Weh Yuh Ah Seh

...Back to back, 

belly to belly

I don't give a damn, 

I done dead already
Oh-ho, back to back, belly to belly
At the Zombie Jamboree
I hear you talking
Back to back, 

belly to belly
Don't give a damn, done dead already
Oh-ho, back to back, belly to belly
At the Zombie Jamboree... sung by Harry Belafonte


I think parts of this song lyrics strike a chord with me (no pun intended) and those words be:

I Don't Give A Damn

I don't give a damn about 

• politicians: Democrats or Republicans
•  illegal immigrants
• abortions: late term or otherwise
• firearms or owning one
• Global Warming
• bitcoin or cyber currency
• any Social Media
• the mainstream media
• the national debt increasing
• if North Korea goes nuclear
• any Banana Republics
• Black Rap Music Lyrics
• if Biden raises my taxes
• Medicare for All
• free college educations
• if China has the biggest military in the world
• if China has the biggest economy based up PPP GDP
• reality TV
• we defund police departments
• if BLACKS try to rewrite our Constitution or receive reparation
• if our conservative voices are muted
• if the USA leads the world in the purchase/consumption of illegal drugs
• if whites are still being blamed for slavery
• the wealthy or the poor or even the middle class
• professional athletes:  basketball, baseball, football, and golf
• that both my parents have passed away
• that my sister and brother want little to do with me
• that my faith keeps getting stronger the older I live
• if atheists have their heads up their asses
• if and when cancer takes my life

BUT... what I do care about

 is my 

FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS

The Calculation of Wealth

We all know that WEALTH is the accumulation of money and the more money one has acquired over one's lifetime, the more wealthy one will be when one FINALLY DIES...  which is the ENDGAME that all of us must face...  and we see this final solution more vividly the older we become...  resulting in finding ways to hold onto our wealth or having buildings named after us so that our lives will NO BE FORGOTTEN...  as the Scottish might have said once upon a time.

But, wealth can also be calculated in other ways as well:

• the wealth of being healthy
• the wealth of having what you can never purchase
• the wealth of being physically fit, skilled in many areas
• the wealth of never lying to yourself or others
• the wealth of being mindful through meditation
• the wealth of connecting to a cosmic consciousness
• the wealth of being artistically skillful
• the wealth of saving many "souls"
• the wealth of knowing you were "admired" and "respected" by many
• the wealth of one's religious belief and faith in God
• the wealth of having many "real" friends
• the wealth of children and grand children
• the wealth of having a love for mankind and animals
• the wealth of love and marrying one's "soul mate"

As AMERICANS in the TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY have a tendency to measure wealth through money and nothing else which is an unfortunate place to be, especially when one find oneself on one's deathbed knowing that shortly one will not exist and that one's money cannot be taken with one once that final breath of air is taken...

Can you imagine how empty and alone a person like that is going to be?

America's Wealth Gap is our BIGGEST ENEMY

 

USA TODAY REPORTS... in 2019...

Nationwide, it takes an annual income of $538,926 to be among the top 1%. Among the approximately 1.4 million taxpayers who meet this threshold, the average annual income is about $1.7 million – about 20 times the average income of $82,535 among all taxpayers.

About 209 times the national average...

99% of all Americans...

Will education get you into the 1% or even the 10%

The top 10%...  not 1% mind you...  own 70% of America's wealth...  and the sad aspect of this data is that the gap between the wealthy and the poor or even average or middle class is GROWING STEADILY EACH YEAR...  while the rest of us watch it happen and DO NOTHING...

Is Russia our Enemy?

Is China our Enemy?

Is North Korea or India our Enemy as well?

Is global terrorism our enemy?

Is a shifting global economy our enemy too?

Will global warming destroy us in the next 100 years or so?

AMERICA'S ENEMY IS ITS OWN WEALTHY CITIZENS WHO REFUSE TO SHARE THEIR WEALTH OUTSIDE OF A SELECT FEW...

The wealthy fight no wars and end up in graveyards

The wealthy do not come home from wars with disabilities

The wealthy hire the best legal minds to protect them

The wealthy shelter they income from taxes that you cannot do

The wealthy have access to the best medical doctors and facilities

The wealthy can hire security companies to protect them

The wealthy can have access to food that you cannot

The wealthy has access to transportation they you cannot afford

The wealthy are the ones who make all the rules that you have to follow

The wealthy live in spacious homes with servants that we call employees

The wealthy have the power to put you in jail if they so desire

The wealthy have the power to hire and fire you at will

The wealthy KNOW THEY CONTROL YOUR LIVES AT THEIR PLEASURE

Think For Yourself This Time...

 

What would like in America be like if we only had the DEMOCRATIC PARTY?

Would we have any guns or firearms at all in our possessions...

Would not having firearms stop crimes with firearms...

Would we still have freedom of speech if we spoke out against the Democrats...

Would we be able to find employment if we spoke out against the Democrats...

Would our Federal Taxes continue to increase every year...

Would we be allowed not to smoke marijuana...

Would we still have a well supplied law enforcement...

Would there be any need for us to have a US Military or Space Force...

Would we still have gasoline cars...

Would would be forced to think like liberals...

Would would still be allowed to worship in our churches...

Would 13% of our population still tell us what to do because of slavery...

Would our history books be rewritten to reflect this new truth...

Would employers be forced to hire until there is no unemployment...

Would China, Russia, India, and North Korea be seen as friends and allies...

Would there be a law against having so much wealth unless it is shared with everyone...

Would there be enough medical supplies and medicine to help everyone...

Would we be fighting in foreign lands to promote Democracy and stop Communism...

Would would still be allowed to own our home and other property...

Would we have a new United States Constitution...

Would we change the name of our country to reflect our new IDEALS...

Would all wealth be redistributed according to one's needs and not work ethics...

Would our BRAVE NEW WORLD have what it takes to survive...

UNDERSTAND THIS...  IF YOU WILL...

China has a bigger military than the USA

China's economy is the largest in the world according to PPP GDP

China sees the US as its adversary in global domination

The Middle East literally HATES the USA

Europe and Great Britain will FALL without the military support from USA

Global Terrorism will escalate without the USA to stop it

The USA has the most natural resources in the entire world that others want to have

The USA is in DEBT up to its eyeballs

America's freedoms will be the easiest to loose

Intellectual Ignorance and Arrogance will be our internal downfall

Our own wealth gap is our biggest enemy

Rumors of WAR

Wars since 1947 Involving the United States

1. Korean War
2. 
   The Cold War
3. Laotian Civil War
4. Lebanon Crisis
5. Pay of Pigs Invasion
6. Simba Rebellion
7. Vietnam War
8. Thailand Insurgency
9. Korean DMZ Conflict
10. Dominican Civil War
11. Bolivia Insurgency
12. Cambodian Civil War
13. South Zaire War
14. Gulf of Sidra Encounter
15. Lebanon Intervention
16. Grenada Invasion
17. Gulf of Sidra
18. Bombing of Libya
19. Tanker War
20. Tobruk Encounter
21. Invasion of Panama
22. Gulf War
23. Iraqi War
24. Somali Civil War
25. Bosnian War
26. Haiti Intervention
27. Kosovo War
28. Operation Infinite Reach
29. Afghanistan War
30. Iraq Invasion
31. Iraq Wat
32. North West Pakistan War
33. Somali Civil War
34. Operation Ocean Shield
35. Libya Intervention
36. Operation Observant Compass
37. Iraq Intervention
38. Syria Intervention
39. Yemeni Civil War
40. Libya Intervention

PERSONAL COMMENT: There have been almost 40 military conflicts (not counting the Cold War) involving the USA since my birth 73 years ago which averages out to 1 military conflict every almost 2 years.  And, these wars in which we have been engaged are the ones fought outside the continental United States and on foreign soil.  We have yet to fight one on our own soil except for the Civil War from about 1860-1965.  However, I heard a rumor just the other day, that a new kind of civil war is coming between the white and the blacks but I am not sure if this one will be fought before the one waged between the wealthy and the poor.

A Time Without Time

Eternal inflation is a hypothetical inflationary universe model, which is itself an outgrowth or extension of the Big Bang theory.  According to this theory, the inflationary phase of the universe's expansion lasts forever throughout most of the universe. Because the regions expand exponentially rapidly, most of the volume of the universe at any given time is inflating. Eternal inflation, therefore, produces a hypothetically infinite multiverse, in which only an insignificant fractal volume ends inflation.

The idea of the inflation of the Universe started in the 1970's when a belief developed that within nanoseconds of the BIG BANG, the universe expanded exponentially.

But Stephen Hawking does not agree with that theory and believes that external inflation does not occur.

Eternal inflation emerges because, in the very early universe, the quantum fluctuations in the field that drives inflation are as big as the field’s average value. But Hawking argues that under those conditions one cannot simply carry on with Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity, but instead must use a maneuver like Maldacena’s to view the entire situation in a space with one less dimension. In that alternative space, things are more tractable, they claim, and the physics does not lead to eternal inflation. Instead, a single, well-behaved universe merges.

In 1997, Argentine-American theorist Juan Maldacena considered a volume of space in which gravity was at work. It’s like saying whatever goes on inside a can of soda can be captured by a theory describing only what’s happening on the can’s surface.

So in Hawking’s through the principle of holography, the very early universe should be described by a theory with just three spatial dimensions and no time.

And, while this author is no theoretical physicist, I wonder quite innocently I would have to say, where does time come from when it finally appears?  And if it does finally appears which we all can agree that it does, then what caused time to be created?  And, can time's creation be attributed to the BIG BANG or to our Creator?

A Sense of Purpose

THIS MORNING...   in less than 20 minutes, I wrote down 5 poems, each of 10 lines or more, sometimes 20 and this was done spontaneously and without the blinking of an eye or hesitation so that I might find the right word...  and for me, it does not matter if the damn poems are good or not or even worth reading because these words came out of my head not yours or any other...

LAST NIGHT...  when it was dark, I ventured downstairs to the hot tub and I lay submerged in those relaxing hot waters, I looked skyward upon the sky filled with stars of all shapes and sizes whose light I was seeing was at least 8 minutes old...   and I wondered while relaxing if I would ever connect with its cosmic consciousness... and thought...

                                               

my heart beats stereophonic rhythms in my ears

when my head lays back upon the porcelain,

my body remains submerged and languishing

in the one hundred and three degree temperatures...

It was almost immediately that these 4 lines appeared in my head while staring up at the sky and wondering if I was ever going to make contact with some ancient alien...   and then, a flash of insight ran its course through my body and when it appeared at the top of me, an idea quickly formulated and simply but without a doubt knew what had to be done.

Currently, I maintain 4 blogs:

• one for poetry new and old
• one for my daily journal entries so to speak
• one for my ongoing cancer issues
• one for my paranoid schizophrenia (I only wish but I am still just bipolar)

My writings now contain the following as well:

• 42,000 poems previously written
• poetry occasionally written in notebooks
• previously written opinion articles published on LinkedIn
• two and one half novel written (300 pages each) out of 12 outlined

MY INSIGHT...  I will continue writing daily just as I have always done, but now my life's purpose is to type up and publish all of my writing on one of these 4 blogs until I have nothing left to publish other than what I am currently writing.

RETIRED...  I have been retired now, going on my 7th year, without any hobbies of which to speak or desire to play tennis or golf or sit upon the couch eating popcorn watching foolish professional compete for millions of dollars worth of salary, only to destroy their God given bodies.  For a good five years I have floundered, not really knowing what to do...  and, it was right in front of me all the time...  and, I would be dead today if it has been a poisonous snake.

Feelings Are Mutual I Suppose

Throughout my lifetime albeit not that long, there has always been those races, people, individuals we thought of as being inferior.  How did we come about this revelation, I do not know, other than it must have been our parents who were the first to clue us in.  Then later perhaps, it was our classmates, our teachers, our preachers, and lastly our employers when we were finally of a mind to decide for ourselves, even though our minds had been tainted and painted with all sorts of predispositions.

I recall quite vividly our parents were against blacks and Catholics and those who made their living in the north.  My first awareness of blacks came at Christmas times when our mother took them food baskets and other small gifts of joy.  And, even though JFK was a Democrat, he was still Catholic and should not be trusted.  The north was a place to visit like an art gallery or a museum but not a place to venture in after dark especially since their attitudes were against those who live in the south with their funny accents and such, clothes and strange religious habits...  like Southern Baptists with their born again beliefs.

While Virginia was somewhat in the middle of the two extremes, we were more likely to lean towards a southern point-of-view than to a northern one.  And so, all my biased intent was conceived in those early years while living at home.  Still...  my first adventure up north was not too positive either, as I asked a man for "what time it was," just outside the airport and he replied with extreme harshness and a dead stare, "what do I look like a fucking clock?"  My politeness all but withered and died and crawled up my ass for a place to hide.

Ever since then and I remember well, I have never cared much at all for people from the north and their BETTER THAN YOU attitudes once they realize you are not only an out-of-towner, but are from the States below the Mason-Dixon Line.  And, if you ask around on both sides and without hesitation of any kind, they will tell you that the feelings are mutual in all respects.

Free Will and Choices

There is a common belief among mankind whether it be from man or from woman and whether you believe in a Creator or not that ALL OF US WERE born with a certain amount of FREE WILL and that this WILL is used on a daily basis to make our CHOICES and it is these CHOICES that determine the direction into which our lives will proceed and it is these CHOICES that determine or predetermine most if not all of our future outcomes.

There is no denial that we make choices and/or that for some of us, our choices are made for us whether these decisions come from our parents, our teachers, our leaders, our bosses, and/or our spouses.  And that these choices do influence in some degree our future outcome and life's directions.  HOWEVER, the concept of free will is a different matter altogether in that free will means the following:  the power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate; the ability to act at one's own discretion.

Consequently, free will has nothing to do with any religious beliefs as it is simply an act of bring born into the world of mankind...  and, we all know that giving birth results from the sexual union of a man and a female...  and, we can make the assumption that this union has nothing to do with the will of a Creator or any such other religious nonsense...  especially since giving birth is as natural as breathing air...  and, we can assume that the properties of our physical body have nothing to do with a Creator either as they are simply the result of millions of years of mutated evolution.

As was evidenced by Jesus and his sayings as recorded in THE BIBLE, if he had FREE WILL then Jesus would not have needed to obey the will of GOD...  but, the will of GOD is necessary and the foundation of most all religion.

So...  therein lies our problem.

NOW...  let's look at the concept of time and the scientific fact that time has a past, present, and a future even though we can neither see our past or our future, yet we know as sure as we are breathing that it is there.

We also know from our space program that astronauts age less in space than they do on earth.  Using this knowledge as a foundation, we can now make the assumption that when we send astronauts further and further out into space and we keep a record of their time relative to earth that their present would be our future.  It is also possible that if these astronauts were the same age as those monitoring their progress that the monitors could die of old age before those astronauts return and still have almost half their lives to live.

Now, let's return to creation and see if it was a Creator that brought it about or some scientific anomaly.  Science believes that our universe was created by the bursting forth and expansion of a black hole.  By definition, a black hole is a compression of matter...  so, what comes out is that which was first inside since a black hole cannot exist with nothing inside.

Yet, science cannot explain where all the stuff that was expelled from that black hole came from...  and so, we must turn to a Creator for the only logical explanation which is a prime example of OCCUM'S RAZOR which states:  Occam's razor is the principle that, of two explanations that account for all the facts, the simpler one is more likely to be correct. It is applied to a wide range of disciplines, including religion, physics, and medicine.

With this new concept in mind, we can easily explain the notion that if our Creator wanted to, He could see our past, present, and future and if it was His Will He could decide our choices for us by changing facets of our past which would cause us to make different choices in our present, thereby nullifying the fact that we had any free will at all.

Winterizing Yardwork Renovations

Every year since we have lived in this house and it has been TWENTY, there have been outside renovations to accomplish every Fall which usually takes place over the THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY weekend...  but, since we are both retired, those renovations can take place at any time, providing we have taken a notion to get them done.

Today...  is a case in point...  where in the yard we will be but only after NOON when it warms up a TAD and makes it more accommodating for folks like me who have a reluctant tendency to suffer from old age that seems to be getting worse rather than better...   lol

Once the weather finds it way solidly in the 50's, we will venture outside and move bags of mulch around to various strategic positions in the yard some of which we will open, pour out, and spread while others we will simply lay on top of the plants as they lay upon the ground...   like our Elephant Ears that come back each Spring very spectacularly and we think it is because of the bags of mulch we put on top of them to keep their roots warm during our brief winter season.

Once this is done, we will rest a spell, but there is more to be accomplished.  And, this task is one that only I can do but because of my weak back, I must wear a reinforcing brace...  and this is about a 60-90 minute task of weed eating around the perimeter and house and various garden sites... and, the time varies because of the number of times, I have to stop and pull out more line.

Our last and final task to complete our winterizing yardwork renovations will be to cut back (trim as it were) all the shrubs and bushes that over the years we have planted...  and, when I say we...  I mean my wife and I as we do not pay anyone to take care of any of our yardwork unless it is something that we do not have the technical knowledge and/or skills to perform ourselves.

There are 10-12 bushes and shrubs that will once again be trimmed this year, along with a stand of Nandina's that have gotten to big for their britches but instead of trimming they will be topped.  And finally, there is a Japanese Maple that was severely damaged by the cold a decade or more ago, and when we cut off all the dead wood, expecting it to die for sure, the damn tree grew back more beautiful than before and branched out wider than expected blocking our view when leaving the driveway...  so, this Fall I will trim her back again, but not as severely as before only about two thirds as much maybe three fourths to see if, in the following Spring, she will return again.

If not...  I will simply dig her up and plant grass seed.

This year, twenty twenty, we will have our winterizing yardwork renovations done before THANKSGIVING and when we sit down to the table and thanks we will give, I will be most appreciative of the physical gift I have been given to do all this yardwork myself and not have to pay anyone for the service.

AND...  I will continue these activities in the Fall, Spring, and Summer until my body is physically incapable of executing these duties or that my wife and I decide to see our house and move into an apartment where there is no winterizing yardwork renovations to be performed at all.

Offering An Explanation

YALE UNIVERSITY

OXFORD UNIVERSITY

HARVARD UNIVERSITY

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

Oxford University - The Crown Jewel of Education

If you had a PhD from any of these fine and upstanding universities you would be admired and revered and if you had more than more than one, your admiration might be doubled and you would have a GUARANTEED CHAIR at any university in our tiny little world that we refer to as EARTH in a WILD WILD WEST of a UNIVERSE...

BUT...  no matter how many PhD's you earned and were awarded, you still would not be able to give us a definitive answer as to how our universe was created and if there are other forms of life living out there in distant galaxies or if there has been time traveling aliens who have previously visited our earth...

What you would give us would be a highly educated OPINION...

a mere speculation or conjecture as to what you perceived was real...

and, even if you were in touch with a cosmic consciousness, you would not know how to harness it in such a way that it would provide you with the sum total of all knowledge...

as human beings and even with PhD's we are limited with our knowledge and understandings even though we pretend to students that is not the case at all...

Some now believe that there was a VOID in space and by definition VOIDS are empty of all matter...  yet, these VOIDS were in possession of DARK MATTER AND DARK ENERGY that when EXPLODED created our universe...  and because this dark energy is still around, our universe is continuing to expand into more VOIDS of non existence...

Excuse me for being relatively ignorant as Einstein might have once upon a time said, but this explanation makes no sense, in fact, it seems rather illogical to me that something from nothing could create you and me and all this other stuff around us.

Isn't some kind of CREATOR a more likely possibility...   I mean...  using OCCUM'S RAZOR as a precursor for our thoughts.

It's All Relative... I Suppose...

 BIRTH...  DEATH...  INFINITY

BEGINNINGS AND ENDINGS

THE PURPOSE OF THE ENORMITY OF THE UNIVERSE

Relativity -  The absence of standards of absolute and universal application...  and from the area of physics, the dependence of various physical phenomena on relative motion of the observer and the observed objects, especially regarding the nature and behavior of light, space, time, and gravity...

Well...  there you have it...

Everything in this lifetime is relative...

• Politics
• Wars
• Crime
• Ownership
• Thoughts and Feelings
• Understandings
• Knowledge
• Application

But, in all of this wisdom lies a tiny misconception in that it is not logical at all relative to our planet earth and that is the purpose of the universe...  its size...  and the relative fact that it is expanding and into what we know not but can only speculate since our knowledge is limited and only relative at best.

For EXAMPLE...  there are more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand here on EARTH...  and while that statement seems very profound indeed, it still does not explain why our UNIVERSE NEEDS TO BE SOOOO  BIG...

Relatively speaking things are out of proportion when it comes to planet earth and the universe or our solar system and the universe or even our Milky Way Galaxy and the universe when it comes to any kind of comparison.

And...  well into the future of the existence of our universe, I suppose there will be space travel as well as time travel and beings can move back and forth at their leisure and for whatever relative reasons and purposes that they might have...  but it still does not explain what this damn universe has to be so big, relatively speaking that is to say or ask.

Our Reality Has Always Been

As a boy, I was never precocious in anything except maybe being rebellious and believing that I personally needed to break as many rules as I could without the need or desire that anyone should follow me...   so, I was no revolutionary leader of men and women, cats and dogs, and livestock if you're willing.  I was simply born with a personality that needed to break the rules while living by my own which obviously had to change often as I grew older and older.

My parents found me difficult to manage in the strict sense of the word and my siblings found me rude and ill mannered and had little to do with me as we were growing up...  especially since we had absolutely nothing in common and as each of us grew older, absolutely nothing in common ever developed.  We were like siblings born of another mother and found little generosity wherever we were together in our parent's homes in Virginia or North Carolina.

In case you are wondering, my rebellious talents NEVER SERVED ME WELL throughout my entire like up to and actually into my retirement where I continue to remain as NOT PART OF ANYTHING for fear I will ruin it and family will be ashamed of my behavior.  AND...  if you are reading this, by now are probably wondering why I have continued to be this way all of my life...  and, should I not remove the chip that lays upon my shoulder?

I am the purple vase in the reflection of the Panasonic Television Screen that never changes shape or colors but remains in its own image just as it had been discovered.  In short, I am or have become that which I was supposed to be or become all along...  and, regardless of my choices, my will, or obstacles placed in from of me, I still became what I was supposed to be even though no one knew it or even could predict it at the time...  especially since time travel is not an accept form of forward movement.

All of us have our ROLES TO PLAY which eventually becomes our DESTINY and no matter how we might want to twist and turn life, our fate had already been preserved in time long before we saw it unfold or we were later told.  Call it our curse of life that we were known before we had become...  but that is what our life is all about whether we believe it or not, all we have to do is look at who we are or have become right now...  and that reality has always been.

OVER 70,000,000 AMERICANS

Over 70 Million AMERICANS, voted for Donald Trump a second time, but for obviously reasons, it was certainly not enough...  and now, we will experience another four years of taking our country into a different direction from whence it just came...  that much is GUARANTEED.

Our Democratic, Liberal, Progressive, and/or Socialists would have you believe that since they are now in control of the WHITE HOUSE that you should simply FORGIVE AND FORGET and do exactly what BIDEN and HARRIS says.     

I seriously doubt that 70,000,000 Americans are just going to up and forget what the opposite side did to their President for the last four years...  and, the harder that the Democrats push for this, the more that there will be resistance.  We have a saying down SOUTH which states:  WHAT GOES AROUND COME AROUND...  just like an Australian boomerang and sometimes when it finally reappears, it is almost impossible to catch.

GUARANTEED AMERICAN TRUTHS

1. Americans will get abortions
2. Americans will have their guns
3. Americans will have their alcohol
4. Americans will have their illegal drugs
5. Americans will have their racial hate
6. Americans will have their crimes

70,000,000 plus Americans is still a minority but not a small one and if healing is to be accomplished in this country, it must come in the form of jobs and economic prosperity because those are the only things that caused Americans to forget 9/11 and after 10 years are now acting like it never happened...  almost like Vietnam and the Korean War.

• I did not vote for Donald Trump in 2016
• I did not vote for Donald Trump in 2020

My reasons are my own but I will tell you this that I am not a liberal or a conservative but I will never be a SOCIALIST as long as I still have a breath to take.  I am a conservative liberal who believes in the old American VALUES of Morality, Ethics, Integrity, Truth, and Honesty.  And, not once did I see any of this apply to DONALD TRUMP when he became our President and for this I am finally ashamed of our country and what it has become.

And, I thank God everyday that I am 73 years old and have not much longer to live because I fear this GREAT AMERICAN EXPERIMENT is about to go belly up.

Taking Up Space In Time

I have always found it odd sometimes how in a high school graduating class of 250, less than 10% are relatively successful as defined by national median income and less than 1% actually become super wealthy and this takes into consideration professional athletics which has, for years, skewed the results...  but now science is beginning to discover that some people are simply born with a different personality and character that simply provides them with whatever they need both mentally and physically to become incredibly successful.

MOST OF US ARE NOT BORN WITH THIS CHARACTER and it is not something that can be acquired or developed, it is just there inside some of us at birth.

Michael Jordan and Michael Jackson are perfect examples of this phenomenon and no matter how hard we try we will never be their equals when it comes to the skills and abilities they possessed.

Throughout history we have seen these people as well, like:

1. Wolfgang Mozart
2. William Shakespeare
3. Genghis Khan
4. Marco Polo
5. Isaac Newton
6. Leonardo da Vinci
7. Michelangelo 
8. Pablo Picasso
9. Thomas Jefferson
10. Albert Einstein
11. Bill Gates
12. Steve Jobs

AND...  I suppose that there are many more...  but, you get the point...  some of us will be successful and wealthy while most of us will not and all of this depends quite honestly on the moment of birth and the character with which the baby is blessed.

SO...  what does this mean for the vast majority of us?  Nothing much other than we will be quite ordinary and live a meaningful but ordinary life and die an ordinary death accomplishing little while we were alive other than taking up space in time.

Something In Their Character

ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL WITH CERTAIN UNALIENABLE RIGHTS THAT AMONG THESE ARE LIFE LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS...

Fine and beautiful words to live by but... are they ACCURATE?

We might be equal in the eyes of GOD which is now questionable among many in the United States that there even is a GOD...  yet, the reality is that we are TOTALLY UNEQUAL in most everything including but not limited to LIFE, LIBERTY, and the PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS...

Why would I suggest such a stupid comment?

Well...  because it is something in their character that causes people to be successful whether or not that something was put there by God or by someone or something else, it is still nonetheless there...   AND, one SOME OF US HAVE IT...

CHARACTER is one of the attributes or features that make up an individual...

FOR EXAMPLE

Here is the sentence by Martin Luther King Jr

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but the content of their character.”

What is the exact meaning of ‘the content of their character’?

THE RESPONSE

"Content" in this context means "Contents"; in other words, what is "held within" or, simply "inside".
"Character" is what makes someone what he (or she) is. It includes what they believe in, but also - and most importantly) -how they behave: for example, whether or not they are honest, kind, friendly, loving, respectful and so on. It is similar to "personality", but tends to be used when considering whether someone is good or bad, and focuses on their actions. So, one could have a violent gangster who has a thoroughly bad character, but a "lively" personality!

So, Martin Luther King was really asking that people be judged by their behavior rather than their appearance.

NEITHER DEMOCRATS NOR REPUBLICANDS, LIBERALS OR CONSERVATIVES, DEMOCRACIES OR SOCIALISTIC STATES CAN LEGISLATE CHARACTER...   AS IT IS UNIQUELY DIFFERENT FOR ALL OF US AND WHAT WILL ALWAY SEPARATE THE WEALTHY FROM THE POOR AND MANAGEMENT FROM LABOR.

Sunday Recollections

My acre lot is narrow and long so I can, for the most part, see my east and west neighbors, although on my western side, I have transplanted 12 Magnolia trees from my parents house in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and several years later they are a good 15 feet tall and wide and since I planted them close together, they make a excellent privacy fence.  On my eastern side, my neighbor I can see but he seldom leaves his dwelling and it is his garage that is next to me which acts as an excellent buffer.  On my northern side there is nothing but an open field where deer stroll and a wooded area where our cats like to roam.  My southern side is my front lawn of sorts since outside on the back deck is where much time is spent.  My neighbors are at a good distance and while I can see them when they are out and about, a good spyglass I need to distinguish their features.

I perform my own lawncare during the fall, summer, and spring, sow my own grass when needed, and trim back all the shrubbery that we planted ever fall which gets a little more daunting the older I get.  So...  instead of doing all this maintenance in a day or two as was typically the case over the Thanksgiving Holiday, I now spend a leisurely week or two preparing my landscape for winter...  and while these winters have recently been very mild there are still COLD days which bother me tremendously as does the humidity of summers.

The pace in the SOUTH is somewhat slower than the NORTH although one can find several exceptions to this generality in our larger cities like Atlanta and even Knoxville has become more frantic as the years roll by which is why I remain out of the city as often as I can and if I do have to venture into that despair, I always time my visits  before or after rush hours.

My front porch has two rockers and a swing and parallels the entire length of the house but is seldom used; in fact, I don't recall a time when we ever sat out there and watch the traffic pass by as so many of my neighbors do and have done for hundreds of years.  It seems that front porch sitting is something indicative to the SOUTH and I cannot imagine why because whenever I have done this at other house I find myself getting incredible bored just looking out and about.

COVID-19 has completely retarded our travels this year and no doubt beyond and I fear that we will do little travel elsewhere until a vaccine has been found and even when that is done, my Oncologist may or may not let me take it depending upon whether the virus used is dead or alive.

Rain just blew in and has forced me off the back porch but it will soon blow out and I will return as the warm days will soon become few and far between and inside this house I will remain until it warms up again since some 5 months hence.

Simple Pleasures

I have an acquaintance who is a multi millionaire and about who it was said made his money honestly and with a most abundant infusion of hard work and persistence that was tempered and mellowed by intelligence and clever decisions.  And, of this person was said often that he enjoyed his millions and spent it well on himself and family with personal flying machines and multiple home and travels that took him all across the globe and back several times. 

He wore the finest of clothes, dined at the finest of restaurants, and when he slept it was inside the finest of establishments.  He was well respected and revered and he never count all the friends he had as they were by his side everywhere.  And, what made this all the more perfect was that his health was perfect in all respects and not just because he ate healthy and exercised but because he had been blessed with a fine body as well as a fine mind both of which his entire life served him well.

I could continue his story well into the night but I should not bore you with anymore details of his life because the majority of us here in America will never live like this and if we tried it would only be in our dreams and in our vivid imaginations.

Most of us live simple lives and while some of us are considered Middle Class we will be of the poor one when we retire unfortunately...  unless, we deem it necessary to work until we die or are physically unable.

WEALTH is only for a few.Si

I has been that way forever...  and, while there are new people poking their heads into the ranks of the wealthy all the time, still relatively speaking they are a small minority.

The rest of us are left to enjoy what simple pleasures might still be available to us like the INTERNET and all that it provides both educationally and in the way of entertainment.  And, if we cannot travel to places all around the world we can still see them in pictures...   and while some may say that is not good enough...  I will tell you it is better than nothing.

It was not too long ago that Delta asked us to postpone our trip for a fee and when all was said and done, we had two free tickets to HAWAII...  and, all these years later, all I remember is that I went and try as I may, I cannot remember exactly what I saw even though I spent several days traveling to all these destinations including a live volcano.   Yet, I know all these vivid memories are still inside my head.  I just cannot bring them to the forefront.

I also went to high school in Cairo, Egypt and spent much time at the pyramids but those vivid memories are gone as well even though I know that I was there and experienced it first hand.  And, when I look at photos of the pyramids, I remember not what it was like to stand there and touch it.

TODAY...  I watch the sunrise and sunset every day if there is visibility and walk on paths in all sorts of wooded areas, and paddle a kayak around and around nearby manmade lakes and watch nature swimming in the water and flying in the air or scurrying around the foliage.

TODAY...  I spend my time letting cats lie on my lap while I write comments on my laptop and post them on blogs on the internet for those who want to read or not.  I watch historical dramas or documentaries on cable or read from articles easily discovered on the net.

TODAY...   I sleep as late as I want to in the mornings and eat whatever I desire from a grocery store but have no desire for wines or other alcohols or expensive bottled waters.

TODAY...  I sit on my screened in back porch and while drinking coffee put my thoughts down on paper and when I look up I hear birds and all else is quiet and I see green grass, colorful trees and flowers and a pool covered with a tarp for the winter and the sky which changes little from one day to the next.

TODAY...  I lead a simple life and harbor no regrets inside because each of those memories like what I remember seeing years ago has all but disappeared from my mental points-of-view.

Komic Korner Kartoons

 

Just Another Fall Saturday Morning in the Valley

I am sure that I have mentioned before how pleasant living in the Tennessee Valley has been for me these last 30 years, relocating here when I was a middle-aged man of 43 from the Piedmont of North Carolina another State in my beloved SOUTH.  And...  I refer to this geographical area that way because I have been up North, out West, and even to our western most coast and I find all those areas rather unattractive in their general appearances and personalities.

Yes...  it is true, we don't have:

• the great educational institutions
• the great medical facilities
• all the great restaurants
• all the wonderful cultural activities
• all the expensive shopping areas
• all the insane pollution in the air
• all the people and the congestion of traffic

What we do have is SIMPLISCITY in its finest form and that is not to say what you might find in a suburban community anywhere but it is found in the cultural mentality of all the people who occupy these lands...  with the exception of large urban areas like Atlanta...

Tennessee is divided into 3 distinct areas:  Eastern, Middle and Western and only the former holds the simplistic beauty and sublime way of life, especially in the valley.  While the valley was a natural travel way up into the north, it remains intact with all its beauties that were there hundreds of years ago.

The valley is protected from inclement weather by the Great Smokey Mountains on its right and the Cumberland Plateau on its left making it an ideal place to live according to the weather year round or at least that has been my experience.  The Public Works Projects of the 1920's created the TVA which built all the wonderous lakes that we use for reactional boating, fishing, camping, and everyday family outings and picnics with an over abundance of walking trails.

While we do not have the reputation of the best medical facilities in the land, let me share that my Urologist was educated and trained at the MAYO clinic for 20 years, so I cannot help but feel that I am in good hands whenever I go to see him.  And, this is indicative of this area where many skilled and well educated and experienced doctors, physicians, and surgeons have decided to relocate to the SOUTH,

The Knoxville airport is only 45 minutes away in heavy traffic which is probably the typical travel time to an airport if you lived in New York City and after a 30 minute flight to Atlanta, my family and I can fly ANYWHERE as long as we have a boarding pass and ticket.

In 45 minutes I am in the Great Smokey Mountains and in an additional 45 minutes I will arrive at a Native American Gambling Casino if I ever have a mind to gamble and loose my money...  at least the drive to that location is beautiful.

We have easy access to cable, dish, and high speed internet and with google as our search engine have access to data and information that a few years ago I could only imagine.

BUT...  the most attractive feature of this area despite the acre of land on which I live and neighbors that are not too close is the fact that there is not STATE INCOME TAX and our cost of living is substantial less on average than anywhere else in the country.  This feature allows retirement monies to last longer than in other areas and this benefit is all mine to enjoy.

So... on this fall Saturday in this glorious valley after spending a few hours updating my blogs, I will close our above ground pool in weather that will be in the 60's...  and, while an above ground pool is not as fine as one that is in the ground, it is much easier and less expensive to maintain and with the water 4-5 feet in depth, it provides all the water relief for our bodies that one might find at a fancy Caribbean Resort.  And, off to the side is a 10 year old hot tub that when treated well will last a long time and it is used throughout the year by meThe Tr to simply relax and tune out.