THE NEGATIVE WORD

We've all heard about the recent mass shooting that happened in Florida. A Nineteen-year-old youth returned to the high school he once attended and opened fire on the students. 17 people were killed and many more injured. An incredibly tragic and horrifying crime.

I'm not here to give a news account, a morality assessment, or a psychological diagnosis. I'm only offering an amateur side-line observation about a small aspect:

It's a synonymous news media mantra that inevitably occurs with every crime I can remember. And it is always stated with great authority but very little thought.

The murderer/criminal is described as:

A LONER!!!!

"He was a loner, ladies and gentlemen!"

The news person always enunciates the word "loner" with as much disdain and revulsion as if they were saying "Republican" or "Trump".

What exactly is their definition of a "loner", anyway?
A misanthrope? A misfit? A maniac? 
Someone who played video games instead of going to the senior prom?

I suppose "loner" is a catch-all term which encompasses anything that doesn't adhere to the "norm".

But what the hell is "normal"?
Attending an Antifa rally?

Okay, maybe I'm overreacting and making much ado about nothing. But I still think the word "loner" is over-used and abused.

Perhaps I'm also thinking of Emily Dickinson, the Bronte sisters, Nikola Tesla, Thoreau, Ayn Rand, Greta Garbo, J.D.Salinger, Howard Hughes, maybe Proust, possibly Beethoven.

And...who knows?....just maybe....me.

In recent years I've come to prefer my own company - and to savor peace, solitude, and isolation.
This is the direct result of spending a lifetime among the "normal" gregarious non-loners - - who often have a detrimental way of sapping precious time and draining the individuality of others.

We need other people - for healthy psychological interaction, moral support, friendship, inspiration, and love.

But we also need ourselves - to nourish our individualism, think independently, create spontaneously, and listen to the blessed silence.

The word "loner" means different things to different people. I, for one, don't think it's a negative word.

Loners unite!

 

LONE WOLF

I've always disliked the title of this blog but I don't plan on changing it. I thought my old blog, Lone Star Concerto, had an appropriate title for Texas and I liked it. When I moved to Tennessee I couldn't come up with a suitable title for my new blog, so I simply changed one word - star to wolf.

I suppose the title is fairly apt. I am somewhat of a lone wolf - - living alone in the wilderness, surrounded by the great symphonic sounds of nature. Howling at the moon. I'm definitely a loner.

Unfortunately, the American news media has turned "loner" into a dirty word. Whenever a horrendous crime occurs -  serial killer, child molester, deranged gunman - they immediately announce that the perpetrator was a "LONER". 

I suppose the underlying indication is that there are no criminal elements among gregarious party animals.

 What the hell is the exact description of a loner, anyway?  

Member of the John Gacy Fan Club

Manufactures pipe bombs in the basement

Wears a T-shirt with the inscription:

Necrophilia
a zombies worst nightmare 

Okay, it wasn't funny.

I used to be out-going, friendly, adventurous. My life was filled with excitement, romance, and intrigue. Now - in my declining years - I've become a pessimistic introvert. Hermitized, reclusive, misanthropic. I prefer my own company because I'm the most interesting person I know.

Wow, Jon - you're a regular Little Miss Sunshine. I'll bet your dour attitude could sink the Good Ship Lollipop.

Hey, you caught me on a good day. Don't ever come around when I'm in a bad mood.


A change of subject is in order,
but I'll maintain the recurring howling theme.

Coyotes!

Lots of coyotes last night, roaming in wild packs. The first ones came soon after dark and seemingly surrounded the house. My three cats quickly dispersed and went into hiding. The cowards abandoned their posts, leaving me to fend for myself.

I went outside on the back porch. It was very dark and I only got a glimpse of them near the woods. Their howls are fierce, blood-curdling, eerie. Intimidating enough to make me go back inside. Very often their screams sound human.

I'm not nearly as intimidated by them as I was when I first moved here. I actually like the raw wildness of their intrusion. When they are farther away, in the hollow depths of the forest, their howls echo and reverberate.

Coyotes sound similar to wolves, and yet there is a distinct unrestrained savageness about them. Perhaps they sound more like wild dogs.

Late at night I often hear the nearly-demonic sound of birds screeching and screaming. Owls? 

The neighboring cows moo a lot, in organized unison. Sometimes at night. More often during the day. I like to hear them. Far away, across the meadows, roosters start crowing long before dawn.

What the heck is this, Jon - Old MacDonald's farm?

I'm just trying to verbally convey the rural setting of where I live to my readers. This will enable them to be mentally transported to my environment, and to vicariously experience all the wonders of nature that surround me.

Or, it will bore them beyond redemption and put them to sleep.


 My Photo Blog:
http://cabinetofcurioustreasures.blogspot.com