Won't You Be My Distant Neighbor?

 


I'm fairly certain I've written about this subject before, being inundated with little old ladies from foreign countries on YouTube. It all began last year when I was enthralled by an older couple who live in Azerbaijan. Their son is the videographer who makes their home look like what heaven should look like. An abundance of flowers, fruit, vegetables and pet crows, all in beautiful living colors. I have watched the woman make enough food for thirty people whilst the old man tinkers about pulling weeds and planting more flowers. It's so pretty I question whether it's real, but I think it is. 

Then I got a visit from an old lady who lives in the hills in Siberia. I felt truly bad for her because I think she was being used. She was handed a pair of new, bulky slippers before her day of drudgery began. The look on her face was one of confusion, as if she had never received a gift in her life. Looking at her surroundings it was easy to surmise she lived a really hard life, definitely not like the Azerbaijan family. 

Now I get a lonely Japanese woman and two Ukrainian women who I've named Ukrainian rich and Ukrainian poor. They both live in squalor, but one has a nicer stove. It's easy to start feeling sorry for these women as they slowly move through their day. Stoking the fire, carrying in water and firewood, feeding the chickens, baking, cooking, sweeping... everything we all have to do to survive, except the majority of us don't need to snap a chicken's neck for the dinner meal. Their hands are massive from doing daily chores. Even with the stove constantly going, the women seem to wear every clothing apparel they own. Their morning wash is what the British call, "a lick and a promise." In vulgar circles it's called a whore's bath, where you stand at the sink and wash your hair and private bits as well as you can in freezing temperatures with a filthy rag. (don't worry, these are g-rated videos)

I actually enjoy watching these women go through their day because I feel connected to them. We are old, but we can't just stop and give up. We have seen things. They live in a country where a madman wants to kill them. Same here. They walk outside with a view of mountains and forests. I walk outside with a view to a street with a bus stop and a gas station around the corner where I can buy beer, a bong and baked goods. Tonight I made a meal the poor Ukrainian had made earlier using homemade dumplings, fried mystery meat, onions and chicken fat. I used leftover sausage, onions, olive oil and a pinch of barbecue sauce. It was delicious. 

Every day another little old lady arrives on the algorithm express. I don't think I can keep up with all of them. They'll never know me and I wonder if they even care. I hope the family member who is recording their lives gives them something besides giant fuzzy slippers. 

*Illustration from Freepik 

Comments

ex-ferrer said…
Such a different world for most of the population!
April 20, 2026 at 7:11 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

She's Still Dead

Image
   Ashli Babbitt was a traitor to this country. They can have all the ceremonial shenanigans the military likes to present as the deceased has been offered full military honors (We all know who requested that) it still won't negate the fact that she and thugs like her stormed a government building to do harm to others. They shit in the hallways. They carried confederate flags. They brought zip ties, bats and rage. The current regime can sugar coat it all they want but one day the orange man will be manure for his golf course grass and we can go back to truth being important. She deserved to be shot. More of them should have been shot that day. Every police officer should have followed the example of the police officer who did his job that day. These deplorables remind me of the fictional character, Ignatius J. Reilly, a lazy, selfish narcissist who decided to gather the factory employees in protest of some useless, archaic self indulgent mischief. He brought from home his soil...
Read more

Benny, Benny And No Regrets

Image
  It's just so hard to keep up with maga creeps. Here's Benny  Johnson, the guy who started the rumor that DC was a cesspool. He also claimed his house burned down while his family was in it. He's a liar. His house never burned down. You really can't believe much of what this asshat says because he has a habit of playing with facts. He also likes to steal other people's words. He has been fired and suspended numerous times for plagiarism, at least 41 times. It just boggles my mind when these people blatantly lie, then are outraged when called out. People like Johnson, Trump and Leavitt have probably lived their whole lives creating a make believe existence where lying is the norm. At some point it just becomes routine where they find lying acceptable and necessary. To me they are empty shells of mindless walking automatons. They live in a bubble of falsehoods. These are the people in charge of our country.  The NYTimes has done a story about Pinocchio Johnson. I dec...
Read more

An Empty Vessel

Image
He fills his head with Bible quotes  to silence the storm inside  An empty, hollow shell he mimics in disguise  You were not wanted You were unplanned  You are a nothing You have no stand  He bows his head and speaks in tongues  to still the flames of rage the pretender, fake, the fraud  hiding in plain sight You were a mistake  A thirty minute accident  a constant regretful memory  who seeks reason to breathe  from holy ghosts  and devils in red ties  the more you take the lesser man you are smoke and mirrors a shifting shape unseen  You are a mistake  You know it well A fake, a fraud, a lie. *Yes, I'm thinking of a certain someone we know.
Read more