.
April 26
~ Take a small step towards an important goal.
April 27
~ Thank three people you're grateful to and tell them why.
April 28
~ Make a plan to meet up with others again later in the year.
April 29
~ Connect with nature.  Breathe and notice life continuing.
April 30
~ Remember that all feelings and situations pass in time.

"Everything can be taken from us but one thing:

the freedom to choose our attitude in any given

set of circumstances." ~ Viktor Frankl