I am amazed at the number of different opinions that can be generated by a single set of facts.  I am even more amazed at the number of suggested actions thought to be appropriate to the situation.  Although I try very hard to be an independent in my politics, I will admit to being socially liberal and fiscally conservative.  With that being said, I simply do not understand some of the solutions to problems suggested by the vocal fringes of both sides.

There seems to be a growing number of right wingers now claiming that global warming is just a myth.  I don’t know why they think someone would want to make that up but, what if it was?  What policies and practices adopted to fight global warming should we, therefore, rescind?  In a world in which the population is growing by one million people each day and in which oil, coal and gas resources are finite, should we stop trying to conserve energy if the globe is not warming.  Should we cease the search for renewable energy sources?  Should we stop the quest for fuel efficiency in our vehicles?  We live in a world that has a finite amount of landfill space available. There is an island of platic bags and refuse the size of Texas floating in the Pacific Ocean.  Should we stop recycling if the globe is not warming?  I ask anyone to please tell me what practices we should change if there is no global warming.  Maybe we should just ignore it and let our future generations deal with it.

Why do we want to try terrorist suspects in civilian court?  To afford them more rights?  How many U.S. citizens have been convicted and even executed and then been found to have been innocent?  That happened to them even with all of those rights afforded them.  How many guilty people have gotten off scot free due to legal procedures?  No judicial system is foolproof but when any trial is open to media scrutiny there will be political pressures that can certainly effect the outcome.  Can you imagine the commentators on both sides pontificating on the public trial of an alleged terrorist?  I think military courts offer more protection to both sides.  I’m open to listening to rational arguments advocating the other side.

I don’t know anyone who advocates abortion.  I don’t know anyone who doesn’t believe that it is  truly a tragedy that can tear a woman apart.  I am all for educating young women to its dangers.  I do not, however, understand why anyone thinks that getting the government involved and making it illegal will make it any better.  How has the government’s war on illegal drugs turned out?  How did prohibition work?  As a teenager in the 50′s when abortion was illegal, there were stories in the paper all the time about another teenage girl dying from a botched abortion.   It seems to me the anti-abortion zealots should be on the front lines promoting birth control if they really hope to reduce it.

There are over 4,000 Protestant Christian denominations.  Many of them advocate a literal interpretation of the Bible.  If there is only one literal interpretation, why is there not just one denomination advocating that stand?  It’s because they have each interpreted the literal interpretation differently.  Sounds a bit incongruous to me. 

A large group of so called “patriotic” Americans are spreading fears of a plot for a muslim takeover of this country.  Which muslims?  In Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Iran, Lebanon, etc. it is muslims killing muslims.  There is no more agreement among muslims as there is among Christians.  When people call the U.S. a Christian Nation, that’s my first question.  Which Christians?  I am a Christian and a man of faith but the right wing fundementalists are the biggest danger I see to our country.  I am very tired of all those athletes thanking Jesus Christ for their victory.  Thinking that God cares which team or athlete wins a game cheapens my God and it offends me.

Do those people advocating kicking all illegal aliens out of the country honestly think that it would be possible?  As many issues as I had with George W. Bush, he was right about immigration reform.  It seems to me that those wishing to banish all illegals are starting another Joe McCarthy type witch hunt and a lot of innocent people will be harmed.

Do those anti gay people really believe that homosexuality is a choice?  Do they believe they have chosen a lifestyle that makes them pariahs to a large part of society?  If so, why wouldn’t they want all of them in monogomous same sex relationships so they would not be preying on heterosexuals as they fear?  I have a lot of gay friends and find no differences between them and my straight friends.

There are many more issues and many more opinions.  I have relatives and good friends whom I love dearly and who hold very different opinions from mine.  I have just not found any who have yet been able to rationally refute my impeccable logic.  My synapses can beat up your synapses.

13 Things Your Dog Can Teach You

1. When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.

2. Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure ecstasy.

3. Let others know when they’ve invaded your territory.

4. Take naps and stretch before rising.

5. Run, romp and play daily.

6. On hot days, drink lots of water and lay under a shady tree.

7. When you’re happy, dance around and wag your entire body.

8. No matter how often you’re scolded, don’t buy into the guilt thing and pout….run right back out and make friends.

9. Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.

10. Eat with gusto and enthusiasm.  Stop when you have had enough.

11. Be loyal.

12. Never pretend to be something you’re not.

13. If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.

I had to talk my wife into getting a computer and using email.  She thought she would never use it.  She now has hundreds of email addresses from all over the country and is on her computer even more than her phone.  Outside of business emails I have only family on mine and use it only to respond if someone emails me.  It is very handy for business and special announcements but I have fewer and fewer of those.

Our daughter signed us up on face book.  When someone asked to be my friend on face book I was honored and freely accepted them, although I never initiated a friend request.  I eventually learned that most of those people weren’t interested in me as much as telling the most people possible about their day to day activities.  Some were posting 3 or 4 times a day so I don’t know how they had time for any day to day activities.  I have now winnowed my friends list to family, god children and very close friends.  I now have 24 friends on my list.  My wife has hundreds on her list.  In the rare case that I ever think of anything clever enough to be shared with a lot of people, I simply tell my wife and, if she also thinks it’s clever, she will send it to the world.  This not only saves me time but prevents my sending things that are only clever to me.

All of our children have these contraptions that do everything.  They take pictures, surf the internet, show movies, give GPS directions, make phone calls, etc.  Neither of us has one or is particularly interested in having one.  If I were still on the road in business, these would be invaluable.  In my current situation I can’t think of a situation where I might have used one of those things.

While Christmas shopping four weeks ago we stopped in Best Buy looking for an inexpensive digital camera as a gift.  We didn’t find a camera we liked but we did buy a 57″ flat screen TV.  Although we had discussed doing this for several years, we didn’t watch enough TV to justify it.  We decided that now was the time and arranged to have it deliverd after Christmas.  When we got home my wife measured the space in which we intended to install it.  It was too big for the space.  Another trip, a repacement order, a 52″ screen.  In order to install it where we wanted, we had to empty the shelves of our library and re-do all the shelving.  We have hundreds of books of all sizes and on all subjects and my wife has had them artfully displayed on the shelves along with petinent pictures and interesting knick-knacks.  Now that the TV is in place the artful arranging has been going on for several days.  We watch this wonderful device around stacks of books as she considers their proper placement.  I take no umbrage at the situation because I always like the results of her work. 

If we didn’t have children we would not have any of these things and probably would never miss them.  They’ve certainly enlivened our existence.  The children I mean, not the devices.

Two days after we closed my wife & I went to Dallas for Chrismas.  My mother, brother, two sisters, their spouses, their children, our children (all but one who had to work in NYC) all  arrived filling my sisters house with 28 people for Christmas dinner.  The young cousins got along famously & already miss each other.  Great fun was had by all.  This was the first time in three years that we had all been together.  My next resolution is to try to do it more often.

This was also the first time that my wife & I stayed in a hotel rather that at my mother’s house.  My daughters and their families stayed at my sister’s house.  The last time I went to visit Mom she became a little discombobulated by the time I left.  At age 93 she needs quiet time so we just visited for an hour or so each day.  She seemed much calmer so that was the right thing to do.

Got back home on the 28th & both of us were sick with bad colds, chills, aches, congestion, etc. by the 29th.  For the first time in years we had invitations to a New Years Eve party, an open house and a New Years Day breakfast.  We were too sick and contageous to attend any of them.  Today we are slowly recovering.  That is my best explanation for not writing for so long.  My next resolution is to post at least 3 or 4 times each week.

I’m about to make some new changes in my life & will try to keep you posted.  My next resolution is to stop worrying about how many people are occasionally reading this thing.  Sometimes I post some observations that I think are insightful and no one reads it for days.  Sometimes I just fill up the page with ramblings & the readership jumps.  I can tell how many people log onto the site but I don’t know which entries they have read unless they post a comment.

Over the past few months that I have been doing this, several people I know have told me that they have  read somthing I wrote.  Each of them said that some of my writing has really been good.  Each of them has acted as if that really surprised them.  I had no idea that my intellectual capablities were held in such low esteem by so many people who know me.  I really must upgrade my conversational topics.  Another resolution by jingo!

The most pleasant part of aging is watching our children and their friends getting married and having children.  Going to weddings and baby showers is, fortunately, more prevalent than the funerals at this point.  If we live long enough, that will reverse itself.

I can’t worry about people dying because it is the cycle of life and I can do nothing about it.  I do worry about the babies being born, however.  The earth’s population increases by over a million people each day in spite of all the wars and deadly diseases.  While resources will obviously dwindle in order to supply the increasing numbers, there are still those who fight against climate control, alternative energy, birth control, environmental standards, fuel efficient vehicles and myriad other potentially ameliorating efforts on behalf of future generations.

In my view, these are the most selfish people in the world.

I just returned from a sales training with a retirement community and was amazed at the lack of understanding of the benefits of independent living by the sales team.  They didn’t believe in the benefits of living in their community while still active and vital…so how can they sell it? 

Moving to a retirement community should be a new chapter and should signal continued growth and learning.  It can be an exciting endeavor that allows senior adults the opportunity to meet new people, try new hobbies and learn new things.  It isn’t the end…its the beginning. 

No matter what stage you are in life you can continue to grow and learn and enjoy the journey.

I love to dance and tend to look at dance as a metaphor for living.  You can learn any dance with lessons and practice but, to truly be a dancer, you have to move to the music.  You may know all the steps to the dance but, when the music changes, you need to know how to change with it.  I have tried to do that throughout my life and feel fairly secure in my ability to do so.

When I was five years old, my mother says, I thought I could fly.  She tells the story (which I don’t remember) of a day in the projects of south Dallas when I thought I was Batman.  I loved Batman.  I never missed a movie or serial about Batman.  My mother made me a Batman mask and cowl and cape  from a pillowcase.  There is a picture of me from my ancient past wearing my batman outfit beside my brother, two years my junior, dressed as Robin.  We were a force to be reckoned with.

Mom says that one day she went outside to call me home from my play to dinner.  There were three story apartment buildings being constructed up and down our street.  She saw me standing at the peak of the roof of an apartment under construction, wearing my Batman outfit.  She yelled, Ken!  I yelled those famous words of maiming and mayhem, “Hey Mom, watch this!”  I began running down the roof to the eaves and stopped.  That’s all we know.  Who knows why I stopped? 

A few years ago we brought a great blues singer to our theater and we became pretty good friends.  Eric Bibb has played our theater five times.  He has packed the house each time.  I love his music and I like him immensely.  I own six of his CDs and play them often.  There is a song he sings that brings these rambling recollections into order.  It  is my Anthem!

                                                              The Cape

He’s eight years old with a flour sack cape tied all around his neck.

He climbed up on the garage figurin, what the heck?”

Screwed his courage up so tight, the whole thing came unwound.

Got a runnin start and, bless his heart, he headed for the ground.

He’s one of those who knows that life is just a leap of faith.

So spread your arms and hold your breath and always trust your cape.

All grown up with a flour sack cape tied all around his dreams.

He’s full of piss and vinegar and he’s bustin at the seams.

Well he licked his thumb and checked the wind, it’s gonna be do or die.

He wasn’t scared of nothin boy, he was pretty sure he could fly.

He’s one of those who knows that life is just a leap of faith.

So spread your arms and hold your breath and always trust your cape.

Now he’s old and gray with a flour sack cape tied all around his head.

He’s still jumpin off the garage and he will be till he’s dead.

All these years the people said, “He’s actin like a kid”

He didn’t know he could not fly….so he did.

I been flyin a long time now and hope I don’t fall soon.

I mention this because my brilliant daughter and her techno genius husband are trying to teach me how to insert links to previous posts into my copy.  So far I have had two phone conversations and a detailed email explaining the process.  I have made numerous attempts and have yet to get it right.  I will continue trying.

This is important because my next series of recollections will involve references to previous posts.  For those new to this blog, I want you to be able to reference these if you like.  Besides, I may be a slow learner for some things, but I don’t give up easily.

As I round a bend in the foothills of the Ozarks there appears to be a traffic stop for some reason.  A line of cars stretches in front of me as far as I can see.  I assume a traffic accident and settle back to wait.  After ten or fifteen minutes, I have to find the cause of the delay.  I get out of the car and walk forward toward the blockage.  As I round the bend I see before me what seemed to  be the actual end of the world.

The line of cars in which I am the 20th or 30th, are all stopped at the edge of a large lake and just sitting there.  I move forward to discover that there are lines of cars on the other side also pointed into the lake.  In the middle of the lake is this small six to eight vehicle ferry.  I have never seen a ferry.  I have certainly never ridden a ferry.  There is no way to get to my future bride but by this ferry.  This was my first introduction to my future.  Little did I know at the time but, I’d be back.