Sunday Morning Thoughts – September 1, 2024

Did I just type September? Yikes!

What a week! All over the place. Elections coming up here too and there are people’s heads up on posters and billboards right outside my front door. And some of the bigger parties are handing out stuff at the train station. This week it was an apple. I didn’t want an apple. And I definitely didn’t want a leaflet. I just wanted to get home, take off my clothes and take a cold shower. It was a hot week. I’m so ready for fall or even winter.

And yes, I am as grumpy as I sound. You’ve been warned.

So, yesterday morning I went for a walk. It was dark when I started out. Streetlights were still on. I took the first picture across the street at 6.11. This picture was a little later on.

I was hoping to see my beaver friends, but I think they were also hiding from the rising sun or maybe I was a little too late. I walked along the water as I’ve done so many times before. It was gorgeous and quiet. Just what I needed. It’s a beautiful walk not far from the city - it’s like a green artery.

sadly - no beavers

Oh, I don’t have to explain it to you – I have a video. Here’s the link. YouTube just played the next video as well. So here is that one too. Made me smile that I take very similar pictures every time. I mean that train route that I cross is the most important one in Switzerland, so you kind of have to take a train picture, right?

At the end of yesterday’s walk I decided to take a short cut and go past where I had P.E. lessons back in high school and where I went to school. The Zick-Zack-Weg brought back memories.

And yes, the name fits. My high school has some stunning buildings. Some of them were re-named in 2006. So now there is an Einstein Haus. I like that they did that and of course I took a picture 😉.

Einstein Haus - Alte Kantonsschule Aarau

I had a quick look at the list of famous alumni of the school. Three Nobel laureates, a bunch of Federal Councilors, the inventor of the (Bircher-)müesli and little old me (not famous yet). When it was founded, it was the first non-church-affiliated school of its kind in Switzerland. This was an important yet controversial move at the time.

I love that my high school has this history. And yesterday it felt like I just had to walk past it for some reason. Haven’t figured out why, but maybe that’s not important.

I still need to finish writing about Metz and Nancy. And I also started a post for my other newsletter. That one needs a bit more time though. New idea, new point of view. Somehow it was triggered by the preservation of old buildings. It’ll all become clear when you read it.

I tried to paint something yesterday. Somehow that went really wrong. I painted over it this morning. I was so frustrated. I liked 40% of the painting, the rest sucked, then sucked even more, then had me wanting to throw the canvas out the window, then had me question my life, my life choices and there it was - the downward spiral.

New start today, the left-hand side of the painting is bright red and yellow – now mostly orange, because who has the patience to wait for paint to dry. All my fingers and color on them. Not sure how but that always happens.

I created this out of frustration before going to bed last night - oil pastels.

Those of you who are reading my book; have you read the “society sucks” chapters yet? I found a few more things that suck this week. One that is in the book reared its ugly head again.

How is it that people who seek help and are in therapy are marginalized and made fun of or talked about behind their backs while nobody addresses what brought them there?

Yes, things were done differently in the 80s. That doesn’t mean that those “things” were not harmful and that there are A LOT of people suffering today because of it. “Times were different” is not a helpful thing to say. We all know that. What sucks is that we’re having to heal from something that is so normalized that people in society today decide it’s no big deal. Until we realize that something that was “normal” at the time doesn’t make it harmLESS, we’re screwed.

We are negating people the chance to heal by telling them to just move on. By telling them to let it go. By telling them to suck it up. By telling them it was normal.

And what makes this even more infuriating is the knowledge that sometimes it doesn’t take a lot. A friend who listens and understands - okay, that might be a lot for some people. I’ll give you that. Find new friends!

Sometimes it takes the realization that society sanctioned abuse is still abuse to turn things around and start healing. Society sanctioned abuse is not harmLESS. In my experience it’s actually more harmFUL because even today people are so accepting of it that the hurt it cause is still not taken seriously.

For people who suffered such trauma this is equal to the abuse still happening. I was going to keep this light – oooops.

Anyway, healing has made me hyper aware of societal gaslighting that we all take part in. I’m not excluding myself here. It’s so difficult to change your own habits and reactions after decades of living them. And even if you change, you’re stuck in a society that refuses to or even wants to go back to “the good old days”.

Just a tiny bit grumpy today. Told ya! Wanna help cheer me up? Send me a cat picture. Or, get my book 😉. This was not meant to be a sales pitch at all, but I do talk about a lot of those things in my book. People who live outside of Switzerland can get it here. It’s called OY! PAY ATTENTION! and it would totally make a good present too. Have you counted the weeks until Christmas recently? See, there you go.

People in Switzerland, I need a little bit more patience from you. It’ll happen, eventually.

And yes, if I do make it to NYC in December I will be signing people’s books.

Thanks for the cat pics I already received this morning. Love you!

Hope you’re having a less grumpy Sunday morning than me. I might need to punch something or scream or paint or write something I could never publish. Unless some of you would like to read a rant in Swiss German that contains about 90% swear words …

Have a lovely Sunday. Stay cool.