We Hold These Truths.......

    Happy Fourth of July, 2018!!! This 4th finds the country as divided as I've ever seen it. I've read about the division/rancor of times past......pre Revolutionary War, Civil War, the ugliness of earlier elections etc. In MY life....this is as bad as it gets. Unfortunate. I've always believed  in supporting the president, whoever he or she may be. Not a popular concept. When my guy loses it's akin to when the Yankees lose the World Series. A quick "dang," a deep breath and....back to life.  "We'll get 'em next time."

Imagine....just imagine.....if we all sucked up the loss and got behind Bush, Clinton, Obama and...dare I say it...Trump.....without constantly throwing tacks under their tires. Maybe their ideas would fall flat. Maybe not. This does not mean throw out the nature of checks and balances. Always keep an eye on the man behind the curtain. But enough with the distraction! Clinton/Lewinski, Bush/National Guard, Obama/Birth Certificate, Trump/Da Russians. C'mon man. We all know each side gets angry when their guy loses and wants their side in at any cost....but can we just move on? This American experiment is going pretty well so far. Not perfectly...but pretty well. Here's what I told my anti Obama friends back then and what I tell my anti Trump friends now. Relax....breathe......there's another election around the corner. Live your life, love your family, climb a tree, pet a dog.... then....pet another dog.

    A large part of our problem as I see it is there's no serious dialogue. There's talk of dialogue but we're not really listening. I like the old adage about why we have two ears and one mouth. You get it. I'm sure you've been in a situation where you're making what you consider to be a valid point but you can see the other person not really absorbing what you're saying and just itching...ITCHING to start talking again. At this point I should confess I'm a moderate. WHAT!!!!????  You mean you try to see both sides of an issue and make a semi intelligent  decision based on....facts?! Or your personal core beliefs combined with facts?! Yeah. I try. Truth is a tough thing to find these days. I admit I can't find it. Lots of gray out there. And that's usually where the truth... or truth parts resides.

    Try this social experiment sometime. Sit down with one of your liberal friends and one of your conservative friends (assuming you may have one of each) and moderate a conversation. Your job? Shut up. The rules are one person speaks until his/her point is made....with NO interruption. The other person takes a beat or two, considers...CONSIDERS.... what was said and responds. And you can't start with, "Yeah, well what about.....?"  Respond to the point. I submit you can't do it. Maybe for a minute or two but then it will ultimately deteriorate into sound bytes.

    Politics is a dirty business. I've met politicians on a local level and politicians on a national level. No matter what their aspirations are going in, they ALWAYS wind up selling a little bit of their soul to a compromise. In their defense they have to.... if they're eyeing a higher office.  I saw this early on at a local level and it was an eye opener. So the cynic/realist in me assumes that Assemblymen, Congressmen, Senators and....higher ......probably have/had somewhat good intentions but not much soul left. And that, kids...is just the way it is. If you've watched the Sunday morning news shows you can see how everyone is scared "s.....less" to answer a question. Deflect!!!! The media scrutiny doesn't help. The slightest faux paux will follow them for the rest of their career. If they're liberal Fox will spin/edit it and if they're conservative CNN will spin/edit it. No debate here. Truth. Sorry if you're offended. Um....not really. You can substitute CNN and Fox for left and right media outlets. They ALL do it  to different degrees. I enjoy going back and forth watching the anchors contortions to make the headline fit their "truth."

    Having said all this I gotta admit I'm enjoying the Trumpster and his antics. I like a lot of what he's done and raise my eyebrow at other things. But I'm mostly enjoying the feigned outrage on the left. (In fairness, I also enjoyed the feigned outrage on the right during the Obama administration.) I'm a National Lampoon, Mad Magazine, Family Guy, SNL (when it was funny) kind of guy; warped, edgy sense of humor. I still laugh at ethnic jokes....even when they're directed at me. Irish. I wouldn't dare tell one. I'd have to move....change my name...! Just about nothing offends me. I mean really offends me. Not the knee jerk automatic offense we see daily. Poor baby. When did our skins become see through?   I saw a FB post this morning where a young lady was ranting that everyone should speak Americanish...all the time. The Canadians....The British. Everyone!!! Cuz this is the language of the future!!!!!  In my job I meet many millennials.  Bright group but many are....confused. I was chatting with a young man a few weeks ago who was earnestly trying to convince me that the French had won the Civil War. I like to play along in these conversations for the entertainment value. Just for fun I said I thought the Civil War was fought mainly on American soil. He said,"Sure, 'cuz after the War of 1812 President Hamilton freed the slaves  moving the war over here before it went back to France."👀  He was so proud I just had to say,"O man, I forgot that. It's been awhile. Thanks." And there we are.

    Ah....entertainment value. It can't be overrated. I remember at the first, possibly second debate  (don't let facts get in the way of a good point) when the question came up,"Is there anyone who will not back the Republican nominee?" No one raised their hand....except....you got it....Donald. Let the show begin!!! I met the Donald on a few occasions. Likable guy. But...they're ALL likable or they'd never get elected. At first I'd think, "Please, just keep quiet....stop tweeting......just improve the

economy and infrastructure." That's what he does. Now I say, "Let it rip...keep pissin' people off .......be the ultimate contrarian...tweet....tweet....tweet! (I don't tweet so I never see them.) Lack of class? I guess...but unfortunately there's a lack of class everywhere. And I say again.....entertaining.

    And so my fellow Americans, on this day, a day we celebrate the invention of the hot dog by the great Dr. Frank N. Furter which, coincidentally, the Hessians were muching on when Gen George S Patton crossed the Delaware into Minneapolis and surprised them that Thanksgiving morning, thus turning the tide of WW 1, remember the last words of the late great General George Custer who reportedly said...."What the....?"

     But seriously my brothers and sisters....I hate (and I hate the word hate) to see friends losing friends over this microsecond of cosmic history. C'mon man. Stop. It all shakes out. Maybe not here. But somewhere. I'm sure of it. And to those feeling disenfranchised..... I hope next time your guy wins. I promise I'll support them post win...or maybe even pre win. Then we can all watch the OTHER side's righteous indignation.

     Now stop....take a breath.....consider..... and wait five seconds before you say, "What a freakin'  douche bag!" Feel free to leave a comment....or not. But if you do....it better be in Americanish!  Or I'm really REALLY gonna be offended!  Happy 4th.      Peace.         

Just my imagination.......runnin' away with me!

     As a Greenwich Village poet once wrote/sang, "The times, they are a' changin'." True. Then again, the times are always a' changin'. Sometimes for the better...sometimes for the worse......depending on your POV. I'd argue that the times are a' better compared to say 12th century England. Medically, technologically....not much of an argument. These days a cold, an infected tooth etc are probably not gonna kill you. As a serf on a medieval fiefdom ya takes yer chances.

    Technology is a double edged sword. I enjoy blogging, youtube, facebook but don't tweet, use instagram or any other social media. That's not to say I may not in the future. As a musician I love my harmonizer, effects pedals, compact PA system and the ease of home recording. And instead of having to move a needle back and forth on a record or spin a cassette to a desired location I simply say, "Siri, get me the chords and lyrics to Don't Let The Sun Catch You Cryin'" and  twenty five choices pop up on my phone/computer including youtube guys willing to painstakingly walk me through every chord change and nuance. Yeah....I'll take that over back in the day. In an earlier blog I included a bit about a Twilight Zone scientist whom Rod Serling leads back to a simpler time, as per his wishes, only to be completely frustrated that he can't do much with the antiquated equipment of the era. Hijinks ensue and he and Buster Keaton are led back to the wonderfully technologically superior 50's.

    The downside I see is a loss of connection....humanity.....imagination. A few years back I was driving a couple of young girls to the airport. They were in the back seat on their phones. Lots of giggling and elbow jabbing and I could see that they were having a conversation via text. They were right next to each other!!! On the other hand, if they didn't want the old hippie in the front seat to overhear their conversation....well....it worked. I'm slowly getting sucked into the text world.  It does make it easier to not talk to people. Even easier than letting the answering machine take your messages. Remember that?

      I'm  popular with the kids in my family. I mean the really young ones They call me Ted and are not sure what my connection here is. But they know I'm always willing to roll on the floor, play hide and seek, climb a tree,  make a fort, crank up the music, eat ice cream right out of the carton and..... grandma seems to like me. And I guess that's enough.  I've never quite....grown up. It can be a problem. But one I embrace and refuse to apologize for. I have a theory. I think it's because I never had kids of my own. You have a life. You have kids. You start living their life. They become adults, move on and you get back to your life; looking back over that span of your kid's life to your old life as some kind of distant memory. Like a line with a chunk out of the middle. My line/life is uninterrupted.  Thus....the man/child. By proxy I've become a father and a grandfather. Not the same as the real thing but a lot of fun.

     But with all the devices kids have, alone time with their imagination seems to have taken a back seat. They'll certainly have the technical expertise to get through this life adventure but something will be....missing. I get, "I'm bored" a lot. When I reply," What....I'm here to entertain you? I'm your personal clown?," they don't even get the Goodfellas reference.( Sigh....)   When I suggest they read I get, "What....like a book?" (Sigh...again....) Here comes the when I was a kid thing. When I was a kid I could amuse myself for hours with a rubber ball and front steps. Or a basketball and a hoop. Or exploring the woods behind my house. Add a buddy and we could take these adventures to the next level Make a raft or a go cart, become soldiers in a WW 2 battle ala"Combat,"or just have a catch and create any number of baseball oriented scenarios. And it continues to this day! I've missed many a NJ Turnpike exit because I've been involved in a personal daydream. Playing bass with the Boss 'cause Gary Tallent got held up and can't make the show. Or shipwrecked on a desert island and the different modes of survival I must employ. Does anyone else do this or am I a complete freak. Rhetorical. 

     I had an imaginary friend. I don't mean a blotter induced 1970's  college dorm imaginary friend but a friend I could see and hear and interact with. I was 4, 5, 6 yrs old and could summon Soupy out of the large radio in the living room. Remember those? It was a piece of furniture about four feet tall with radio, short wave and a turntable. Soupy was a bear. He stood upright, had a tie and a pork pie hat and a wise/wiseguy way of talking; like he was a little too hip for the room. Apparently no one else could see him but now and then, at my insistence, an extra chair would be set up at the dinner table and indulgences would be made. To this day I'm not sure if Soupy was real or an undigested piece of potato. Angel? Long gone relative? ET?  One day he just stopped showing up. And I "forgot" how to get him to show up. And then I just....forgot. But lately, for some reason, Soupy's been on my mind. My past and present seem to be getting closer; like they're gonna meet at some point. Weird. Imaginary friends, I've learned, are normal. Whew!

     Calvin and Hobbes was a comic strip I could relate to on so many levels. Calvin was a precocious, sensitive, kind kid who had a stuffed tiger, Hobbes. Hobbes would come to life when no adults were around. He would participate in Calvin's adventures and, at the same time, be a kind of conscience. Calvin was me. And maybe....you. Like the time Calvin speed ate boxes of chocolate frosted sugar bombs cereal so he could send away for a propeller beanie that he was sure would allow him to fly around the neighborhood. Upon arrival and assembly the propeller promptly snapped. Hobbes walked Calvin through the disaster and repairs were made. Out to the backyard, beanie applied and Calvin was....was....walking. Because of course, beanie hats can't really make you fly. Much like the printing kit Kellogs sent me that did nothing more than get ink all over the place and pretty much fall apart. But I enjoyed the frosted flakes. 

   I've included below an article I ran into in cyberspace. I don't know the author or its origin. It's an adult Calvin on his deathbed and a last conversation he has with Hobbes. Be warned. If you're anything like me, you know, Pisces, watery, sentimental.....  have tissues at the ready. 

     PS My "granddaughter," Alyssa just asked me if I'd help her make an obstacle course.
 Let's rock!!

"Calvin? Calvin, sweetheart?"
In the darkness Calvin heard the sound of Susie, his wife of fifty-three years. Calvin struggled to open his eyes. God, he was so tired and it took so much strength. Slowly, light replaced the darkness, and soon vision followed. At the foot of his bed stood his wife. Calvin wet his dry lips and spoke hoarsely, "Did... did you.... find him?"
"Yes dear," Susie said smiling sadly, "He was in the attic."
Susie reached into her big purse and brought out a soft, old, orange tiger doll. Calvin could not help but laugh. It had been so long. Too long.
"I washed him for you," Susie said, her voice cracking a little as she laid the stuffed tiger next to her husband.
"Thank you, Susie." Calvin said.
A few moments passed as Calvin just laid on his hospital bed, his head turned to the side, staring at the old toy with nostalgia.
"Dear," Calvin said finally. "Would you mind leaving me alone with Hobbes for a while? I would like to catch up with him."
"All right," Susie said. "I'll get something to eat in the cafeteria. I'll be back soon."
Susie kissed her huband on the forehead and turned to leave. With sudden but gentle strength Calvin stopped her. Lovingly he pulled his wife in and gave her a passionate kiss on the lips. "I love you," he said.
"And I love you," said Susie.
Susie turned and left. Calvin saw tears streaming from her face as she went out the door.
Calvin then turned to face his oldest and dearest friend. "Hello Hobbes. It's been a long time hasn't it old pal?"
Hobbes was no longer a stuffed doll but the big furry old tiger Calvin had always remembered. "It sure has, Calvin." said Hobbes.
"You... haven't changed a bit." Calvin smiled.
"You've changed a lot." Hobbes said sadly.
Calvin laughed, "Really? I haven't noticed at all."
There was a long pause. The sound of a clock ticking away the seconds rang throughout the sterile hospital room.
"So... you married Susie Derkins." Hobbes said, finally smiling. "I knew you always like her."
"Shut up!" Calvin said, his smile bigger than ever.
"Tell me everything I missed. I'd love to hear what you've been up to!" Hobbes said, excited.
And so Calvin told him everything. He told him about how he and Susie fell in love in high school and had married after graduating from college, about his three kids and four grandkids, how he turned Spaceman Spiff into one of the most popular sci-fi novels of the decade, and so on. After he told Hobbes all this there was another pregnant pause.
"You know... I visited you in the attic a bunch of times." Calvin said.
"I know."
"But I couldn't see you. All I saw was a stuffed animal." Calvin voice was breaking and tears of regret started welling up in his eyes.
"You grew up old buddy." said Hobbes.
Calvin broke down and sobbed, hugging his best friend. "I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry I broke my promise! I promised I wouldn't grow up and that we'd be together forever!!"
Hobbes stroke the Calvin's hair, or what little was left of it. "But you didn't."
"What do you mean?"
"We were always together... in our dreams."
"We were?"
"We were."
"Hobbes?"
"Yeah, old buddy?"
"I'm so glad I got to see you like this... one last time..."
"Me too, Calvin. Me too."
"Sweetheart?" Susie voice came from outside the door.
"Yes dear?" Calvin replied.
"Can I come in?" Susie asked.
"Just a minute."
Calvin turned to face Hobbes one last time. "Goodbye Hobbes. Thanks... for everything..."
"No, thank you Calvin." Hobbes said.
Calvin turned back to the door and said, "You can come in now."
Susie came in and said, "Look who's come to visit you."
Calvin's children and grandchildren followed Susie into Calvin's room. The youngest grandchild ran past the rest of them and hugged Calvin in a hard, excited hug. "Grandpa!!" screamed the child in delight.
"Francis!" cried Calvin's daughter, "Be gentle with your grandfather."
Calvin's daughter turned to her dad. "I'm sorry, Daddy. Francis never seems to behave these days. He just runs around making a mess and coming up with strange stories."
Calvin laughed and said, "Well now! That sound just like me when I was his age."
Calvin and his family chatted some more until a nurse said, "Sorry, but visiting hours are almost up."
Calvin's beloved family said good bye and promised to visit tommorrow. As they turned to leave Calvin said, "Francis. Come here for a second."
Francis came over to his grandfather's side, "What is it Gramps?"
Calvin reached over to the stuffed tiger on his bedside and and held him out shakily to his grandson, who looked exactly as he did so many years ago. "This is Hobbes. He was my best friend when I was your age. I want you to have him."
"He's just a stuffed tiger." Francis said, eyebrows raised.
Calvin laughed, "Well, let me tell you a secret."
Francis leaned closer to Clavin. Calvin whispered, "If you catch him in a tiger trap using a tuna sandwich as bait he will turn into a real tiger."
Francis gasped in delighted awe. Calvin continued, "Not only that he will be your best friend forever."
"Wow! Thanks grandpa!" Francis said, hugging his grandpa tightly again.
"Francis! We need to go now!" Calvin's daughter called.
"Okay!" Francis shouted back.
"Take good care of him." Calvin said.
"I will." Francis said before running off after the rest of the family.
Calvin laid on his back and stared at the ceiling. The time to go was close. He could feel it in his soul. Calvin tried to remember a quote he read in a book once. It said something about death being the next great adventure or something like that. He eyelids grew heavy and his breathing slowed. As he went deeper into his final sleep he heard Hobbes, as if he was right next to him at his bedside. "I'll take care of him, Calvin..."
Calvin took his first step toward one more adventure and breathed his last with a grin on his face.