Day: February 6, 2019

The internet is loaded with “pot calling kettle black” comments. To me, this shows two things. The impulsiveness of knee jerk reactions to things which are heard or seen on social media or TV, and the lack of the discipline necessary to get to the real bottom of a story, to search out the real facts before making assumptions and comments which cause other people pain, make them angry for no good reason, or continue to spread a false narrative.

Social media continues to be the out of control bus careening down the road and smashing randomly into both the innocent and the evil.

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 for which humanity is looking, and a basic thing which is lacking. We all want it, but often refuse to give it. Respect often just equates with common courtesy, something which seems to be have become a totally forgotten relic of the past. Holding doors open for people. Helping elderly folks carry heavy packages to their car. Little things which we used to do. Things I don’t see anymore…at least not as much anyway. I see so many people now walking with their heads down to the ground…never looking up, either lost in their own little world or afraid to interact in anyone else’s. Mostly gone are the days when people walked up to you with a friendly smile and a hello, or with their hands extended to shake yours. What happened to us?

Have you ever cut off anybody 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? Be honest now. How about a little respect?

Have you trash talked or bad mouthed one of your children using words that would shame a Texas rodeo rider? Bad. How about a little respect? (Has your kid talked to YOU this way? How about a little discipline for them to teach them some respect? Maybe a butt warming would do them some good. I never saw any harm in using butt warnings with my kids, and nary a one of them are sociopaths)

Have you passed somebody you knew at Wal-Mart, or any other local shopping conglomeration and just ignored them, or simply turned down another aisle cause you didn’t want to run into them and have a thirty second or minute “howdy how are ya” conversation? How about a little respect? (the law of “random righteousness” will have those people you are trying to get away from, turn down the the aisle you turned down to get away from them, so you’ll run into them anyway!)

Have you left the toilet seat down (or up)

Have you forgotten to say “please” and “thank you?”

Did you ever KNOW to say them?

Did you teach your children to say them?

Respect is also a silent thing many times too. We can respect others through silence. If we keep our thoughts as thoughts and do not vocalize them, sometimes that turns out to be the greatest respect of all. If we keep our fingers off the keyboard and don’t put it up on the “board” for all the world to see that can be a measure of great respect.

Do you think of someone’s feelings before you post something on line which may or may not pertain to them? Do you consider the fallout?

Have you whispered a silent prayer for someone who needs it…or if you are not religious just think of them positively, and hope for the best for them? Call it what you will…prayers, positive thoughts…I believe they help. I believe they are guided towards the person at whom you are aiming them. I am a skeptical person, but I am human. I pray….I hope.

I will admit to not having enough respect for people sometimes. I sincerely apologize to anyone who has been on the receiving end of that lack on my part…including some of the above named examples.

How ‘bout a little respect? Aretha would love ya’ and other people probably will too.

Paula and I are sitting around listening to sixties and early seventies music today instead of watcing TV, and it’s quite enlightening. I cannot understand how it is that I can’t remember which drawer I put my socks in, but can remember every word of practically every song this station is playing.

I think the difference is that for most of these songs, I have a very vivid memory attached. “Saturday in the Park” …and I am remembering singing this song in August of 1972, when a certain baby girl was born. Joyous memory…Kirsten Brown

Then there are some which have brought tears to my eyes. We used to have performances at school at Trion, and when I listen to “Puff the Magic Dragon” by Peter, Paul and Mary, I remember a little High School group who performed this song on stage, composed of two brothers…the Myer’s boys, and a young lady named Susan Cavin. It is bittersweet because two of the three of these wonderful people are now gone…

There are many of these oldies which take me back…it’s wonderful and sad at the same time. How can that be?? Then…they throw in a Taylor Swift song called “Never Grow Up” and that one makes me cry to because of another certain little girl I love so much, and it being her “theme song” Auttie Bowers. I saw a photo of her in a red prom dress today for Senior prom and…..well…..I gotta quit writing now.

I hope you understand……

When you walk to the river, you see the ground beneath you teeming with life. The air you breathe is free to you, and you may gulp it in at your leisure.

And the crows up in the clouds, a hundred at the least, circle around you cawing either their indignation or admiration. Perhaps their acceptance, because they recognize that you are a creature of nature also….

And not it’s master.

…walking on Wednesday…

Good life, bad life.

I thought about it a lot this past weekend. What determines how we judge whether our lives have been positive or negative?

I finally decided that it all comes down to attitude. Your attitude is what makes the difference in whether you are having a good life, or a bad life. Attitude is either your best friend, or your worst enemy. It’s your greatest asset or your worst liability.

It’s easy to say that we are going to change our attitudes. I have said it many times before, and then after a while, I find myself slowly slipping back into my old habits, and again becoming negative. That old pessimism that has been prevalent in my life starts to creep up on me like a swamp gator sneaking in for the kill. And when it gets close enough…BOOM…it springs.

It’s not easy changing your attitude.

Of course, nobody can stay positive all the time. At least I don’t think that’s possible. I have known some pretty positive people, and even they get down on life every now and then. I think the magic trick is picking yourself up quickly after you do get down. It’s not an easy trick to learn. It’s not built into some people’s genetic makeup, which makes it even harder. One thing which I think helps is to try and surround yourself with people who have positive attitudes.

Or, in my own case, I often find more solace and ability to rebound by doing just the opposite. I get outside and take long walks, a lot of time by myself. On a recent walk I took down by the river, I prowled along the shore like a hermit crab…picking things up and looking at them….simply breathing in the air, and reflecting and rebuilding the neurons in my brain. I could have probably spent the entire day doing it. Weird old guy. It’s not for everybody, but it works for me in the here and now.

As we get older, we have an ever growing bank of memories on which to reflect and remember. I think now looking back down the pipeline of my life that even the bad days were good. I have had some pretty dang bad days. I think we need them. If we have no very bad days we don’t have anything to which to compare the very good days. There has to be contrast, there has to be dark and light, evil and good.

However, I believe I have learned something from all of my days. I hope all of us have.

One thing I really appreciate is having good kids, and I am grateful for the people they have chosen to live their lives with. That’s one of the things I really didn’t think about back when Paula and I were trying to raise our children. I didn’t realize that instead of 3 kids we were going to end up with 6 one of these days. (and some super grandchildren to boot!) It’s a funny thing about how your children and grandchildren can become great friends in the process of living you life, if you will let them.

Back to good life, bad life. Attitude. Is there anyway that anyone knows of to stay more on the track of being on the positive side? I think sometimes I go up and down more than a roller coaster. It would be better to stay up at the top of the hill but I am sure that there are no easy solutions for doing it. It takes work, and it takes consistency. I hope everyone is having success.

One thing that helps me though, is to put my thoughts down on paper…even if it is virtual paper. At least I can kind of keep up with that way. I think that’s probably the biggest thing I like about this “social media” experience. There’s a bunch of things which have developed which I don’t care for, but as a friend was telling me the other day, he thinks the good outweighs the bad. I guess time will tell on that account.