I Walk the Line

— Bumper sticker of the year: Don’t expect mere proof to sway my opinion.

— Quote of the week: “It’s tax time again, Americans: Time to gather up those receipts, get out those tax forms, sharpen up that pencil, and stab yourself in the aorta.” Dave Barry

— A parting gift to the rich: When Bush and his goons handed over $350 billion dollars to the rich, he attached hardly any conditions for its use. Seems there were more planes, bonuses, and parties. Some are saying his main purpose was to use up money so that Obama would be unable to fulfill his campaign promises, i.e. universal health-care. There was a time I couldn’t accept such shenanigans from our President. That was prior to Bush. Now I’m open to just about anything.

— Redoing the downtown area for a third time in twenty years is a waste of our money. Like ten cent marshmallow and chocolate, two scoop sundaes, the downtown is gone. We’ve torn down many significant historic buildings and moved most of the going businesses to the outskirts of town. Rather than beautifying the street with fancy signs and cute light-posts, we should have insisted that Walmart locate downtown, or we need to built a better library, put in 2 or 3 more green spaces, and maybe give a real estate tax break for any citizen promising to go downtown at least once per week, if for no other reason than to help with the delusion.

— Ways to tell you are losing touch with reality:

• Any time you get the notion government if of, by, and for, the people.

• If you are always optimistic and giddy.

• The moment you think the rich are in any way, shape, or form, going to help the poor.

• If you think that face lift, or tummy tuck, or boob job is going to hold off old age.

• When you look in a mirror, do you see anyone other than yourself.

• If you think drugs are making your life better.

• Hoping that you’ll be successful and rich without hard work and sacrifice.

• What is real? The moment you think you understand, sorry.

— In the scheme of things, there are only three things you need to understand about life:

1. You need to be born.

2. You need to find meaning for your life, find out what you are meant to do, live every moment to its fullest, seek out others you enjoy being around, and be happy.

3. You will die.

One and three are inevitable. Two is optional, but is the only way to make one and three worthwhile.

— Where do you draw the line?:

• If someone calls you a cheat, a no-count liar, do you want to cuss them?

• Suppose someone said to you your mother was a whore, and your dad a bastard. Would you want to hurt them?

• Your kids look just like you, and are just about as dumb. Do you want to hit me?

• Suppose I came to your house and I was going to steal your things. Would you shot me?

• If I told you Christ was not real, that he was a fraud. Could you handle that?

• Can you accept people for who they are? Could you handle your child being gay, or lesbian?

In the midst of it all, there are ways you can remain calm, understanding, and compassionate, even though you would want to break their arms. It is a matter of drawing the line in the sand rather than on concrete.