• You call that pride?

    I was driving home this evening and I passed a car with more than it’s share of post- 09/11th, flag waving bumper stickers. There was one in particular that stood out. It was the one with an eagle standing in front of a flowing, striped background. The message was: “WE STAND UNITED… THESE COLORS DON’T RUN!” And what about those colors? Rather than the expected red, white and blue; the eagle stood in front of a green, yellow and white background. So what is this person trying to say now, “they don’t run but they may fade”? Do you suppose the driver of this car suffers from an underdeveloped sense of irony?

  • Here’s the thing.

    Any schmuck can part his lips and blow wind across his vocal cords. The real trick is to string together sounds that someone wants to hear, otherwise it’s just so much noise. But wait, is it really important to always say what someone wants hear? Is there some value in pointing out the things that someone doesn’t want to see? Well, the answer to this question, like many of the great questions in life, is: it depends. Don’t you just love how life defies the desire for “black and white”? So maybe the trick is to pick your moments, go with “pleasant” most of the time, and feel your way through it. You find the right moment and let it fly. But then when is the right moment? For the sake of argument, let’s say you find the right moment, and we’ll go for broke and assume that you have the perfect way to phrase your thoughts, how do you know your advise is good? How do you know that you are right? How do you know you have the answer? Just who the hell are you anyway?

    O.K., maybe I’m being a little hard on myself. I just want to help someone, but I don’t know how – much less if I can. Is it so wrong to try? Well it’s too late folks, that ship has sailed and my finger prints are all over it. Now we’ll just have to see if it returns in one piece.

    Doesn’t ambiguity suck?

    The real kicker is that I’ve lived through this kind of experience in this space before (in just as vague a manner). Just like today, that experience was not one for the hall of fame. Now I’m doing it again and I don’t even have the good sense to keep it to myself. Is there no hope? Will I stop asking questions?

    It’s late. I’m feeling better. Thanks for listening, even if you aren’t.

  • Next?

    What is in store for me now? Well, tomorrow we’re going to church. Cheryl and I decided that we would carpool to church tomorrow (a bit of an inside joke that I’m not going to explain). Not much is going on at this point. We are between major events, and what’s more, there are no imminent plans for another major event. What’s a guy to do? The last think I need to do right now is wish for some more excitement. That’s just the kind of wish that comes true. No, I can sense us settling down into a valley of homogeny. Some people might be tempted to call that a rut, but I’m feeling charitable tonight. The way I see it, it’s an opportunity to slow down and relax. Have you ever noticed that there is nothing so stressful as having plans? Around here, having plans is like assigning incremental deadlines throughout the day. The way I see it, nature abhors a deadline, and so does my free time. So while someone else worries about falling into a rut, I’m going to sit back and relax awhile. Wait a minute, I heard the dryer go off…