Humor and Negativity

It occurs to me that most of the world's troubles flow from humorless people.  In fact, it is my belief that all troubles are caused by people with no sense of humor but I cannot support that statistically.

Think of a handful of people whose behaviors and actions most influence the world, then in each case ask yourself, "Does she/he have a sense of humor?"  I bet that if the influence is largely to the negative you will have to answer, "No."

I am thinking of. . .  Nevermind.

I thought to write a piece on the influences of negativity in the world, but then I stumbled onto this piece.  It serves to express my thinking on the topic.  Click here.

Two Old Codgers #T

A certain gentleman, a contemporary of mine, and I were chatting when the question arose, "Is this a normal thing, just the 'way it is'?"

We had not been complaining, you understand, but merely in a jocular way comparing notes with each other on some of the things that seem to be different now, some of the things we used to accept as normal which we find we can no longer accomplish.

"Yes," I replied to his question.  "The Bible addresses the issue in various places.  My favorite passage is in Second Samuel where Barzillai declines David's invitation to join him in the palace in Jerusalem.  During David's exile while running from his rebellious son, Absalom, Barzillai had housed and provisioned David and his retinue, for he was a man of great substance.

"When the threat had passed and David resolved to return to Jerusalem, Barzillai, went with David so far as the Jordan to see him safely across.  In gratitude for his service, David asked Barzillai to come up to Jerusalem with him, abide at his house and eat at his table.  The man responded

I am an old man.  This day I am eighty years of age.  Can I discern between good and evil?  Can I taste what I eat or what I drink?  Can I hear anymore the voice of the singing men or the singing women?  Why then should I be a burden to my lord the King?  I will go a little way across the river with you, and why should the King recompense me with such a reward?  Let me then return to my own city where I can die and be buried by the graves of my father and of my mother.

 "Yes, it is a condition of life that the hearing will likely fade, that our judgment may be impaired, that we will be unable to savor our sustenance, and unable to function in many ways that we found normal in our youth.  Another passage that addresses this is the last chapter of Ecclesiastes.  Poetic as it is, it goes into greater detail than the old man did at the Jordan River."

Word of the day:  Read Ecclesiastes 12.

Who Am I?

I read an article by historian Colin Woodard a few months past.  The author purported to have divided America into eleven "nations" the same being a sociological division.  Interesting enough that I wrote the accompanying piece but did not post it on STSTT at the time.  Actually, I keep such stuff in a private blog.  I keep lots of stuff there, most of which you will never see because to some degree, it is a journal.  Private.

Interesting division.  According to this map, I was born right smack at the point where the Midlands, the Far West, and El Norte converge.  After a brief interlude in Greater Appalachia, my next four years were spent in the western Midlands.  After that, we moved to The Far West where the balance of my formative years was spent.   A brief stint in a factory at one of the points where Greater Appalachia meets The Midlands was sufficient to convince me a college education was in my future, so a move to The Left Coast to accomplish that end.  Sometime before graduating, I married a girl from a city on the border of The Midlands and Greater Appalachia.

After a few years on the Left Coast, it seemed that the Midwest was beckoning, so we moved into an area which is here designated Greater Appalachia and we bounced around in Greater Appalachia and The Midlands. Retirement reintroduced me to El Norte wherein I have wintered several years.

My travels have taken me to all the Nations on this map, including both far-flung sections of New France; forty-eight US states, three Canadian provinces and a Mexican state, in fact.

Monday Morning

Did you ever just feel like slapping someone?  Then you didn't.  Then you wish you had.  Yet you are really glad you didn't.  Mixed bag.





I have heard it said that one advantage of being old is that you can say anything you want to say. Bushwaa.  If one can't be nice in his old age, what was the use of all those bitten-tongue experiences over all those previous years?

Maybe the reason so many old people are lonely is simply because they are not fit company.

Very rich famous athletes are paid to wear advertising logos.  You pay to wear them?  Are  you crazy?  (Or as someone else once said, "There is nothing wrong with a plain T-shirt.")

Which leads to this:  Perhaps your clothing is the only thing your friends read.

This is what happens when one writes down random unfiltered thoughts.  But it is not all bad.

Sparrow

The sparrow stands upon the fence, 

his fight for survival is intense.

Think not that he merely flits around

filling the air with lovely sound.

This bird's every sense is heightened

By each nearby movement he is frightened.

That cat, yon hawk, the monster with machine in hand

Could any one bring his life to end.

Poor bird.  And he must find insect or seed

He is required to fulfill every need.

And that not of himself alone

Nestlings await him there at home

With open mouth and unseemly squawk.

Oh, thinks he, could I only talk

I'd lecture the Maker of this universe.

No, wait, I would doubtless make it worse.

Oh, look! A cricket there!

Snatch it now, say a prayer.

"For what we are about to receive

Make us truly grateful."