Dear Driver

Dear Driver,

Thank you so much for pulling so close behind me today that you couldn't slide a piece of paper between our cars.  I just bought a new Jeep and I always wondered why they put the spare tire on the back.  NOW I KNOW!!  It's a  bumper!!  I would have spent my entire life trying to figure that out were it not for you.  By the way, you should get that chip in your tooth fixed.

I'd also like to thank you for driving to the end of the acceleration lane and then coming to a complete stop.  I realize all the books say you should accelerate and then gently blend into traffic, but who writes that crap anyway?  And even though I almost rammed you hard enough to blend you into oncoming traffic, I was, in fact, able to stop whereby I realized I am always just in too big a hurry.  Your courteous halt probably prevented me from being part of a 20-car pile-up.  Thank you, thank you.

But before I forget, thanks also for slowing down a half mile before the DEceleration ramp.  And wow, are you ever good with that blinker!!  I mean, I could stare at it for hours!  Those ramps are meant to give you time to slow down, but slowing down WAY before in rush hour is much more prudent and almost guarantees you won't miss your exit.  Great strategy.  I'll try to remember that.  I have much to learn from you.

While I'm at it, I am particularly grateful to you for driving ten miles under the posted limit in the passing lane....the FAST lane if you will.  I mean, really, who assigns those anyway?   And I gotta tell you, that little move you make where you stay right next to the car beside you so it's impossible to pass.....now THAT is pure genius.  I just can't count the times I might actually have made an appointment on time if I could have passed you.  But you....you little ESP person you.  You knew being on time might mean I actually didn't keep someone waiting and patience is a virtue.  The person I kept waiting probably needed that lesson and I need to learn to leave earlier.  Thank you SO much!

I truly am praying that you start some kind of online school or even better yet, an 8 hour class on how to drive while you're eating, trimming your toenails, talking on the cell phone AND putting on your eyeliner.  Professional drivers could gain so much from your honed skills.  The very BEST part of your multitasking is how you've learned to ignore the traffice signal and then notice it just in time to get through and leave me to wait for the next one.  There is just nothing like the feeling of being first in line.  I mean then I can REALLY gun it and make up some time.  But then there you are at the next light!  How do you DO that?  It truly must be a gift from heaven above. 

I know you must be tiring of all this praise, but I just have to tell you a couple more quick things.  I don't want to bore you with endless compliments.  I never could understand how you get those parking places so close to the door at Walmart.  Then it dawned on me.  You have the wherewithal and courage to actually hold up an endless row of moving cars to wait for the perfect spot where that little old lady is loading her groceries.  Man, I'd love to have just an OUNCE of that courage.  I could move mountains!  And using your grandmothers handicapped placard on your mirror?  That, my friend, is a little piece of heaven.  Alot of people are just crazy enough to be grateful they can walk a few extra yards.  But not you!  That spot is YOURS and that little old man that really CAN'T walk could use the fresh air and exercise anyway!  I love your guts, man.  I really do!

Happy driving and thanks for all the lessons.  Until we meet again......

Fondly,

Matt

In The Arena

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

-Theodore Roosevelt, Man in the Arena Speech given April 23, 1910 -

Love is................

“Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, is not pompous. It is not inflated. It is not rude. It does not seek its own interests. It is not quick-tempered. It does not brood over injury. It does not rejoice over wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”      - 1 Corinthians 13 -

Happy Valentines Day, everyone.  Yesterday I had the distinct honor of escorting my daughter and her friend to see the Texas Ballet Theater's rendition of  William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.  If you have not had the privilege of indulging yourself in this classic tale, I recommend it highly. 

Briefly, Romeo and Juliet fall in love despite the fact that Juliet is betrothed to another.  Romeo and Juliet are secretly married, but then through a bizarre set of circumstances, Romeo must flee the city.  Juliet's parents begin to pressure her to wed Paris, the man her family has arranged for her to marry.  Juliet finally agrees to the wedding, but with the help of the local Fryar, plans to stage her own death, whereby her parents would bury her in the family tomb where she could  THEN be rescued by Romeo.   There was only one small problem with this little plan.  The word never got to Romeo.  Romeo returned to town to find his beloved.  What he found was Juliet in a deep sleep meant to mirror death.  Believing it so, Romeo drank poison resulting in HIS death.  Juliet awakes, finds Romeo dead and then stabs herself.  She dies in Romeos arms.

I've heard the story before, but yesterday was the first time I'd seen the story put to dance.  No dialogue, just graceful dancers telling the story of secret love.  I know I was a guy at a ballet with two pre-teen girls, but I cried.  I don't think anyone saw me.  At least I hope not.  But here's the thing.  I'm still trying to sort out what it is I cried about.  Was it the fact that two people in love were not able to share their life together?  Was it the shock that people would go to such length to end their suffering over lost love?  Was it the fact that the entire scenario could have been avoided by just being honest?  Or was it just a moving piece that I need not overanalyze?  Easy for YOU to say!

The dictionary I searched online gives 28 different definitions and idioms for the word "love".  What IS love?  The older I get the more I wonder if I really know.  Hell, even Webster can't figure it out!  Is it that warm feeling you get when you first see someone, the excitement, or that pit in your stomach?  Is it longing when they're away?  Or is love an action?  Is it buying flowers and cards or cleaning out the garage or helping with dishes?  Or maybe, love is just a chemical reaction...........a coming together of pheromones that make two people want to be together.   Maybe love is that parental thing I have for my daughters.  I can't describe it, but I'd lay down my life for either of them without a moments hesitation.

The truth is, I'm not really sure exactly what love emcompasses.  I think perhaps maybe it's all those things.......feelings, chemicals, actions.  I do know that what love means to me might be entirely different for someone else.  I think I like the Apostle Paul's letter to the Corinthians best because it defines what love is NOT.  With over 28 definitions of what love IS, maybe what it isn't is just easier. 

I have been so blessed in this life to both give and receive "love".  Some go their entire life without that honor.  I'm puzzled still by Romeo and Juliet, who would rather die than be apart.  Is that true love or was it just youth that couldn't see beyond the moment to a life where maybe they COULD be together?   I don't know.....it just makes my head hurt.  This is what I truly want to say.........................

On this Valentines Day, may you be privileged to be with the one you love.  And if you can't be with them, to feel the comfort of knowing your ARE loved, whatever your definition may be.

When the Bow Breaks

"When a nation goes down, or a society perishes, one condition may always be found; they forgot where they came from. They lost sight of what had brought them along."   – Carl Sandberg --

Yesterday I had the privilege of giving a pint of whole blood at our local blood bank.  My blood type makes me a universal donor so my precious life source is in high demand.  Every 8 weeks you can bet my phone starts ringing in an attempt to get me to come in and give them more.  I'm honored to help out, really.

Yet somehow it seems that each time I go, donating becomes more of a challenge.  Sure there's the little questionnaire and the mini-physical, but that's only part of it.  If I didn't lie about that little trip to Angora back in the 70's they'd NEVER take my blood.  (j/k).  But every time I go there's another question, another part of the screening process, another drug you should never have taken or another medical condition that makes you ineligible to give.  And at the same time they're always crying about how short they are in their supply of blood.

Now lets be clear.  This is NOT the blood banks fault.  You know where all this regulation comes from?  Thats right, the good ole FDA.  You heard me.......your government.  I have no issue with the blood being tested thoroughly before it's actually used, but lets not make it quite so difficult to give!  To be truthful, how the hell would I know if I've ever had sex with someone that traveled outside the country, was exposed to hepatitis and had contact with a prostitute since the time of Neanderthal????  I don't THINK so, but.........anyway I digress.

What really stirred my pot yesterday was the fact that as they inserted the needle into my arm, I was asked to squeeze on a ball of, well, TAPE!  When I asked what happened to the little rubber squeezy-ball-thingamajig, I was informed they could no longer use it because it might spread H1N1.  Please tell me your mouth is gaping right now and you're finding it hard to breathe.  If that little rubber ball is a major contributor to H1N1, then you better use disposable paper blood-pressure cuffs and remove the door handles and bathroom sink fixtures.  In fact, you'd better make it federal law that you can't touch anything.......ANYTHING!!  And where does this new little rule come from?  The FDA.....your federal government.  The pit in my stomach continues to grow.

As you may have guessed, there IS a bigger picture here.  The picture is one of government control.  I don't care whether you're Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, the long arm of government is clearly out of control.  And if you think tilting the scales towards a Republican congress or a president in the next election is going to fix it, you're fooling yourself.  Our government is presently like our expanding universe. Is it bigger under the Obama administration?  Sure it is.....slightly.  But if you measure it against how big it was when Reagan was in office, the percentage of change would be so minute you wouldn't even notice.  Our government is big.......period.  How big hardly seems to matter.

Our projected budget deficit for this year is about 1.6 Trillion dollars.  That means we're going to SPEND that much more than we're going to take in.  Where does the difference come from?  It comes from China and Saudi Arabia and anywhere else standing in line to lend us money.  You can't just print more.  You have to borrow it and then pay interest on it.  1.6 Trillion dollars.  Let that sink in a minute.  It's clear we're not going to catch up and we're never going to pay it back.  We'll be lucky to make interest payments.  I wonder if one of those debt consolidation companies could help us out. 

Every politician harps about how we're saddling our grandchildren with a huge debt.  Ya think?  But that just makes me laugh.  Our grandchildren aren't going to pay it back.  They're going to borrow more to make the interest payments.  This will continue to go on and on until the bow breaks and the cradle falls.  And it will fall.  Do I have the answers?  Of course I do! But I don't want the FBI bugging my apartment!  (I'm just kidding G-Men.  Take a chill pill.)

I could write for days about the way our government wastes money.  But the truth is it's wasted primarily because we keep asking for stuff.  STOP IT!!  The little grants and special projects and agencies designed to help those that could help themselves is killing us.  Oh yeah, and that little war is puttin a dent in the checkbook too.  Just ask yourself if you really need it the next time you go to the government for something.  Every dime they spend is being borrowed from a foreign country.  We're leveraged to the hilt.

Can you spell United States of China?

Punxatawny Phil

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the fine folks at PETA for breaking a week-long writers block.  Just when I thought there was nothing left on this earth to write about, along comes a topic so absurd that I have to write lest I curl up on the floor in the fetal position, crying out loud at the reality of some people's insanity. 

Now that I have that off my chest, I'd like to say that I'm sure the membership of PETA has done some great things for animal rights.  But seriously people....you want to replace Punxatawny Phil with a robot, because poor Phil is under, um, stress from all the crowd exposure?  Are you kidding me?  I'm almost positive little furry Phil lives a life of luxury being fed grapes and fanned by the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders while tanning in the off-season.  You really want to cause the little guy some stress?  Turn him loose into the wild where he has to forage for food and wear camouflaged body armor to protect himself from Mr. Hawk.

In my youth, I hunted Pheasant and Quail and even trapped poor innocent Muskrat and Beaver.  I even shot a couple racoons.  I no longer hunt, because frankly, I don't see the point.  I don't need the food.  I can get that at the local grocery store for ALOT less money than having a deer processed.  I don't even step on ants or kill spiders any more if I can avoid it.  I guess my middle age and wisdom has taught me of my own mortality and I prefer to just live and let live.  

So I understand the sentiment that surrounds wanting to protect animals.  But I thought it might be more prudent to rescue animals that were actually suffering or being abused.  I hardly think Phil falls into that category.  Suggesting Phil be replaced by a robot would be like suggesting we offer asylum to amoeba in a luxury condo because the funk they grow in is just too, well.....funky.

When and how did we lose our sense of normal?  How did common sense get replaced by the absurd and ridiculous?  Our kids can't fail in school.  Everyone makes the team.  People win lawsuits because they were injured when they spilled coffee on themselves that was, GASP!!, hot!  My employer spends thousands of dollars in overtime in an attempt to make a point and dole out punishment.  I could go off on a serious tangent here as all this relates to government, and our sense of entitlement as a society, but frankly, I just don't have the strength.  Perhaps another blog entry for another time.

I'm trying to be light-hearted about this, but the truth is, sometimes the things we as humans come up with frighten me.  If I weren't a more positive type of fellow I think I'd feel hopeless.  People just like the fine folks at PETA are even helping to run our government!   NOW are you scared?

For the love of God, let Phil enjoy his life in the limelight.  He looks pretty darn happy to me.  Besides, I don't think a robot could be programmed to effectively predict weather like the real thing.  A robot........a ROBOT!  I swear, even when I have nothing to say, this stuff continues to just write itself. 

Barbaric Yawp!!

“Not everybody has to sing the melody.”  -Pete Seeger-

“I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable, I sound my barbaric YAWP over the roofs of the world.” – Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass -

Some of you may wonder on occasion (or perhaps not) from where the quotes I love to use come.  I wish I could tell you that I peruse volume upon volume of literary works at the local library, glasses resting on my nose, searching for just the right phrase penned by some artistic genius that pierces my heart and soul.  The truth; however, is that I have a "quote app" on my fancy iPhone.  When I have idle time, I let the phone flood my senses with quotes from people of all walks of life.  Some move me.  Some puzzle me.  Some make me think.  Some make absolutely no sense to me and I simply flip to the next one.  If it makes you feel better, picture me in the stacks of a college library, quietly pondering all the world's problems.

Today's first quote by Pete Seeger,  a musician of sorts, not only puzzled me but actually disturbed me.  Read it again carefully.  Mr. Seeger says that not everyone has to sing the melody.  WHAT?  Ok, not everyone HAS to.  My question to you is, "why WOULDN'T you?  His quote not only promotes, but practically gives you permission to just play second fiddle.  It says that it's ok to stay in the background and sing harmony.  Truthfully, if that's who you are and your soul doesn't struggle with that, who am I to suggest otherwise?  But here's the thing.  We ALL have a melody.  You don't have to sing THE melody, but I would certainly encourage you to sing YOUR melody. 

We all have a voice.  We all have a song.  We all have something important to add; to contribute.  How dare someone tell me I should just sing backup!!  I much prefer the quote by Walt Whitman which is actually the final line of his famous poem, Leaves of Grass.  I encourage you to read it.  It's lovely.  Robin Williams uses this famous line in the movie Dead Poet's Society when he is encouraging a student, who is somewhat shy, to cry out.  He's asking him to dig deep and look inside to the voice he has to share.  In this touching scene, Robin Williams' character finally pushes the young man until anger releases a barbaric YAWP!!!  Literally, the man yells YAWP!!  Beautiful.

What do you have to say?  What does the inner voice in you have to shout?  No matter how small or insignificant you feel that voice is, don't rob the world of what you have to share.  Your voice is a small part of an incredibly vast universe.  Combined with the small voices of everyone and everything else in our universe, YOUR voice is what completes the harmony in our little symphony called life.  Sing your song and sing it out loud.  Sing your melody.  Don't settle for backup.  Grab the microphone and be a rock star!

Sound your barbaric yawp over the rooftops of the world.  I can't WAIT to hear what you have to sing.

Looking Backward

"When we study, not men's rights, but men's natures and capacities, nothing is more obvious than that all men are unequal; they are born unequal, they will always be unequal; nature intended them to be unequal; and no system of government, social control , or education has yet been devised or ever will be devised, that will make them equal. Indeed, the astonishing and delightful discovery of modern psychology and biology is, that the more you educate men the more unequal you make them. The more you equalize opportunity, the more you unequalize men. The more nearly you treat men alike, the more unlike they become. Birth, talent, labor, virtue, and education are forever making differences in people. Some must command and some must follow. It is a law of life." -Albert Edward Wiggam, "Authority on Heredity" -


“Society is a complex and mysterious creation and it's extremely imprudent to believe in the face it presents you with at a given moment, let alone to consider it the one and only true face.”

-Vaclav Havel -

“The true test of a civilization is not the census, nor the size of the cities, nor the crops no, but the kind of man the country turns out.”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson, Society and Solitude –

When I was a Junior at the University of Nebraska (Go Big Red) I took an Economics course as one of several electives.  Our professor, whom I remember only as "B+ Bert", assigned a book that was required reading for his course.  The name of the book, Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy, shaped the way I viewed our economy and the world at large for some time to come.  As I've become older and perhaps wiser, my view has changed. 

In his novel, Bellamy tells the story of a man with insomnia who requires medication and absolute darkness in order to sleep.  Each night, his house keeper put the man down in an encapsulated cellar, completely cut off from the outside world.  On one fateful night, the house above burned down around him.  His housekeeper, who left town for the night, as well as everyone in town assumed the dear man deceased.  Many years later, an excavation project revealed the crypt and inside, a man still entombed in peaceful slumber, but very much alive. (This IS a novel, ok?)  The man wakes to find that society has changed in a way he never imagined.  He awoke....to absolute Socialism.

What the man discovered, basically, was that each and every person on earth (or was it his country?) received exactly the same pay annually, regardless of vocation.  Doctor, lawyer, Walmart Greeter, common laborer; it mattered not.  EVERYONE was payed exactly the same.  Some chose to spend their annual allotment (via debit-like card) on a big house.  Others chose to drive fancy cars.  Still others took elaborate vacations.  Everyone was paid alike, but it wasn't required that you SPEND it alike.  Healthcare, retirement, etc was all government-funded.  Every single person was "the same".  There was no "status", no symbolism, no looting in the streets.  It sounds so............so..........perfect, doesn't it?  And it would be perfect except for one minor detail.  We AREN'T alike.

You can call it God's plan or the Universe's plan or just plane ole evolution, but each of us is born (ok, MOST of us) with an innate desire to improve, achieve or create.  Every single one of us is different.  And I'm not just talking about Americans.  I'm talking about the human race.  There are no two human beings alike.  To TREAT each of us alike would be, not only boring, but unfair.  The effect technology has had on our society is a topic for a whole other post, but suffice it to say that at least some of the technology we have today is a good thing.  Peoples quality of life is improved by invention and creation.

If you take away the incentive to be different, or remove the feeling of being unique, or rob people of any type of recognition that makes them feel special, you begin to kill the human spirit.  And THAT spirit isn't put there by experience.  It's born in us.  Truly, how good do you really think doctors might be if you take away the incentive to improve surgical techniques or cure cancer?  You could argue that if everyone actually made the same salary, incentive wouldn't be necessary.  But I beg to differ.  Take away a person's innermost need to feel special and you kill the very spirit that lives in him. 

Having said that, let me be clear that I DO think everyone should be afforded the same opportunity.  In this country, nearly everyone is given the chance for a quality education.  Most have a shot at a decent job and a way to make a living.  Does it take work?  Does it take some effort?  Of course it does!  THAT is what makes it special!  Almost every week I hear someone complain about the fact they were denied some opportunity based on race or religion or status or whatever.  You know what?  That excuse is old and tired.  It's lame.  It falls under the category of lazy that comes from the saying, "life isn't fair".  (Credit to Nick for that one!)  If you run against a snag and quit because it's just too hard, that isn't the governments fault or society's fault.  It's yours......any way you spin it.

So what once was a fantasy of an equal and safe and balanced society, gave way to the realization, that for all it's faults, a free market is a good thing.  Capitalism is better than the alternatives.  Check out an earlier blog on free market.  It'll fix alot more problems than it creates if you just let it.  Obama is not a Socialist.  He can't create socialism.  I don't care who you vote for or how much government control they persue, Socialism in the purist sense, has never, does not now, and WILL never exist.  The human spirit simply won't allow it.  Stop worrying.  Obama isn't a Socialist.  He's a Democrat. 

So go to work or school tomorrow and let your spirit soar.  You may never make as much money as Bill Gates, but that's ok.  You can still try.  And the fact that you CAN try is what makes being free so special.