JAWing On – Life on Okinawa

I recently received one of those e-mails that gets passed on and on, the kind with stop and look before you jump to conclusions. This particular one had a female at an airport who slowly got more and more irritated when she thought a stranger was eating from her cookie package only to find out she had placed her cookie package in her bag and had been eating from his package while he remained calm. What do you think would have happened if he had seen her locate her cookies in her bag, yet she had continued to eat his; and this happened every time they met? Do you think he would have remained as patient and calm about the situation?

A pic of this morning’s sun as it lights up the island sky as viewed through all the man-made clutter that sprung up around our home about 9 – 12 years ago….

(Click on image to view large size)

***Jerk (a definition) – someone who is behaving like a jerk; knows it; and doesn’t care….that’s why they are a jerk.

It has been a real long time since something has gotten under my skin enough to want to rant about it. Well this weekend the nonsense just added up. So here it goes:

I’ve usually been the type of person who believed that others have the right to believe in what they want to, it’s thier life and their choice – as long as no abuse (physical or mental) to others is stemming from that belief. At the same time I believe that no one else has the right to tell me what I should think or believe in.

What does that have to do with my rant? When it comes to other people coming in to my husband’s establishment trying to tell me (I help out every weekend) how I should conduct business, especially when they are trying to profit from it personally, is just plain bull****! I don’t care if it’s a group or an individual, thier agenda it just that – theirs…not mine. And I really don’t appreciate when the people who are instigating the disharmony are the one’s trying to pass their selves off as promoters of nonagression. Trying to intimidate, manipulate, or purposely aggravate is not a sign of nonagression, no matter who the perpetrator is.

After posting a few minutes ago, I ran into this story about sickening behavior of the inhumane treatment of a defenseless puppy. What is wrong with these people? Has a large number of youth totally lost all connection to humanity?

Okay, I know that Americans have the reputation of being “ugly”. Being in the kind of business I’m in and where I’m at, it doesn’t take much of an imagination to understand how the reputation came about! However, what has happened today goes to prove that sometimes we’re not being “ugly”; instead, the other side is being way out ridiculous. Maybe because I’ve worked in the hospital business before I expect some degree of common sense. Who knows maybe, just maybe, that’s being unreasonable. Last Friday night my father-in-law was sent from his nursing home to the emergency room due to pneumonia. We work on Friday and Saturday nights. So at 1:45 a.m. hubby gets a phone call to come to the hospital to be a co-signer for the admittance paperwork. Okay, so far, not out of reason. This Saturday morning we get a “wake-up” call at 8:48 to come talk to the hospital about father-in-law’s release from the hospital back to the nursing home. HELLO, didn’t anyone at the hospital notice last week when hubby came in to the hospital emergency room that he had been drinking and looked exhausted? Does anyone at the hospital bother to get information as to the working hours of the “next of kin”? This is like the third time in one week that hubby has been called-in for various reasons. Wouldn’t it make sense not to stress out the relatives of the patients by documenting the best contact time for non-emergency situations? I feel red tape and bureaucracy of “just doing the job” can be a minus in situations like this.

It’s been a while since something has gotten under my skin enough to write about, but after over 25 years of this particular habit found on island – ugh!!!! And because this particular irritating habit is soooo common , I hate to say I can see where negative stereotyping comes from. What I am ranting about is the terrible habit of thinking a person knows everyone else’s business. Except for Taki, I’m nobody’s mother, wife, or babysitter. My relationships are just that – my relationships, and their relationships are just that – their relationships. Every family and personal relationship is different. I find gossip to be small-minded and don’t get into other people’s business. So, unless it involves me, if you’re looking for info on someone, go to the source and talk to that person and get out of my face!

I just found out that the Japanese writing that I so painstakingly translated for the Weekly Hogen☺” section doesn’t translate properly on my Japanese cell phone. Even though I used the Japanese IME for the written translation, all that appears on the Japanese cell phone is a bunch of garbledy goop. Trying to get the foreign written language to display properly is only one frustrating aspect of computing and being a native English language speaker in Japan. Why can’t the developers of computer languages agree upon one universal language so it translates properly no matter what system a person is using?

Local newspapers that use incidents of individuals to promote a political agenda. Recently, another male service member committed an appalling predatory act of molestation against another local elementary school girl. Once again local newspapers are using the incident to state an opinion on the military presence on island. Unlike this blog, which is based on personal experiences and observations of the past 32 years, I always felt that news agencies are supposed to print unbiased reports based on well-researched facts. The reality of the situation is there are thousands of Americans on island connected to the military bases in one way or another. The individuals who commit these heinous acts of aggression are limited in number. The persons who commit these types of behaviors are not representative of the population as a whole. These behaviors are not limited to only persons connected with the bases. I remember stories on a male Japanese tourist who was assaulting women in the tourist hotels a few years ago. And then there were the news reports of local males who also have committed assaults on local women, as well. As a woman, an American, and a resident of this island, I find the actions of the individuals who commit these crimes disgusting and offensive. But to tag a political agenda on the end of an incomplete story only fuels disharmony in the community based on misinformation. If a newspaper wants to be biased and print a political agenda instead of all of the facts, it should state on the newspaper which political party it is affiliated with.

If you can believe this, other business owners who are in the same business expect you to post ads for their business in your establishment (in the name of friendship at that). C’mon, does McDonald’s post fliers for KFC? Would you? This is the type of thing that one faces as a business owner on Okinawa, or maybe just a business person who has with a foreign wife! Or possibly it’s just the type of “friends” one has.