Time and Relevance

  Time is relative to many factors, one of which is our perception of the moment. Any moment, no matter how long or how short. One of the sad ironies of life is that the good times are fleeting and rarer than the bad times. Even in our memories, the bad times are remembered with far greater accuracy than the good times. 

  Time is relative to your perspective, even the position you were in if the time period we are talking about is an event similar to witnessing an accident or a crime . But time, total time elapsed, all time, marches on ever forward. Sixty seconds to a minute, sixty minutes to an hour and so on. Time is relevant to your situation, when you are anxiously awaiting something, seven minutes can seem like seven hours. Conversely, when you are free of the constraints of schedules, say out on the road without a worry on your mind, seven hours can pass like seven minutes.  

  We divide time here on earth into time zones because the world is round and not flat. Straight up high noon should occur at precisely twelve each day, and from what I understand, we have a centralized chronological clock to keep track of those things. But what is the reference for time when in outer space? By what centralized clock is the time in the cosmos dictated? Earth time, for what? Earth time looses it's importance when you are free of it. But time, no matter your point of reference, no matter how you choose to measure it moves ever forward, one click at a time, tick tick tick. With time what wasn't becomes what is, soon passing to what was. The only way to be truly free of the constraints of time is to be eternal. But there is a way to the eternal realm, there is a way to not only move through time, but with it. With time, eternal time, you will know what it knows. I tell you the truth, there is like everything else in life, only two sides to the eternal coin. Eternal death or eternal life. both are true for all of eternity, choose life!  

Come Togetrher

  No matter your political stance, whatever side you've chosen, I think that we can all agree on one thing? The world is a very scary place. No matter where you look on a map of the world, there is serious trouble of some kind. Wars and rumors of war abound. Murder has become common place, we have become numb to mass shootings and bombings, they are a common occurence. But we as Americans go on unfazed by all of this, as we are more involved with important matters, like bathroom designations, or whether you are for or against a millionaire  football player who refuses to stand for the country that gave him all that he has. We are divided, and it doesn't matter whether you blame this fact on Obama or on Congress, but its ludicrous to blame it on the new President. He just got here, he hasn't been in office a month, he inherited this mess. 

But rather then tear into the lies used to separate us, lets make it simple, and just admit that we are a divided nation, more divided than at any time in our brief world existence. But ask yourself a question, Is it wise to choose to stay divided? With all we face, both at home and in the world, isn't it wiser to keep our personal points of view to ourselves for a while, and look to what is good for our nation? You know, Ask not what your country can do for you.. You know the rest. If you don't, you should. A wise man from our history once said that a country divided against itself cannot stand. People, please stop the tantrums, its embarrassing! The reality is that we need each other, and patriotism must become more than a punch line or a fashion statement. Old fashioned patriotism, things like home and apple pie. We owe 20 trillion dollars in loans, and as we said, the world is a dangerous place. We must come to together Its time for the left to suck it up and put on their big pants, you lost an election and it hurts. I know, as I have been on that side. From the perspective of the other half of the country, we suffered for eight years. The difference? We suffered in silence, went to work and went about our lives. You see, to us rioting and destroying property is lawlessness, and we don't make excuses for it. We too were anxious and worried as we watched a president who seemed more interested in dividing us than uniting us. For me personally, my rage-O-meter went off the charts on 9/11 when four Americans were slaughtered after a 13 hour gun fight. But strangely, no one seemed to care. I believe our President went golfing?  It wasn't easy to stomach and I didn't understand how such a thing was ignored. Angry? Sure, but unlike the left, no one went to the streets to rant and disrupt. We must learn to talk to each other and not just dig in our heels deeper. If you can't think of any way that you could be friends with someone whose political views are different from your own, try remembering that we are all Americans! The world is a scary place, we need each other. Come together, find a way, because neither side can make it alone. If this great nation is to survive, we must unite again as one.  

America

  Sport is the best of us. That is to say, that it is the purity of the game that we aspire to, and yesterday's game was the perfect example. I've heard that every year, the Super Bowl is the most watched of any sport in the world, and it is an American sport. Forgive me if my patriotic pride is showing? 

  Unlike what you've been told, America is exceptional, and we have been since our berth. The game is perfect, and therefore pure. Does that mean that all who play it play it straight up? No, of course not, people will always look for ways around the game's rules, but that doesn't taint the game, it taints the player. But even with it's faults, the game, whatever that game is, is the best of us. Yesterday, if only for awhile, we were united in our interest. Unlike their counterpart in the entertainment business, sports isn't all about me, it is about team. 

  There isn't a skilled player, (those who handle the ball), that wouldn't give thanks to his teammates, because without them, he couldn't get the chances he gets at stardom. 

  Sport is the perfect metaphor for what America should be aspiring to become again. Nations, like sport's teams can only win as one, we must come together and become one team. 

  As for the actual game itself? Wow, what a game, the best I've ever seen, and I've seen them all. In truth I changed the channel for a while, you know, a fair weather fan. Anyway, when I turned it back on, it was an eight point game! It was like there were two games rather than two halves. 

  In the first game, Mat Ryan and company had their way totally, while New England played as if asleep. Whatever else happened in that locker room, there were probably quite a few prayers offered up while waiting for the game to begin again. 

  But for whatever the reason, congratulations to the Kraft family and the New England Patriots, World Champions!

Tech No

  Technology moves faster than we do, and technology has gotten ahead of us. That is the real story, that someone thousands of miles away can look into anyones life, business, and matters of State, can be gotten by pushing the correct sequence of buttons. So now, we have a big political debate, as to whether it was the Russians this time. Just some months ago, the Chinese got the personal records of 23 million federal workers. Imagine the opportunities for blackmail that could arise given that kind of information. So, was it the Russians, the Chinese, or some disgruntled fat genius from a basement somewhere? To quote our good friend Hillary, At this point what difference does it make? But why concentrate on the hacking of the DNC? Them small potatoes when compared to "the Grid." In our wild eyed acceptance of all that is newer and faster, our personal information, and our national safety in the larger sense, is at serious risk. Me? I'm just an angry old man yelling at the kids to stay off my lawn when it comes to technology. This is the new era I heard tell of when I was a kid. Who would have thought that humans would become so dependent on machines? But what's the answer, can a remedy be found? I don't think so, other than to insist that we slow it down a bit, there is no solution. We have become addicted to speed. But as for me and my fellow pitch fork holders already know, computers aren't really faster, at least not for the consumer. Is your credit machine a stick in edge kind or a slide kind? Do I have to sign the computer screen, or do you have a paper one? Now thats speed! I won't bore you with my Fedex encounter, but suffice it to say that a three minute type transaction took about fifteen. Got so tired of waiting, didn't even wait for my printed receipt. Anyway, enough about that. 

  The second part of this waste of time as to who, is the subject matter that this illegal act uncovered. The truth will out. It is an old expression, but none the less true. The outed emails exposed corruption and collusion, and possibly more upsetting, was the utter disdain for the American people they showed.  But beyond the Democrats, what worries me the most is the collusion of the press. Freedom of the press is a Constitutionally protected right. The ideal being journalists were to be like the Doctor patient relationship, or the Lawyer client relationship. The press was to be the conduit between the people and their government, they are the ones who are meant to keep us informed. In short, they are to tell us the truth. That is what worries me the most, because without an honest press, how far are we from State news?      

The Meeting Part Two

  Sometimes decisions kind of make themselves. Such a happening just happened to me. I was thinking about how I had loose ends. For whatever reason, I felt that because I named the last one, The Meeting Part One, that I owed a part two. To whom I thought I owed this, or why I felt indebted at all, is one of the mysteries of myself. I have written it, its sitting with the rest of the yellow legal pads I use for writing. So anyway, I'm thinking I owe this, and of course with today being Christmas and all, I thought I should write about that. Along with these considerations, I was deciding whether to write anything at all. But as if by instinct, when I came into the bedroom where my PC sits, without thinking I hit the space key, and Bang!, my blog page whitening the room, staring me in the face with The Meeting Part Two, already typed in. So anyway, here we all are, wherever we are, and in what frame of mind? By the way, Merry Christmas! Wish him a happy birthday at your table today. 

  So, the meeting. For one thing, it was obvious that it would be too long, and that I should not go off setting the scenery, and that I should get to the point as fast as good taste would allow. In other words, though I wish this was a book rather than a blog, if I'm to write at all anymore, that I should make it short and sweet. Couple of things regarding the setting, the meeting room and table were huge as you might imagine. On opposite walls, looking across the room at each other, were life size portraits of Marx and Lenin. I had some fun with that confrontation I can tell you. On the other two walls were smaller portraits of other famous Russian leaders, Generals, and probably a Czar or two. Conspicuously missing  was the portrait of Nikita missile. Even though Google was useless in helping me get this historic figures name spelled right, he was the Russian leader who stood toe to toe with JFK over the Cuban missile crises. Though he was a very brave and smart general in WW1, (check me on that), but because the world saw it as the USSR as having backed down, Nikita was shamed into an early retirement. Putin who is not a large man, entered the meeting room through a three foot wide and ten foot high door, making him look all the smaller. But the star of the story would have been a man named Sasha. I actually have a Russian friend named Sasha, so his character was easy. Sasha was the head of approximately ten thousand Russian patriots who live, (most legally), in the United States, and according to the reports heard from all over the country,  people were excited over Donald Trump. Sasha said he knew that Trump would win when Hillary had to bus in supporters, where Donald Trump filled stadiums. Natasha, Vlad's secretary, brought out a silver trey with vodka and shot glasses. They toasted Sasha and their modern day KGB for predicting the election results one year out. Nostrovia they all said. But lets see here, Putin wanting "the Donald" to win. Putin is a Communists right? In what world would the Russian leader want anyone other than four more years of the Obama style. Under him, Russia invaded Austria, (they only stayed a week or two?),  a commercial jet liner was shot down by Russians who want the USSR restored. the Chinese communists have claimed international waters for a military base, we have that North Korean child playing with missiles, Foreign jets buzz our Navy ships, and even wimpy little Iran kicks dirt in our face surrounding our ships in little speedboats. Forget Russia, Why would any socialist/communist country or leader not want four more of that? Saying they want Donald Trump? With children they call that reverse phycology.     I'm sorry for this, especially Christmas day. I wish you all, Christian or not, a very blessed Christmas day. Best of wishes for the year ahead!  ED

The Meeting Part One

  This is a fictional account of a meeting that may or might not have taken place at the Kremlin. The names are unchanged to protect the innocent. However, the players in this little tale are strictly fictional, as I am unfamiliar with Russian names, and have no idea as to their titles, as say to the equivalent position in America. I believe that they call their high officials Czars rather than Secretary, but these are the men who advise President Putin, and are his cabinet. If memory serves correctly, early on, President Obama called some of his people Czars? Whether I saw it on TV, or somewhere on the internet, I don't remember, but I'm fairly sure it happened. Who knows, maybe that had something to do with that open mike problem the President had, when he leaned over to Putin and whispered, I can be more flexible after I'm re-elected. But surely I digress, so let us return to the story at hand, The Meeting.   

  First, perhaps a quick primer on the difference between our form of government known as a Democratic Republic, and the Socialist/Communist form of government. The primary difference can be summed up best with one word. Freedom. In the United States, you can stand on a street corner with a bullhorn, chanting the most outrageous slurs against the government and it's leaders without fear of reprisal from that government. Not so with both socialism and communism. For these type of government, the people must be in lockstep with their leaders, and for those who don't, reprisal is swift. Shaming and accusations of racism, sexism, whatever. If that doesn't work, physical attacks, imprisonment and once totally out of control, people start showing up missing. 

  For you millennials out there, first let me congratulate you for the fact that you took the privilege of voting seriously, and although grossly uniformed, you were quite passionate and involved in the voting process. My generation was apathetic, and in truth, I didn't even vote until I was in my mid forties. It is my hope that you will stay interested, and that you will take the next four years to read up a bit on Socialism. For instance, Did you know that when Hitler first came to power that his movement was called, the German Socialist Party. It took only a few months before he cast his spell over the nation and called it the Nazi party. Read your history, most all of the dictators and tyrants started out as Socialists.         

The Human Condition

  Laughter is good for the soul, I'm sure you've heard that saying before, and its true, a light heart and all. When we laugh, we release all of that pent up worry, its freeing! Because we spend most of our time being serious, many times, way to serious. We stress over this and that, bogged down with thoughts to the smallest detail. Thats just us being us, complicating things with often a simple answer. Its what separates us from the rest of all other life, our intellect. When God said that we were made in his image, that is what he meant. The godhead, the Holy Trinity, is pure spirit and without form. But as far as a physical form, God came as the man Jesus, he came in human form. 

  But the intellect, it is our minds that separate us. If you are an evolutionist, still you must grapple with the question, why us, why our species so far above the rest? Why would we come from monies, because they look closest to us physically? Many scientist believe that next to ourselves, dolphins are the smartest. So shouldn't that mean that we should have been fish? Mammal, whatever.. We are the only species who can create. The sciences, music, and every type of art form, all come from our intellect. From the invisible world of the microscopic to reaching out beyond the earth. Yes, we are quite the species. But along with our potential for so much good, comes the other side. An intellect that can be cruel and used for evil. We may be the smartest, but nature, that which is natural to life, has no such problems. Dogs are busy being dogs, cats, cats, and so on. We can take even the simplest problem, and turn it into rocket science. (by the way, they aren't exempt),  In other words, we make things more difficult than they have to be. The answers are usually quite simple and right in front of you. Sigmund Freud was right and said basically that as humans, we are obsessed with sex. The simple answers, are right outside your door. The animals aren't the ones stressed out and confused about life, we are. Keep this in mind, Stress almost always leads to depression, and depression is an obsession with self. Look to what is natural, the simple truth is right there in front of you, all you have to do is look.