His literate oratory reminded me of an earlier time when men like Robert Kennedy or Dr. Martin Luther King stirred the very souls of those who heard their words. This is not a bad way to start a new year. Hopefully neither is reading this article.....
A few days ago someone asked in an article I read online "If you knew you were going to die who would you call and what would you say to them?" Followed by "what are you waiting for?" For some reason this stuck in my head for a few days. Yes, we all are very likely going to die, perish, cease to exist, kick the bucket and push up the daisies. I have been well aware of this for quite some time now, having grown up in the "atomic age". As a child I was told to duck and cover. To hide under my desk in kindergarten because the atom bomb was obviously likely to explode any second. Air raid sirens wailed bi -weekly and our community would go through it's civil defense drills. How any of us survived this madness without being extremely emotionally disturbed is nothing short of astonishing. So, since the tender ages of youth I have not counted on a future. I've gazed at every sunset as if it's ocher and vermilion hues well might be the last observed. Through calamity and circumstance rather than measured consideration, I live in the moment, the impalpable here and now, contemporaneous and synchronous with an elusive present. It seems to me I've been here a lot longer than I ever imagined already. Yes I know I'm temporary. So who would I call? What would I say?My wife and children who would be numero uno on the list were within shouting distance, so I told each of them I loved them, they asked for money and I forked over a few greenbacks and focused my attention elsewhere. My lifelong friends, well I love them too, but I'm a little light in the purse after my heartfelt dispatch to my lovely wife and kids so I just emailed them some bad jokes which seemed like a better idea at least from a budgetary perspective. Then I thought maybe it would good to share some of the truths I have stumbled upon on this junket.
Somehow it became this article. To my Family, friends, and dear readers, here is the "crux of the biscuit".
(At least as of today).
Men are from Earth and women are from Earth too . Anyone who tells you otherwise is a liar.
Every one of us is a misfit having amputated something to fit in this world. Those who fit best have extracted the most. As a result of this, somewhere there is a huge repository of extracted eyes, ears, hearts, brains, hands, and souls that no one is using. Eventually some goon will devise a scheme involving the exploitation of cheap labor to harvest and sell them.
One thing I have observed is that those who are content with the way things are, never benefit mankind. All progress comes from dissatisfied malcontents . I have traveled much of the planet and in every place I have visited what I found was decent people. Don't believe anyone who tells you otherwise. One on one, we get along quite well. Why then is it when we congregate in groups, decent behavior is forsaken? Group mentalities create "us" and "them", imagined threats, enemies. Stay out of groups. Celebrate individuality.
Anyone who tells you they know what happens after your dead is a liar. No man is a god and no god is a man. ( Though I'm not sure if this applies to women). A loving person always lives in a loving world, A hostile person always lives in a hostile world. Be joyful when people tell you that you are going to hell while they are going to heaven because you don't want to spend much time in the same location with them anyway. Ignorance gives one a larger range of possibilities in this matter..
A balanced diet is when you cut your cheesesteak sub in half, and hold one of those subsequent halves in each hand. Those who forget the pasta are condemned to reheat it. According to theoretical physics the universe will end if pasta and antipasto ever meet. Many people claim red meat is bad however I think that green or blue meat are worse, red meat is actually pretty tasty. The first person to eat a lobster was a very brave soul. So was the 1st person to drink milk from a cow. One of the seldom cited theories in science states that for every expert's nutrition and diet recommendation there will be an equal and opposite nutritional and diet recommendation. Ignore them all. Anyone who treats waiters poorly is not only self defeating (revenge may be one of the ingredients soon ingested) but reveals the true nature of their malevolent character. Avoid these people at all costs. As Warren Zevon said "enjoy every sandwich". I would say that all things are good in moderation, especially moderation.
Bon appétit.
Value liberty, though it is fragile it is not weak. It has the peculiar property of being something that can not be had unless given to others. Be skeptical of any ideology that can not coexist with liberty. Do not trade your freedom for any other quality, liberty is far more valuable and hard won than the most treasured gem or the most precious of metals. You are truly an individual, as atoms have not convened in your particular configuration before nor will they again. Everyone matters. Oppose those who think some matter more than others. They have been misinformed.
Stay away from the March Hare. I have no idea what a March Hare is but I heard he was mad about something or other. Love may be blind, but so were 3 mice and they got their tails cut off with a carving knife. Remember that no act of kindness, no matter how small goes unpunished. If at first you don't succeed avoid skydiving. When it comes to seagulls, one good tern deserves another. A bird in hand may be better than 2 in the bush ( at least according to Larry Craig), but he who feeds the gulls soon stinks. The pen is mightier than the sword but not a Howitzer. Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes. Where there is smoke there is Willie Nelson. It's always better late than severed. And it is better to give than to recede.
If you ever do find yourself at ground zero in a nuclear explosion, don't worry about finding a desk to hide under, I don't think it will help matters much. Everything you need to know about life can be learned from Monty Python, the Beatles, and Baseball.
Music and Art bring more light to the world than any policy or religion could ever even fathom. Experience as much of it as possible. Books are the standard bearers of civilization. Without them, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation blinded. The burning of the library of Alexandria was even dumber than allowing George W. Bush to become a President. In the fabric of the universe we are 2. (watch out for those tailors!) Life is neither a bowl of cherries nor is it the pits. It 's a party and your invited! Bring some hors d'oeuvres.
LONG LIVE GENTLE GIANT!
One Of the finest bands ever in my humble opinion. I liked them so much I would see them in N.Y., Phila., and D.C. when they toured. A mix of baroque, jazz, rock and 20th century music placed them in a category which they alone occupied. Playing more than 30 instruments during their shows, Gentle Giant created some of the greatest music of the 1970s progressive rock era. The only thing I can think of to follow a Gentle Giant piece is another one. Enjoy "Knots".
"KNOTS"
1972 - Minnear, Shulman, Shulman and Shulman
All in all each man in all men
All men in each man.
He can see she can't, she can see
she can
see whatever, whatever.
You may know what I don't know,
but not that
I don't know it and I can't tell you
so you will.
To tell me all man in all men
All men in each man.
He can see she can't, she can see
she can
see whatever, whatever.
You may know what I don't know,
but not that
I don't know it and I can't tell you
so you will have to tell me all.
It hurts him to think that she is
hurting her by him being hurt to think
that she thinks he is hurt by making her
feel guilty at hurting him by her thinking
she wants him to want her. Her wants
her to
want him to get him to want him to get
him to want her she pretends.
He tries to make her afraid by not
being afraid. (permutations)
You may know what I don't know, but not
that I don't know it and I can't
tell you so you will have to tell
me all.
I get what I deserve. I deserve what I
get. I have it so I deserve it. I deserve
it for I have it. I get what I deserve.
What I deserve - what I deserve what
I get.
I have it so I deserve.
He tries to make her afraid by not
being afraid.
NEWS- Jordan Rudess covers the Gentle Giant classic "Just The Same" on his upcoming album. Hear a sample at www.jordanrudess.com.
"Just the Same"
composed by Ray Shulman, Derek Shulman and Kerry Minnear 1975
See me, what I am, what I was, what I'll be,
Hear me, understand that I'm not what you see
Take this, take the man, middle term, common me
Don't you see that I'm just doing what I want to do
Nothing more and nothing less than you
Read no thoughts I didn't think myself
Just the same as anybody else
Make me someone else, put me up on a stand.
Something that I don't really want on my hands
Use me, idolise all you can understand
Don't you see that I'm just doing what I want to do
Nothing more and nothing less than you
Read no thoughts I didn't think myself
Just the same as anybody else
Change it, what you think, what you thought, what you say
Look for something more than you sought yesterday.
I don't want to be part of your life to-day.
Don't you see that I'm just doing what I want to do
Nothing more and nothing less than you
Read no thoughts I didn't think myself
Just the same as anybody else
ASCII Giant-
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“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” -Mahatma Gandhi
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