Writing for Sanity's Sake

I really don’t care for Franklin Graham. I personally think he’s a sycophant who’s piggybacked off of his Father’s fame and fortune.

This past Christmas season he preached what was a sickening sermon at the pentagon categorizing God as a God of Hate and War.

Graham states:

Graham’s holiday sermon was built on two passages from the Hebrew Bible, Exodus 17 and 1 Samuel 15. The first passage has become a well-known Sunday School story: Israel will triumph over their enemies on the battlefield as long as Moses keeps his hands up in the air. After a while, Moses’ hands grow tired, but with a little help from Aaron and Hur, Moses keeps up his hands and his people prevail. Afterwards, God commands Moses to write about the victory, and promises he’ll one day “utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under Heaven.” 

The second passage, 1 Samuel 15, shows God making good on that promise, Graham said. The story starts with the prophet Samuel commanding a newly anointed King Saul to destroy the Amalekites—including children, infants, and animals. Well, for whatever reason, Saul doesn’t totally obey and lets Agag, the king of the Amalekites, live. He also decides to spare the best of the animals. As we might expect, God reveals to Samuel that King Saul didn’t follow his instructions, so Samuel confronts him, strips him of his royalty, and kills Agag himself. God finally gets his way.

Graham told his audience that while these stories might sound harsh, they depict God as he really is. “That’s not the God I believe in. Well, you’d better believe in him.”

Why?

I’m not even sure God believes in that God. Nor am I sure that Samuel knows this God as well as he thinks. For instance, during his scolding of Saul, Samuel says that God neither lies nor regrets. But the chapter concludes by telling readers that God “regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.” So, it seems that Samuel has gotten God wrong. And if he’s wrong about God’s ability to regret, what else is he wrong about?

However, if Jesus is also God himself come down to earth, his philosophy was greatly different. Just go read the beatitudes:

He said:

³ “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
⁴ Blessed are those who mourn,
    for they will be comforted.
⁵ Blessed are the meek,
    for they will inherit the earth.
⁶ Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
    for they will be filled.
⁷ Blessed are the merciful,
    for they will be shown mercy.
⁸ Blessed are the pure in heart,
    for they will see God.
⁹ Blessed are the peacemakers,
    for they will be called children of God.
¹⁰ Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

¹¹ “Blessed are you when people insult you,persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. ¹² Rejoice and be glad,because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

He said:

“the two greatest commandments that uphold all law and prophecy are to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself. These commandments summarize the core of Christian belief, emphasizing total devotion to God and selfless love for others”.

I didn’t see anything about war or hate in any of those words.

He said:

“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt 5:44) and instructed followers to “turn the other cheek,” promoting a life of non-violence.

When a disciple drew a sword to defend him, Jesus commanded, “Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will die by the sword” (Matt 26:52), suggesting a rejection of violent conflict.

Jesus stated that his kingdom was not of this world; otherwise, his servants would fight to prevent his arrest, distinguishing his mission from political warfare (John 18:36).

In Matthew 24:6, Jesus mentioned that conflict is inevitable before the end times but told his followers not to be alarmed.

Pete Hegseth has been pushing “holy war” all along. Pushing Christian nationalism and “warrior ethos” and today Trump said that he was making war on Iran “because God wants it”. He wants to destroy “an entire civilization”.

My personal opinion is that he is wrong about that. Franklin Graham is wrong. Paula White is wrong. Pete Hegseth is wrong. If he indeed exists, God does not want innocent men, women and children murdered. He does not condone things which are unjust. Donald Trump is threatening an entire civilization. He must think he is a God.

In my opinion, his actions are sacrilege and are an anathema to God. I believe he is one of the most vile of men to have ever existed. His demented actions will be paid for by the entire world for decades to come.

Hate and War are wrong in the eyes of any righteous God who would exist. How can God have “Thou shalt not kill” as one of his holy commandments, but condone the murder of innocent human beings? I’m so confused by people who have been anguished and have beat their chests and wept for decades over abortion, but are ok with this war, and the killing of innocents. I saw very few to none that I know personally who even said a word about the hundreds of schoolchildren who were killed on the first day of the war. Such hypocrisy!

That hypocrisy is almost as bad as Trump and White comparing him to Jesus Christ on Easter morning: “During a 2026 White House Easter event, Donald Trump and his spiritual adviser, Paula White-Cain, drew comparisons between Trump and Jesus Christ, drawing backlash and accusations of blasphemy. Trump noted, “They call me king now,” regarding his supporters. White-Cain likened his political struggles to the persecution of Jesus”. Trump compared himself to Jesus by referencing Palm Sunday and noting that he is now referred to as a “king” by his followers. Spiritual adviser Paula White-Cain compared Trump’s political and legal challenges, including being “betrayed and arrested and falsely accused,” to the suffering of Jesus.

In closing, I can only say that a God who condones the kind of hatred and war that is being perpetrated right now by the U.S. and Israel, is a God I would not follow. Also, if Trump is like Jesus Christ, then Christ was a whole lot different than what I know about him.

I wish I could find the worlds to say, which would bring the world together. I have thought about what they might be:

“Love others as you love yourself”

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”

Are those one and the same? I think not. Loving is not doing.

Humans do terrible things to other humans every day. Just this past week, mass murders have been in the news every….single…day.

Children are being mistreated. Woman are being abused. People who are of different races, creeds, sexual persuasion, and religions are being despised and damned.

“Do unto others………”

I try to think of the words to say which would bring the world together, but it is hard. We are one species of creatures “homo sapiens sapiens” How did we get to the place where there are so many “divisions”. Who decides where the “borders” of a country are? Why are there borders?

Who decides who’s religion is the “right” one? Many a war has been fought over that contentious question….but we still don’t have agreement. Why do people of one ethnic group hate people from a different group? When they born as tiny babies, did they already hate each other? If you place a white and a black toddler in the same playroom, would they call each other names?

“Love others as you would love yourself”

No matter what you are celebrating tomorrow, or if you are not…try to think of the words to say to make the world a better place. Start at home, and teach your children differently then you were taught, unless you are a truly enlightened person. There’s not many of those around.

My confession, my sorrow……

For me, this coming of the electronic age has been somewhat of a downfall. It’s been my fault, because I let myself succumb to it. It started in the mid to late 90’s and has sucked so many precious hours, days, month and years away from me that when I look back on it, it saddens me so much.

I looked at one online game that I have played quite a bit over the past decade. It keeps up with your time played. It said I had played 883 hours. That’s a total of 36 days. Over a month. Of course that’s not consecutively staying on, but an aggregate of time periods of from half an hour to 5 or 6 hours. That’s bad enough, but it’s not even the online game which I have played the most. I’ve played Ultima Online, World of Warcraft, Guild Wars, Skyrim, Diablo, and a few others. I conservatively estimate, I’ve wasted up to 16 months or more of my life playing these games. I could have been reading. I could have been writing music, or working outside in the sunshine, golfing, fishing, anything. I was sucked into these games, just like I found myself sucked into social media. There’s also no telling how much time I have spent on Facebook and other forms of “not so social media”

I thought it was really great at first, but the last two or three years have been difficult. What started out as a connecting with old friends has become a mess. It’s become politics, it’s become partisan, it’s become fake, it’s become people taking advantage of other people. It’s become, for the most part, with the exception of being able to see the connections with my family through this medium, useless to me as something positive in which to participate. The information they glean from us is sold to unscrupulous people who take and use it for nefarious reasons. Period. If it were not for the relationship aspect on social media with my family, I’d get off in a heartbeat.

I’m hoping to go back to some of my pre mid 90’s habits of reading books, and relaxing more at night before trying to sleep. I have no doubt that using these electronic devices for all things all hours of the day and night have not been beneficial healthwise…at least for me. I wish I could change what has been, but I can’t. I can’t get all that time back that I have wasted.

When I was a young man, in my twenties and I thought of long term things which needed to be accomplished I always thought “Well, I have plenty of time to get that done…” Turns out, I didn’t. I didn’t take the time to do the things I needed to do to get some of those things done. I could sit here and regret it….and in a way I do. I’m sad about it in some ways. But…if wishes were horses…

We human beings have become captivated during my lifetime by technology. We have, in a sense, become captive by it. All of our lives have become structured around the computer driven world around us. Much of it was good, but now much of it brings danger and sorrow for us. Not a day goes by that you don’t hear of “hackings” of large companies, stealing the private information of people. Chances are if you have a credit card, or credit cards then you have been compromised. If you have been on Equifax, you have been compromised. We have probably been compromised in so many ways that we have no idea how bad it really is. It’s pandemic. It’s probably unstoppable at this point.

Another thing technology has brought us that we did not need is 24 hour “news” Ted Turner brought that to us even before the computer age with CNN, and things have gone down hill from there. Now there is channel after channel of 24 hour news “indoctrination” coming to us with a “slant” courtesy of whoever owns the stations, or whoever has influence over them. We are being constantly bombarded by propaganda to the point where we do not know right from wrong, or up from down. We are being manipulated by these 24 hour a day “talking heads” to the point where our world is much worse than the program Max Headroom ever imagined it to be.

Can we go back and fix any of this. No. Can we do things going forward to mitigate the damage which has been done to us? Perhaps. It won’t be me doing it though, because I’m 67 1/2 years old. It’ll take a lot longer than the years I have left to change humanity to a more enlightened state.

As for me, I’m going to do my utmost best to stop being a victim of my own obsessions. I’m really going to try. I’m going to fail some, but I’m damn sure going to try. How about any of you, my friends? Am I wrong? Am I crazy? Mayhaps I am.

To all of you, Godspeed, and God bless. Don’t expect a whole lot out of me….but I’ll be around with photos and such.

…suppose all of the women who were ever burned at the stake as witches, or for heresy, were to rise in anger from their graves and seek revenge on the descendants of those who murdered them or caused them to be killed?

…or all of the ghosts of the Shamans and Elders, and the Chiefs of all the first people who lived in the Americas were to magically become zombies, like the ones in “the Walking Dead” and seek retribution for the diseases which decimated them, or the soldiers who cut down their woman and children left alone in their villages.

…imagine the fear which would reign if the spirits of all the lynched Negros, all of the abused and tortured slaves, could haunt the dreams of the offspring of those who caused their terrible and awful abuse.

..what if the Earth itself is silently plotting our demise because of all that we have done to harm her? The scars we have permanently left upon the land, and the species which no longer exist…many simply because they got in our way, or because we could easily exploit and manipulate them. Many died due to our greed.

why are we like this? At what point in human history did we decide that treating other humans as animals was ok, and that treating animals like dirt was our “right”, and that treating our home like it is disposable is even remotely wise? Why do those of us who do not want these things to be so, give power to those who have no soul?

I believe that people who care about not letting the terrible things which have plagued our history happen again, should exercise our right to treat those who would do them as criminals and outcasts not as leaders. We don’t need destroyers as leaders, we need builders of consensus and cooperation. We need people of compassion and love.

Can we find them soon enough?

I look to the future generations and hope. I look to the babies who are crawling and toddling for wisdom. I dream of technology which is yet to come for assistance.

Banjo Man

Sometimes the most beautiful things in the world are never heard or seen by other humans. There are rare times, when you stumble across them accidentally and they are so fleeting and unique that they can never be replicated.

I have written many times about my Grandfather, and how as a child I used to sit on the porch of his old house and watch and listen as he played his banjo. It’s one of my best memories.

The other day, one day this week, I was walking my regular route through town. It takes me past one of the town’s unusual resident’s house. He’s a man a little older than me who lives up on the hill behind the ballpark. He’s different. I was rounding the curve in the hill when I heard it…the banjo playing. But it was not just ANY old banjo playing. This was the Flat and Scruggs kind of banjo playing. This was blue grass roots. This was great playing. This playing made the leaves swirl in little circles in the air, and the needles of the pines lean in closer to hear.

At first I thought it was a professional recording, but then realized it was coming from the little white house on the hill with the name “Earp” on the mailbox. It was somebody playing live. Probably…most probably it was V.W. Earp, that different little man who lives there alone. I stopped there and eavesdropped on this playing. I don’t know what song it was. It didn’t matter. It was heavenly. Complicated, fast. The type of playing you wish you could do if you were a pro. I moved on reluctantly after five minutes, finishing my walk. I shook my head in wonder at the savant like talent of this man.

I had seen some of the other things he had done in the past. My good trade day friend, one of the Webb twins, (I can’t remember if it was Ronald or Donald) showed me a design that V.W. had drawn. It was a complicated and quite logical drawing of how to stop the flooding on the Chattooga River. I guess V.W. had given this to him some time back. It looked like something that Leonardo da Vinci might have done. It was a crude, but at the same time a simple and brilliant plan. Of course, nobody took it seriously. I wonder if it would have worked.

I think the Webb boys have a weekly “shack picking and playing” session somewhere, (don’t know for sure…never been invited to come!) I hope V.W. shows up there sometimes. It would be a shame for nobody else to ever hear that gorgeous music. I wonder if he has many friends. I see him out and about his house with his little white dog following him and I throw up my hand and say “hey” I’ve run into him at the local grocery store and talked with him for a few minutes at a time. Conversations which are strange and disjointed, but at the same time very interesting.

I marvel at people like this. I knew Mr. Earp was an unusual man. I grew up around him and his brother and I knew his father, but I can’t begin to comprehend this person. This outlandish “character” who on the outside is so incomprehensible to “normal” people, but who on the inside is such a talent and has such a tremendous intellect. A person who because of his eccentricities has a problem finding outlets for his talents, which will fit nicely into our societal norms. If you act a little different no matter if you cannot help it, it’s hard for people to take you seriously sometimes. There’s no doubt about it. Nowadays in schools perhaps things would develop differently. Back in our day in school… There just weren’t things available.

I’m glad I know this man and I’m glad I took that five minutes to listen to his music. I will always remember it.

Spring Memories….a short story

I wonder if Spring is around the corner. As the calendar starts to near the end of March, I always start to look for it, start to feel it in my bones. Maybe it’s because the days start getting a little longer and maybe a little warmer. Maybe it’s because they start talking about the Baseball trades that are happening on the sports reports. Spring training’s just a few weeks away!

I tell you, spring and summer were the best back in the 50’s and 60s’. None of that year round school for us old timers! May 31 rolled around, and it’s see ya’ later to the teachers until the first week of September….Yahooo!!

I would go to the old wooden toy box back in my room, and starting digging down to the bottom, looking for my old worn out, smelly leather baseball glove with “Pee Wee” Reece’s name engraved in it. I don’t know how I ended up with Pee Wee, as I never played a lick of ball in the infield. I was always an outfielder.

I tried out for third base once, but after I had stopped the first four hard bouncer’s that came my way with my face instead of my glove, the coach thought it might be safer to put me in left field. I agree with his decision.

I liked left field. It was one of those positions where you could kind of day dream a little. Most everything that came out that way was either an easy pop fly, or a one bouncer. I was a cinch at catching those. None of that “hot corner” stuff for me.

I once was standing out in left field during a game and looking down at the ground trying to spot any four leaf clovers that might be growing there. I heard the loud crack of the bat, and looked up to see the baseball headed over my head. Way over my head. I didn’t want to look completely stupid, so I turned around and stuck my old glove out and ran as fast as I could towards the fence. The ball dropped right into the webbing of my glove. I never saw it until it did. I heard a cheer go up from the stands, and when we came in, I got more pats on the back, and attaboys then I had ever gotten before. I just said “I had it all the way” I could never bring myself to disappoint all those people by telling them it was just pure luck.

The other great thing about warm weather was spring lizard and craw dad hunting at Grandpa’s and Grandma’s house. When warm weather hit, we would go up there a lot more often. It was difficult during the winter time, because there were only two bedrooms downstairs at their house, which meant the remainder of the guests, had to sleep upstairs. During the winter time, sleeping upstairs was just like sleeping outside. There was NO heat. I spent many a winter night with 10 quilts piled on top of me, unable to turn over, but desperately trying to conserve what little body heat was emanating from me in order to be alive the next morning. I always managed to do it somehow.

So, besides at Christmas, I didn’t like Winter time visiting at the old folk’s house!

But with spring and warm weather coming, there was the promise of fishing, and in order to fish there had to be bait. This meant my favorite activities of digging in the dirt for worms, and turning over the rocks down in the little fast running creek in front of the folk’s house for Spring lizards and Crawdads.

The only draw back to trying to catch a bucket full of these water dwelling creatures was that they were also favorites of the snakes that prowled the banks of that same creek. I was never really too afraid of snakes when I was a kid until after my Grandpa’s Uncle “Lark” Davenport killed a rattlesnake one day that he stretched across the old dirt road leading up to Grandpa’s house. He stuck its head end in the bank on one side, and its tail end in the dirt bank on the other side. Now, that little old road was narrow, but I estimate it was at least 7 feet across, so my respect for the snakes in those parts increased tremendously after that. I asked Uncle “Lark” how he killed it, and told me he cut its head off with a hoe while he was out in his corn crib. Apparently the rattler was stocking up on some of the rats that always frequented that place. “If he hadn’t been a rattler I’d have let him be,” said Uncle Lark. I’d have let him be anyway, I think. He would have owned the corn crib after that. Rats and all.

Some of those spring lizards that we used to catch back then were as big as small snakes. Imagine turning over a big old rock, and seeing something black wiggling around that’s about a foot long. Would you stick your hand down in there and grab it? I sure did, and laughed about it the whole time. “If the bass don’t bite that,” I thought “then it might bite the bass!” Either way, we get the fish.

The crawdads were harder to catch then the spring lizards. Have you ever seen one of those little boogers take off? They are like a backwards rocket! I don’t know how they do it, but when they get scared they shoot water out their rear ends, start flapping their tails and away they go. You had to be good at estimating where they were GOING to be, not where they had been, in order to catch them. I never had the least idea that humans ate those things when I was a kid. The first time I went to Louisiana as an adult, and someone tried to serve me a dish made with Crawdads, I got kind of nauseated. After I tasted it though, it wasn’t half bad. I kind of like Etouffe’ now.

Yep, that’s how I felt today since there was a little warmth in the air. That little old creek is still there, but I don’t know what the new owners of the land would think about an old man tromping down the middle of their creek with a Styrofoam bucket and yelling yahoo every time he came up with a lizard. I wonder if there are even any left.

Giving 100 million dollars more than what they paid to the Russians for a shell of a warehouse that has no water, no facilities, no nothing…in a town without the ability to furnish water, electricity, etc. to it? Wow….wish I had just a fraction of that wad of money.

Here’s some information on who they bought it from:

PNK S1, LLC is a subsidiary of PNK Group, an international industrial real estate developer.

Based on reports regarding a 2026 real estate transaction in Social Circle, Georgia, PNK Group is described as a Russia-based company founded and owned by Andrey Sharkov.

Key details regarding PNK S1, LLC:
Property Transaction: PNK S1, LLC purchased a 1.2-million-square-foot warehouse at 1365 East Hightower Trail in Social Circle, Georgia, in 2024 for approximately $29 million.
Sale to US Government: On February 3, 2026, PNK S1, LLC sold the property to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (ICE) for $128.5 million, to be converted into an immigrant detention facility.

Ownership Background: PNK Group is a developer that utilizes industrial construction techniques, with projects in the United States, including Georgia and Pennsylvania.

Note: The information regarding the ownership and the transaction is based on reports from February 2026.

The “Board of Peace” just met, but it looks like we may be going to war with Iran. How’d we get here? What’s the cause? What’s there that hasn’t been there before? Have they attacked anybody but their own people? Is this a religious thing?

Our Arab “allies” are Sunni and the Iranian’s are Shia. There’s a lot of tension between the two.

And where does Jared Kushner (and Steve Witkoff) fit in this situation? Even though he is just an “ordinary” American citizen, not appointed to any position, not approved by Congress to be any kind of representative for the United States, he has been heavily involved. He’s been all over Saudi Arabia, UAE, Israel, Yemen…you name it. What’s he been doing? Has he reported back to Congress?

As of February 13, the following was reported:

“Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump, has reportedly been mentioned in a classified intelligence intercept that is now at the centre of a whistleblower complaint against Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.

A top-secret whistleblower complaint has been filed against Tulsi Gabbard, which was connected to an intercepted communication between two foreign nationals. The conversation allegedly referenced Kushner and included remarks related to Iran, The WSJ reported.”

How is this type of thing legal? What are they saying about Iran? Doesn’t Congress have to be involved in the declaration of War, or will Jared Kushner (and Steve Witkoff) decide?

So, will we find ourselves at war with Iran right after the Olympics end? Maybe before?
Will it affect our upcoming elections this year? Is it meant as a distraction from the other current top story happening in our country? What happens to our Servicemen and women? Will there be attacks on other American facilities in Iraq, Turkey or Syria?

Who knows? Certainly not our Congress.

I guess I’ll go fill my tank up with gas tomorrow and stock up on a few things. I’ll hope we don’t make the mistake of doing the bidding of another country and go to war in the name of safety for them, and “cover” for some politicians in this country.

UPDATE: March 2, 2026

Well, I was correct and the Trump administration started a war with Iran on 2/28/26. They had absolutely no reason to start a war. Negotiations were actually going well, although the administration is lying and said that Iran “broke off the negotiations”

They said they started the war because Iran was working on ICBM’s that could reach the United States. According to very accurate technical sources, Iran was nowhere near having missiles capable of reaching the U.S. Iran did not have a nuclear weapon, and was nowhere near getting one.

We had a secure and workable nuclear treaty with Iran that was negotiated by the Obama administration, which was trashed by Trump because….he hates Obama. There were people from the IAEA going in and checking to make sure the Iranians weren’t cheating. Why do this. Did doing this make America safer.

This war was started about a week after Netanyahu had secret meetings in DC with Trump. My opinion is that the time for starting the war was decided then. There was never a chance there was going to be peace. Why build up the largest force since the Iraq war if you have faith in your negotiations? They were never NOT going to war. The first thing they did was kill the Ayatollah and 40 other leaders in a long planned bombing. LONG planned. There was NO chance that there was going to be a negotiated peace. None.

I could go on for pages and pages, but there’s no use. This war will be a catastrophe. Already over 800 have died in Iran, including 168 little girls at a girl’s school. Six American soldiers died at a communications outpost. No warning, no alarm. Many more are going to die because Iran now refuses to negotiate.

Gas is already climbing and will go higher. That means groceries are going higher still. That probably means terrorist killings inside the United States.

We said we took out their nuclear facilities months ago, and as of this afternoon, they have not bombed them again. It was never about that. It’s all a diversion for two very corrupt leaders of two countries who were stupid enough to give them power (again!)

I Had a Dream…back in 1968

Growing up in a small town of only about 2000 people, you pretty much get to know everyone. The population of the town I live in has hovered around that number for most of the 61 years I have been alive, and I have been associated with it. The people change of course, old people die and are replaced by new babies. The babies grow up and either work at the mill, or some of them break free and go off to college and end up in other parts of the world. But still the population is about the same.

I started off in grammar school in 1956, and there were about 50 of us in the first grade. We had three classes with about 17 or 18 each in the classes. We graduated 52 people in 1968. An ultra small Senior class for sure. And 1968 doesn’t seem all that long ago to me. It’s a relatively long time ago though. I was watching the golf tournament last week and Phil Michelson won. I thought, to myself that he is getting on up there in age to win a tournament. Then, when they said he was born in 1970, I did a double take. I had a daughter born in 1970.…so I am old enough to be Phil Michelson’s Dad…ouch.

Today, I feel really old. I have done a little painting the last couple of days and it has worn me out. I thought I felt pretty well this morning, so I went about my usual things…walking around trade day etc. I thought I was pretty energetic, but I was wrong. This evening I feel like I have been dragged behind a car for a couple of miles. I used to shake these kinds of things off a few years ago like a Water Spaniel shaking off some pond water. Now, I think I am like an OLD Spaniel. Ahh, but I know 61 is not too late to get back into decent physical shape, so I am REALLY trying, losing some weight and such.

But, in any case, I was thinking about my Senior class again. We usually try to meet a couple of times a year for a meal and to rehash old times. The only thing is, the last few times we have met, we have discussed members of our graduating class who have died in between our meetings. We were, and are a close knit class. Most all of us went all the way through those twelve years together, and it’s troubling when these people who you picture as youngsters start falling by the wayside. Heart attacks, cancer, car wrecks. This can’t be happening can it?

I once had a dream back in the 60’s that I would be the LAST member of my class to be left alive. Really, I did! I can’t remember too many details about it other then the vaguest memory that I was some kind of ancient decrepit man. And I was alone. That’s the thing I remember the most about the dream, was the being alone. Now I know, dream interpreters would say I was having a dream about the teenage feelings of isolation I was going through, but I don’t know about that. How many dreams do you remember from when you were a teenager?? That’s what I thought!! I am pulling for the rest of my Senior class to live long and happy lives, with many grandchildren. That way, if the dream was true, then I am going to get over this fatigue!

Speaking of changing things, what things about your life would you change, if you could go back and change something? If you had the power to change ONE thing that happened in the past to you or to someone else because of you, what would it be?

That would be the most powerful ability any of us were ever given, if by some magic we had it bestowed upon us. I can think of several. But, the thing about the ability to change that ONE thing would be the ramifications of changing it.

I know we ALL have heard about the ripple effect. Where you throw the tiny pebble out in the middle of the still waters of a little pond, and watch the ripples spread out from where the pebble has hit. They eventually go out to the very edge of the pond itself albeit by that time they are very negligible and barely visible. But, near where the pebble has hit, they are much stronger.

I have though about things that I could have done which would have changed my life. I am not going to name them though. The fact is that what I did is what I did and it caused pain sometimes and happiness sometimes. Sometimes just to me, and sometimes to others. I would be petrified with fear to change any of these things in the past, even if I could, because I might come back to future and find that I didn’t like what I had done.

The best thing for me to do then is to make sure I make better choices in the years I have left. I would advise everyone to try and do that. You know that we can make better choices. It’s all a matter of thinking about things logically, taking the time to sort them out and not jumping into them without a lot of careful thought. Now, I am not talking about deciding what to have for supper! I don’t think that will affect us that much, unless we decide to eat Peanut butter and Banana sandwiches with Mayo, or something. What I am talking about are the decisions that have that ripple effect. The ones that can cause other people or our self’s that pain or happiness I was just talking about.

I have to be very careful, because I often open my mouth and speak before my brain has a chance to process what I am going to say. I act hastily sometimes. I act impulsively and irrationally sometimes. Why do I do all of that? Why do any of us do that? I wish I had a dollar for every time I should have kept my mouth shut, don’t you?

Along with trying to get back in to physical condition, I think I am going to try my best to treat other people the way I would want to be treated. That’s how we should do it, regardless of what anyone else might tell you. Now…if I can JUST get a good night’s sleep tonight…..

1988 was a good year for me. I went to work in February of that year for a company in Calhoun, Georgia as Quality Control Supervisor for their Dalton, Ga. plant. I was thirty eight years old that year. My kids were still all living at home, and all in school here in Trion. There was a lot going on. Paula went to work at the same company a few months later, and for the next 10 years we commuted out and back from Trion to Calhoun to work. We went out to lunch with each other pretty much every day, and saw each other quite a bit during the course of the work day. It was a really good situation for us, and a really good time, in my life.

Because we were working out of town, there was a lot of pressure on our three children to take care of themselves until we got home in the evening. Kirsten being the oldest, was designated pretty much as the “range boss” There were epic battles, but they were survived. On weekends I always tried my best to do something with the boys. We went to a lot of baseball card shows, comic book shows, and hot wheels shows. Back then, that’s how you got collectible stuff. There was no internet yet, believe it or not.

We had a lot of spaghetti and meat sauce, salmon patties, and fish sticks during those days. We eventually graduated to some different types of meals, but those three things were staples of our existence.

We started out the year with Reagan as President and ended it up with Bush Sr. It wasn’t too contentious of an election as I remember…with one of the most memorable moments being when Sen. Loyd Bentsen of Texas, who was running as V.P. told Dan Quayle that he “knew John Kennedy, and you aren’t any John Kennedy” …and he wasn’t

There was a lot of stress which came along with my job, but looking back now with 20-20 hindsight it was a great year, and led to a great decade.

I could go on and on…but maybe another day. Suffice it to say, that my mind has drifted back just a bit today and I wanted to share. Hope everyone else can remember what they were doing in 1988! (if you were around and kicking)