attitudes & perceptions

the Balinese widow sat by a path
in the shade eating
drinking and talking
quietly with her family and friends

after the cremation ceremony

about sekala - what is seen
and nisekala - what is unseen

“Wow!” Michiyo said when Smith finished. “Amazing!”

“Yes,” he said. “It’s about impermanence and perception. When people change their attitudes they change their perceptions.”

“Is that all that happens?”

“Well, it’s about connections on many levels, you see. When people change their attitudes it affects their values and changes their belief window.”

“What’s a belief window?”

“How you see things. Some cultures think with their heart instead of their head.”

“I see.” Their laughter shattered the calm silence.

Wild cranes lifted from rice paddies into blue sky slashing their shadows through light.

The sky is the same color no matter where you are.

Iraq Gossip

It’s been a really exciting couple of weeks since our last “on the scene, live, direct and immediate deeply embedded field press report,” so here goes nothing.

We've been so embedded in sand and shifting diametrically opposed points of view it’s been a struggle to get to the truth. And the truth shall set you free but that proclamation and one thin dime won’t buy you a glass of fresh hot tea on the corner of RPG and Main in downtown Baghdad.

Traffic, as always, is a mess as drivers ignore sleeping policeman and discarded shell casings. Bike and grocery cart thefts are up a surprising 87% since last year.

Running As Fast As I Can, an immigrant from Florida reported that someone stole his unicycle while he was stealing fresh melons. “It’s unbelievable,” the swarthy youth said, “our social system has completely collapsed and the melon sellers are gouging the public. Something drastic has to be done,” he said spitting out his seeds of discontent.

Our reliable informants report that Israeli smugglers made $42 million, yes, million, dollars in June transporting spare parts and beer across 1,000 miles of desert to broken, thirsty consumers in the Iraqi capital.

“Yes, we recognize a need and we are filling it as fast as we can,” said Sherman Artichoke, a driver from Cyprus.

“Face it, I can double my yearly tomato growing income outrunning bandits on camels. And I love driving at night.”

Rebecca Nurse, a volunteer from the Operational Defense Planning With No Initiative Institute (ODPWNII) revealed yesterday that morale among the unwilling asked to do the impossible by desk jockeys is at rock bottom.

“In all my years of service throughout war and twilight zones,” the perky blond former cheerleader revealed, “I’ve seen the best minds of my generation destroyed by howling post traumatic stress syndrome. This is really scary and I feel the worst is yet to come.”

She is presently under observation at an undisclosed sight.

Grandmother Detection Program

In a whoosh of speculation, NASA announced today that Mrs. Glinda Goodwitch would be stepping down as quality control librarian to head up the recently formed “Grandmother Early Detection Program.”

The “GEDP” as it is called in security circles was formed in conjunction with airline passenger complaints that grandmothers were receiving undue harassment at airline checkpoints in Bogota, Columbia.

According to our sources in the South American city, grandmothers walked out of talks yesterday designed to improve screening and flossing procedures.

“The officials are really out to lunch on this one,” Mrs. Goodwitch said through a two way mirror near a choke point as she prepared to unwrap a wax memorial of Simon Bolivar who killed many indigenous people and conquered many countries on horseback.

“Grandmothers around the world are up in arms as they see their rights eroded under the guise of deception and short meetings,” she said as ambulances screamed through a local movie theater.

As she spoke, airline officials from Easter island were gathering to discuss the Grandmother Early Detection Program.

“At this point in time, which is a point along a line, a line which, I might add, started way back there,” an official said, pointing off into space where he stood with Mrs. Goodwitch, “good grandmothers are hard to come by, and statistics indicate they are rapidly approaching extinction in some parts of the world so we are doing our best to detect them early.”

“We shall see about that,” Glinda said.

Shop Baghdad

In a startling revelation today, European military commanders in Iraq notified every single media corporation on the planet that they would begin giving out free discount coupons for a new “Peaceful Transition” store currently under construction.

“The 20 million acre complex, tentatively named The Mother of All Shopping Experiences is north by northwest of the capital,” said Abdula Assist, planning manager.

Our sources indicate that retail and discount experts from major world companies, under the cover of darkness, have arrived with contracts, blueprints and cheap life insurance policies to establish the business. It will be the first of many joint ventures.

“We have the full cooperation of major band aid agencies who believe that this shopping experience will dramatically affect and change the behavior and attitudes of the public,” said Buy More Today, a spokesperson. They said that, as an initial promotion, anti-depressant medication cost will be slashed by 99%.

In the interest of public safety, all potential shoppers will be required to line up for hours with bi-lingual dictionaries and Hope. Hope, a distant relative of Alexander The Great, expressed satisfaction with the planned development.

“I’ve heard Aisle 13 is going to be like an amusement park,” she said through an interpreter. “I can’t wait to see all the goodies produced in sweat shops that nobody wants or can afford.”

3 hots and a cot

In a new spin cycle on their Iraq washing machine, leaders of the ‘Buy One, Get One Free’ world announced today that the V.P. of OZ miss spoke when his training bike wheels fell off by saying there was a direct link on DNA stem cells between Saddam and Osama.

Contrary to polls and consumer satisfaction stupidity, many obese, TV addicted manic depressives still believe that Saddam, awaiting war crime trials and presumed to be preparing his trick or treat insanity plea was directly responsible for 9/11.

“This is a perplexing development,” said I Am Ignorant, a social scientist with a PHD working at a gas station near Baghdad. “The administration did a great job of creating fear and paranoia to justify their arrogance and blood thirsty heavy handed attitude,” while pumping Supreme.

“All you need is love,” relied Ismael Bowl, an immigrant from Basra disguised as a weapon of mass distraction.

“Look, my isotopes and depleted uranium D214 created a glowing report. I’m trying to feed half the world here,” adding, “and 28% of the homeless in America are veterans.”

A wild looking scared national guardsman from Kansas with a bad smell in his pants fired a warning shot into a sand dune narrowly missing a camel in heat. “Hey, life is good here,” he said. “I get three hot meals a day, a cot, internet access, and there’s no tax on expresso. There’s no way I’m going to end up unemployed with the killing skills I’ve learned.”

His wife recently divorced him.

“Yeah, it’s too bad,” he said. “She really never understood my undying love and passion for fun, travel and adventure. FTA. It’s a good thing she split because you know I’m going to have a lot of repressed anger to release when I get out this hell hole.”

Not to be outdone, undone or left standing alone, forelorn and lonely, a negotiating team from The Committee On UN-War Activities, (COUNA) a coalition of the unwilling, doing the unnecessary for the ungrateful, distributed free boxes of disposable body bags.

“It’s a good deal,” said an anonymous source. "They come in basic black, don’t take up much space and one size fits all.”