All's Okay again.

Room 7, Station F

I'm sitting here on the side of my bed in the Landeskrankenhaus in Klagenfurt, Austria.

My good friend, Gionluca Serafini will pick me up tomorrow at 11.30 AM and bring me home to Bleiburg.

Outside, for the first time it is drab and dreary. Heavy cloud cover hides the Sun which has been blazing from the bluest of blue skies during the last two weeks or so.

Do I care?

You bet I don't. Tomorrow is coming-home-day, after 16 long days in Hospital.

Tomorrow is returning to Bleiburg day, where, so Christin tells me, many friends have been asking for me.

Tomorrow the weather does not count. It could rain in buckets or hail or snow.

Tomorrow will be a great day!

Tomorrow is coming-home- to-Christin-day.

Each day, which I spent here, I heard helicopters soaring in, landing on the roof of one of the hospital's wings. I don't see it, but I imagine that after the motor noise has ceased, stretcher bearers are rushing up to the 'copter, unloading victims of car crashes, of industrial accidents, and other life threatening problems, and I am secretly glad that I am sitting here, with a repaired right lung and not lying on a stretcher in the Helicopter or in an Ambulance.

What a great day it is today and what a great day it will be tomorrow

Bertstravels

still counts his blessings.

Imperfect book?

My very good friend, Andy, suggests I should "take it easy" since Grimms Fairytales scare kids, and the bible, just like those tales, is just an "imperfect" book.
Did you say, "imperfect"? To me, the word "imperfect" means something pretty close to the truth, with a little mistake here and there. This attribute cannot be used in connection with a work so full of contradictions, impossibilities, description of murders of entire "kingdoms", threats of everlasting fire and brimstone in everlasting Hell, where you go if you miss Sunday Mass, or kill somebody ( both classified as "Mortal Sins") and die before confession and absolution, given to you by a man, who just a little while ago buggered a little boy.
The Messers Grimm did not have a patch on the Bible, which for 1.5 Billion people is the guide line work and which claims to contain the truth, You would be totally surprised if you would find out how many Christians maintain that every word contained in the OT and the NT is true.
But that, my dear friend, is the end of my blabbering for one day.
Bert

REFLECTIONS here or there

You may reflect while sitting in a boat drifting in the Kafue River in Zambia, counting Hippos, Crocs, and Reflections,

or

you may reflect upon your life, while sitting on the side of your bed in a Hospital in Klagenfurt.

Which would you prefer ?

Can this story be true?

A Wall for Colorado!

When Mr. Donald Trump was elected to the Presidency of the United States of America, 

I wrote in my Blog and probably also on Facebook, that America had survived many disasters.

America survived the War of Independence, the Civil War, WW I and WWII, and various Economic Disasters

America, so I prognosticated, will also survive the Presidency of Mr. Trump.

I still believe this to be true in spite of … well, in spite of....

But now I have to ask myself: Although Donald talks about Yemen and Syria and Turkey... does he know where these countries are? 

I am inclined to doubt it. He does not seem to know where Colorado is. (I sincerely hope that he knows the location of Washington DC)

It is reported that the President of the USA made an offer to the Governor of Colorado to build a wall along his border with Mexico.

Isn't this generous?

There is, however, a small problem! Colorado does not have a border with Mexico.

It does have a border with several other States of the USA. 

One of them being “New Mexico”

Oh well, who cares? Mexico, New Mexico, it's all “Mexico” to Donald.

So, let's build a wall.

Bertstravels

is willing to give free Geography lessons.

Austria's National Holiday

26^th October

On this date Austria celebrates its “National Holiday!”

Because on this day in 1955 the last of the “Liberating Forces” left Austrian territory and Austria declared its everlasting Neutrality.

With this sentence alone we have started two points of discussion:

At the end of WWII, on the 8^th day of May 1945, was Austria “defeated” or was it “liberated”?

I believe that the German Army and the Regime of National Socialism was “defeated”. The people of Germany, along with the people of Austria, however, were “liberated” from the scourge of the brutal Hitler dictatorship.

Since the Allied Forces were physically present in these territories, it can, of course, semantically be said that they “occupied” them.

Had it not been for the stubborn insistence of the Russian leadership to remain in their half of Austria, the rest, the American, the British and other Western Allies, would have, so I believe, withdrawn at a much earlier date. But the scepter of communist expansionary tendencies convinced the Western Allies to remain until finally, in 1955, the Russian forces agreed to leave Austrian territory.

In fact, the USA had, years before, publicly declared Austria not defeated, but liberated.

So, after having argued about this single issue, let's briefly examine, and argue about the concept of “Neutrality.”

The Dictionary definition is very simple: Not to take either side in the case of a dispute.

In practice it is not quite as simple.

Switzerland, for instance, has cleverly and steadfastly remained neutral in any physical conflict. In matters of Economics and Ideology Switzerland is clearly allied with the West, and does therefore not occupy “neutral” territory.

While it is relatively simple to remain neutral in the case of armed conflict, for instance, it is not quite as simple in the case of “Democracy” vs “Dictatorship.”

In this case it is impossible to remain aloof, to remain neutral.

I am very glad that Austria is a Free Country, and I hope sincerely that it will be able to remain “democratically” neutral in all other respects.

That's what Bertstravels hopes for.

Is this fair?

.Who is Placido Domingo?

There is hardly anybody who does not know this Star -Tenor. 
Even if you are not an Opera fan, you likely ran across his name as one of “The Three Tenors.”

Luciano Pavarotti, Jose Carreras and said Placido.

They were the “ni plus ultra” of the world of Tenors. There were many others, of course, among them such Greats as Jussi Björling and Benjamino Gigli. ( about this last named, I can tell you a funny, personally experienced story.)

But back to Placido Domingo:

Recently, several ladies accused Placido of “sexual molestation” going back to the 1980s, that is some 30 years ago.

As a direct result of these accusations Placido resigned his position as General Director of the Opera Los Angeles, (which he helped to found some 30 years ago), stepped back from his engagement with the Metropolitan Opera in New York and was forced to cancel, or canceled several other appearances.

The question of why the women did not come forth with their accusations then and there, is really not a fair one, since back then, in ancient history, and long before the

“me too” movement, women felt largely dis- empowered and, in some cases feared for their jobs if they spoke up.

It seems to me, however, that it is in the very nature of man to make a pass at a woman.

Nature seems to have organized things, so that men are the aggressors and women the more timid partners in this duality.

The prettier she appears, the more likely it is that such an advance will be made.

If men had always refrained from such overtures (pardon the operatic pun), the human race would not have flourished. (maybe that would have been better for the world.)

Twenty, thirty years ago, the largest part of society would have said: “What a macho, macho guy he is and smiled indulgently.

Today, for the same infraction, Opera Houses (in this case) divorce themselves from the alleged perpetrator or accept his resignation, regardless of how beneficial the association may have been. Sponsors cancel their contracts which they have with Sport Heroes, and the man, who put his arm around a pretty woman and kissed her shoulder, 30 years ago, gets put in front of the door in mid-winter.

Yes, thirty years ago.

Most States of the USA have a “Statute of Limitation” of varying numbers of years for different crimes. With exception of murder, which has no such limit, they amount to anywhere between 2 and 15 years.

However: Placido Domingo is charged in the press for “a crime” he committed some 30 years ago and must pay the penalty, although he has not been charged by any Prosecutor, has not been tried in a Court of Law and has not been convicted by a Judge and Jury of even a traffic infraction.

He is charged with sexual molestation today and fired tomorrow.

Please do not take from the above that I condone a man's disrespecting the dignity of a woman, or that I consider an unsolicited advance by any man upon any woman as acceptable, but consider it as a plea to be fair to an accused, and not have him accused, tried, convicted and sentenced by public opinion based on some report in the Media.

The loss of Placido Domingo to the world of Opera would be tragic, indeed.

Bertstravels
will continue to listen to his records

Is this true? (:-))

Had an exchange with a friend about  Lot and Sodom and Gomorrah. 

Lot was given a chance to save the two Cities from destruction if he found ten good persons in either. He could not and therefore destruction rained on both. So the Bible tells us!

(when Lot and his family left the City, Lot's wife looked back and was turned into a pillar of Salt. Is this not a harsh penalty for being sadly curious about what is happening to your home town?)

Is it believable that in two cities there was not one single good person? Either Lot did not look very carefully, or the story is just a "story".(and a bad one, at that.).                                                  When God sent the Flood and drowned everybody but Noah and his family, does that mean there was not one innocent person, other than Noah and his family on the entire world??? What about new born babies and children who hadn't yet had a chance to be "bad"? What about faithful, good husbands and devoted loving wives and mothers? Was really everybody bad? Did "God" really think He made a mistake in creating this sad lot? Did he not know that He was all-wise, all-knowing, all-powerful, all etc etc etc and therefore He could not possibly have made a mistake. ... and don't, dear Joe, give me this excuse about "Free Will"... despite Free Will, man could not have surprised God...since He knew all there was, all there is and all there will be.                                                      In the "Form" in which He is described in ALL Scriptures of ALL Religions He does, in my humble opinion,  not exist. If He exists it must be in another form, about which Man cannot write or speak.

Let me go back to the story of Lot. Did not two Angels seek asylum in his house and several men appeared evidently wanting "to know" the persons in Lot's house. "To know" is a term used for sexual intercourse. Lot refused and... now get this--- offered his daughters so that the men "could do with them as they wanted".                                Holy Cow! What a good father!                      Would not a good man have fought these men to the end and, if necessary died in the effort? But Nooo... Lot wanted to protect the supernatural Angels and offered his daughters for rape and fornication...

What is this rubbish all about? 

The Brothers Grim collected better Fairy Tales.