Day: August 24, 2018

 

Have you forgotten to say “please” and “thank you” Did you ever KNOW to say them?

I could go onI think, even worse still is the lack of respec

How many of us remember rocking out to “RESPECT” by Aretha Franklin? Ah. yeah, c’mon now, raise your hand. Yea, I thought so. Almost everybody.

It turns out that respect is one of the most basic things which humanity seems to be lacking. As individuals many of us do great. Some of us not so good. A few people do bad…or worse, they become criminals due to a lack of respect for other people, property, or the law.

Have you ever cut off any people wanting to get in front of you in a lane you are riding in, when you really and truly had time to let them in? You just mumbled ‘screw you’ and acted like you didn’t see them? How about a little respect? I mean really…did you need to?

Have you trash talked or bad mouthed one of your children using words that would shame a 40-year-old adult Wrestler in the WWA? Have you done that to other people in the presence of your children?

Bad.

How about a little respect? As Daniel Tiger of “Mr. Roger’s neighborhood” fame says…take a deep breath and count to four.

Has your kid talked to YOU this way? How about a little discipline for them to teach them some respect?

How about making sure that they respect adults who surround them during their everyday lives. Teachers, restaurant workers, policemen, and just plain old common run of the mill people.

Almost every person alive and out there walking around deserves respect, …until they prove they don’t. If they get to the point of becoming sociopaths, then legal remedies need to be used to remove them from society before they hurt innocent people. Think about this when you discipline your kids. Keep in mind that they are going to have to interact with a whole host of people in their lives who don’t know them and love them like you do, so having a little respect will make things a whole lot easier for them.
Have you passed somebody you knew at Wal-Mart, or any other local yokel shopping conglomeration and just ignored them simply because you didn’t want to take 30 seconds or a minute to have a “howdy how are ya’ conversation? How about a little respect?

Have you left the toilet seat down (or up)?

t that some politicians who are wanting to become “leaders” of our country have for people. People who don’t agree with them are belittled, bullied, and treated like they are “stupid”
You have to ask yourselves if that is the example we want our children and grandchildren to follow.

All I know is that my Daddy taught me to say “yessir” and “yes ma’am” when I was a kid and if I didn’t show proper respect to my elders, things definitely didn’t turn out well “in the end”

Respect. Define it. Use it. Live by it.

I have run around this little old town pretty much all of my life. I was born two blocks from where I am sitting typing this. I went to grammar and high school four blocks away, right next to the river that I take photos of all the time. I used to look out of the study hall windows and I could see that same railroad trestle that you’re always seeing pop up on my page.

I lived in three different houses while I was growing up here. One of them is one block behind me. The other two were up in “hot town” about a ½ mile away from here. I was married 45 years and a couple of months ago in the Church right behind my house…about 200 steps from where I am sitting. My wife and I raised our three children here…living in two different houses along these narrow streets. There has been a sense of continuity to it all.

I’m sad sometimes that things have changed so much….but change is inevitable. It’s like breathing in and out….like life and death. What does not change does not survive, and therefore change is necessary. I am happy that I have been here, and been here in this time and place. I’m grateful that I have survived the situations in which I have been, and the storms which have blown in and out of my life.

So, here I will be and perhaps will be from now on. You will see more photos of the landscape…probably more than you want to see. Of course there will be some more traveling, some more vacations and there will be time away from here. A cruise or two for sure. Disney World again…Paula likes that place and I kind of do too.

There are just too many ties here to completely break away at this point in life…family, kids, and grandchildren, and the memories…oh yes, there is that. Once upon a time back in the “old days” I dreamed for the day I could get out of this “one horse town” I wanted New York City or Nashville. A lot of my classmates and “city mates” have made it out of here. For some reason I didn’t. I guess maybe it was because I just wanted to stick around and see how things turned out.

THE COST OF LIFE…

How much does it cost? Think about how many times you have said those words, or heard someone else say them. We pretty much base our whole lives on the asking, and the result of that one question. You may not think so, but we do.

What does it cost, really? The things that we need, and have to have. Gasoline to drive to work. A mortgage for a place to live. Credit cards (galore!) Taxes,…oh yes there are taxes! I wish I had space to list them all, but I think my space is limited to a few billion pixels of room!! There is always that tenacious gnawing need for money, money and more money. But…

But..what does kindness cost? What about love? Love can cost us some heartache for sure, but when it’s good, it’s good… Kindness may cost us some thought, but it sure seems a heap better than turning your back on someone who needs you. Pity,..whatever happened to that one? Nowadays it seems like it’s against the rules of our society to have pity on someone. God forbid you should show such an outdated emotion. Some people in this country will tell you, if you can’t make it here in this land of the free and home of the brave, you sure don’t deserve any pity! I pity them!

Sympathy and empathy? What’s that? I got a hundred things to do, I got no time for sympathy for anyone else! (What’s the cost though…really?) If we took 2 minutes to bear someone up who needed it, would we really miss our next important meeting or appointment? Can you count the times someone has passed you in their vehicle at a dangerous spot on the road, and almost hit someone head on, but you end up behind them at the 1st red light in town?

The emotions that we were given by our creator, and the ability to relate them to other people, are the most important gifts we have been given. I really feel as though the reason we are here is to be tested to see if we can learn how to use those gifts. I feel like sometimes, often times, I am failing the grade.

So…I have to give it some thought, I have to consciously try harder not to hate, not to covet, not to be bitter. I have to TRY and forgive those who need forgiving. There are a couple of those I am still working on though. (I am not perfect)

What’s the Cost….really? Of being a human being, and not being a perpetual motion machine. Can you count it up? I can’t.

“To Sleep, Perchance to Dream, Ahh…there’s the rub” Shakespeare..

Wonder what Hamlet was really thinking about when he uttered that line. Fear of the long sleep of death? Was he maybe just an insomniac…? Too bad for him there wasn’t Ambien back then, he may have been able to live a normal life!

Then there’s the line that “Hal-9000” asked Dave right before he “died” “Dave, will I dream?”

Dreams are weird things, and I have been having some really wild ones of late. I don’t know why… Mostly, I dream about work and how it used to be in those days. Mind you, it’s not enough that I used to spend 12 hours a day at work on most days. Then I came home, did some work on the computer, and read my emails, watched a little news, and tried to go to sleep. But the ignominy of having to still dream about working, after three years, just really peeves me. I think I have dream’t of every belligerent boss I ever have had over my working career in the last few weeks, and believe me that covers a LOT of ground. But then…there was last night’s dream.

I was in our old house on 8th Street (been moved from there for nae on to 27 years!) and watching apprehensively out the door and big black steam train was coming by. You could feel the house shake since it was only about 60 feet from the railroad tracks. The smoke and soot belched out of the top of the engine and the noise was like a jet plane. I was scared and sweating, I was terrified that the train was coming for me. Finally it got next to the house and I could see the engineer sitting there in the front in his gray hood, and his sickle next to him. He looked me straight in the eye and smiled…. and then the train passed on by. On the back of the caboose when it passed there was a banner that said, “It’s not over, til I say it’s over” The train boogied on by so quickly it was amazing.

I went back inside, and the house was pitch dark and there were cobwebs in the corners and on the ceiling. There was no sign of life, no furniture not a thing moving (not even a mouse!) There were memories…and a bright light off in the distance.. Then….the dog licked my ear and I woke up.

I get the feeling that this dream is kind of like my life. I am a reminiscer. Someone who feels more comfortable thinking about the way things were than about the way they are. I guess sometimes I figure my life is mostly like the train…chugging relentlessly and quickly on down the track. I’m a passenger but I’m not in complete control. I worry that the ride will very soon be over,… But hey….the banner on the back is encouraging!

So, I will keep on writing about the things I like and remember so well from the past, and try and keep it nostalgic, and leave out the politics and problems that we are bombarded with from every side on a daily basis. I’ll leave that to people who are smarter and younger, and more dedicated than me. And I WILL remember: “It ain’t over ’til HE says it’s over!”

Now, in an hour or two it will be time to go get a little shut eye. I think it will be peaceful tonight. “To sleep, perchance to dream…that’s the rub now…isn’t it!” Thanks Will!