Fear not the labels nerd or freak
Though hopes for change are often bleak
While truth and wisdom many seek
Some tend to lie eight days a week
When using language mine or Greek
If shouting loud or mumbling meek
I ask those feeling free to speak
Why don’t we give the facts a peek?
The predictions of wizard may echo the nerd
Taint most of the viewpoints we’ve so often heard
Sages? They whispered but ignored was their word
Then we look back on events that occurred
Decisions seemed wise but the outcomes absurd
They laugh in the face of our options preferred
Yet ashes of memories are best left interred
For paths heading forward have always been blurred
Here’s what the hype has clearly created
Two of our chosen now stood and debated
Silver tongued speakers wearing watches gold plated
Some of the lines and the lies have grown dated
The data gets carved and just slightly misstated
Was this the wisdom for which we’ve waited?
So who can be loved and who should be hated?
Our highlighted differences will be over-rated
Perhaps we might remember something attributed to Mark Twain…
It is far easier to convince people of something wrong than it is to convince them that they may be wrong…”.
And.. one might add… We live in a time when we might not believe everything we might choose to read, see, or hear, however we can certainly read, see, or hear everything we might choose to believe
Beware of the madness as you broadcast the hatter
It’s time to call out the worn pitter patter
The labels aren’t lazy it’s truth that they tatter
This goes beyond smirks and innocent chatter
For it divides towns and homes often shatter
Ideas become narrow and minds become flatter
than pancakes poured out from dried up brain batter
Wonder not when you preach if these syllables matter.
It’s all because the Sizzle and the Buzz
Every now and again it’s interesting to take a gander at the “National Day” calendar to see what’s being featured and/or “celebrated. Today’s entries somehow seem fitting in a world climate that tends toward duality and polarity. It is truly tempting to choose one of the topics and let that focus taint the whole day, however in the seeking Peace and Joy Universe, well, it frequently seems allowing for multiple perspectives and letting the balance or the meaning to develop where it might. So that leaves us with a buzz and a sizzle on our canvas—here goes.
“You’re Killin’ me “Smalls!”
Ask most any kid to tell you what the. Most deadly animal on the planet is and even. When the kid is somewhere between 2 and 92 you’re likely to be told “you’re. Gonna need a bigger boat” because those sharks are hungry and swimmers make a tasty snack or of course there’s lions and tigers and bears—oh my! Oh and there are deadly snakes and those poison frogs. Well like inflation and migrants we might need to fear those. Critters, however, the deadliest assassin swarms in at about 1.5 miles per hound does it work with just. A little buzz and a little sting or bite. We’re talking mosquito madness here. To make it even more interesting, of course not all mosquitos carry deadly diseases and deposit them in your blood stream. In fact, unless there are trans-mosquitos that dress up like butterflies and such it’s always ladies night at the blood bank as males live on nectar not A negative. Not only do males miss. out on going vampire.. they miss out on a lot of life as they only live an average of 10 days while their female counterparts live a couple months or so unless you watch them gorge themself with your good and then clinch your fist pumping them to overflow and watch them explode as they exceed the three times their body weight that they can usually handle. So life would be safer if you could identify the females easier, alas, with around 3,500 varieties and around 200 in the U.S. it’s hard to make. A solid ID So some poor boys are going to have to die even if they aren’t guilty.
If you have lived in various parts of the country you will get to know that there are many mosquitos that are just tiny annoyances and leave little bumps and then in “river towns and swampy places” there are creatures that when mature might qualify as a “state bird.” Unfortunately they are hard to avoid no matter where you live and many products a person might use to deter them are fairly toxic. If you want a natural defender citrus (lemon) eucaliptus is probably your best shot according the AI generator consulted today. But enough about being poisoned to death let’s see the opposite side of the calendar….
Also if you want to get rid of a few mosquitos by using Mother Nature invite in a few bats. They feast on about 3000 of them in a good night and speaking of feasts.. here’s the other. Item on the ledger. To balance the day…
It’s “bacon lover’s day!!!”
Now here’s proof that AI will never outsmart humans. TheAI generator asked if we needed suggestions on how to celebrate bacon? Are you freakin’ kidding me? Well you don’t dress it up in a tux or a flowing silk gown and take it to the prom or storm out on the field or dump Gatorade on the coach. You don’t go out and buy a Hallmark card and slip a fiver in. It. You don’t light. Candles on a cake for 6 preschoolers to spit at as they “make a wish.” It’s simple… It’s bacon… you cook it to whatever level of of crisp you want it and you eat it, you put it on other things you’re going to eat and eat it. You figure out how much might be the right amount to eat and well of course add just a little more… it’s bacon!
So just like. A lot of things in the universe we have to understand. There is a balance of things. You know I time to reap and a time to sew. Time to play disco and a time to play real music… a time to kill (mosquitos) and a time to live in pure joy—eat some bacon and then some more bacon.
Okay.. it. Is time to go see. What the fridge has with bacon on it so let’s wrap this up (in bacon) and experience a tasty little limerick.
Hear that sizzle man senses awaken
Comes a joy that none have mistaken
Oven baked— campfire fried
Just can’t be denied
Every day’s better with bacon
Well… the previous entry suggested some new perspectives on the athletic gala we have come to know as the Olympics. Every four years we bring a herd of the world’s strongest, fastest, and most strategic people together to compete for a little piece of metal made of bronze, silver, and silver with some gold plating. Every time they light the big torch there are some epic stories born or continued. For the U.S. there were some remarkable performances by individuals and by team athletes. Simone Biles “comeback” triumph reminds us that we all get a little freaked out sometimes and yet we can reach deep inside and find the spirit needed to let us soar again. Sure.. even though you have a carpeted floor we’re not encouraging you to do that reverse double back flip with a twist no matter how many shots of tequila you’ve mixed with Red Bull. Oh and for the fourth straight Olympics Katie Ledecky got flagged by the DNR for violating the no wake signs and brought home multiple medals. The US Women’s Soccer team and hooptsters were impressive in the clutch and well the US men’s basketball. Team passed the ball to the quickest three-point scorer of all time and said “hey Mr. Golden State-offer up the golden rainbow and bring us home the gold,” and he did.
The point is… when the flame was burning a lot of people brought their best to share under the five rings and for two weeks we saw great sportsmanship, human effort, and the results of people trying to be just a little better at their purpose.
Now… the flag gets passed to the next host and in a few short years we will see the torch come to life again and get passed. Well… what if?
What if the flame could stay lit eternally? What if we could all strive to find the triumphant spirit within us or within each other? What if we understood the idea of keeping our torch lit and passing the light within and outside us onto the next person in the line and finally this light would be used to keep the flame in the big marshmallow pit above the stadium glowing.
Do we really need to let the torch go dark or can we treat it like a candle? You know when you use your candle to light someone else’s candle they both burn brightly and yours doesn’t burn any less bright.
In the next few days we will see countless highlights of the Paris games and rightfully so, however imagine the peace and joy that could be spread if we decide to let the games end for now and yet keep our torch glowing and keep sharing it?
Or Do We Have the Courage to Keep it glowing?
So we are nearing the closing ceremony of the 2024 summer Olympics from Paris…well mostly the surfing couldn’t be staged in the foreground of that erector set otherwise known as the Eiffel Tower. As always there have been some extraordinary achievements like the swimming of Katie Ledecky and the tumbling of the U.S. women gymnasts. In a couple days this blog will expand on some of this, however for now let’s take a “big picture” look at the games and ponder on what these humans and the things they do bring into our awareness if only for a couple weeks every four years.
Maybe the first thing to note about the Olympics is that there were a couple of “new” events as is often the case. It is unfortunate that the IOC did not include javelin catching again this time around. It is one thing to throw a cannon ball and use a fiberglass stick to leap high enough to get a frisbee off your two story house. It would be something altogether more dramatic to watch guys in tights not only throwing the spears but also catching them and throwing them to each other. Maybe we’d learn that throwing weapons around at each other doesn’t add much to bringing the people of the earth together. It is difficult not to offer the question of what would war look like if throwing these heavy metal balls (called shot puts?) was the only weaponry allowed when armed combat couldn’t be avoided? It should be noted, however, that live pigeon shooting (1900 Olympics) was also left off the medal menu so hope grows slowly.
Both break-dancing and ballroom dancing were events and while these activities are an art form and take athletic skills, it would seem judging a Waltz and somebody throwing down a sheet of cardboard and cranking up a boombox might offer a challenge. Perhaps like the gymnastic all around competition maybe these dancing events along with synchronized swimming could be combined? In fact, perhaps it might be time to really push the global envelope and do away with “judged” events altogether. It would seem that the world is pretty much saturated with people willing to judge each other even when we might lack the internal and external skills we are observing so that we can compare people we don’t know.
Determining the winner in many of the events is far easier and yet somewhat more brutal. Take for instance, hundreds of sprinters trained collectively hundreds of years and then less than ten of them knelt in the starting blocks and bolted out with blazing speed. Less than 10 seconds later one of the racers broke the tape 5 one thousandths of a second faster than the rest. So what if you finished second? Could we all possibly finally get the message that
COMPARISON IS THE THIEF OF JOY?
Anyway, since the games last two weeks it seems appropriate that this blog give it at least two entries and that means we’ll pass the baton on for now. Thanks for navigating the hurdles on this topic so far.
Here in one place well you’’re just setting
You may be grinning spinning and sweating
Those knees keep pumping
So the numbers start jumping
Exercise bike so it’s nowhere you’re getting
The statistics on what Americans spend on “health and fitness” each year are impressive if not staggering. We pay out over $1,800 a year so over the course of a fairly active 40 years let’s say,,, that’s 70 grand easy. This household just put down 80 dollars for what was once a $600 exercise bike and it has lots of miles left in it. Oh and it is one of those pieces of equipment that you can program to act like you are on a certain path or kind of trail so it simulates hills etc.
Well that led to some interesting thoughts. Is life like an exercise bike. Do we sit there staring. At a screen wondering why we aren’t going anywhere and even when we see numbers on a screen telling us we have. Made progress does it really feel like we’ve moved from one spot in life to another?
It does seem certain that we have put forth an effort and it. Takes a lot of determination and like most bike seats the world can be a pain in the backside. Oh and there is sweat… we sweat the big stuff. We sweat the sort of important stuff and many times we sweat the small stuff too.
It may seem like. We aren’t going anywhere because no matter the effort we make there’s a good chance we might end up in the same place we started. On the other hand if we use some of the riding time to think about good friends, good memories, and ways to help each other when the next chance happens well then maybe we aren’t just going no place now are we? Maybe we are clearing our minds and helping our body get better now and ready for choices that are likely to come when tomorrow becomes today?
So maybe.. when we ride the bike. Of life it allows us to reflect and solidify the meaning of things which means turning mistakes into lessons etc. So in the endow may be the only person who can tell if you are just sitting and spinning or actually going somewhere.
Seek the status ever higher
Be a seller or a buyer
How much gold can you acquire
do you think yourself a sire?
Can you count all who admire
The titans be they saints or liar?
Well go ahead and walk the wire
Just ignore the lake of fire
When constant gloom becomes my style
I stack my woes up in a pile
The line moves slow it’s single file
Every step seems like a mile
And each request gets a denial
So then I choose a different aisle
Simply toss my friends a smile
And Life improves for quite awhile
Ignore and shun those selfish swine
Who sell us “what is yours is mine”
Seven friends did not eat nine
In life expect a crooked line
Do things that send chills down your spine
Replace your tea cups with a Stein
Sing loud your song dismiss the whine
I’ve got enough take some of mine
