The Helpers

 I need you to stop what you are doing and really take in the next thing I am about to tell you. 

Vladimir Putin's name translates to Vladimir Poutine in French. 

I am not even making this up. Check this out: Vladimir Poutine. 

When I was a kid, I was a very anxiety-ridden worrier. Not a surprise, I know. I was convinced that at any moment the world was going to end. I couldn't point to a cause, or really elaborate on how I thought it would happen. I just had a lot of nightmares. As I got older I taught myself some coping mechanisms, and one of them is to distract myself with something funny. 

This is a good one. I am sure all of us have been watching not only our own country but what is happening in Ukraine as well. I will not attempt to explain what is going on there. I just know that it's bad. History shows that Russia's record is mostly unbeaten when other countries square up against them. 

There was a time that what happened in that part of the world didn't have much effect over here. But now, with the 24-hour news cycle, and social media, we will watch it unfold in a way that we haven't before. I can't decide if that is a good thing or a bad thing. We all seem to have too much to worry about these days and doom scrolling helps no one. 

The world is a scary place right now, and it doesn't look like there will be an end to it anytime soon. We can choose to close ourselves off from the world in general. Or we can take a page out of Mr. Rogers's book. He was a worrier, too. Once when his mother noticed his anxiety she gave him some amazing advice: Look for the helpers. You can always find people who are helping. I think it's easier to focus and to react to the bad. It makes for way better conversation than the good. And maybe that is where we keep getting stuck. 

I guess what I am trying to get at is that we need to take a step back and look for those helpers, they are out there. They don't make the news the way that scary things do, but they are out there. In fact, we can be the helpers. And maybe if we all help a little, the bad things won't be so bad.


Onto the music for today. I thought maybe I should go with something a little calmer, maybe a little warm. So I am breaking out the big guns. Dream A Little Dream. The Mama's and the Papa's version. The song was written and released in 1931 and was first recorded by Ozzie Nelson. The song became a beloved standard and this version may be the most popular cover. 

I idolized Cass Elliot growing up. I always thought that I looked a little bit like her. 

The band recorded the song at a time when they were beginning to disband. John Phillips, who was the "leader" of the band was not happy when the record label released the song as "Mama Cass and the Mama's and the Papa's". I guess his ego got in the way. After the break up of the band, Cass went on to record the song and release it as a solo artist. 

Now to the shopping links:

Go Where You Wanna Go                         

                







  Sheldon Shrimp







This Mug Believes In You 




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