They're So Much Better

The geezers -- old and bitter in soul, if not in years -- talk about celebrities and hippies and other people living irresponsible lives -- especially single black teenage girls who have children -- and they always say: "I live a much better life and no one recognizes me for doing that."

Break up this pity party.

YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO LIVE A GOOD LIFE, YOU GODDAMN SMALL TOWN, SMALL-MINDED FOOLS!

What do you want for your efforts? A cookie? The Presidential Medal of Freedom?

(By the way, that's the highest civilian award given by the U.S. government.)

I guess if you get no recognition from others, it's not enough.

Hey -- God will reward you for living a good life. But tat will be in heaven, not on earth. He's in charge of divine justice.

You know God. Your minister, at that church you attend every Sunday, talks about him a lot.

You might remember that if you went to church for the right reasons: To praise God and thank him for your life, instead of going there to make business connections, or to meet a better class of people to possibly improve your business, or because your family has belongs to that church for several generations and you don't see any reason to change.

If I remember correctly, your church says Jesus is the Messiah.

And if I remember my Sunday School Bible lessons, Jesus spoke with scorn about people like you. He called them Pharisees.

Jesus came for the outcasts, not for self-righteous jackasses like you.

Now I'm not a Christian. I don't believe that Jesus was the Messiah. But I won't get into theological discussions now.

But I know that I was a Christian, and there is a brotherhood in Christ, I will skip as many of those family reunions as I can.

Bad Gifts For Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day will be a week from this Sunday -- ten days away.

Since I'm single, I don't have to worry about getting something for my significant other.

I saw this suggestions for things NOT to get and the reasons why:

Candy is fattening and flowers die.

I pass it onto you for your enlightenment.

Things You Own

I recently realized that I own too many things.

I have to store them, keep them clean, make sure they don't get stolen, and insure some of them.

I don't own them; they own me.

So I'm getting rid of some of them.

As I go through my things, I've found that they come in three different groups:

• Stuff -- Things that I love or use a lot.
• Possession -- things I like and use sometimes. they are nice to have around ifg you need them.
• Junk -- I don't like them at all or they aren't useful at all

(By the way, if you have a roommate, it's always your stuff but it's their junk.)

When you look at some things, I often wonder how it got into my place:

• Was it on sale and the price was cheap?
• Did an old girlfriend like it and give it to you?
• Was it a gift from someone with good intentions but clueless -- like your grandparents?

I have this advice; please don't trade your extra things. You're often trading your junk for someone else's junk.

Putting extra things in a storage facility for use later is not the answer. You don't get rid of them; you just put them aside for a while and you must deal with them sooner or later.

And if the storage facility goes out of business, where do they put those things that were stored there?

My mind reels in puzzlement.

When you go through your things, you might get lucky. You might find something valuable enough to sell for a good price or get a tax writeoff if you donate it to a museum or a charity.

But don't consider doing that for eight-track players, Members Only and Nehru jackiets, and old copies of National Geographic. You have to pay people to take them away.

Moving Forward ...

I thought of posting about the death of my parents, and had planned to do it before today. However, I've found that I just won't go through some notes in a folder about that.

I didn't post anything else except for the one above this one until today out of respect for their deaths. With that date here today, so I'll post more often.

I found this on the Internet. I post it here for you and especially for me. I'll try to remember them. Better yet, I will try to do them.
*
You are not alone.

Join us.

Many of us will NOT give up.

Hope is still alive.

Somebody somewhere loves you.

Pass this along.

Anger And Cynicism

I'd rather be angry than cynical. If I'm angry, it means that I care. It's a warped form of hope.

Cynics are the clock watchers and time servers of life and society. If things aren't going to get better, why not kill yourself? Why stick around?

I say this to cynics: Leave. Put yourself out of your misery -- and us out of our misery when we're around you.

Oh, some people might be sad because of your death, but they're just fools and suckers.

Also, a cynic will exploit people. An angry person won't. An angry man won't associate with knaves and fools, no matter how much he can benefit from them.

Overbearing Fathers

Some fathers are very overbearing.

If their kids don't come in first place, those fathers blame them, call them failures, and say they've disgraced their families.

The best reaction to that is this: The kids ought to commit hari kari right in front of the old man.

But when they're supposed to push the swords into their stomachs, they ought to turn and stab the old man.

recommended holiday gifts

it's hard to comprehend that the holiday season is here.

it's harder to comprehend that christmas will be only three weeks and five weeks from today.

i plan to post some things about the holidays as the season progresses. this is the first one; it's about a few recommended holidays gifts.

i strongly believe every household should that these two things.

the first is a good dictionary, preferably clothbound (or hardback, if you prefer). i use merriam-webster's collegiate dictionary, 11th edition, and personally recommend it because i've used it and appreciated it since i was in college.

the second is an almanac. i recommend the world almanac to be used as a smaller and alternate encyclopedia and history book. i used to buy a new one every year, but this year i'll keep the 2008 edition that i have now.

the third is optional. it's the book junk english by ken smith. read it and use it to clean and clear your writing. i bought my copy in 2002 or 2003. i don't know if it's still in print; if it isn't, you can probably buy it through a bookselling service on the internet. if it is, then i bet you can get it at a nearby barnes and noble or borders.

suggestions about goodness

i have this to suggest for your readers:

don't do good for the sake of your own soul. that's selfish and selfcentered.

instead, do good for the sake of the other person or thing or whatever it is that is outside you.

and do good to make the world a better place.

degrees of bacon, hardcore version

no doubt you've heard about the game six degrees of kevin bacon. the details, if you're interested, are listed here.

it's an interesting game to play during a party or other social functions, but ... i had an idea:

i propose a hardcore version.

it's not enough that an actor is in the same movie as bacon. he or she must be in the same scene as him. better yet, that actor must have a conversation with him or interact with him in other ways.

it's just a proposal, folks. i'd like to hear your opinions on it.