tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3061832609518891075.post6054420756836766762..comments2024-03-28T11:38:34.959-05:00Comments on Leaves On My Tree: Double TroubleEmma Springfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10543689047463574012noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3061832609518891075.post-34052774714560467112017-01-29T13:31:07.854-06:002017-01-29T13:31:07.854-06:00Given the strength of your feelings about this, I&...Given the strength of your feelings about this, I'm grateful that you find enough good in me that you still want me around.Snowbrushhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00436087215476479042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3061832609518891075.post-75937680953327168502017-01-29T13:11:33.123-06:002017-01-29T13:11:33.123-06:00I too think we should drop the subject. Before I d...I too think we should drop the subject. Before I do so I want you to know my father was not being cruel or unfeeling. He was a wonderful person. My mother was not angry because she felt he was cruel. She was upset that she had to handle the puppies by herself rather than having him to help as he normally would have. My brother and I were not cruel. We were not much more than babies who were playing and not aware of consequences for our actions until we could not get the puppies out ourselves. I will now consider the subject closed.Emma Springfieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10543689047463574012noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3061832609518891075.post-87147656441001374672017-01-29T12:40:08.030-06:002017-01-29T12:40:08.030-06:00"I will not allow you to criticize my father ..."I will not allow you to criticize my father who was a loving man to his children and his pets."<br /><br />My opinion is what it is, but I'll certainly let the subject drop because it would be cruel and pointless to continue. I was thinking about the situation last night, fully realizing that you were upset to the point that you might want me to go away from your blog altogether. I had the thought that we could agree for one or both of us to ask a friend whose impartiality we could trust to to read your post, and offer an opinion about whether the incident was as bad as I interpreted it be, or rather it was, as I think you saw it, an innocent childhood memory involving loving parents and naughty, but not cruel, children in which no real harm was done. Of course, we could simply, as I think you are insisting upon doing, drop the subject. I hope you will believe that I meant you no harm because I indeed did not. I value you as someone who appreciates a dialogue that goes beyond the usual superficial blog comments, and that was where I was coming from. I like you, and I certainly had no ill intent.Snowbrushhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00436087215476479042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3061832609518891075.post-89239531720134934922017-01-28T17:40:13.412-06:002017-01-28T17:40:13.412-06:00You have misunderstood the whole situation. I unde...You have misunderstood the whole situation. I understand that your view is colored by your own experiences. Not every incident is evil. Some are simply an event that happened. I will not allow you to criticize my father who was a loving man to his children and his pets. Emma Springfieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10543689047463574012noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3061832609518891075.post-61076445938134714482017-01-28T17:25:46.570-06:002017-01-28T17:25:46.570-06:00"If he had been able to breathe he would have..."If he had been able to breathe he would have helped get the puppies."<br /><br />Did I misunderstand that your mother criticized him for not helping her save the puppies?<br /><br />"You make my father sound like some sort of beast."<br /><br />I wrote of my cruelty toward animals that started when I was but eight, and suggested that my behavior was directly attributable to my father's own cruelty. I think the same might have been true for you because dropping puppies into an outhouse isn't normal behavior for children, but comes from either mental illness or, at the very least, a delayed ability to feel compassion and empathy due to the influence of the important adults in one's life. Whether your father engaged in prolonged laughter because he thought the plight of the puppies was funny or because he thought the behavior of his children was endearing makes no difference because either point to the fact that he had a serious problem. There is simply no way to minimize the dysfunction that underlay this event.Snowbrushhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00436087215476479042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3061832609518891075.post-79014946682015834632017-01-27T15:00:15.535-06:002017-01-27T15:00:15.535-06:00It is unnatural to have younger siblings die first...It is unnatural to have younger siblings die first. The younger of the two died in Viet Nam as I said before. The older died only a couple of months before my ex-husband. Now the older of my two little sisters is in a nursing home because she had a stroke a couple of years ago and cannot care for herself. Her husband has done everything he could but it is not quite enough. Sometimes life is unfair. But that is why smiles and laughter are so important. They keep us from losing our minds. Thank you for your thoughts.Emma Springfieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10543689047463574012noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3061832609518891075.post-54937045725082810162017-01-27T14:52:10.752-06:002017-01-27T14:52:10.752-06:00You make my father sound like some sort of beast. ...You make my father sound like some sort of beast. If he had been able to breathe he would have helped get the puppies. And he was laughing at the absurdity of the situation not the plight of the puppies. <br />I admire the military people who are trying to do what they believe is right to preserve our way of life. I have empathy for the families who have to deal with the loss of a loved one. It hurts so much. I hate the idea of war. At the same time we need to protect ourselves. Turning the other cheek does not always work.Emma Springfieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10543689047463574012noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3061832609518891075.post-1883589346064192992017-01-27T12:20:36.137-06:002017-01-27T12:20:36.137-06:00Oh, Emma, I am so sorry to hear this. Although my ...Oh, Emma, I am so sorry to hear this. Although my sister is younger, shes' a lifelong smoker, so I think she'll probably die ahead of me. Oh, gosh, I'm really sad about your loss. If only there were words that might actually help a person when loved ones die, but all I can say is that I do care, and I know that that's something.Snowbrushhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00436087215476479042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3061832609518891075.post-30336213969695882182017-01-27T12:17:48.242-06:002017-01-27T12:17:48.242-06:00Your father laughed at the thought of puppies drow...Your father laughed at the thought of puppies drowning in sewage, and wouldn’t even help your mother get them out?! I, too, sometimes report troubling events without commentary, so for you to report this as you did makes me wonder if you know how cruel it makes your father appear, to not only be indifferent to the suffering and to not discipline his children, but to find the image of puppies drowning in sewage so funny that he couldn’t stop laughing. Maybe he wanted the puppies to drown so he wouldn’t have to find homes for them, but that wouldn’t explain his laughter.<br /><br />I envy you your siblings. I had a half brother and sister but never lived with them, and my younger sister was five and a half years younger, so we didn’t play together.<br /><br />I started life in an unpainted shack with no lights and no internal plumbing. My father enlarged that shack and added utilities as he found the time to do the work, but I couldn’t tell you just when the various changes came about. I do remember that the lights would go out almost everytime it rained, so we would retrieve the kerosene lamps off the mantle. Our church had lights but no plumbing, but I don’t remember hating such deprivations.<br /><br />I think we’ve spoken a bit about Vietnam previously. I did everything I could to avoid going, and I’m very glad I succeeded. I’m also very sad that so many went because they got drafted despite their best efforts, or because they thought it was their duty, or because they trusted their government when their government said it was an important war and that we would succeed in winning it. I’m especially sad for the ones who didn’t make it home and for their families. It was a very sad war in so many ways—for instance, the fact that returning soldiers received little welcome and in fact were sometimes cursed and spat upon. Even with our current wars, I want to support our troops, but since I don’t support what they’re doing, my main emotion is pity rather than respect. I get stuck on wondering why they would go when they didn’t have to, there being no draft. But you had a brother who was killed, and I can but wonder how this must make you feel regarding those who make the ultimate sacrifice but wars that, when it comes right down it, the American people either oppose or are indifferent to. I don’t even know which is harder on the troops, anger or apathy.Snowbrushhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00436087215476479042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3061832609518891075.post-42578658235210699942017-01-25T11:31:09.807-06:002017-01-25T11:31:09.807-06:00My mother was a saint. She made raising us seem li...My mother was a saint. She made raising us seem like no work at all. The sadness is why I choose to be happy. Who needs to be sad?Emma Springfieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10543689047463574012noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3061832609518891075.post-21733234698406120882017-01-25T06:52:23.583-06:002017-01-25T06:52:23.583-06:00Oh man, you kids were really a handful! Sounds lik...Oh man, you kids were really a handful! Sounds like you had a fun childhood. Remember what makes you happy. There is already more than enough sadness in this old world.Colettehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13929646037752189809noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3061832609518891075.post-49378457980696709642017-01-24T14:16:35.506-06:002017-01-24T14:16:35.506-06:00I choose to remember the good things. There are ba...I choose to remember the good things. There are bad memories too but if I can find a positive I will. (I know I am disgusting that way.) The good memories will keep me young.Emma Springfieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10543689047463574012noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3061832609518891075.post-76801824754836938732017-01-24T12:07:34.453-06:002017-01-24T12:07:34.453-06:00Good memories keep us going. Glad yours are.Good memories keep us going. Glad yours are.Joanne Noragonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16601010208310707750noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3061832609518891075.post-43604800701412154512017-01-24T10:39:02.193-06:002017-01-24T10:39:02.193-06:00That was a poetic statement. Beautiful. And so ver...That was a poetic statement. Beautiful. And so very true.Emma Springfieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10543689047463574012noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3061832609518891075.post-87815692483871412792017-01-24T10:37:24.633-06:002017-01-24T10:37:24.633-06:00Both those brothers are gone now. I hold my many m...Both those brothers are gone now. I hold my many memories of them dear in my heart.Emma Springfieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10543689047463574012noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3061832609518891075.post-26735845149023510382017-01-24T08:55:57.778-06:002017-01-24T08:55:57.778-06:00memories exist to make us remember good things, an...memories exist to make us remember good things, and laugh about them, but also to haunt our days.<br />Beautiful text!Ana Bailunehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07399615369919172144noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3061832609518891075.post-55831969675641051602017-01-24T07:44:57.995-06:002017-01-24T07:44:57.995-06:00Hold on to the good memories of you brother. He li...Hold on to the good memories of you brother. He lives on through you!Marie Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03882722634065183364noreply@blogger.com