JAWing On – Life on Okinawa

I realize that the younger generation is more accustomed to the usage of curse words in everyday life. But is it really necessary to use such language when seated next to young 4 and 7 year old children. That is exactly what happened when a father brought his young aspiring guitarist to listen to the band last weekend. Can’t the X generation hold off on vulgarities for even a little while?

To be quite honest about it, I really don’t have a pet peeve this week! Given recent events, things that usually irritate me just seem to be petty little nuisances.

I bet this one is going to hit home with many of you, reading glasses. I got my first pair about eight years ago. At first it seemed uncomplicated enough. You just put them on when you need to read. But then, there is a constant on/off thing going on. Then I tried the chain thing. Of course that led to the glasses bouncing around every time I moved. Now that I spend much of my time reading one thing or another, my glasses are on my face constantly. That leads to stuffed-up sinuses. I’ve thought about contact lenses, but the thought of wearing them just doesn’t appeal to me. So here I am stuck with the glasses on my face most of the day clogging my sinuses. Someone please come-up with a good alternative soon!

Why is it salesmen always have to come to the door at the most inopportune times? I realize that they are just trying to make a living, but is it really necessary to come so early in the morning? For many people the timing is nothing more than an intrusion on much needed rest. In current times, most of what people need is readily available at stores and on the internet anyway.

A little after12 a.m. this morning, the world lost one of its truly gifted guitarists. Even though most people know there was a great amount of disharmony in my relationship with the guitarist, it is always sad to see someone take the destructive path he chose. This is especially true of someone as talented as the Okinawan guitarist Jimmy Ginoza was. For many of us it was all too soon to loose him, especially so suddenly. Yet, he was a tortured soul and there is solace to be taken in that is he is no longer suffering.

As hard the sudden death was, even more difficult was the total disregard a few of the men showed for the situation. We found out about the loss in the middle of the third set. I tried explaining what had happened to several of the men who were at the club to have a good time and forget about their own problems. (And mothers of the world if you ever wonder what type of child you have raised, this is one of those times a person’s reactions to a situation truly discloses the inner fabric of that person.) To my dismay, these men totally ignored the hurt and suffering the friends and fans of the deceased felt by the loss. Instead these men chose to try and cause commotion and confrontations because they were not the focus of attention. Even though the current world situation puts some limitations on human emotions, it IS a sad day when human beings cannot feel a sense of loss for the passing away of another human being, especially when that person was not an adversary.

People who don’t get that people are people first, everything else is splitting hairs. Almost every weekend one person or another asks questions in an effort to boost an individual group’s self esteem. Get a clue. As the saying goes, it is not the group as a whole but the individual entity that goes astray. As far as I’m concerned when it comes to branches of service, these people are all doing the same job, just in different ways. So quit the intra-bickering and start behaving like members of the same team. In fact, that thought could apply to just about every situation of discrimination I run across in this line of work. We’re supposed to be the adults, not high school kids, remember?

What is it with people who think they’re being “cool” when they go into a small, equable establishment and purposely try to start an altercation? This type of behavior usually comes from people who are so insecure with themselves as a person that they also have to travel in “packs” like animals. These types of people usually consist of males (but not always) that call themselves “men.” I’ve always considered a “man” (or “woman”) to be a male (or female) that had the intelligence and strength of character to handle disagreements with an establishment’s policies through calm discussion. The way I see it, if people are traveling in packs with the intent to cause trouble they are no better than a street gang.

It’s pretty sad when a culture produces a large subculture of adults whose only means to handle situations of dispute is to respond in childish, disruptive actions. It is especially sad when these same people are supposedly friends and peers in the same business association. Many people misinterpret these actions as those of individuals who are too stupid to know any better. But as the saying goes, in order to be a wiseass one has to be wise enough to understand the situation. So if a person is intelligent enough to understand the situation, but continues to act in a disruptive manner and instigate negative actions in others, the conclusion must be that these behaviors are being performed consciously and on purpose. Not exactly what I would call a mature, friendly, or constructive way of handling circumstances. If a group of people is unable to handle simple situations in a mature manner, then it doesn’t seem very prudent or advantageous to lend an ear to any disagreement with the circumstance that led to the behavior in the first place, especially in a business situation.

It is so unbelievable that I heard a representative of the American society say that sexual abuse in the Armed Forces is a crime, yet representative of the overall status of the American society! Basically what I heard was sexual abuse -rape, sodomy, etc. – is a no-no but because we need you men to fight the war against terrorism, it will take a lot of evidence to convict the radically physical violent crime against another human being as such! Well, if that’s the case why shouldn’t there be a Budafuko (please excuse my misspelling or inaccurate naming of the man who was dismembered) Act? After all, as far as I know being dismembered doesn’t stop a man from being able to physically serve his country! What it does do is hold a person who commits such a crime accountable for the violent physical abuse of another human being!

NOTE: It seems I did get the name of the dismembered man incorrect. I went to the experts, some other men – after all who would better remember the name of a man who was dismembered than other men – and the correct name should be the Bobbitt Act.