When I was a wee lad my mama used to read the story of Ferdinand The Bull to me.
Ferdinand wasn’t like the other bulls and didn’t want fight. He did his own thing and kept a low profile.
It wasn’t until he was stung in the ass by a bee that people noticed him because that sting set him off.
Don’t take that as a precise summary of the book because it has been some time since I read it, but it serves as a good preface to a few things.
- I haven’t ever felt the need to do things strictly because others are doing them.
- I am comfortable with silence and solitude.
- There is a slow burn setting to my temper. It might take me as long to calm down as it did to set me off so if you go looking for it don’t be surprised by what you get in return.
Pushing Back Twice As Hard
The benefit of age and experience is I don’t find the need to engage in pushing back twice as hard as often as I used to.
Many times I defer to ignoring whomever or whatever has aggravated me because the silence cuts deeper than any words I can come up with.
Still there are those moments in which I find myself unable to ignore what was said or done and am unwilling to use that silent sword.
That is usually when I suggest that lazy dudes go play in traffic or jump off of a cliff and see if they can develop wings on the way down.
All things considered I suppose it is a good thing music soothes the savage beast because I needed a good tune or two to help take edge off.
Here is a cover of one of my favorite songs, I might even like it better than the Fab Four’s version.
But first a quote:
I look at the world and I notice it’s turning
While my guitar gently weeps
With every mistake we must surely be learning
Still my guitar gently weeps
What We Think We Know
I am guilty of saying I know things in reference to things I know in my heart as opposed scientific fact.
Kind of funny because ff you have ever been on the opposite side of a disagreement with me there is a good chance I have tried to disprove your theory with facts.
So you might ask if it is a double standard to try and ask others to use facts while I try to use what I know.
Maybe, but don’t expect me to lose sleep over it because if it makes you feel good to believe certain things it doesn’t matter what I say.
People Believe What They Want
This last election removed whatever shred of doubt I might have had about life being any other way.
All you have to do is listen to people talk about the candidates before and after and it is impossible not to conclude people see what they want.
The people I like best tend not to allow themselves to be pigeonholed as only believing one thing or another.
That doesn’t mean they don’t have strong convictions or that there aren’t things they see in black and white terms but that they don’t view the world through such a small prism.
They allow for experience and knowledge to impact their perspective and their position on some issues evolve.
Age and experience have that sort of impact upon you, or at least they have upon me.
In many ways I am not who I once was and yet in others I am more me than ever.
Stuff No One Reads
There might be a retrospective here later on, might be a piece which reviews the year.
Might be something that covers moving, surgery and the crazy fear that comes when things happen to happens to your kids.
Maybe.
It depends on whether it feels like writing will illuminate some important aspect or if chronology is required.
Truth is I don’t like looking backwards as much as some people think because sometimes it really irks me.
Besides I have to gear up for some of what is coming because I won’t make the mistake of not getting ready for the storm I am about to walk into.
But we’ll save that and end this by sharing another quote and song:
But as long as a man
Has the strength to dream
He can redeem his soul and fly
See you.
