Dad told me that his mother had named him in part for her father, my Great Grandpa Aaron who died when she was about six years-old.
It was 1922 and if the records are accurate he died at 53, the same age as I am now.
It was before the Stock Market crash, Depression, WWII and so many other major moments in history.
Many of my father’s first cousins and assorted kids were named for him though most had some sort of derivation of his name which in part is why I grew up with a father named Orrie.
He wasn’t the oldest of the Orries or Orrins, there was a cousin named Big Orrie. One of the Orrins was married to a June but not one of them knew their grandfather, though they heard stories.
I thought about it today because I saw a picture of myself and shook my head because I almost never recognize the guy who looks back at me.
Maybe it is because I expect to see a younger guy looking back at me, I don’t really know. But I am vaguely curious whether I share any of my current look with my great-grandfather but have no pictures of him past 40 that I am aware of.
Doesn’t really matter, it is just curiosity.
Makes me think of vanity and sanity.
What Is Inside
One of the guys asks if I ever wonder if people look at pictures of me and think I have aged poorly.
“Nah, I don’t worry about that. Never wonder if any of my ex-girlfriends look at me and think they dodged a bullet. If I am ever bothered it is my own vanity.
Sanity dictates I don’t spend time worrying about what others think when they look at my exterior. Unless I decide to become a trainer in which case I need to get more serious about getting ripped.”
We dig deeper into some of these almost middle aged questions and I ask him what value there is in worrying about what others think.
“The real motivation that goes beyond vanity is the desire to feel better and to take care of my health. There is vanity and there is sanity. I doubt you’ll ever see me with much hair on my head again.
Unless they come up with some sort of simple hair replacement treatment where you take a pill once and there are no side effects it won’t happen. Might be nice to have hair again, but I never worry about bad hair days. Wind, convertibles–no issue.
There is vanity and there is sanity. No reason to waste money on pills I don’t need.”
****
Truth is some of that conversation is filler because we are aggravated by the stupidity around gun violence. The same people who accuse teachers of indoctrinating students, who demand to see lesson plans and censor books suddenly want to arm them.
They barely trust them with caring for their children’s minds but suddenly they are willing to give them arms so they can be bodyguards.
Won’t pay them more because they don’t think they deserve it and talk about them being glorified babysitters but it is ok to be bodyguards.
Won’t acknowledge that in places like Texas it is easier for an 18 year-old to buy high powered weaponry than to get beer or a driver’s license.
Can’t rent a car but that is ok because with a couple of bucks they can be strapped up enough to take an armored car from Brinks.
Makes no sense, it is stupidity so we move to a dumb topic for a bit to lighten the mood.
In the interim I go back to reading about current events and see that some performers are pulling out of the upcoming NRA event.
Don McLean, Lee Greenwood and Larry Gatlin among others had the good sense to not make this event into a celebration.
I am not against the second amendment or anti gun but I am anti stupidity and the current position of so many is profoundly dumb and ignorant.
It is time to end the excuses and do something. No reason for us to be the only country that has this issue.
None.
There are common sense actions that will have an immediate positive impact and reduce the loss of life and destruction.
It is not about extremes in which every gun will be removed nor are people saying we are going to do whatever it takes to get to zero people murdered by guns.
There is a middle ground in which we can still save countless lives and peoples rights are protected.
We don’t stop trying to cure cancer because cancer doesn’t follow laws. We keep pushing because the right thing to do is to try to save lives, even if you can’t save all you can save some.
Big Day, Big Weekend
Got a big day tomorrow because something I have been working on for about six months is going to happen.
Got my fingers crossed and have double checked notes and plans multiple times so that I can go into it knowing I did all I could to make it work as it should.
I feel pretty good about it and now I have to wait to see how it plays out.
Daughter graduates high school and the beginning of whatever comes next is launched in very real terms.
Hard to believe it is all finally here, but here it is and now we get to see what Monty Hall is hiding behind door number one.
What a crazy ride.
I remember Grady. We watched Sanford and Son. 🙂 You’re lucky to still have hair to do that with,
Technically I have quite a bit, but it doesn’t like the front of my head anymore so I keep it short.
There is little logic or reason to most of their arguments. It is always “criminals don’t follow laws” and “guns prevent a tyrannical government from taking over.”
You’re absolutely correct right about 2A.
Common sense gun laws that are enforced and applied make sense as do age restrictions along with background checks.
Many of my neighbors argue for Voter ID because they say it cuts down on fraud but mysteriously lose their concern when it comes to guns. Pretty darn clear that statistics show voter fraud is a minor issue and that guns are a bigger problem.
Let’s take the initial thought about looks and age. In most ways I still look the same as I did back in the day. The only thing I lament is that my hair was behave, so I have to get haircuts more often so I don’t look like Grady Wilson (I’ll let you look that one up if you don’t remember who that was lol).
On the second amendment… I definitely have mixed emotions. First, the gun rights people have today isn’t what the 2nd amendment was supposed to be about. Seeing Alito saying that Roe v Wade passing wasn’t what the Constitution said makes no sense when the 2nd amendment was totally against anything that was passed after the original was signed into law. With that said, I’m not totally anti-gun, but I think things like what’s happened over the last two weeks in this country have proven that there needs to be some rollbacks, even if it only starts with age. I mean, does it make sense that kids can buy guns at an age where t hey can’t buy liquor or cigarettes? Phooey!