What Do I Know, I'm Just Some Old Guy

                                                             

    The world changed right before my very eyes and I did nothing to help it get where it is but I harbour no guilt whatsoever, I am just an old man that took advantage of what was here while it lasted! I worked when I needed to and I played as hard as I worked when I wanted to and now I am just some old guy whose taking up space and living on handouts. Call it a pension, retirement pay or whatever term works best to describe it but the truth is I am not contributing much to my fellow man and still I am without shame or much of a conscience about that.

     Even if I wanted a job the pickings for a man my age are pretty slim; I mean they are out there and if I would only get up off of my butt and do something to sell my qualifications to someone in a position to put me back to work, who knows, maybe I could be the person knocking on your door and bringing that pizza you ordered, or I could be the friendly face that greets you when you need to make a trip to Wal Mart. I might be able to pull it off because I can still walk and drive and I can still be courteous to others if the pay is right. Hell, I don't need to be paid to be nice, but since I have to pay for everything I want why shouldn't I receive a generous allowance for any effort I put forth to others? Being compensated for effort, regardless of what it is shouldn't be too much to expect.

     I'm not sure when it happens, I mean when we become just some old person in a fast changing world that no longer needs anything we are willing to offer but it happens to all of us eventually. It wasn't that long ago that everything in my head could have made a positive difference for someone and in fact I would like to believe that it did from time-to-time, but we are only as viable to someone else as our most recent endeavors and contributions to those that are running the world now. It is a reality we have no choice but to accept but we shouldn't complain because we were warned years ago that it would be this way; it has been for centuries!

     An old axiom; "What have you done for me lately" is the way of the world and I guess it always has been but I am on a mission to laugh at anyone that expects me do anything for them because like another old axiom; I gave at the office! Now I am home, for good, and I am making the most of it and part of that is watching other people spin their wheels trying to stay ahead of me and everyone else around them. I say to them: you are winning, keep going forward as fast as you can, don't worry about us old folks because we had our time in the warmth of the sun, now it is your turn to be bigger, better and have more than everyone that helped you get into the lead. They seem to like it that way so who am I to wonder if there is anything left for me than to just admire them and hope that my eventual complete withdrawal from their world is peaceful and free of pain or chaos. So far so good!

     I'm not dead yet, so as long as I can still dress myself and navigate my own fork when I eat what more could I want? From all indications my mind is as sharp as it ever was, I mean, as far as I can tell. In mid-summer I will find out the answers to a few questions I have wondered about for fifty years or so. They were asked by Paul McCartney in a song by the Beatles called "When I'm 64" and although I was never in a hurry to know one way or the other I am curious.

   (Listen)
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs2aMiyT6es

Lower, Middle, Upper...It's Really All The Same In one Locale.

    When the discussion is about where we fit in with certain elements of society I think we all belong to one of three classes and it can be generally assumed what they are. Those with very little or nothing at all are categorized as lower class and that can speak to their economic standing or their character! It is true for anyone of average means, average or above intelligence and in their behavior and certainly true for those who have more than most in all of the above.

    However there is a relatively new class of people that has engulfed more members than those three combined and it has consumed most of them regardless of their individuality, how they describe themselves or whom they think they are. The chances of anyone reading this post belonging to it are astronomically good, and in fact I would wager high stakes that you are in it but probably never gave it much thought. That is, until I finish here.

    I have given this much thought so don't think for a moment that it is just another rant or even an episode of passing observation. There now exist something I have chosen to name the Facebook Class and if you are a regular or even only a semi-regular participant to the largest social networking site in the world you are in it. If you ever posted anything about your life, including something about your family, your occupation, achievements, desires or peeves, congratulations! You have become a part of the largest class of people on the planet and you will be welcomed there every day that you choose to mingle with billions of others like yourself that may have reinvented who you really are or thought they were. But be mindful that the truth is on display because reading between the lines really isn't that difficult for most people. Words and images don't disguise everything as cleverly as one might think. We can appear smarter, doctor-up the photos or simply take our chances when even if all of our self-accolades are true that someone somewhere will be impressed and give us what we want.

     People from all walks of life are joining you every day to share with you sometimes the most personal thoughts and circumstances that make up who they are and how they live. Perhaps you do that also; like everyone else in this class that finds it important to pull back the veil of anything previously unseen so everyone can see what you looked like when you were young and if the years have been kind to you or not. New Job? Post it so everyone knows what you will be doing in the foreseeable future; expecting a child or the birth of one? Let's see some pictures! Did someone wrong you in some way? Details! And then there is my personal favorites; what are your religious leanings and where do you stand politically? We all want to know because it's you and how you think might affect everyone else even though you see yourself as different than the rest. You must think that, otherwise why was it so important to educate the rest of us about you?

     Today is January 22, 2016 and I have vowed to do my best to bow out of this class of people because other than being identified with a very large group of people I have learned over five or more years that I really don't want to know that much about you or anyone else. I have already revealed more about myself on Facebook than I probably should have and this isn't the first time I have talked about leaving it in my rear view mirror, because like I said, this is not just another passing thought.

      I believe there is an air of arrogance in everyone and it is never more on display than it is every day on Facebook. It doesn't matter if you are completely misinformed or clueless about any subject you can still weigh in and think to yourself that someone really cares what you think. It is just as true for the most educated and most successful people you will see today on Facebook. Some need to prove that by writing elegantly worded posts about current events or to show off a vocabulary that leaves no doubt that they have done good and great things. They shelter a need to be admired for something because even if professional mass media isn't talking about them this day everyone should know who they are and if they are attractive or believe they are everyone should be able to see it.

     We shelter a need to be discovered because we know who we are and we get tired of waiting for the press to ask us what we think so we pick the time and the place to interview ourselves and explain what we think about everything. We envy those on television that get to be seen and heard and we envy their popularity and here is a way to get in on all of that by doing our own show about us in forums such as Facebook. Maybe it is a comedian that has always been the life of someone's party or a current or former beauty that never tires of being told how we look. Perhaps we have better than average skills at something and since no one else is asking what they are we need to step to the virtual podium and showcase all that we are and all that we can do.

     The man with the pretty wife, regardless of what her personality might be needs to show everyone that he has her and she must have been attracted to him also! So they stand together for a photo op; the rest of Facebook needs to see them together because it is yet another success in life and there should be no doubt that man has much going for him.  It is a class of people, an entire society that hungers to be noticed for something, anything, and they are just as curious about others. Maybe someone they are in competition with over something or maybe simply to reassure themselves that they have more going for them than most.

     Facebook validates who we are. We can appear to be sensitive and socially correct in all matters even if we aren't and we can act out the fantasies of what we want the world to believe about us no matter where we come from, what our economic status really is or who we really know. If we really don't care about something we can pretend that we do and no one is the wiser and if we are against something that is popular we can easily act as if we are for it and anyone who really is will welcome us into their fold just because they think we agree with them.

     People that I know well and have known for a very long time do their very best to cast images of the person they hope you believe them to be and too often all they really accomplish is showing everyone that they really aren't that person at all. In all honesty I don't know what people in the Facebook class think of me and I don't care. I might have in the beginning because I too bragged about what I thought was the best of my own circumstances. I thought it was important that everyone who looked in on me saw only the best of me, but I have reached an age or at least an attitude where it no longer matters. I think I got here by realizing that it doesn't matter to anyone else either.

     The undeniable truth is that we know way too much about one another in this instant info age where it has become so easy to discover more about one another than any of us really need to know.

      Sadly, everyone in the Facebook class has become politicians of one sort or another; I did this, I will do that, I believe this way or that way and this is how I look when I am carefully posing for a picture, whether someone else is holding the camera or if it is a selfie. 

       So it comes to this; I am no longer eager or even comfortable with revealing too much more about me than I already have so my best chance of being noticed less or spilling too many more beans about me is to make the best effort I am able to fall off of the grid. I have a lot in my head regarding how I hope the rest of my life will play out and I am not seeking approval from anyone, nor am I asking anyone for help to get there. I look older this year than I did last year but no one needs to see that and my politics are changing rapidly by what I see and learn from the Facebook class.

      In short, I don't want to be in that class, I don't want anyone to think that I communicate the things that are important to me that way. My feelings and my beliefs only matter to me and suddenly none of that is anyone's business. The politician that seeks your support is doing something I needn't do and the lonely people that rely on the Facebook class are also up to tricks and schemes I can't help them with. The smart people don't need to convince me of their intelligence and worldliness because I am someone that isn't easily impressed by other people's things or experiences.

      I am returning to the days of land-line telephones and modest communications because I believe I was a better person then; I looked at the world and at people with a more innocent perspective than I have since everything went on display in the Facebook class. To say that I now see myself more ahead of the curve than I ever was is an understatement. The Facebook class of people has taught me a lot, but nothing more important than that I want something none of them are capable of having regardless of their station in life; lower, middle or upper class.  Because in everyone's zeal to stand out in some way, all they are accomplishing is showing everyone that they need something I no longer do. In that regard they are all the same whether they know it or not. I don't want to be the same and I don't remember a time when I did.

      You joined that class of people when you started believing that your success or your failures was something you needed to expose to total strangers and believed that any of them could add anything good to your life. You were taken in when you posted that second picture of yourself and when you updated your status. You may even be stuck in this large class of people because arrogance by any other name is a hard habit to break. This essay is arrogant but you read it and somewhere in it you probably saw some truth. It doesn't resolve anything or offer much good but what it does accomplish is identifying some of what is wrong with who we have become; reliant on a need to show as many people as we possibly can, by whatever method we can find who we hope they think we are.

     The question I am posing to myself here is, why? At the end of the day and when life comes to an end we are only who we are and what anyone else thinks or believes about us eventually stops being important. I know, because on this day, January 22, 2016 only I can figure out the rest of my life and at age 63 time is of the essence! If I live another 30 years or only one week or just a day I don't need to validate anything else. I needn't leave a legacy and how I finish what began in my mother's womb isn't anything that could possibly matter to anyone but me. So to me that must mean there is at least a 5th class of people; I think I am in that one!  

 

Where Did All Of The Honest Democrats Go?

    It is going to take a lot of good Republicans to fix the Democratic Party.

    It is why I have distanced myself from my father's party and the one I have supported with eager enthusiasm for all of the years I have been paying attention to politics. It is the reason so many like-minded friends and colleagues of mine from journalism, broadcasting and law enforcement have also abandoned it.
 
    Trust in the Democratic Party has been replaced by suspicion; and that has brought about a need to hang on every word they say in what becomes a tangled and confusing effort to discover where the lies and deceit begin, or if there is even a hint of truth in what these new party bosses want their constituents to believe.

    When I was more involved in the process of how we choose candidates for public office than I have been in recent years I kept a closed mind  even when the air around me was so repugnant with corruption that I felt like shucking everything and shouting to anyone who might care that all of us are being duped by the very people we elect and pay salaries to.  I did that because I believed I needed to in order to remain gainfully employed and in positions to change what needed to be changed.

    The top of the Democratic Party has described what it refers to as "a good Democrat" as someone that follows their plans to the letter and endorses everything they want; that translates to being completely loyal with no room for questions or dissension even when there is an obvious air of outright shady dealings and probable corruption. It is in dire need of a shepherd that truly cares about what is best for its entire flock, not one that is paid inflated salaries to feed and shelter only its healthiest sheep.

    Sadly, that is my best effort to describe Democrat supporters now; a herd of sheep too scared to think for themselves or to rise above the stench of dirty politics and challenge what they surely must know they should. It is all around us now; in the news and on display for anyone that is paying attention; kickbacks and favors for "good Democrats" that only need to do what they are told and in the time-table that is engineered by fund raisers and contributors. Our office holders in the Democratic party have all been good soldiers that waited their turn to be appointed to public positions or allowed in the game at all.

    So where can the rest of us turn to break up their political monopolies and see that everyone gets a fair shake in an unfair climate of greed and deceit?  The answer became painfully obvious to me a few years ago when I saw what was happening within our local Democratic Party. I had the audacity to study the process of gaining favor with them by asking what it would take to get on the ballot for a seat on Columbus City Council. The rebuke came swiftly when I was told that it would be in my best interest to let the small committee that decides who is allowed in to make that decision for me. It was explained that I would need to introduce myself to it and prove that I had the goods (money) to contribute to other candidates that have already been chosen.

    Walking the streets of Columbus with petitions for signatures was a real eye-opener for me! 1000 valid signatures from registered voters is a hefty sum when one tries to go it alone and I was warned of the futility in such an effort even if I managed to gather what was needed. In a few words it was explained to me that only endorsed candidates have any hope of actually winning an election in Columbus because the Democratic Party's bank account is too fat to defeat. Still I tried and in the end I fell a few hundred signatures short but I didn't feel defeated nor rejected. It was a halfhearted effort to begin with;  no more than a personal study in the problems and the principles of grassroots democracy.

     I gained more than I lost by trying because it was a learning curve that I should have taken years ago when I first suspected that Democrats really didn't care as much about what is right for everyone as they professed. When I supported and cast my first votes for African American Democratic candidates I never gave much thought to the color of their skin because I never looked at people or tried to judge them by that. I voted for Columbus' first black mayor and America's first black President only seeing Democrats that I believed really wanted to do good things for everyone. But as the years ticked by I saw that their skin could have been aqua and that their agenda really was was more self serving than it ever was about doing what was best for any community outside of their own well-to-do circles and closed societies.

     I suspect, no, make that hope that any African American voter that also supported either one of these guys has seen that skin-color can be a disguise when it comes to doing what is best for them also. If we can all be honest about this I think we can find common ground and know that neither man has done much for people in need even though both have kept promises to endorse and appoint other African Americans to key positions. But who? Not African Americans that know the struggles of poverty and hard times; they have all been people of color that were already living very well and ones that weren't rising above much more than their own law degree; fellow country club members that have already secured their spot in the best neighborhoods, surrounded by the finer things we all eventually hope to have. Not even true advocates for the hungry or homeless that they only give political lip service to.

    The black appointees they have hand-picked do what they are told and they are allowed to support only what they are told to endorse. The argument can be easily made that no one in City Hall has any interest in the failed neighborhoods they are paid to fix, nor in any of the people that cannot receive a decent education to lift themselves from their struggles. The public school system was broken before the promises were made to fix it and now it is in shambles. But still, the the poor or the barely making it continue to be duped into supporting Democrats just as they have for more than a century, but they are still poor while the wealthy Democrats continue to get more powerful and gain riches at their expense.

    Poverty knows no color and all of it has something in common; most of it is cyclical and often hopeless. Poverty begets poverty and those less fortunate and less privileged are always told that Democrats have the best plans to change it for the better but the list of changes almost always goes unfinished, only more talk and what proves to be empty promises. This cycle continues because those we support and place our faith in must be "good Democrats" before they are allowed to stand at the podiums and make those promises they know they cannot keep. With each new appointment of office and with every election they win it is only a different face but wearing a similar pin-striped suit sold to them or given to them by their puppeteers.

    "Good Democrats" that claim they are for the working man or woman cannot afford to be. Think about it; they need the strength of others with huge bank rolls to get elected and stay in office so they are willing to serve them, not you or me! The choice belongs to whoever pays the freight when it comes to building something or creating anything. We have been brainwashed to believe that it is the Republicans who control all of the money but if that is true how can anyone explain liberal media bias that keeps getting Democrats elected? Where does all of that money really come from? All I can hope for is that there is enough resources in Republican coffers to at least compete with the Democratic money machines. That may be our only chance to get anything back from our investment of hard work and trust.

    There is a stark difference between "good Democrats" and those that still believe in Democratic values. I am in the latter fold and I have stopped having a closed mind about politics and what the party bosses say is really best for us all. I have crossed the line in the sand to listen to the other side and redistribute my trust to the ones that have been trying to tell us all along that all we need to do is pay attention and be willing to admit the obvious. This 21st Century Democratic Party is fortified with stacks of money placed there by those that intend to not only keep it but distribute it to only those so-called "good Democrats" who are willing to keep a good thing going for them.

    Pay attention to their endorsements and their appointments because trusting what they say and waiting to see where their loyalty is will probably leave you very disappointed. The sad truth is that it is going to take a lot of good Republicans to help the best Democrats fix what is broken. Keep an open mind and remember, it is one or the other because history has shown if you are unsatisfied in the  leaders you helped get elected (on either side) nothing changes until you give up on them, listen to the other side and give them a shot. It has become inherently clear to many of us that true Democratic values are now residing within the Republican Party so maybe it is time to accept what good Republicans are offering if we have any hope of moving forward and away from the stench of rampant political corruption.
 

Expect Different

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I have documented well my preference for sports teams outside of the state of Ohio over the years but at 63 years of age sports is not that high on my list of priorities. When it comes to baseball I have been a Pittsburgh Pirate fan since puberty, about as long as I have been an Oakland Raider fan, and when it comes to college football I prefer The Michigan Wolverines over all others and have since 1975. I am allowed to like what I like even if I do live in a city (Columbus, Ohio) where I am surrounded by and constantly heckled by rabid fans of the Ohio teams, and the energy it requires for most of them to express their allegiance to their favorites while relentlessly putting down mine is something a guy like me grows used to but will never understand. It really is a priority for the majority of Ohio sports fans to behave this way, they cannot help it and that's okay with me because 40 years of enduring them hasn't changed anything for either of us. I still like what I like.

On Thursday, September 3, The University of Michigan opened their 2015 football season by losing on the road to a pretty good Utah team. That's just college football to me, it happens...more frequently than I would prefer but it happens. I will go about my own life regardless of what college athletes can or cannot accomplish on the field, but as I expected my friends who are Ohio State fans began reveling in the glee that Michigan lost within seconds of the final score (24-17) by flooding my email box with taunts and disparaging remarks about the Michigan football squad and their new coach and even his family! The message box on my facebook page was also inundated with the same senseless frivolity and I expect it will be a long season for me as well as them. They will spend a great deal of their time boasting and carrying on while I will be looking for more prosperous ways to fill my time.

In years past I would have played along if for no other reason than to amuse them but in recent years sports has fallen to somewhere near the middle of the list of what I really care about. I think a lot of that has to do with being 63 and accepting that people my age don't really look that appealing dressed in sports attire such as football jerseys or painting our faces in our favorite team colors. Actually, I stopped doing that when I was in my late 30s and just moved forward, concentrating on things that mattered more to me than whether or not my favorite teams are better than anyone else's; in other words, life got in the way of trying to hold onto my youthful priorities until I die. It is difficult for my friends that are  my age and Ohio sports fanatics to comprehend when I tell them these things because to many of them, it is a way of staying in a place that makes them still feel as if they fit in with a college crowd. This is not a knock on my contemporaries who go about life differently than me, just a quandry that I don't think I will ever understand. I don't see athletes as Gods and I wouldn't trade anything I own for a sports jersey, let alone spend money that I would rather keep on one. For me, money and everything else I do trumps anyone's won-loss rcord.

I see people in their 60s still arguing and fussing over their sports favorites and I smile the same smile that creases my cheeks when I see them still trying to dance the Twist anytime they hear Chubby Checker sing it. I want to change the subject and ask them what they think of the violence exploding in our country and elsewhere in the world, or maybe bring up my thoughts about an impending election but then I remember, this isn't the time nor the place and certainly not the people to engage in matters that mean more to me than last night's loss for the Wolverines. Their loss was a cause for celebration for people that don't like them and who am I to spoil what is so amusing or important to them?

So instead of allowing myself to be their sounding board (as if they will ever have enough of those) I will concentrate on my own endeavors; I am writing an entry in a blog right now and before I finish I will have to feed my dogs and do a few other domestic chores, and then I will spend a little time promoting my books, checking the sales of them and then go about whatever else the day will bring.

Michigan lost last night and so did the Pirates, but had they both won I still wouldn't change anything about how I will spend this day. The winners will move on and so will I. I get another day older today and there is something else about that my friends in the hometown bleachers will have difficulty coming to grips with; I came to grips with it! I am no longer among the young, I am not a college sports Hell Raiser and nothing the Wolverines could have done last night would have made me wake up feeling giddy and eager to act like one. I keep finding ways to embrace being in my 60s and one of them is the peace that comes with knowing I have done enough with my life to set more meaningful goals that have nothing to do with sports frenzy. I guess in that regard I am the luckiest guy I know. I got here by being different. Being old isn't so bad that I need to fly a Michigan flag from my porch to feel better about it. We are all racing toward death at this age even though some don't want to think about that, and for some, never letting go of a particular passion and never throwing away old toys might be an acceptable distraction from facts but not for me.

I hope my favorite sports teams win every game they are capable of winning, but if they don't, there is always next year. I hope I am still here then and if so I will still like them, and if I am still around I will only be another year older and I will have to keep finding ways to sort through my own priorities and accomplish more than just be an aging cheerleader. Those fans that only like Ohio sports teams will spend some time today watching a clock and staring at a calendar to countdown the days, the hours and minutes before the OSU kickoff to a new season. Meanwhile I have no idea who Michigan plays next week and it really doesn't matter that much to me, only a little. Instead what matters most today is keeping my surroundings simple and staying as healthy as I possibly can.

Go Blue!

First the bricks...

The gorilla warfare being waged on America's police officers is only different from the murderous actions of ISIS in that ISIS kills as a group while hiding their faces behind a mask and encourages everyone to watch them carry out their executions. The intent and the reasons are the same, born from hatred that is instilled in them by those that lead them. Our American born killers are being brainwashed by people with talk shows and by a liberal government that hide their fake condolences behind words like "our prayers go out to the families of the fallen" but then go about business as usual. They ONLY blame gun laws and hope the masses will believe that if it weren't for the ease of good people to obtain them then we wouldn't have so many bad people using them to kill other good people. 

One hundred gang bangers can kill each other today and none of the politicians will even cock an eyebrow, let alone call it what it is and very few liberals in the media will even report it before a lengthy weather report or in depth sports story, if at all. And then when they do some knucklehead that has trouble with basic English language will be found in the crowd of bystanders to be interviewed and most of them are only there wanting to be seen on TV; (the dumber they sound, the more the media likes it) because it makes for more dramatic ambience to suround the story and they will be heard blaming everyone but the people that caused it. But let even one peace keeper take one of those thugs down in the name of safety to us all and peace for everyone else and it is called racism and probably poor training. But that's okay because Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are now running neck and neck for the democratic presidential nomination. One of those liberals could certainly make our society safer because even though they have no clue whatsoever about what life is really like in the mean streets they are very good at making faces that at least seem like they are full of wisdom and concern. But if not, there is always Joe Biden if he decides to run. (I like it when they raise their voices and point with fingers at imaginary targets and say how tired THEY are of what's happening in our country.) Of course they are all full of shit but their rhetoric gives people that can't think for themselves hope.

Regardless of which one of these concerned people gets the nod there is always Al Sharpton to explain how we can fix things to them and to the gallery of misinformed misfits that follow him. By the way, President Obama clearly listens to him because he has taken to echoing him a lot lately; blaming the people and symbols that represent American history for all the things they believe have made us such a crummy country for more than 200 years. To them it is my fault and the fault of all of us that were born before 1960 that hasn't yet signed up for marches and parades that they support. Most of them are attempts to shame everyone, whether we had anything to do with their problems or not and to remind us that we have been going about things all wrong before they took over the podiums. He is in Alaska to rename a mountain that for decades was a monument to another American president, but to his credit he did finally pause for a minute or so to call the wife of a murdered police officer to tell her that she has his and Michelle's prayers. Maybe his next act will be to travel to Queens and rename JFK International Airport. We can only hope or pray that another police officer, or two or more isn't executed before then. 

As a retired cop who has several children now serving the thin blue line I am sickened by the lack of response and support for law and order by those with important titles, big salaries and familiar faces that keep telling us they know what is best for America but do very little more than make speeches that amount to nothing. Their words and their actions have cultivated and nourished this warfare being waged against the very people they rely on to keep them safe. Nearly a million now serving and millions more like me that did can change this by calling them out and then throwing them out. I was a lifelong democrat and I only apologize for being one for the past eight years. America has not grown better under liberal ideology, it has become more like a dangerous freak show in some ways, with ringmasters encouraging the audience to participate in things that could harm everyone and kill many.

From here on out I will only support the people that believe all of our lives matter and admit that some matter more than those that can only bitch, complain and destroy and never do anything that is for the good of everyone. As someone whose patience has run out and whose compassion and generosity has been grossly taken advantage of I encourage everyone to rethink their priorities even if it means switching political loyalty. For what it is worth, I will not be supporting a democrat for president this time because this one has let us all down way too many times. 

Strictly from a sense of decency and what I believe is best for everyone I have turned a deaf ear to anyone that is blinded by liberal viewpoints that coddle the bad while crippling and destroying what is really good. The lberals will scream in unison that it is me that is blind, that I am the problem because I speak my mind instead of echoing theirs, but that's okay because I am counting on the silent majority to keep letting them whine the loudest, chant their chants and hold up their signs to show us all further why they cannot be trusted to lead. I truly believe that there is a silent majority of Americans that are fed up but won't let their voices be heard until they step into voting booths.

For now, Donald Trump looks like the last real American in the group that wants to lead from the top. Had someone told me before 2015 that I would ever support him for president I would have laughed and called THEM crazy, but then 2014 ended with one police officer after another being executed and now here we are. More cops being killed for only doing a tough job in a country that has sacrificed its morals and decency for coddling people with niether. Say what anyone might about his arrogance, but I believe our only option now is to elect an arrogant man that I think means it when he says he can afford to be one if that's what it takes to reel in the people causing the most damage to our country, both economically and with needless bloodshed, usually killing the innocent and then crying when criminals fall. 

By the way, I also believe it is my own arrogance and wilingness to leave behind what others call politically correct ways or thinking that keeps me safe; it is my willingness to do and say whatever I think is neccessary to stay that way. We all follow our own roads and if we hold onto the compass and trust our instincts instead of our career politicians and the media we can move past this lunacy that has been tearing down our country in recent years. Even if it means listening to old white men like me and Mr. Trump that remembers when we were better than we have allowed ourselves to become. I also believe that more people agree with Donald Trump than are wiling to admit. Some cannot afford to admit it but I think there really is a silent majority that might. Some despise him for his wealth and question how he came about having it, but if he is willing to use it for the good of the country then I hope he gets the opportuity to spend it for that. Follow your heart, but use your brain too, and bless the peace keepers and keep them all safe. We all have a stake in this, not just the Hell raisers and their supporters.

The "e" is for "Escape"

                                       Click image to enlarge

It is away from reality when I need to be there, and it is a sanctuary where I control everything that happens around me. I began exploring internet radio about five years ago as an alternative to the more popular social networking sites where everyone or anyone can weigh-in with their own opinions or as often is the case, their own personal brand of lunacy.  I tinkered with a site called "Classmates.com" not knowing what I expected to find there and it was a bust because all it was was a barely populated haven for old schoolmates that had very little to share and even less in common with the people I knew them to be fifty years ago. We all grew up and moved on and took very different paths through life and I guess there was a reason for that; perhaps to escape from something when we began to understand all the reasons we should. Then at the urging of a friend I looked into something called "My Space" and soon discovered it was more like a virtual playground for kids from 5 years old to about 25 years old, mostly females making duck-faces and sharing other photos that were poorly posed and not well thought out. And then I caved into my curiosity to learn what "Facebook" was all about and why so many seemingly intelligent people from the entertainment and professional ranks were saying that it is the new telephone but with pictures and the easiest method of communication since the invention of the telegraph.

It was only because I recognized so many people with pages that I decided to give it a whirl and start a page of my own; and then another one...and then another one. As my main page grew to 5000 or so-called friends of which I actually knew less than 20 I saw it as just a convenient way to spy on society and watch the world outside of my own tick along at a pace and in a way that I knew I wanted no part of. Still, I became as active as I was willing to be by doing very little more than just promoting myself and a few of my own ideas, sort of like what everyone else was doing but holding more back than most are willing to. After about five years I think I am way ahead of that eight-ball because I have managed to weed out and unfriend about a thousand people that I knew I would never have anything in common with and probably that many more weeded me out and away from knowing any more about them than they already taught me. Eventually I will need to ignore a few thousand more and probably more than that but I am in no hurry. Instead I will be content with being unfriended by a few more each day and allow us both to escape the other at a slower but steady pace.

I don't pay as much attention to Facebook as I used to because of all of the topics that continued to be hammered that I care little or nothing about and in time I will also walk away from my internet radio social networking site called "Heartlites" because that's just what I do; I walk away from people and places very easily when I feel I have gotten all there is to get from either. I still enjoy doing live internet radio shows but I stopped caring if anyone likes what I do or if anyone even hears it! For now I am tinkering with the idea of renewing my yearly contract with the Live 365 network that carries my programs but unless I can come up with a new direction for it I may walk away from it before the end of the year. The truth is, I don't need to do it any longer if having a place to escape from something is all it is. But in the meantime I will go there sometimes at night to stir up a few memories and see where my mind can escape to for a few hours. But what is undeniable is that I am away from mainstream lunacy. There won't be anyone there to remind me that black lives matter and no one to point out why they don't. I won't have to endure anyone's take on who should be president and I won't have to worry about anyone putting anything else in my face that I don't care about and no one has any chance of leaving unwanted messes behind for me to clean up by having to delete them.

Did I get your attention with that last sentence? It was written to do that; part of that edge I have and continue to nurture as I fondle with these keys to do what everyone else on Facebook hopes they can keep doing day after day, after day. The difference between me and most is only in the content and volume of what I am willing to share; that and where the best stuff can be found. Actually the best stuff is here; I dole it out in abbreviated doses and then steer readers to Amazon where hopefully I can sell them a few books and supplement my meager income. But this too is my escape and very few people from Facebook will ever read it because I believe my own research has proven that hard-core and dedicated Facebookers rarely read much beyond what is written beneath a photograph. This piece isn't likely to sell any more books, but like various other social networking sites there is always that one in a million chance that a serious reader will have read the entire text here and maybe be curious about something else I have to say!

As for where else I might escape if I choose to end my radio show, I needn't seek new ways or new places, I have everything I need to avoid being in any company I am not comfortable with. I call it my sanctuary from chaos, others refer to it as my home. But what few know about it is that there is no place on earth (at least not yet) that has as much as I need to be content and stay happy. I can lock out what I don't want in, block any views from outside by pulling a couple of draw-strings and turn everything off when I want to with just a few switches and buttons. Happiness for me has become all about escaping from one doldrum after another when things or people become doldrums. Not that I have much of that around me anymore, because remember, I have reached the age where a younger and faster world thinks we should be ignored. I am just making things easy for them.