i'll post this now to get it out of the way and so i don't have to do it tomorrow.
sunday, february 22, will be the 276th anniversary of the birthday of george washington,
he's one of the most honored, if not most honored, presidents of the united states -- and rightly so.
not only did he lead the continental military to victory over the british in the war of independence, he served by acclimation as the first president of a newlyborn nation in a political office that was, at that time, truly unique. nations had kings and tyrants as their chief executives, but never one who was elected by the citizenry.
and to his credit, washington never acted like a king or a tyrant. he set the tone for the presidents who followed him. most of them, however bad, followed it.
so to honor washington, i just might go out and buy something -- and use onedollar bills to pay for it, because his picture is on it.
and his picture is on the unit of currency that gets tucked most of the time into the g-strings and thongs of strippers. i bet he'd be proud of that.
i don't know if he had a sense of humor, or if he showed it. but i'd like to think he'd laugh -- if only to himself or with only his wife, martha, present -- at this catmacro based on a painting of him by gilbert stuart:
the portrait is also known as the athenaeum. it was left unfinished at stuart's death in 1828.
again, sir -- i wish you a happy birthday, wherever you are. and i also wish you many, many thanks
posting has been light yesterday and will be today because of the thanksgiving holiday.
earlier this week, i posted a thanksgiving prayer for the cynical at heart. if you want to read it, click here.
i'll be eating thanksgiving dinner this afternoon with four generations of my immediate family: my parents, my brothers, their children and two of their grandchildren -- my grandnieces. one of my sisters in law invited her sister, husband, and two children. and a nephew make bring along his girlfriend. that's anywhere from 14 to 17 people.
if i know my family, many kinds of carbohydrates will be served: mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, noodles, and rolls, to name a few.
i'm not that great of a cook, so i'm not bringing macaroni and cheese from a box, fried chicken i bought from a store, or any other dish that was easy to make or easy to buy. i'm bringing relishes: sweet and dill pickles, green and black olives, celery sticks and carrots. you could call them side dishes to a salad.
i'm thankful for many things: that i have people i know with whom i can eat dinner today.
i have great empathy for many people who are away from home, whatever it may be, for thanksgiving. two groups come to mind:
- the first is those who are on duty -- u.s. military overseas, especially in the middle east, along with police officers and firefighters. and i'm thankful for them doing their duties for the rest of the populace.
- the second group is people who couldn't get back home because it was too far to travel or they're going through hard economic times or any other reason.
i'm thankful that i have my health. many people of my age, including a couple of friends, along with their parents, are dead and gone.
and i'm thankful that i have my sanity, although at times i'm not the most chipper and upbeat man you would know. but i'm working on that.
i know one man who's not thankful for today. he's a native american who's half iroquois. for him, i'm sure today is like january 27 -- the international day of rememberance for the holocaust -- for the jews. i bet he would agree with this quote from malcolm x:
"we didn't land on plymouth rock; plymouth rock landed on us!"
i don't want to end on a down note, so here's a slice of cheescake for dessert. go ahead -- it's thanksgiving -- gorge yourself with it along with pumpkin pie and other tasty desserts:
she is karolina kurkova, a czech supermodel who's one of victoria's secret angels.
by the way, at 10 p.m. wednesday, december 3, cbs will broadcast a special victoria's secret fashion show. so that's one thing, readers, you can be thankful for -- if you're a heterosexual male.
goodbye for now. posting will resume probably on friday and no later than sunday.
today is sunday. thursday will be thanksgiving day.
since they are usually days of religious reflection, also know as prayer, i have a special one for my readers and everyone else on the internet.
it's aimed at for the more cynical among you -- maybe even the more nihilistic.
*
lord, i have so much to be thankful for ...
i thank you for:
pain -- without it, i would've gone numb years ago.
hate -- it drove me this far, despite how many people said it would never happen.
love -- so we can have our hearts broken and our spirits shattered.
birth -- without it, we could never learn the good graces of death.
childhood -- so we could learn repression to help us with the rest of our lives.
television, movies and magazines -- so they can live our lives for us.
elementary school and high school -- it put us in our place and stripped away our identities.
college -- it 's the only way degenerates, lowlifes and idiots can buy respect and authority over the more talented and less fortunate social classes.
church -- so people too illerate to read the bible for themselves can be told what it says. also, they can be told there they will never ever be good enough.
perverts -- so we could have priests, teachers, roomates, various managers and endless failed relationships.
friends -- to help us lie to ourselves.
enemies -- to tell us who we really are.
youth -- to tell us how much we will need to learn.
adultdhood -- to remind us how little we truly know.
old age -- to forget all that we once knew.
family -- to making you fee like a failure every single day of every month and every year.
*
this is not mine. i found it in too much coffee man magazine. i tore out the page but didn't write the date of the publication on it. information about it can be found here.
first, i hope all you veterans had a good veterans' day. i've never been in the service, but i appreciate everything you've done.
i know a man in his early 40s, a little overweight and 5 feet 4 inches tall. he has done two -- yes, two -- tours of duty in iraq as a member of the army reserves.
second, i want to mention army major general david blacklidge, who showed courage definitely above and beyond the call of duty. please click here for the story.
this is one thing that military men -- hell, a lot of men -- won't admit, because it goes against their sense of machismo. that is to their detriment. at least blackledge didn't do it and i thank him for that.
