Thoughts about stuff.

  I first started this blog as a way to put my thoughts down and to have fun. I think sometimes about politics and religion and race relations and all the rest. But, honestly I've learned that you can't change anyone's mind by facebook memes and endless links and telling them how stupid they are for believing or not believing something. I can honestly say that nobody has ever changed my mind by yelling at me or cursing at me or calling me an inbred southern hillbilly redneck religious fanatic, devil worshiper, witch, libtard, or any other of the countless way's that folks have of making themselves feel better about themselves or keep themselves in a dither about how other people choose to live this wonderful, tragic, experience we call life.

  So, sometimes I like to talk about things that make me smile or make me happy or give me hope.

"I made a decision to believe in God because it's better to believe than not to believe," he said, noting that his belief became possible while in the throes of addiction. "So it was easy to say, 'If I've got a power greater than myself okay, that's fine, I can use that to make life livable and good.'".....Stephen King.

  Now, I don't do guru's. Not even my favorite author who I just referenced. Okay, maybe if I had to have a guru it would be Willie Nelson. But, other than Willie I really don't do guru's. But, like my favorite author Stephen King I made a decision based on my lifetime of inner dialog with the divine that I now call Holy Spirit and also with my later years practicing or dabbling with meditation that I am in the "Yes" camp on belief although belief isn't really the right word. Belief has such a religious sound and belief is kind of like a theory. If you disprove the theory then you disprove belief. After six decades and counting on the earth I really feel a little stronger than belief about my worldview. 

“Death is no more than passing from one room into another. But there’s a difference for me, you know. Because in that other room I shall be able to see.” ―Helen Keller

So, my feeling that life has purpose and that my loved ones and others that I have lost over the years are just in the next room gives me something to smile about.

Books are a uniquely portable magic....Stephen King

Books have made me smile. From my earliest childhood it just seemed like books took me to other places. I don't know if I had been born into this generation if I would have the same love affair with the printed word. I do know that I don't read as much as I used to. Maybe some of it has to do with my eyesight which was severely nearsighted in my youth and is really uncomfortable these days when trying to read print. But, I also think it has to do with streaming videos and instant youtube and other clips. It just seems like there is so much instant information out there these days. Not , wisdom but information. Oh well. Anyway books made me smile. 


“Childhood itself is a myth for almost all of us. We think we remember what happens to us when we were kids, but we don't.” 
― Stephen King, Danse Macabre

Not for me. I remember what happened. I just choose to tell the story these days in a different light. Maybe that's what movies do for us. Movies make me smile. Seeing Clint Eastwood stroll into town and the bad guys are laughing and spitting tobacco juice and slapping around innocent people. But, when Clint does that Eastwood squint and throws that poncho back you just know that in a minute justice will be served and the world will be made right again. Yeah, it's a rush because it takes you out of the day to day dog eat dog world and for once the good guy's kick ass. I don't hold movies to a really high standard. Just entertain me for an hour or two and let me kick back eat a tub of buttered popcorn and suck down a big ole soda. I'll worry about the weight and the blood pressure tomorrow. But, for right now just take me to a different world. Yeah, it makes me smile.

Stuck in some sticky situations
Feelin' like I wanna explode
All this gratification
And sick conversation
Someone get me out of town

Oh well, it's been a good day in hell
And tomorrow I'll be glory bound...Eagles

Music makes me smile. The above song is not really the best example of making me smile. It's an old Eagles song and not from the ole top forty radio hits. It's from what would have been called the "B" side back in the day. But, it was one of my anthems in my misspent teenage years. It kind of described a lot of what I felt back then. But, still a good song could take me to a different place and relieve a little of the teenage hell of my overly dramatic youth.

“I believe that sex is one of the most beautiful, natural, wholesome things that money can buy.” ,,,Steve Martin

Sex makes me smile. But, uh I ain't gonna talk about that. So, let's talk about comedy. Comedy makes me smile. I grew up with the greatest music and also the greatest comedy stand up's in history so far. As a child i would tune in and see Don Rickles or some other Vegas type comic on the Tonight Show or other talk shows. As a teenager Richard Pryor and Steve Martin and comedy movies like Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles. Nothing politically correct about it. Everybody was a target but it wasn't cruel or degrading. People didn't need safe spaces and Republican or Democrat the old time comedians would take their shot at you. Comedy is a way of laughing at the seriousness of the world.

So, I get it. Donald Trump has free rent in some folk's head. Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi have free rent in other's head. OMG, the world is going to boil due to global warming and the illegals are going to come for us in our beds. The right wing racist white nationalist are going to kill all the people of color and the liberals are going to take all the guns and put us in a Latin American style dictatorship. But, before all that happens and you completely lose all sense of balance try to find something to smile about today. 

Peace.