Sunset has come and gone and all that remains of it is the memory of a painted sky and the promise of the starlight that hadn’t yet come.
But though many hours have been swallowed by the shapeless beast called time and most people are fast asleep the sound of fireworks continue.
These aren’t the sort that make the general ooh and ah because they form pretty shapes in the sky.
Instead they are loud booms that are fired off in the quiet of the night by the inconsiderate few who don’t wonder if the neighborhood dogs will end up with a bad case of PTSD because of the noise.
As 2 AM comes closer I start to consider whether there is an upside to taking a walk outside to find the mad bomber(s) and gently encourage them to go away.
I tell my furriest child that nothing good can come from such a meeting and he stops shaking long enough to wag his tail at me.
Don’t Look For Trouble
I look out the window and don’t see anything so I open the door and walk outside.
From somewhere in the recesses of my mind I hear voices suggesting I think carefully about my next steps.
“You aren’t a kid anymore and you have no idea who you are going to find. There is a good chance they’ll be young and dumb and full of beer.”
Ego shouts at the whisper that he doesn’t care. He knows how to handle himself and if he doesn’t tweak their young egos they’ll find another place to play.
“It might be that simple, but if it is not what are you going to do. Only an idiot walks into a situation like this without thinking about the possibilities.”
Ego shakes his head, “it is not the OK corral, they are shooting fireworks, not guns. No one is going to shoot me and no one is going to want to fight.”
“Call the police and let them handle it.”
Bad things happen when good people do nothing. The police aren’t going to come for this.
The voice hisses at me and suggests that a person who is looking for trouble will find it and that this isn’t life or death. “You have nothing to prove and no reason to be get involved. You have responsibilities.”
It’s Just Another Sticky Situation
I can hear the furry kid whining from behind the door so I walk back in, sit down on the couch and let him park his body next to mine.
Moments later he closes his eyes but even though morning is closer than ever I am not quite ready to shut it down.
All of the activity has me thinking about the mile long list of things that has to be done and pushes me to want to keep fighting for one more inch.
“Dog, some big changes are coming soon and I am pretty damn excited by the prospects of what could come and pretty damn frustrated I can’t do more yet to work on those.
We’re waiting to hear on a couple of things and I hate waiting, but once we get those answers things are going to move at light speed.”
As far as I know I was the last person to walk through my old house and the last of the family to walk through the house I grew up in.
There is no price or real benefit for either but they mean something to me. It is part of how I say goodbye.
A short time before I sat down at the computer I went through the rooms here to check and make certain doors are locked and windows are closed.
Checked on the children and wondered if when I am 130 I’ll still want to make sure they are breathing while they sleep.
Life Is Blog Fodder
Sometimes people ask me how I figure out what I want to write about and I tell them that life is blog fodder.
They ask if I worry about creating great headlines and focus on SEO and I shake my head.
Most days I don’t spend time wondering, thinking or worrying about either. It is not the fastest way to build a readership but it is the authentic and true one, at least for me.
I figure the few people who faithfully follow these posts and pages will appreciate what they find here if I spend more time trying to share my real thoughts than if I try to force feed what is popular with the echo chamber.
And then I think about what would happen if I had enough cash to write with reckless abandon and no concern about what people might think.
Truth is I don’t think anything I would put on paper is truly controversial. You won’t find hate speech or calls for the violent overthrow of the government here.
But we live during a time when people look for reasons to be outraged and that means the smart move is maintain a position where people won’t come here armed with torches and pitchforks.
None of this changes or contradicts my teaching my children to be willing to stand for what is right and what is important.
So if there is a principle, movement or moment that I feel I need to support within these walls I’ll still do so.
I suppose that means that I listened and learned from those whispering voices. No reason to look for trouble unnecessarily but no reason to run from it when right on is your side either.
