What You’ll Get and the Miracle of Life

Well, here goes. I’m writing the first “blog” for my brand new website. Now, just to be clear, we used to call a blog a column and I’ve written thousands of columns over the course of my nearly 40-year newspaper career. So, I’m not exactly new to this. In fact, when my grandson Mitchell suggested I write a blog, I wasn’t too keen. But I’ve sort of warmed up to the idea the more I’ve thought about it…..lots of provocative crap to write about these days….our world is easy pickings as far as what to write about goes….

 If you “get into” this blog, what you see is what you’ll get. I write only what I feel and what I believe. You will get honesty and sincerity. I write columns the same way I write short stories or anything else. From the heart.

 This will be a wide-ranging piece where I’ll write about anything and everything. I’ll write about growing up in Hanover, working as a newspaperman…..playing in a band….being a writer….what I think of the junk going on around me in life. Just sort of – stuff……

 For example, here’s what I think of what we’ve taken to calling “celebrity culture”….I think it’s just one big massive pile of bullshit. It adds nothing positive to the overall operation of the planet other than to distract its inhabitants from some really serious stuff that needs to be dealt with. To be fair, there’s always been a celebrity culture on Spaceship Earth and it’s okay for a bit of mild amusement. It’s not okay that it dominates and permeates everything and is everywhere and everywhen……

 And the whole mess is designed to make us consume more and more and more. On Black Friday this year, we’re slated to spend over $1 trillion on mostly useless junk. Give your head a shake, folks. What are you thinking? Billions of people around the world have no food or health care or any of the basic necessities of life. Yet we’re spending our brains out on makeup and fashion and getting our nails done and playing golf…..

 The whole socio-economic system on Spaceship Earth is morally corrupt and evil. It arbitrarily disadvantages billions of people around the world – people who are beaten by life before they are even born. This is Eden, people, but, for many people, we have turned it to hell….hell on earth…..a common enough phrase and the real reality for a whole lot of our fellow beings. Even though we need to be aware of our past, we also need to somehow leave it behind – to forget all the evil stuff we’ve done to each other over the thousands of years of history and to have a fresh start where all are cared for and can live their lives with dignity and respect. Each and every life is precious….oh, so precious….

 There is no room on this planet for selfishness and greed. It is too crowded. We need to learn to share and get along. We need to reach a point in our evolution where getting your nails done and playing golf aren’t more important than people eating or having health care. Any people. Because each and every piece of life on this planet is interconnected and shares in a type of universal oneness. There may be no god but that doesn’t mean that all of life isn’t a miracle. Look around you. You should be in absolute awe of all life.

 Wow! Pretty serious stuff for the first time out. Sorry about that. They won’t all be like this. I’ll do my best to lighten up once in a while. I don’t really enjoy being the prophet of doom…it’s a tough job…but somebody’s gotta do it….the reason I do it is because I see hope….I think we can still save ourselves.

 So, my wife and I were planning a trip to Ireland before the pandemic. I’ve always been a bit of a U2 fan, so I thought it might be neat to see where Bono lived…..so, went onto Google maps to see if I could find out – but the streets had no names….

Hew to the line; let the chips fall where they may…….