Thoughts on Black and White . . . & Color

Once a long time ago, all things were in black and white and various shades of gray or off white, depending whither you were closer to black or white. We lived in a black, white and gray/off white World. Most were happy because they hadn’t thought of the world as being anything else or anything better.

Some people thought that we could do better and realized that there was more to the world than black and white. Others wanted to make the world better by adding color . . . but only for those who could afford it, like themselves. But there were those that wanted a better, more colorful World for everyone because it was a right not a privilege.

There were several bills being written to submit to the House of Representatives and the Senate, but going from black and white to color was a complicated issue. There were both additive and subtractive ranges to contemplate.

The additive ranges were those having to do with light and lighting. The subtractive ranges had to do with paint and ink and printing. Additive primaries were Red, Blue and Green, while the Subtractive primaries were Magenta, Cyan and Yellow.

The conservatives wanted to know how we could make the world colorful for everyone without costing a huge amount of money for the Country. The conservatives wanted to just make it available for those that could afford it. The progressives wanted those that could afford it to pay for everyone. Somewhere in the middle was the answer.

The progressives had the power, but not by much, and a few of the progressives were being financed by the Light Lobby while others were being financed by the Paint Lobby. So, instead of having their constituents at heart, they fought for the point of view of their Patrons. Since there were no real colors yet, these legislators were called the “Gray Pussycats.” The GPs were able to hold up the passage of something that would have been good for almost everyone because the light and paint people wanted to have control and didn’t want to let it go to the people.

Some of the GPs were holding out to make Red, Blue, and Green the primary colors and others were trying to make Magenta, Cyan, and Yellow primary. The two didn’t realize that both the ranges were primary for different purposes, and what is worse they refused to talk to each other and find a common ground.

As time went by and several bills were written up to be presented to various committees, the conservatives decided to halt any advancement of any bill till they had control possibly in a few years. That way they could control how it was done and who would get the advantage of “Color.” Right now all they could do was to put doubt in the minds of the people. They claimed that color would blind the average citizen with its dazzle. They claimed that with color, the elderly would die from a heart attack at the brightness of the hues and that small children would lose several points on their IQ test because they would so be entranced by the various colors that they wouldn’t study their lessons any more.

None of this was true but it put into the argument a pause of plausibility. Some took up this rather unreasonable stance and repeated it enough that it almost became accepted as true.

In the House, there was great debate and they finally came up with a bill that was passed on, to the Senate. There were many flaws in that bill but it had most of what was needed and was accepted as being almost reasonable. Most Representative realized the Senate would take out the part that stated that all additive colors when used together would make everything turn black and that all subtractive colors when put together would make everything turn white, and that is exactly what happened. But . . . more was taken out of the bill.

In the end they decided that everyone had to buy into the color business by supporting color manufacturing in both the additive sector and the subtractive sector. The more money you had the more colors you could see and if you could afford the elective colors you had the advantage of having millions of colors at your disposal.

The Senate finally came up with a bill that was passed out of the Senate and would not cost anything at all to the people . . . but it was very watered down. It came out that the common people that didn’t have much money, didn’t have many colors either. The rich could afford lots of colors but the rich were very few and the average people were hundreds of millions.

The Senate bill was then passed to the House to be reconciled. There came out of that a compromise bill that was much like the one that was passed in the Senate, and it was passed to the President who realized that it wasn’t what he wanted but it was progress. The President then signed it and it became law.

Movies started being shown that were in color. But the common man could only see the primary colors and the few rich could see all the colors. Sunday comics started coming out in color but only the rich could see all the colors.

Sales of color material at first shot up but then started to decline because the common man couldn’t see all the colors. At that point it was determined that it was best for everyone, the lighting industry, the paint industry, the ink industry and all people everywhere, that color be made available to the whole world, without regard to the money involved. Color became a right not a privilege.

New bills were introduced into Congress and the right to color was expanded to be more and more inclusive to more and more people. More colors were invented and immediately released to the public at large.

The lighting and painting sector wasn’t harmed at all. Have you priced good theatrical lamps lately? I just bought some lamps for the local community theatre and had to pay almost $100 for a quality 500-watt lamp. The painting industry doesn’t hurt at all either. Quality exterior paint is over $25 a gallon

That is how color became part of everyday life. All the predictions of great calamity didn’t occur. Our children didn’t become idiots. Our older people aren’t falling dead at the sight of great color and we have progressed.

People have a tendency to be like electricity in that they follow the line of least resistance. Be very careful as to those that want you to follow a line of regression. You can’t reach the future by stepping backward anymore than you can regain you virginity.

'Twas the Night of Thanksgiving . . .

Twas the night of Thanksgiving and out of the house
Tiger Woods he came flying, chased by his spouse.
She wielded a nine iron and wasn’t too merry,
Because a bimbo’s phone number she found on his blackberry.

He’d been cheating on poor little Elin,
And as each day went by another whore came out a squealin'.
He’d been on Holly, on Jaimee, on Rachel, on Cori,
On Joselyn, and Kalika, TMZ had the story.

From the top of the world to above the fold,
Tiger’s ever more sordid tale, it was told.
With hostesses, waitresses, he had lots of sex,
And when he wasn’t hosing them, he sent them hot texts.

He crashed his Caddy, but didn’t call OnStar,
Yet he played “spank me daddy” with a skanky old porn star.
He’s been naughty, so with Santa he hasn’t a chance,
Except the big lump of coal like the lump in his pants.

But despite all his crying and begging and a pleadin',
Tiger’s wife went right out, bought a new home in Sweden.
And I heard her exclaim as she packed up the Escalade,
If you’re going to get laid, then I’m going to get paid.

Now she’s not pouting, in fact she’s of good cheer,
Because her prenup made Christmas come early this year.

Is There a Santa Clause?

(This is a reprise from early November that seems more appropriate to be posted now)

I remember my first Christmas adventure with Grandma. I was just a kid. I remember tearing across town on my bike to visit her on the day my friend Eddie dropped the bomb: "There is no Santa Claus," he jeered. "Even dummies know that!"

My Grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been. I fled to her that day because I knew she would be straight with me. I knew Grandma always told the truth, and I knew that the truth always went down a whole lot easier when swallowed with one of her "world-famous" cinnamon buns. I knew they were world-famous, because Grandma said so.

It had to be true.

Grandma was home, and the buns were still warm. Between bites, I told her everything. She was ready for me. "No Santa Claus?" She snorted...."Ridiculous! Don't believe it. That rumor has been going around for years, and it makes me mad, plain mad!! Now, put on your coat, and let's go."

"Go? Go where, Grandma?" I asked. I hadn't even finished my second world-famous cinnamon bun.

"Where" turned out to be Kerby's General Store, the one store in town that had a little bit of just about everything. As we walked through its doors,Grandma handed me ten dollars. That was a bundle in those days. "Take this money," she said, "and buy something for someone who needs it. I'll wait for you in the car. "Then she turned and walked out of Kerby's.

I was only eight years old. I'd often gone shopping with my mother,but never had I shopped for anything all by myself.

The store seemed big and crowded, full of people scrambling to finish their Christmas shopping. For a few moments I just stood there, confused, clutching that ten-Dollar bill, wondering what to buy, and who on earth to buy it for. I thought of everybody I knew: my family, my friends , my neighbors, the kids at school, and he people who went
to my church.

I was just about thought out, when I suddenly thought of Bobby Decker. He was a kid with bad breath and messy hair, and he sat right behind me in Mrs. Pollock's grade-two class.

Bobby Decker didn't have a coat. I knew that because he never went out to recess during the winter. His mother always wrote note, telling the teacher that he had a cough, but all we kids knew that Bobby Decker didn't have a cough; he didn't have a good coat. I fingered the ten-dollar bill with growing excitement. I would buy Bobby Decker a coat!

I settled on a red corduroy one that had a hood to it. It looked real warm, and he would like that.

"Is this a Christmas present for someone?" the lady behind the counter asked kindly, as I laid my ten dollars down.

"Yes, ma'am," I replied shyly. "It's for Bobby."

The nice lady smiled at me, as I told her about how Bobby really needed a good winter coat. I didn't get any change, but she put the coat in a bag, smiled again, and wished me a Merry Christmas.

That evening, Grandma helped me wrap the coat (a little tag fell out of the coat, and Grandma tucked it in her Bible) in Christmas paper and ribbons and wrote, "To Bobby, From Santa Claus" on it. Grandma said that Santa always insisted on secrecy. Then she drove me over to Bobby Decker's house, explaining as we went that I was now and forever officially, one of Santa's helpers.

Grandma parked down the street from Bobby's house, and she and I crept noiselessly and hid in the bushes by his front walk.

Then Grandma gave me a nudge. "All right, Santa Claus," she whispered, "get going" I took a deep breath, dashed for his front door, threw the present down on his step, pounded his door and flew back to the safety of the bushes and Grandma.

Together we waited breathlessly in the darkness for the front door to open. Finally it did, and there stood Bobby.

Fifty years haven't dimmed the thrill of those moments spent shivering, beside my Grandma, in Bobby Decker's bushes.

That night , I realized that those awful rumors about Santa Claus were just what Grandma said they were: ridiculous. Santa was alive and well, and we were on his team. I still have the Bible, with the coat tag tucked inside: $19.95. Seems there were more than Grandma and me helping Santa that night.

May you always have LOVE to share, HEALTH to spare and FRIENDS that care....

And may you always believe in the magic of Santa Claus . . . or Father Winter.

(I don't remember where I got this piece, but it seems worth posting at this time of year)

"The Christians and the Pagans"

By Dar Williams

Amber called her Uncle, said “We’re up here for the holiday,
Jane and I were having Solstice, and we need a place to stay.”
And her Christ-loving Uncle watched his wife hang Mary on a tree,
He watched his son hang candy canes all made with red dye number three
He told his niece, “It’s Christmas eve, I know our life is not your style.”
She said, “Christmas is like Solstice, and we miss you and it’s been awhile.”

So the Christians and the Pagans sat together at the table
Finding faith and common ground the best that they were able
And just before the meal was served, hands were held and prayers were said
Sending hope for peace on earth to all their Gods and goddesses.

The food was great, the tree plugged in, the meal had gone without a hitch
Till Timmy turned to Amber and said, “Is it true that you’re a witch?”
His mom jumped up and said, “The pies are burning,” and she hit the kitchen
And it was Jane who spoke and said, “It’s true, your cousin’s not a Christian”
“But we love trees we love the snow, the friends we have, the world we share
And you find magic from your God, and we find magic everywhere”

So the Christians and the Pagans sat together at the table
Finding faith and common ground the best that they were able
And where does magic come from, I think magic’s in the learning
Cause now when Christians sit with Pagans only pumpkin pies are burning.

When Amber tried to do the dishes, her Aunt said, “Really, no, don’t bother”
Amber’s Uncle saw how Amber looked like Tim and a lot like her Father
He thought about his brother, how they hadn’t spoken in a year
He thought he’d call him up and say, “It’s Xmas and your daughter’s here”
He thought of fathers, sons and brothers, saw his own son tug his sleeve
Saying, “Can I be a Pagan?” Dad said, “We’ll discuss it when they leave”

So the Christians and the Pagans sat together at the table
Finding faith and common ground the best that they were able
Lighting trees in darkness, learning new ways from the old,
And making sense of history and drawing warmth out of the cold.

A Solstice Tribute

Oh, stirring star of solstice time.
Your radiant hours are few.
You turn and strike the New Years chime,
We owe our lives to you.

These darkest days of Winter,
We miss your warming rays;
But every year this hemisphere
Returns to brighter days

Since olden days the human race
Has feared your warmth would die?
The evergreen is ever seen
As hope we will survive.

Oh, ancient drums stop beating,
And superstitions fall.
It’s time for reason’s greetings.
For PEACE, goodwill to all.

Puns and Plays on Words for Educated Minds . . .

1. The roundest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.

2. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian.

3. She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still.

4. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because it was a weapon of math disruption.

5. The butcher backed into the meat grinder and got a little behind in hiswork.

6. No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.

7. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.

8. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.

9. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.

10. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

11. A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it..

12. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

13. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other, 'You stay here; I'll go on ahead.'

14. I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.

15. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: 'Keep off the Grass.'

16. A small boy swallowed some coins and was taken to a hospital. When his grandmother telephoned to ask how he was, a nurse said, 'No change yet.'

17. A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.

18. The short fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at-large.

19. The man who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.

20. A backward poet writes inverse.

21. In democracy it's your vote that counts. In feudalism it's your count that votes.

22. When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.

23. Don't join dangerous cults: Practice safe sects.

For What I'm Thankful . . .

(This is a reprise from Early September. Seems to fit better here just before Thanksgiving)

The Sun, good health, the husband, the wife, the kids, the grandkids, life, love, food and shelter, I’ve heard people give thanks for all of the above, and more, much more. Originally, I was looking for something for which to be thankful, without duplicating someone else’s thankfulness. Then the light came on, I’m thankful for all the bad things that happen to me. And, the reason is that the bad things make the good things far more meaningful.

I tend to be fairly well coordinated. I was a gymnast in High school and college and did flips, hand stands, and scales in city and state competitions. It wasn’t until I tripped and broke my toe that I realized what a great gift I had received in being able to move around without hurting myself. . . until then.

To carry this a little further, it also dawned on me that without illness, I probably would take good health for granted. If there was no influenza, how could I possibly appreciate an ache free day. I know that I would assume that agility was commonplace if it were not for my arthritis. Good eyesight would never be questioned if I didn’t have to wear glasses.

But, the one thing that I don’t understand, is youth. No one ever appreciates youth until we get older. And unlike health, agility, and all the other things for which we are each thankful, it cannot be re-attained. You have it, you enjoy it, then it goes away and it isn’t coming back. One day you wake up and your joints ache, your hair is thin, your forty pounds over weight, your kids have their own kids, the wife is gone and so are your teeth, and you wonder . . . “What in the hell happened?”

Well what you have just experienced was life. And yes, it goes on. But someone else is the major participant. At this point you have a supporting role. But later you will become a character actor, then after that you become the stage manager or house manager, then, if you live long enough, you just become a burden.

None of this sounds promising to anyone, but if you play your cards right, you can prolong your health, teach your kids to respect their elders, have enough money to not be a burden to your kids, and spend your retirement in comfort.

Now, what I’m really thankful for is that I can buy my grandson a drum set for Christmas. His mother drove me crazy when she was a kid, and I intend to return the favor.

December 21st. 2012!

Life is funny. We all run in circles. Fashion comes and goes . . . in circles. If you keep a neck tie long enough, it will come back into fashion. The same happens with skirt lengths and hair styles.

The Moon makes its cycle every 27 days or so. A "New Moon" doesn't mean it has gone away, it just means it is starting a new cycle. In the depths of Winter we don't consider the Sun having gone away, it just means Spring isn't too far behind and the cycle starts again. Soon we will be in short sleeves and swimming in the creek.

The Mayans didn't believe the World was coming to an end on December 21, 2012, they believed that was when there would be a new cycle starting.

There are those that mention that there will be an alignment between the Earth, the Sun and the center of the Galaxy on December 21, 2012. That is true . . . but it happens every December, on or about the 21st. There is going to be nothing unusual about the December of 2012, at least not as far as the Universe is concerned. Jupiter will be high in the Southern sky that night and be up all night. The Moon will be about 60% full and Orion will be in the Southern sky. The Milky Way will traverse the sky from East to West through the night. All this will happen . . . as usual.

We will know then if Obama can make it another term, or by then we will know if all Americans can enjoy Universal Health Care. We also will know if the GOP will become a third party or will they still be significant in American Politics.

I believe in recycling whatever we can. Life is a circle. If you live long enough you will be surprised at what comes around again.

Just some thoughts . . .

* Don't handicap your children by making their lives too easy!

* Do everything in Excess. To enjoy the flavor of life take big bites. Moderation is for monks.

* Fake Fortune Tellers will be tolerated. But, if you claim to be an authentic Soothsayer, you will be shot on sight.

* Life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer you get to the end . . . the faster it goes.

* Listen to the experts. They'll tell you what can't be done and why. Then just go do it.

* There is no conclusive evidence of life after death. But, there is no evidence of any sort against it either. Soon enough you'll know for sure. So why fret about it now?

* The Pope is fallible. The planet is fillable. Promote Birth Control.

The Local Nativity Scene . . .

In a small southern town, somewhat like the one I live in, there was a nativity scene, almost like the one where I live. It was a large one covering some 50 feet or so. But, one small feature bothered me. The three wise men were wearing firemen’s helmets.

Totally unable to come up with a reason or explanation, I went across the street to the local E-Z Mart, and once again, somewhat like where I live. I asked the lady behind the counter about the helmets. She exploded into a rage, yelling at me, “You dern furiners never do read the Bible!”

I assured her that I had, but simply couldn’t recall anything about firemen in the bible. She jerked her Bible from behind the counter and ruffled through some pages, and finally jabbed her finger at a particular passage.

Sticking it in my face she said, “See, it says rot cheer, ‘The tree wise men come from afar.’”

Among The Stones

Here . . . I walk among the stones commemorating those who have gone before. I see their names and dates carved carefully by those who loved them, and those they loved. Their deeds are forgotten for the most part, except what has been passed down. We have lived because of those that these stones represent. Flesh and blood, a beating heart, reduced to clay, and a stone with a name and a date. What about their tragedies? What about their triumphs? What about their accomplishments and their loves? Great lives are reduced to a few lines on a stone. Will we never know the situations and challenges that they overcame? We are here because Sam loved Elsie, Obidia loved Flossie, and Norman loved Alma.

Here . . . I walk among the stones of those who have loved before. The heritage they passed down to us, with a myriad of mysteries is here, within us. It’s all laid out and ready for us to read and explore. We are the accumulated history of these stones. We are what they lived for, we are what they loved for, we are what they fought and died for, and we will be their best works until we pass the prize to those that follow and we join the stones.

(I wrote this for my Mother's funeral)

Is There a Santa Claus?

I remember my first Christmas adventure with Grandma. I was just a kid. I remember tearing across town on my bike to visit her on the day my friend Eddie dropped the bomb: "There is no Santa Claus," he jeered. "Even dummies know that!"

My Grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been. I fled to her that day because I knew she would be straight with me. I knew Grandma always told the truth, and I knew that the truth always went down a whole lot easier when swallowed with one of her "world-famous" cinnamon buns. I knew they were world-famous, because Grandma said so.

It had to be true.

Grandma was home, and the buns were still warm. Between bites, I told her everything. She was ready for me. "No Santa Claus?" She snorted...."Ridiculous! Don't believe it. That rumor has been going around for years, and it makes me mad, plain mad!! Now, put on your coat, and let's go."

"Go? Go where, Grandma?" I asked. I hadn't even finished my second world-famous cinnamon bun.

"Where" turned out to be Kerby's General Store, the one store in town that had a little bit of just about everything. As we walked through its doors,Grandma handed me ten dollars. That was a bundle in those days. "Take this money," she said, "and buy something for someone who needs it. I'll wait for you in the car. "Then she turned and walked out of Kerby's.

I was only eight years old. I'd often gone shopping with my mother,but never had I shopped for anything all by myself.

The store seemed big and crowded, full of people scrambling to finish their Christmas shopping. For a few moments I just stood there, confused, clutching that ten-Dollar bill, wondering what to buy, and who on earth to buy it for. I thought of everybody I knew: my family, my friends , my neighbors, the kids at school, and he people who went
to my church.

I was just about thought out, when I suddenly thought of Bobby Decker. He was a kid with bad breath and messy hair, and he sat right behind me in Mrs. Pollock's grade-two class.

Bobby Decker didn't have a coat. I knew that because he never went out to recess during the winter. His mother always wrote note, telling the teacher that he had a cough, but all we kids knew that Bobby Decker didn't have a cough; he didn't have a good coat. I fingered the ten-dollar bill with growing excitement. I would buy Bobby Decker a coat!

I settled on a red corduroy one that had a hood to it. It looked real warm, and he would like that.

"Is this a Christmas present for someone?" the lady behind the counter asked kindly, as I laid my ten dollars down.

"Yes, ma'am," I replied shyly. "It's for Bobby."

The nice lady smiled at me, as I told her about how Bobby really needed a good winter coat. I didn't get any change, but she put the coat in a bag, smiled again, and wished me a Merry Christmas.

That evening, Grandma helped me wrap the coat (a little tag fell out of the coat, and Grandma tucked it in her Bible) in Christmas paper and ribbons and wrote, "To Bobby, From Santa Claus" on it. Grandma said that Santa always insisted on secrecy. Then she drove me over to Bobby Decker's house, explaining as we went that I was now and forever officially, one of Santa's helpers.

Grandma parked down the street from Bobby's house, and she and I crept noiselessly and hid in the bushes by his front walk.

Then Grandma gave me a nudge. "All right, Santa Claus," she whispered, "get going" I took a deep breath, dashed for his front door, threw the present down on his step, pounded his door and flew back to the safety of the bushes and Grandma.

Together we waited breathlessly in the darkness for the front door to open. Finally it did, and there stood Bobby.

Fifty years haven't dimmed the thrill of those moments spent shivering, beside my Grandma, in Bobby Decker's bushes.

That night , I realized that those awful rumors about Santa Claus were just what Grandma said they were: ridiculous. Santa was alive and well, and we were on his team. I still have the Bible, with the coat tag tucked inside: $19.95. Seems there were more than Grandma and me helping Santa that night.

May you always have LOVE to share, HEALTH to spare and FRIENDS that care....

And may you always believe in the magic of Santa Claus . . . or Father Winter.

(I don't remember where I got this piece, but it seems worth posting at this time of year)

On Prayer in School . . .

It is true, to escape official religious oppression in England, many brave souls came to this continent. Their goal was to set up a society in which all could practice each of their religions without interference from the government, and also to not interfere with the religions of others. In our society the majority rules, as long as the majority does not step on the rights of the minority.

What I am sure most people want is the return “Christian” prayer to our schools.

What we forget is that we are not all Christian, and even if we were, how would we feel if our child came home and told us he was forced in school to say fifteen “OUR FATHER’S” and twenty “HAIL MARY’S,” both good Christian prayers.

On the other hand if prayer is all that is wanted, how about ten minutes of “ALLAH IS GREAT, AND MUHAMMAD IS HIS PROPHET,” or the kids could set in the floor, legs folded, hands together and “OOOMMMMM” for ten minutes.

Maybe if the teacher is a feminist she just might want to lead the children in “OH! GREAT GODDESS OF HEAVEN AND EARTH, BRING ME INTO THE COMPANY OF THOSE WHO SEEK THE TRUTH, BUT DELIVER ME FROM THOSE WHO THINK THEY HAVE FOUND IT.”

My point here is that there are certain things that are personal, which is why we have locks on our bedrooms and bathrooms. Prayer is personal, each of us who prays does so in our own individual way and to our own God.

I promise to never force your child to say an “OUR FATHER” or a “HAIL MARY” or “ALLAH IS GREAT” or even an “OOOMMMMM.” All I want is for you to not force my children to recite your prayers. Personal prayer belongs in Church or with those who also believe, at home. Christian doctrine dictates that one should do their prayers “MODESTLY” away from others, in a closet.

We all want our children in school to be taught the fundamentals. Religion and morals, I’ll take care of at home and in my church. You certainly don’t want me teaching your children my religion and morals, and I feel the same. The assumption is that we are all Christian, but if you mean Baptist, that leaves out the Lutherans, Catholics, People from the Church of Christ, and Church of God, Church of the Nazerine, not to mention the Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Agnostics, and Atheists.

In other words, most of the World. The Christian Fundamentalists are a minority.

Living a Life That Matters

Ready or not, someday it will all come to an end.

There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days.

All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten, will pass to someone else.

Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance.

It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed.

Your grudges, resentments, frustrations, mean spirit and jealousies will finally disappear.

So, too, your hopes, ambitions, plans, and to-do lists will expire.

The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away.

It won't matter where you came from, or on what side of the tracks you lived, at the end.

It won't matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant.

Even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant.

So what will matter?

How will the value of your days be measured?

What will matter is not what you bought, but what you built;
not what you got, but what you gave.

What will matter is not your success, but your significance.

What will matter is not what you learned, but what you taught.

What will matter is not what you gave in to but what you stood up for.

What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage, love or sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example.

What will matter is not your competence, but your character.

What will matter is not how many people you knew, but how many will feel a lasting loss when you're gone.

What will matter is not your memories, but the memories that live in those who loved you.

What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom and for what.

Living a life that matters doesn't happen by accident.

It's not a matter of circumstance, but of choice.

Choose to live a life that matters.

Moral Leaders?

The outpouring of unseemly and unchristian lies and distortions from the nation's self-proclaimed "Moral Leaders" that appeared in the days before the Nov. elections was truly amazing. I'm no stranger to hardball politics, and as the President of the Board of Trustees of my Church, with my own political opinions, I'd be the last to argue against any one's right to be in the fray. But, I cannot bear to let go unnoticed that many of the candidates who were most closely associated with the Religious Right, those who proclaimed themselves the candidates of the "Values Voters," abandoned the values of honesty and decency in the closing days of their campaigns.

A Few Examples among many:
Ohio Gubernatorial Candidate Kenneth Blackwell, favored by the so-called "Patriot Pastors"- accused his opponent, a decent, humane man who served in Congress and as a United Methodist minister, of supporting sex between adults and children.

Senator Rick Santorum, declared by archconservative leader Paul Weyrich to be the most important senator in America at the recent "Values Voter Summit," accused his opponent, a popular state treasurer, of aiding and abetting terrorism and genocide.

Virginia Senator George Allen, who will forever be known for his ugly mocking of a young person of color to a chuckling, all-white audience, attacked his opponent, a respected author whose military-themed novels have been praised by George Will and John McCain, by calling a few out-of-context quotes, "OBSCENE."

It's not just the politicians, The American Family Association was so desperate to energize conservative Christian voters that it told its members that if Democrats won, they should expect attempts to make "polygamy legal in all 50 states."

In 2000, GOP strategists went to work in South Carolina demeaning John McCain. They orchestrated a malicious campaign of phone calls and fliers whispering about illegitimate mixed-race children, mental instability, and other falsehoods.

George W. Bush, the president who is so eager to wear his "Jesus-Changed" heart on his sleeve, responded to a righteously angry McCain with the dismissive comment, "It's only politics."

Mr.. Bush and Karl Rove aren't the first or the last politicians to adopt an end-justify-the-means approach to winning elections, but there's a glaring disconnect between their proclaimed commitment to truth and biblical values and their willingness to shuck it all aside if it means getting enough votes to hang onto power.

Unfortunately I have already received, so early in the 2010 election process, several delightful email lies about Barack Obama. And, I know there will be more.

Please check out the facts on www.snopes.com and just type in Barack Obama in the search field.

I know this will be the first of many from the "Family Values" side of the aisle. I just never realized that lying was a family value.

Americans are beginning to demand a new direction in politics, a direction that holds up hope instead of fear, the common good instead of divisions, and aims at solving real problems that affect real American families rather than ideology. And that is a politics that is much closer to the good news of the Gospel than anything the so-called "Moral Values" crowd has offered.

What Some People Believe

SOME PEOPLE REALLY BELIEVE THAT:
Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him, a bad guy when Bush's daddy made war on him, a good guy when Cheney did business with him and a bad guy when Bush needed a "we can't find Bin Laden" diversion.

Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is communist, but trade with China and Vietnam is vital to a spirit of international harmony.

The United States should get out of the United Nations, and our highest national priority is enforcing U.N. resolutions against Iraq.

A woman can't be trusted with decisions about her own body, but multi-national corporations can make decisions affecting all mankind without regulation.

Jesus loves you, and shares your hatred of homosexuals and Hillary Clinton.

The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in speeches while slashing veterans' benefits and combat pay.

If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents won't have sex.

A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle our long-time allies, then demand their cooperation and money.

Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy. Providing health care to all Americans is socialism.

HMOs and insurance companies have the best interests of the public at heart.

Global warming and tobacco's link to cancer are junk science, but creationism should be taught in schools.

A president lying about an extramarital affair is a impeachable offense. A president lying to enlist support for a war in which thousands die is solid defense policy.

Government should limit itself to the powers named in the Constitution, which include banning gay marriages and censoring the Internet.

The public has a right to know about Hillary's cattle trades, but George Bush's driving record is none of our business.

Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless you're a conservative radio host. Then it's an illness, and you need our prayers for your recovery.

You support states' rights, which means Attorney General John Ashcroft can tell states what local voter initiatives they have the right to adopt.

What Bill Clinton did in the 1960s is of vital national interest, but what Bush did in the '80s is irrelevant.

The Mensa Invitational . . .

Here is the Washington Post's Mensa Invitational, which once again asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition.

The winners are:

1. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.

2. Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an asshole.

3. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.

4. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

5. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating.

(The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.)

6. Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.

7. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

8. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.

9. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

10. Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.

11. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease.

(This one got extra credit.)

12. Karmageddon: It's when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, and then the Earth explodes, and it's a serious bummer.

13. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

14. Glibido: All talk and no action.

15. Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

16. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.

17. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

18. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.

==========================================

The Washington Post also published the winning submissions to its yearly contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for common words.


The winners are:

1. coffee, n. the person upon whom one coughs.

2. flabbergasted, adj. appalled by discovering how much weight one has gained.

3. abdicate, v. to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.

4. esplanade, v. to attempt an explanation while drunk.

5. willy-nilly, adj. impotent.

6. negligent, adj. absentmindedly answering the door when wearing only a nightgown.

7. lymph, v. to walk with a lisp.

Related to Public Option Post:

You might want to check these URLs out by clicking or doing a copy and paste into your address field.

www.online.wsj.com/article/SB124947013703607453.html

www.aflcio.org/issues/healthcare/facts_insurancecompanyprofits.cfm

On The Public Option:

Every poll I've seen recently shows at least 65% want a public option choice and many polls show over 70%. So public opinion is not even close on this issue. With those kinds of numbers, the ONLY reason any politician should be struggling with the issue is because they're either:
(a) in the tank for the insurance industry (GOP);
(b) blue dog Dems who claim to be captive of "swing state" constituencies who will throw them out if they vote for a public option; or
(c) all the above.

But the polls show that, except for industry advocates, the only public support politicians can reasonably cite for opposing a public option is from the Fox News/Limbaugh/Beck/screaming teabagger crowd. And while that group's media profile has been high in recent months, their actual numbers are in reality very low.

I doubt most politicians have ever been faced with a clearer, more dramatic choice between public and private interests with such huge amounts of money at stake. The outcome of this debate literally means life or death for both people without health insurance and the health insurance industry. The insurance companies are currently spending $1.4m every day on advertising and lobbying because they KNOW a serious public option will take many of them out. And the revenues and profits of the companies that survive would be a mere shadow of what they are now. In effect, if a robust public option becomes law, the health insurance industry will draw a Monopoly game card that says "Do not collect $401,152,979,783.00 a year."*

And no, that's not a typo. A cash flow of over four hundred billion dollars a year that the insurance industry is currently enjoying is at risk of slowing to a trickle.

*2007 net revenues from health insurance premiums. And that's just the major players. Source, www.reuters.com

Personal Hell

“What in the hell are you afraid of?”

“I ain’t afraid of nuttin’!”

“I’ll bet you’re afraid of the Devil.”

“I don’t believe in the devil. In fact, I’m not afraid of anything in this life. I’m not afraid of you, the devil, or God, or anything, not even death.”

Those were the words of a very young and very naive boy. As he drove home, there appeared above the dashboard, a small hairy spider. It crawled down his windshield very slowly. At first he thought it was on the outside, but then he remembered that he was going 55MPH and that it would have blown off. He looked closely, and realized that in fact it was on the inside. He could feel the hair on his arm stiffen and come to attention as goose bumps sprang up their full length. The spider came to rest behind the steering wheel, right in front of him, and just below his vision of the road. He divided his attention between the road and the spider, about 70% to the road and 30% to the black hairy spider with some small, lighter markings on its legs and body. It crawled around for a while on top of the dash and finally went under some papers that were lying on top of the dash. NOW HE DID NOT KNOW WHERE THE DAMNED THING WAS! The percentages were now 50/50. The road was 50%, and where he thought the spider was, 50%. He looked around the papers on the dash, then at the road, then back at the road, then the dash again. It wasn’t anywhere to be found, and moving the papers around didn’t seem to help. Where in the hell was it? Now, his attention was divided 30% on the road and 70% on the unknown whereabouts of a very small spider. Every once in a while he could catch the reflection of the spider on the inside of the windshield as it ran from underneath one paper to underneath another.

Within a very short period, his time was divided 10% on the road and 90% to the threat of the disappeared arachnid. As the unattended highway disappeared beneath the car, and the vanished spider demanded more attention, it became apparent that driving was totally impossible and he pulled to the side of the road and stopped. He then carefully pulled the papers off the dashboard until he found the spider and took out his anger on the conniving little bastard. He climbed back into the car and drove away wiping the sweat off his forehead with a napkin from the dash. Who says that there is no Hell on earth?

We all know that we have our own phobias. That irrational and persistent fear or dread of SOMETHING. Whether you are claustrophobic, acrophobic, agoraphobic, or arachniphobic or even if your fear is not an irrational one, you have a type of Hell, right here on Earth.

Some of us have more than one irrational fear and some of our fears are more along the lines of immense dislikes, or heavy discomforts, or bad irritations. Whatever your personal Hell or Hells are it is important that they are acknowledged before your Hell or Hells really do make life a “HELL ON EARTH.”

The Environment, War and Peace . . .

There are no WARS on Mars. There are no WARS on Venus. There are no WARS in the Antarctic or the Arctic. There are no WARS in Tierra del Fuego or Greenland. WHY?

Being socially concerned about what is going on around me, and about that which is to be done to me I receive a lot of ill-directed flak from friends and associates. My concern is with YOUR ENVIRONMENT, (of course, with your kind permission, I’ll use it too). My socially concerned friends tell me that I care more for trees than for people. They want to know why I don’t work for peace instead of ferns, flowers, and trees. The answer is simple. I am very basic in my needs and desires.

How I wish that there would never be another WAR. Peace forever, everyone loves everyone. One the other hand, I have read history, when one group has the power or thinks they have the power, they become aggressive. A “BULLY” syndrome. They MUST dominate! They MUST show that they cannot be dominated! The problem is temptation. Some can handle it, but those people are far too few. No mater how moralistic or ethical, the best people in the world can be had, by temptation. Now, fully realizing the fact that people in general are not likely to change in human nature, and that we as workers for the future must be gratified as soon as possible in order to take the next step forward, we must work for something more immediately rewarding.

The environment is worth a fight, without a habitat (environment) there is no place to live. Not the spotted owl, not the red cockaded woodpecker, not the snail darter, not you, not I. All life ceases! You and I, all animals, all plants, everything! If one should want peace, that is the way to get it. Like I have already said, “There is no war in Tierra del Fuego.” Where there are no people, there is no WAR. Apparently the environment is the key, no environment, no people; no people, no WAR.

Working for the environment is very basic in nature. It is easier to get people to clean up their own house than to clean up everyone else’s house. One must start where one is most effective. With the environment, every little thing you do is effective; recycling, planting a tree, saving a tree, saving a group of trees, or a forest, proclaiming a wilderness. It all starts small, but grows. The reward is immediate, and gratifying. But most important, something gets done.

Do I love trees more than people ?. . . NO! But, it’s easier to work with trees. You don’t have to put up with their bullshit, and you really can get something accomplished.

If one really wants peace, forsake the environment. You’ll get peace fast. But there is a sacrifice to make. Consider it . . . you might find that you love trees too.

A REASONABLE MORALITY; Situation Ethics

(I've rewritten this three times and it is still too long. But, it is what it is and I can't get it any shorter without messing with the logic and meaning, Sorry!)

TWO THINGS SHOULD BECOME CLEAR AS WE PROCEED:
1. That situation ethics are not exactly new, either in method or in content.
2. That as a method, its roots lay securely, even if not conventionally, in the classical tradition of Western Christian morals.

During the Republican National Convention in Dallas, in the middle 80"s, one of my “Moderate” Republican friends said, “I and my father and grandfather before me, and their fathers, have always been straight-ticket Republicans.”
“Ah,” I said, “I take it that means you will vote for President Reagan.”
“No,” my friend said, “there are times when a man has to push his principles aside and do the right thing.” There is no way I can put into this essay, a better definition of situation ethics. My Republican friend is the Hero of this piece.

In N. Richard Nash’s “THE RAINMAKER,” a morally outraged brother of a lonely, spinster girl threatens to shoot the sympathetic Rainmaker because he makes love to her in the barn at midnight. The Rainmaker’s intention is to restore her sense of womanliness and her hopes for marriage and children. Her father, a wise old rancher, grabs the pistol away from his son, saying, “Son, you’re so full of what’s right you can’t see what’s good.”

Situation Ethics is based on “LOVE.” Now, there are so many meanings and definitions of “LOVE” that there is a temptation to drop the word altogether in ethical discourse. Christians want to use only the “AGAPE,” and this is not what is meant. The word LOVE is too rich to through away ruthlessly.

There are only three alternative routes or approaches to follow in making moral decisions. They are:
1. The legalistic
2. The antinomian (unprincipled approach)
3. The situational

Just as legalism triumphed among the Jews after the exile, so in spite of Jesus’ and Paul’s revolt against it, it has managed to dominate Christianity constantly from the very early days. As we shall be seeing, in many real-life situations legalism demonstrates what Henry Miller, in a shrewd phrase, calls “The immorality of morality.”

1. LEGALISM
With this approach, one enters into every decision making situation encumbered with a whole apparatus of prefabricated rules and regulations. Not the spirit but the letter of the law reigns. Solutions are preset, and you can look them up in a book (Rules, The Bible, The Torah). Statutory and code law inevitably piles up, ruling upon ruling, because the complications of life and the claims of mercy and compassion combine and accumulate and elaborate system of exceptions and compromise, in the form of rules for breaking the rules! It leads to that tricky now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t business of interpretation that the rabbis called “PILPUL”–a hairsplitting and logic-chopping study of the letter of the law. Any web thus woven sooner or later chokes its weavers. With Catholics it has taken the form of a fairly ingenious moral theology that, as its twists and involutions have increased, resort more and more to a CASUISTRY that appears to evade the very LAWS of right and wrong laid down in its textbooks and manuals. (CASUISTRY=the solving of cases of right and wrong by applying principals of ethic, and deciding how far circumstances alter the case, usually used to evade the law)

When visiting my lawyer in Dallas one day, we went into the conference room/law library. The walls were lined with law books, about six feet high and about fifty feet around the room. I told him that I was amazed at how many laws we had. He told me that the laws were up front, six foot high and ten foot across. The rest were the exceptions to those laws.

Protestantism has rarely constructed such intricate codes and systems of law, but what it has gained by its simplicity it has lost through its rigidity, its puritanical insistence on moral rules. They have lost touch with the headaches and heartbreaks of life. How else can one explain burning at the stake in the Middle Ages for homosexuals? Even today imprisonment up the sixty years is the penalty in one state for those who were actually consenting adults, without seduction or public disorder. This is really unavoidable whenever law instead of LOVE is put first. The puritan type is a well-known example of it. But even if the legalist is truly sorry that the law requires unloving or disastrous decisions, he still cries, “Do what is right even if the sky falls down.” He is the man Mark Twain called, “. . . a good man in the worst sense of the word.”

Today, a Christian “LITERALIST” thinks an adulterer more wicked than a politician who takes bribes, although the latter probably does a thousand times more harm. That is what Bertrand Russell said in, “WHY I AM NOT A CHRISTIAN.” Most literal churches hold that it is better for the Sun and Moon to drop from heaven, for the earth to fail, and for all the many millions who are upon it to die of starvation in extreme agony . . . than that one soul should commit one single venial sin.

CAN YOU SEE THIS HAPPENING IN OUR FAIR TOWN?
A Mrs. X is convicted of impairing the morals of her minor daughter. She had tried to teach the child chastity but at thirteen the girl bore the first of three unwanted, neglected babies. Her mother then had said, “If you persist in acting this way, at least be sure the boy wears something!” On this evidence she was convicted and sentenced. The combined forces of “SECULAR” law and legalistic puritanism had tried to prevent loving help to the girl, her bastard victims, and the social agencies trying to help her. Situation ethics would have praised that woman; it would not have pilloried her.

2. ANTINOMIANISM
Over against legalism, as a sort of polar opposite, we can put antinomianism. This is the approach with which one enters into the decision making situation armed with no principles or maxims whatsoever, to say nothing of rules. In every “EXISTENTIAL MOMENT” or “UNIQUE” situation, it declares, one must rely upon the situation of “ITSELF,” to provide its ethical solution.

Antinomianism means, “AGAINST LAW,” and is at issue in I Corinthians 6:12-20. One form is “LIBERTINISM=the belief that by grace and by the new life in Christ and salvation by faith, laws or rules no longer apply to Christians.” Their ultimate happy fate is now assured, and it matters no more what they do. Anything, and I mean anything goes. Thus the warning in I Peter 2:16, “Live as free men, yet without using freedom as a pretext for evil, but live as servants of God.” This license led by inevitable reaction to an increase of legalism, especially in sex ethics, under which Christians still suffer today. The other form of antinomianism, was a Gnostic claim to special, esoteric knowledge. They would just know what was right when they needed to know. While legalists are preoccupied with law and its stipulations, the Gnostics are so flatly opposed to law--even in principle–that their moral decisions are random, unpredictable, erratic, and quite anomalous. They cast out the Torah, but because their decisions are not bounded by LOVE, the baby goes with the bath water!

3. SITUATIONISM
Situationism is between legalism and antinomianism, or unprincipledness. The situationist enters into every decision making situation fully armed with the ethical maxims of community and heritage, and he treats them with respect. Just the same he is prepared in any situation to compromise them or set them aside in each situation if LOVE seems better served by doing so. Situation ethics goes part of the way with natural law, by accepting reason as the instrument of moral judgment. The situationist follows a moral law or violates it according to LOVE’S need.

The situationist never says, “Almsgiving is a good thing, Period!” If help to an indigent only pauperizes and degrades him, the situationist refuses a handout and finds some other way. A legalist might say that even if he tells a man escaped from an insane asylum where his intended victim is, and he finds and murders him, at least only one sin has been committed (murder), and not two (lying as well)! The error of the legalist consists of deducing particular laws from a universal law. Just as though all could be arranged beforehand . . . LOVE, however, is free from all this predefinition. What acts are right may depend on circumstances. We are only obligated to tell the truth if the situation calls for it; if a murderer asks us his victim’s whereabouts, our duty might be to lie. The situationist must make certain that they understand the total situation before making a decision. What is needed is, “FAITH, HOPE, AND CLARITY.”

Rules are, “PUNT ON FOURTH DOWN,” or “TAKE A PITCH WHEN THE COUNT IS THREE BALLS.” These rules are part of the wise player’s know-how, and distinguish him from a novice. But they are not unbreakable. The situational factors are so primary that we may even say “circumstances alter rules and principles.” It is “Casuistry”(case-based) in a constructive and non pejorative sense of the word. A man who makes the law his standard, is obligated to perform all its precepts, because breaking a commandment is breaking the law. He who lives by LOVE is not judged on that basis, but by a standard infinitely higher and at the same time more attainable. LOVE is for people, not for principles. Situation Ethics can be called “PRINCIPLED RELATIVISM.” Edmond Cahn said, “Every case is like every other case, and no two cases are alike.” Situationists cannot give to any principle less than LOVE, more than tentative consideration.

Situation ethics has been branded by some theologians as EXISTENTIAL, and it became synonymous with SITUATIONAL. Many academies and seminaries banned it as a “NEW MORALITY.” Therefore, in determining a choice and a line of judgment, you must decide if you are going to use the LAW ETHIC or the LOVE ETHIC.

EXAMPLE
A patient in a state mental hospital raped a fellow patient, an unmarried girl, ill with a radical schizophrenic psychosis. The victim’s father, learning what had happened, charged the hospital with culpable negligence and requested that an abortion to end the unwanted pregnancy be performed at once. The staff and administrators of the hospital refused to do so, on the grounds that the criminal law forbids all abortions except “THERAPEUTIC” ones when the mother’s life is at stake–because the moral law, it is supposed, holds that any interference with an embryo after fertilization is murder.

The legalists would say NO ABORTION. Their position is that killing is absolutely wrong, inherently evil. The Catholics go far beyond even the rigid legalism of the criminal law, absolutizing their prohibition of abortion ABSOLUTELY, by denying all exceptions and calling even therapeutic abortions, wrong. To the legalist, the life of the mother is in the hand of God, but the life of the child is arbitrarily extinguished. The question whether the life of the mother or the life of the child is of greater value can hardly be a matter for human decision. The situationist might reason that it is not killing because there is no person or human life in an embryo at an early stage of pregnancy, or even if it were killing, it would not be murder because it is self-defense against, in this case, not one but two aggressors. First there is the rapist, who being insane was morally and legally innocent, and then there is the “INNOCENT” embryo which is continuing the ravisher’s original aggression! Even self-defense legalism would have allowed the girl to kill her attacker, no matter that he was innocent in the forum on conscience because of his madness. The embryo is no more innocent, no less an aggressor or unwelcome invader!

Is not the most LOVING thing possible, to terminate the pregnancy?

To The Full Moon;

Oh, Bright Orb,
Goddess of ebon time,
Dominatrix of the mighty tides;

The Laws of Nature have, once again, brought you full cycle to completion, and start.

The Forces of Nature have guided your return through another dark adventure with the Universe.

Those who cherish your return, salute with celebration and reverence.

Those who quest for knowledge of your power, receive your light with joy and wonder.

We, like you, belong to the Powers and Forces of Nature and like you, know our existence is limited.

We, like you, follow those Forces and yield to those Powers and know they are our leaders.

May your journey be flawless and may we meet once again to join together in celebration and reverence for all that has gone and all that is to come.

May my journey be as calculated and determined as our Mistress above.

Back in 1995 Hillary Clinton goes in for her yearly checkup. When she's finished, she asks the gynecologist how things look. He says things looks fine and that she is in great shape, but she's pregnant!

She tells the doctor "no way," but he says that she's most definitely a month pregnant. She storms out of the office, goes to the receptionist's desk, takes the phone and calls the White House. When the operator answers she says that it's Hillary and that she needs to talk to Bill right away.

They ring the oval office, Bill answers, and Hillary says: "I can't believe it! I'm pregnant! You got me pregnant!!"

The President remains silent. Again, Hillary screams, "I'M PREGNANT! YOU IDIOT! YOU GOT ME PREGNANT!!"

Finally Bill asks, "Who is this???"

What Some Women Think . . .

I'm not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know I'm not dumb...and I also know that I'm not blonde. Dolly Parton

You see a lot of smart guys with dumb women, but you hardly ever see a smart woman with a dumb guy. Erica Jong

I want to have children, but my friends scare me. One of my friends told me she was in labor for 36 hours. I don't even want to do anything that feels GOOD for 36 hours. Rita Rudner

I figure that if the children are alive when I get home, I've done my job.Roseanne

My husband and I are either going to buy a dog or have a child. We can't decide to ruin our carpet or ruin our lives. Rita Rudner

I was on a date recently, and the guy took me horse back riding. That was kind of fun, until we ran out of quarters. Susie Loucks

This guy says, "I'm perfect for you, 'cause I'm a cross between a macho and a sensitive man." I said, "Oh, a gay trucker?" Judy Tenuta

He tricked me into marrying him. He told me he was pregnant. Carol Leifer

I've been on so many blind dates, I should get a free dog. Wendy Liebman

Never lend your car to anyone to whom you have given birth. Erma Bombeck

If high heels were so wonderful, men would be wearing them. Sue Grafton

I'm not going to vacuum 'til Sears makes one you can ride on. Roseanne

I would love to speak a foreign language, but I can't. So I grew hair undermy arms instead. Sue Kolinsky

I look just like the girls next door... if you happen to live next door to an amusement park. Dolly Parton

I found out why cats drink out of the toilet. My mother told me it's because it's cold in there. And I'm like: How did my mother know THAT? Wendy Liebman

I think-therefore I'm single. Lizz Winstead

"When women are depressed they either eat or go shopping. Men invade another country." Elayne Boosler

The Government Can't Do Anything Right!

Here's a little essay (author unknown to me) to send to conservative friends who like to repeat the popular right wing talking point that public health insurance is "socialist" and that "the government can't do anything right"...


This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock powered by socialist electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the US Department of Energy. I then took a shower in the socialist clean water provided by the municipal water utility. After that, I turned on the socialist radio to one of the FCC regulated channels to hear what the socialist National Weather Service of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration determined the weather was going to be like using socialist satellites designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. I watched this while eating my breakfast of socialist US Department of Agriculture inspected food and taking the socialist drugs which have been determined as safe by the Food and Drug Administration.

At the appropriate time, as kept accurate by the socialist National Institute of Standards and Technology and the US Naval Observatory, I get into my socialist National Highway Traffic Safety Administration approved automobile and set out to work on the socialist roads build by the socialist local, state, and federal departments of transportation, possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level determined by the socialist Environmental Protection Agency, using socialist legal tender issued by the Federal Reserve Bank. On the way out the door, I deposit any mail I have to be sent out via the socialist US Postal Service and drop the kids off at the socialist public school.

If I get lost, I can use my socialist GPS navigation technology developed by the United States Department of Defense and made available to the public in 1996 by President Bill Clinton who issued a policy directive declaring socialist GPS to be a dual-use military/civilian system to be managed as a national socialist asset.

After spending another day not being maimed or killed at work thanks to the socialist workplace regulations imposed by the Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, enjoying another two meals which again do not kill me because of the socialist USDA, I drive my socialist NHTSA car back home on the socialist DOT roads, to my house which has not burned down in my absence because of the socialist state and local building codes and socialist fire marshal's inspection, and which has not been plundered of all its valuables thanks to the socialist local police department.

I then get on my computer and use the socialist Internet which was developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration and browse the socialist World Wide Web using my graphical web browser, both made possible by Al Gore's socialist High Performance Computing and Communication Act of 1991.

I then post on freerepublic.com and fox news forums about how SOCIALISM in medicine is BAD because the government can't do anything right.

Good Ideas for Living Life Well . . .

1. Take into account that great love and great achievement involve great risk.

2. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.

3. Follow the three “R’s”:
Respect for Self,
Respect for others and
Responsibility for your own actions.

4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.

5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.

6. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great relationship.

7. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.

8. Spend some time alone every day.

9. Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.

10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.

11. In disagreements, deal only with the current situation, don’t bring up the past.

12. Share your knowledge, it’s an excellent way to achieve immortality.

13. Be gentle with the Earth.

14. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.

15. Judge your success by what was given up in order to get it.

16. Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.

On The Public Option in Health Care . . .

Every poll I've seen recently shows at least 65% want a public option choice and many polls show over 70%. So public opinion is not even close on this issue. With those kinds of numbers, the ONLY reason any politician should be struggling with the issue is because they're either:
(a) in the tank for the insurance industry (GOP);
(b) blue dog Dems who claim to be captive of "swing state" constituencies who will throw them out if they vote for a public option; or
(c) all the above.

But the polls show that, except for industry advocates, the only public support politicians can reasonably cite for opposing a public option is from the Fox News/Limbaugh/Beck/screaming teabagger crowd. And while that group's media profile has been high in recent months, their actual numbers are in reality very low.

I doubt most politicians have ever been faced with a clearer, more dramatic choice between public and private interests with such huge amounts of money at stake.

The outcome of this debate literally means life or death for both people without health insurance and the health insurance industry. The insurance companies are currently spending $1.4m every day on advertising and lobbying because they KNOW a serious public option will take many of them out. And the revenues and profits of the companies that survive would be a mere shadow of what they are now. In effect, if a robust public option becomes law, the health insurance industry will draw a Monopoly game card that says "Do not collect $401,152,979,783.00 a year."* And no, that's not a typo. A cash flow of over four hundred billion dollars a year that the insurance industry is currently enjoying is at risk of slowing to a trickle.

*2007 net revenues from health insurance premiums. And that's just the major players!

SOURCE- www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS187049+15-Jul-2008+PRN20080715

Some Tribal Wisdom . . .

The tribal wisdom of some Ozarkian Indians, passed on from generation to generation, says that, "When you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount." However, in government, education and corporate America, more advanced strategies are often employed, such as:
1. Buying a stronger whip.
2. Changing riders.
3. Appointing a committee to study the horse.
4. Arranging to visit other countries to see how other cultures ride dead horses.
5. Lowering the standards so that dead horses can be included.
6. Reclassifying the dead horse as living impaired.
7. Hiring outside contractors to ride the dead horse.
8. Harnessing several dead horses together to increase speed.
9. Providing additional funding and/or training to increase dead horse's performance.
10. Doing a productivity study to see if lighter riders would improve the dead horse's performance.
11. Declaring that as the dead horse does not have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower overhead and therefore contributes substantially more to the bottom line of the economy than do some other horses.
12. Rewriting the expected performance requirements for all horses.
And of course....
13. Promoting the dead horse to a supervisory position

INTRODUCTION TO THE SECULAR HUMANIST'S BIBLE:

This is the introduction to my post of 08/29/09 entitled "A Secular Humanist's Attempt to Understand the Bible."

It has comedy, it has drama, it’s full of the things that the Christian Coalition would picket you for promoting, “SEX AND VIOLENCE.” It has songs and poetry, and stories where the heroes are villainous. I enjoy reading the Bible, but . . .

I find that reading the Bible is like when I first started typing. Every letter had to be translated into a finger, then thought about, then punched. It made the typing slow and tedious, and not much fun. Now that I’ve typed for more than 35 years and have it down fairly well, the typing goes fast and not much translation needs to take place. When I read the Bible, I have to translate it into terms that mean something to me.

What I have done for myself is to translate the first three Chapters of Genesis into something that has meaning to me. I am not asking you to agree with my translations, after all, this is for me and I’m just sharing it with you. My challenge is for you to do the same thing, work out your own translations.

I am fully aware that these occurrences did not happen separately. Flowers, fruits, and vegetables need insects to assist in pollination, and a full food chain needs to be in place for the interdependent web of life to flourish. When it is stated that, “over a long period . . . “ one has to assume that all of these evolutions occurred simultaneously, in other words there was only one “long period of time.” And the writers were taking each category through that same period. I say writers because Genesis 1 is so different when compared to Genesis 2, and various other parts of Genesis are more lyrical and literary, then others are blunt and matter of fact. Some of this has to do with the many translations the bible has gone through.

Now go to my post titled "A Secular Humanist's Attemp to Understand the Bible" posted August 29, 2009.

O-B-S-T-R-O-N-O-V-I-C-H

In traveling, I learned early on that it is hard to make reservations or order pizzas if your name is Bill Brown(Not my real name, but close). Most of the people on the phone don’t react to the name, but as soon as you hang up they laugh and tear up the order or reservation thinking it was a joke and no one would show up. After being turned down a few times when I showed up for my room or pizza, I made up a name for such things, “OBSTRONOVICH.”

If I order a pizza or make a reservation for a table or room, I tell them Obstronovich. They take it without question and almost always ask for a spelling. I learned to spell it out just like I would Brown, O-B-S-T-R-O-N-O-V-I-C-H. Without fail the person on the other end of the phone will ask for a first name, “ARNOLD” is the answer. So, when necessary, I become Arnold Obstronovich.

My parents, in 1985, were coming to Dallas for a few days visit from their home in Northern Arkansas. I thought I would show them around town during the weekend, so I made reservations at a couple of nice restaurants. All in the name of Arnold Obstronovich.

I explained my method of using a fake name to my parents and the reason why and the first night came and went without incident. On the next night, we went to a local small bistro near the house and when we went in I was greeted by a young lady about eightteen years of age who asked for my name.

“Arnold Obstronovich,” was my reply.

“Oh yes, a seven thirty reservation, you are a bit early so you will have about a twenty minute wait. If you would like to wait in the bar area, I will call you,” she said.

I told her that the bar area would be fine. But, before I could head toward the bar, she grabbed my arm and said, “Wait, how do you pronounce your name?”

Very carefully I pronounced my “FAKE” name. “Ob-stron-o-vich,” I said.

“OK,” she said, “now let me try. Looking down at the spelling she
said, “Abtransavich.”

“No, No,” I said, “Obstronovich.”

Once again she started, “Abstranasuch.” She shuck her head knowing that was a mistake. “Abtransovich, no Abtrasovok, no Abtrashovik,” she kept trying with no success. Finally after trying for several minutes with my assistance she said, “Look, do you mind if I just call you, Brown?”

A New Vocabulary to Learn . . .

Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize . . . it was your money to start with.

Reintarnation: Coming back to life as an Arky.

Bozone: The substance surrounding stupid people, which stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.

Cashtration: The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.

Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who does not get it.

Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.

Osteopornosis: A degenarate disease

Karmageddon: Its like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it is like a serious bummer.

Decafalon: The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

Glibido: All talk and no action.

Dopeler Effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

Arachnoleptic Fit: The frantic dance performed just after you have accidentally walked through a spider web.

Beelzebug: Satan in the form of a mosquito that gets into our bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

Caterpallor: the color you turn after finding half a grub in the fruit you are eating.

Ignoranus: A person who is both stupid and an asshole.

"Gentle Arms Of Eden" by Tracy Grammer and Dave Carter

On a sleepy endless ocean when the world lay in a dream
There was rhythm in the splash and roll, but not a voice to sing
So the moon shone on the breakers and the morning warmed the waves
Till a single cell did jump and hum for joy as though to say;

This is my home, this is my only home
This is the only sacred ground that I have ever known
And should I stray in the dark night alone
Rock me goddess, in the gentle arms of eden.

Then the day shone bright and rounder til the one turned into two
And the two into ten thousand things, and old things into new
And on some virgin beach head one lonesome critter crawled
And he looked about and shouted out in his most astonished drawl.

This is my home ... (Refrain)

Then all the sky was buzzin' and the ground was carpet green
And the wary children of the wood went dancin' in between
And the people sang rejoicing when the field was glad with grain
This song of celebration from their cities on the plain.

This is my home ... (Refrain)

Now there's smoke across the harbor, and there's factories on the shore
And the world is ill with greed and will and enterprise of war
But I will lay my burden in the cradle of your grace
And the shining beaches of your love and the sea of your embrace.

This is my home ... (Refrain)

On English . . .(From the Net)

You think English is easy???

Read to the end . . .

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
2) The farm was used to produce produce.
3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4) We must polish the Polish furniture.
5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10)I did not object to the object.
11)The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12)There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row...
13)They were too close to the door to close it.
14)The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15)A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16)To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17)The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18)Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
19)I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
20)How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Let's face it - English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger;

neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat.

We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

******************

You lovers of the English language might enjoy this;
There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that is 'UP'

It's easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP ? At a meeting, why does a topic come UP? Why do we speak UP and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report?

We call UP our friends. And we use it to brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver; we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car. At other times the little word has real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses... To be dressed is one thing, but to be dressed UP is special.

And this UP is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP. We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night.

We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP. To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP, look the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4th of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions. If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more. When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP ... When the sun comes out we say it is clearingUP ...

When it rains, it wets the earth and often messes things UP.

When it doesn't rain for awhile, things dry UP.

One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it UP, for now my time is UP, so........it is time to shut UP !

Oh . . . one more thing:

What is the first thing you do in the morning & the last thing you do at night?

U-P!

From President Barack Obama's Inauguration Speech:

What Obama said:
"The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because, "We, the People" have remained faithful to the ideals of our fore bearers, and true to our founding documents."

What wasn't said:
Unlike the previous administration which shredded the Constitution and repealed Habeas Corpus.

What Obama said:
"Our Health care is too costly, our schools fail too many, and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet."

What wasn't said:
All this brought on by the previous administration who failed to fund "No Child Left Behind," who was against real science in favor of "Faith Based" dogma, and was part of the adversaries who threatened our planet.

What Obama said:
"They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions, and greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction."

What wasn't said:
Unlike the previous administration who "Ruled" by the "Us against Them" agenda.

What Obama said:
"We will restore science to its rightful place and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its costs."

What wasn't said:
Unlike the previous administration who replaced science with religious mumbo jumbo and refused to let real science advance and provide affordable healthcare to all.

What Obama said:
"And those of us who manage the public's knowledge will be held to account, to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day, because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government."

What wasn't said:
Unlike the previous administration that formed an energy policy that was behind closed doors and involved unknown people and raised our energy prices to unaffordable levels. Unlike the previous administration who rarely held press conferences and whose previous press secretary came out against its own administration for lying to the people.

What Obama said:
"But this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control. The Nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous."

What wasn't said:
Unlike the previous administration who was against and actually campaigned on a "Less Regulation" agenda, and deregulated everything from the airlines to banking and loans and energy production. They even reduced regulations on air and water pollutants.

What Obama said:
"As for our common defense, WE reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our founding fathers faced with perils that we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake."

What wasn't said:
Unlike the previous administration who did just that.

What Obama said:
"They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through it prudent use. Our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint."

What wasn't said:
Unlike the previous administration that was not either humble nor restrained in their efforts to do as they pleased. To show that we had the power to do that which this country has always fought against in a not too prudent way.

What Obama said:
"To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history . . ."

What wasn't said:
Just look at our own recent past and see where it got them. History will record they had a 25% approval rating and will forever be known as the "Worst President Ever . . . Ever!"

I Don't Care!

I give a great deal of concern to many things. I am concerned about HABITAT. Your habitat, my habitat, all humanities habitat . . . the habitat of animals such as the Red Cockaided Woodpecker, and the lowly Snail Darter. As our habitat increases . . . theirs shrink!!!

I have concerns about how people are treated around the World. Not only by their governments but by their community. The caste system of India, the Rommany Gypsies of Europe and even the Jews to this day are looked upon as pests to be exterminated, by many Nations.

My ability to speak out and dissent, in many countries, is limited at best. I can see THAT today happening in Pakistan where they have taken the dissentors and put them in prison. And more, we are seeing that dissent is being looked upon with a downward gaze right here in our own land. Dissent has been part of our culture since the beginning. Our country was established on DISSENT. Dissent IS patriotic. There are those that don’t want to hear your dissent. They have chosen to be DEAF.

Our constitution has been subrogated by definitions from those who do not hold our Country's best, in high regard. American Citizens, have suffered rendition from those same people. And we have had people in HIGH places that have turned away from their citizens and the constitution in order to better themselves. They have chosen to be BLIND and perform criminal activities.

More and more our World has become extremely intimate and more dependent on one another. There are those among us that want that to never happen, but it HAS, and it will continue. Some people believe that we, the United States, are autonomous and we don’t need anyone else to survive. Those same people are blind to the fact that we are no longer a productive country. And stand deaf to those that try to point it out. We have become a service oriented country, fixing what others manufacture.

More and more the middle class is shrinking. Very few of us are finding our way to the upper class. Most of us would like to stay right where we are. Smack in the middle. We don’t want to be wealthy, nor poor. But the more we pour GAS into our automobiles and nutrition into our bodies, the more we realize where the money flows. In fact MONEY is one of the few things in life that only flows uphill.

That is why WE have to care about some things. That is why we should have a covenant with each other. That is why we should say, . . . . .

“We, covenant to affirm and promote;

-The inherent worth and dignity of every person;

-Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;

-Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth;

-A free and responsible SEARCH for truth and meaning;

-The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our relationships and in society at large;

-The goal of World Community with peace, liberty and justice for all;

-Respect for the interdependent web of all existence, of which we are just a part.”

ABOUT THESE THINGS . . .I CARE!

-----BUT----

There are a lot of things I just shouldn't care about . . .

IF YOU ARE BLACK . . . I don’t care!

IF YOU ARE BROWN . . . I don’t care!

IF YOU ARE ORANGE AND PURPLE WITH CHARTREUS POLKADOTS . . .I don’t care!

I SHOULD’T EVEN CARE IF YOU ARE PINK!

IF YOU ARE SHORT . . . I don’t care!

IF YOU ARE TALL . . . I don’t care!

IF YOU’RE ARE NOT WEALTHY . . . I don’t care!

IF YOU HAVE A GREAT DEAL OF MONEY . . . I don’t care!

IF YOU’RE BALD . . .I don’t care!

IF YOU’RE HAIRY . . .I don’t care!

IF YOU HAVE A CHRISTIAN BACKGROUND. . .I don’t care!

IF YOU HAVE A JEWISH BACKGROUND. . . I don’t care!

IF YOU HAVE A BUDDHIST BACKGROUND . . . I don’t care!

IF YOU ARE AN ATHEIST . . . I don’t care!

IF YOU ARE AN AGNOSTIC . . . I don’t care!

IF YOU ARE SEXUALLY ATTRACTED TO MEN . . . I don’t care!

IF YOU ARE SEXUALLY ATTRACTED TO WOMEN . . . I don’t care!

IF YOU ARE SEXUALLY ATTRACTED TO BOTH . . . I don’t care!

IF YOU ARE CONSERVATIVE . . . I don’t care!

IF YOU ARE LIBERAL . . . I don’t care!

IF YOU ARE LEFT OR RIGHT HANDED . . . I don’t care!

IF YOU ARE A SOCIALIST . . . I don’t care!



There are so many things that I care about and many more that I just don’t care about, that I must never forget that unlike most, I must make my circle bigger and more inclusive. I must be open minded and free thinking.

I know I find myself pulling away when I encounter someone that might be DIFFERENT. I must learn to be more inclusive and I invite each of you to do the same.

Open up your eyes and open up your ears. Don’t choose to be blind or deaf. We have to open our hearts and our Spirituality to those who might have been turned away by others. We have to remember those things we do care about. And we have to remember to overlook those things to which we can say, “I DON’T CARE!”

Old Baggage

There it is all ragged and torn. It’s patched and held together with frayed rope and the remnant of an old leather belt. I’m afraid to look at what’s inside ’cause I know there is at least a little weed, you know, the stuff we bought by the lid back in the sixties. (I really liked the 60's) My mouser's catnip for people. Wrapped in the same package, but settled to the bottom, are a few of the brain cells I burnt back then. Sometimes I sure wish I had them back. Every time I see that commercial that says, "This is your brain on drugs," I wonder if that is why I like scrambled eggs.

Also, you’ll find a pair of bell bottoms. God I hated disco. And, in there somewhere are pictures of at least two wives, somehow it seems like more. Mom said that she must have made Afghans for at least a quarter of Dallas. I guess I’ve been around. Looking back, it was fun, but I’m ready to settle.

Oh, look what I found. A peace symbol pinned to a sailor suit. I guess there is more than one pair of bell bottoms in there.

Off in the corner behind the assortment of roach clips, I see my leathers. The ones I wore racing my 250 Yamaha Enduro. The same ones that were cut off of me several times when I crushed my knees. It’s amazing I survived those years, if I had known that my body was going to last this long, I would have taken better care of it when it was young.

Aha, look over here. Now these are the pictures of my children. This young man standing about six feet tall and about two hundred pounds, is my son. No one knows he has dyslexia and wanted to graduate with his class. It was a challenge, he worked very hard and did graduate main stream. And this is my daughter, she worries me because she is a lot like me, but looks so much like her deceased mother. No father wants his daughter to be like him, I wonder why?

In this empty spot over here is my college degree. Oh, you mean you don’t see it? Well, Viet Nam sort of got in the way of that, but very few people know. Some people even mistake me for a college professor. We shan’t tell, shall we?

Now over here is a prized possession, it’s a picture of a lady that has become very dear to me. In a short period of time she has become a refuge and the renewal of my youth. I hope she will overlook all of my faults. It seems the older I get the luckier I get. She says that I’m a good catch, but she doesn’t know how lucky I am to have her. I won’t tell if you won’t.

Old baggage is bulky and hard to handle. It gets in the way and sometimes has a personality of its own. But it is what we are, and what we will be. We are our old baggage.