Month: February 2019

I have to say that I have not, nor will I give up on the spiritual, mystical, unexplainable, mysterious,sacred or intangible aspects of the mind or the Universe. I respect the viewpoint of any and all people towards these things, and towards the furthering of their relationships with these things by any means.

The many years I have spent thinking on life and the condition of life, and what might exist after life, has brought me to the conclusion that any or all of us may be right or wrong. I think we need to all realize that, and quit trying to lead people towards things they do not want to go towards. If someone disagrees with you…go on about your life and leave them to theirs. Honor, love and respect others.

Do this, and we all will change and move on towards a better world.

Some viruses have really unexpected side effects…besides the obvious. I had the nasty new norovirus over the past 24 hours. My Lord… if you have not had it…you don’t want it, and if you have…I feel your pain. I think I went to “sleep” about 9 o’clock last night…but my brain was doing some really weird things. I’ve been reading some novels in the Fantasy genre lately and early into my “sleep” last night I dreamed an entire set up for a novel, complete with characters, story line, etc. It was a good novel too! My brain then went through the entire novel and edited it for publication. I’m not talking about some nebulous half woozy idea…it was complete! I only wish I could remember it now. Unfortunately, it’s “Gone with the Wind” I also had some dreams of a technical nature, which include math I have never known..and wouldn’t be able to do on a “normal” day. I’m awful at math. These dreams had something to do with coming up with computer programs to protect against…of all things…viruses!

There were other weird things going on also…pretty much all night long. It makes me wonder if there shouldn’t be some scientific research going on about the effects of new viruses on the human brain. I need to check in with all those folks who have been getting sick on the cruise ships lately and see if they had any of the same symptoms. Our brains are about as fully explored as the oceans which surround us. We just think we understand and know about what’s going on. We don’t.

The Last Stopover

This is my last stopover, before I move along.

I just dropped in here for a few lovely years,

To see what was going on.

In the end, the stars and the Universe will be my final home.

I just dropped in here for a few lovely years, and

Soon I will be gone.

Just got back in from taking the dogs out for the last time tonight. I like the little old weenie dogs, but sometimes my mind wanders back over the years to the first dog I ever owned…or who owned me…old Bullet:

One Saturday when I was about four years old, Daddy brought home a cardboard box with something in it, stirring around and scratching, and making whining noises. Ol’ Bullet had arrived!

Ol’ Bullet was my first dog, a half-German Shepherd, half Collie mixed breed which my Dad had gotten from the Kellets. The Kellets were farm owners who supplied us with “whole” milk and fresh eggs. “Whole” milk being defined as that milk coming directly from the cow’s teat into a shiny metal bucket, and from the bucket into a thoroughly washed and cleaned glass milk jug, without being pasteurized. Fresh eggs were those which had only that morning been up the hen’s rear end. At that time some people, including my folks, still thought these kinds of farm fresh goods were better for young growing bones. You could also work out a trade with the Kellets. (Try going to Walmart and asking to trade something for a jug of milk. I don’t think they would even know what to say.) Although I think there may have been some kind of law against selling it that way, the government didn’t have a big enough bureaucracy back then to check everything like that out. Back then, I don’t think the IRS even had a dozen people working for them. At least it didn’t seem like it.

I think all those fresh things are making a comeback nowadays, although there is some controversy about the milk….I have a cute little girl who brings me a dozen pretty brown eggs a week!

Me and Bullet took to each other like green to grass. Every time I hit the door, Bullet was faithfully waiting. He quickly learned the parameters of our yard, and it became his territory. He instinctively knew from our attitudes toward people who belonged at our house, and who didn’t. If you didn’t belong there, Bullet would give you one warning in the form of a low growl, and bared teeth. If you didn’t heed this warning, you had better be faster than a speeding bullet! Needless to say, we didn’t have to worry about anything being stolen from our yard or our house with Bullet around.

We had only had Bullet for a little over a year. I think it was one of the best years of my life. One day when I went outside to play with him, Bullet was acting strange. He could barely move, and he crawled over to where I sat on the back steps, and put his head on my leg. “C’mon Bullet, let’s go boy,” I encouraged.

But Bullet could barely raise his head. He wouldn’t eat or drink anything. Finally he got so sick he couldn’t move at all, and Daddy rushed him to the only veterinarian in the county. The Vet told Daddy somebody had fed Bullet rat poison in with some food he had eaten. He would have to be put to sleep to keep him from suffering. I can still remember how I felt when I got the news. I couldn’t breathe, nor could I utter a word. It was as if some giant, choking hand was stuck deep in my chest squeezing my heart like a vise. Finally when that little heart couldn’t take it anymore, it broke in half, and the tears started spilling out of my eyes, like water over Niagara Falls. Why did Ol’ Bullet have to die? Who would do such a thing?

We never found out who poisoned Ol’ Bullet. I am certain of one thing, however, and it is this: neither God nor Providence like people who would poison a little boy’s pet! He might forgive them, but somewhere down the road, somehow, they will have to pay for what they did. I still believe that.

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.

Ignore, ignore, ignore. Bury your head in the sand as long as the issues don’t touch you personally. It seems to me, it’s my opinion I suppose, that a certain percentage of America considers “the ignore” the way to live.

How can we ignore thousands of children being taken from their parents at our border, and possibly never being united with them again? Thousands….

Those of you with children, think about that. Will it perhaps be that way one day within our country? Will other reasons be invented as an excuse to start separating Americans from their own families? Believe me when I tell you, it’s not outside the realm of possibility.

When certain sectors of our society want to seize power and control, they will do almost anything to keep it. The billionaire elite who have staged a bloodless coupe in America in incremental steps since World War II will stop at nothing, and will sacrifice anyone who is not in their “club” to maintain their grip on our society.

The religious fanatics, such as the “core” Catholic Church, along with the evangelical extreme right wing, are also striving to continue to exert their control over the “soul” of our country. They want to be the ones who dictate to America how we must feel about our relationship to other human beings. How we must love. Who we must love. What we can and cannot do with our own bodies, while simultaneously they are either robbing us blind of our money, or their priests and preachers are molesting and doing unspeakable things to our children.

Those who seek to enslave, must have those they consider “beneath them” TO enslave. They must keep the masses poor. They must keep them ignorant. They must give them others to hate to focus their hatred upon. That’s the diversion and the “peanut shell game” they play to keep us divided.

And at the top, they must have a representative as a leader who is chief among dividers. Who is the egomaniac who can be controlled but the hi is at the same time out of control. The bully who loves bullying. The name caller, and labeler who is a master at propaganda and confusion. Who has been trained to give the people what they want: bread and circuses. Diversions from the truth through such blatant lies, that once they are bought into, they are almost impossible to let go of. People don’t want to believe they are the lowest bite in the food chain. Always there must be food beneath them in the food chain.

So, the dividers and controllers will continue to throw chum in the water with their schemes and lies, and then with their carefully woven webs they will continue to ensnare all the sharks as they madly feed.

Then they’ll start all over and do the same things again. Because they are never satisfied. Because they can never consider the game won as long as there is even one person left who’s mind is free and who’s spirit is untamed.

In order to let them finally win their ultimate victory all we have to do is put our heads in the sand and ignore what goes on around us.