Long Time, No Commentary... Or, I Haven't Quit My Day Job, Yet

Sorry about the delay in posting on this blog. I am sure all one of you have waiting on baited hook, wondering when I would write some great epic journal entry. Well, keep wondering. I have no idea when I will ever write anything that could be considered epic. However, I am glad that you have decided to continue checking in on my blog ever so often. I do appreciate your interest in my zany, off-the-wall thinking and my odd flair for words.

As my readers, you do an excellent job reading my posts, even more so than I in writing. Continue the great work. And, remember, much of my writings are about as rooted in reality as the ghost stories we have told around the Halloween bonfire. Okay, some may seem more serious, and maybe they are. It is all in perspective. There is always truth somewhere, and each perspective holds a different, valid and intriquing view of the reality we call life.

See you in the next post, and please don't forget to post your comments! I love to read your thoughts in words, too.

Am I America?!

The 80s gave us "We Are The World", a strange rendition of charity sung by pop star sensations (USA for Africa). How can you, rolling in money rich celebs, be the world, and yet cannot overcome world hunger? Are there just not enough Burger Kings and McDonalds in Africa to satiate our world? Sad, indeed.

Being the world was way too much to shoulder in the 80s. Just look at the effect it has on our pop stars, even today. Rehab is becoming a booming industry. Maybe we are expecting too much from our celebs.

Luckily, this decade is giving us I Am America (And So Can You). I applaud that Stephen Colbert is America. It takes a lot to be America. And I don't know if I could do that. This offer that I can, too, is a bit scary. I don't know if I want that. To be America, or not to be, is that a question we really should be asking? The thought just scares me.

So, the book I Am America was released this week. A mix of uber-ego and self-help. For some reason, I read the title as either a bold American hero claiming his 'right'ful (conservative exulting) title, or America in a 10-step program.

I haven't purchased it, yet. Don't know if I will. I recall a famous person once said "I don't trust books. They're all fact, no heart."

Is this a fact book? I think it is the work of fiction, because there is no way I can be America. Ironically, all I hear on the radio as I type this is Bryan Adams' "Straight from the Heart." Maybe this could be the first heart book ever published. Irony doesn't work in a vacuum, so it has to be true. "Behold the only printed word to be trusted." Yes, it must be.

I must think too much. And thinking leads to fear. This is not a book to think about. The title says it all: I Am America. A bold statement. No thought whatsoever behind it. Yet, even more bold is the statement in parenthesis: (And So Can You). It's just like the Dr. Pepper commercials from the 80s: "Wouldn't you like to be a Pepper, too?" Why, if you put it that way, yes, I would.

Am I America? Sure. I Am America. Free and brave. I think...

Someday I might get up the courage to buy the book, but reading it? That's another story. A hero's story.

Enjoy the Silence

It's been almost a week since the 6th anniversary of 9/11. The day that changed the world.

Enjoy the Silence

This video is the most spectacular and, yet in light of 9/11, the most eerie thing I have seen to date of the WTC towers. It was a 1990 French promo video of Depeche Mode's song "Enjoy the Silence."

An innocent video with words that strike to the core of my own thoughts on 9/11. I think of the souls we lost, those who lost loved ones that day...

Words are meaningless...

Bad Vibes

Do you ever get a bad feeling about something? Yeah? Well, I do.

I had a bad vibe about the mining cave in at Crandall Canyon Mine near Huntington,Utah . A terrible situation. I pray for those lost souls and the survivors of that disaster. And I pray the mining owners stop such risky mining exercises.

I also have a bad vibe about the return of the Space Shuttle Endeavour coming back to Earth. Sigh. I always hope in the back of my mind that everything will be fine, but sometimes that doesn't happen. It would be sad if Endeavour experienced a similar fate to Columbia, and even sadder to see the second teacher with her venture into space end in tragedy.

The issue with the space shuttle's small, but deep gouge troubles me, and the last time NASA said it'd be okay, it wasn't. Officials say the risk to do further damage just to repair the deep cut is what causes them to be cautious about fixing it in space, and apparently outweighs the risk of re-entry explosions from the shuttle's exposed surface igniting. Sigh. It's their judgment call. I just hope they are right.

Heaven is a Soul Filled with God's Love

Psst.... Don't we all know that salvation has come? Salvation is not something for us to be achieved or earned. It is a gift. It is given by the grace and mercy of God. Let us then stop seeing Heaven as a self-righteous goal that we must earn for eternal life.

Rather, let us "yearn" for God and His love. All that great loving stuff we do for each other, then, is just an outpouring, a reflection of God's love in us. As we "yearn" in God's love filling our soul, we are with God, and really, this is Heaven.