My Sunday Thought for May 31, 2015: What's the Point?

“Too many people grow up. That's the real trouble with the world, too many people grow up. They forget. They don't remember what it's like to be 12 years old. They patronize, they treat children as inferiors. Well I won't do that.”

-- Walt Disney(1901-1966), entrepreneur

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I feel like rambling on a bit, so bear with me and I'll try to make it worth a few precious minutes of your busy day.  It seems these rambled forays into my personal thoughts garner better readership than posts I would think have more meaning, but my readers seem to know better than I what they find interesting.  Personally, I think searching for any insight into my inner workings tantamount to watching motor oil dry.  So, with that being said... what's the point?

I'm sitting at my computer playing FreeCell.  My highest score, so far, has been around 350 - 0.  More often than not, however it hovers around 30 to 50 before I succumb to boredom and just kill the game or it becomes so tedious that I just let go.  The latter happens around 2:00 in the morning when I know I should be sleeping, but the mind is a tough task master.  As I enter the sixties of my life I have no misplaced security that Alzheimer's will simply overlook me if I don't think about it.  Facing reality teaches a valuable lesson... it doesn't matter whether I win or lose, it matters that I play the game.  When I say "play the game," I don't mean to literally, mindlessly, become part of some government or religious agenda that has us all marching to the same tune.  It matters that I'm involved in life.  It matters that each and every one of us is involved, in something to do with living and exercising the mushy grey matter that fills the cavity between our ears.  If you're not involved, what a waste is that of what God gave you?  But, is that enough, to be involved, with something?

"It seems that when you have cancer you are a brave battler against the disease, but when you have Alzheimer's you are an old fart. That's how people see you. It makes you feel quite alone."

-- Terry Pratchett, author

There was a time when I would draw or paint, for myself. It occurred to me that I was my toughest critic, so the opinion of others would have little bearing on my continuing whatever art I was involved in, be it photography, painting, wood carving, sports, business, relationships, or FreeCell. The key was to be involved, try my best, and never settle for the mediocrity which seems to be a current goal for our society. I could let other people see my art, because their opinion has little bearing on what I liked to create; on what made me feel good to create. We have to come to grips with that fact that there will always be a winner and a person that didn't. Whether either of them is a loser is reliant on how they handle winning, or not. If the winner is a pompous ass, refer to loser. If one is gracious in not winning, that one can still claim a win due to possessing great character and showing good form.

 The point is having good character, and showing a modicum of class. If you were brought up right, you know the rules. There are some things men shouldn't discuss, and there are some things women just shouldn't do, and, if they do it, they also shouldn't discuss it. Be a gentleman and a lady at all times; be humble and gracious to a fault; above all, be true to one's self.  Being true to one's self is a difficult task when it comes to our sense of morality.  We all know what we should do, but it seems we are always getting caught between what we want and what is right in our struggle to be righteous. 

"A system of morality which is based on relative emotional values is a mere illusion, a thoroughly vulgar conception which has nothing sound in it and nothing true."

-- Socrates (469-399 BC), philosopher

There are many things I have done in my life that I'm not overly proud of.  Thank goodness much of it falls under national security and is classified.  The private life stuff, well, let's just say I tried to be the guy that would make them breakfast in bed and respect them in the morning, and my desire to make chocolate chip cookies in the middle of the night was simply a bonus.  Questionable moral righteousness tempered by character and class?  I suppose.  I think we all have things we've done that skirt correctness; things we keep hidden in that lower drawer of our minds, beneath the tacky sweaters of forgotten Christmases and the pants of our youth  that will never fit again.  We store our mistakes and experiments in these dusty footlockers and get up every morning hoping to do better.

My mother had an opportunity the other day to join me at Cigars in the Pass, my favorite watering hole.  I had been telling her that the crowd I hang with, in particular the proprietor, and myself, "spend most of our time solving the ills of the world and accomplishing very little."  We are working to rise above this claim to little fame, but at least we are involved, if only in discussion of the important issues of the day of which God, values, politics, and the economy seem to dominate.  Many of us have military backgrounds, a few are joining up to serve, and those that haven't done either, serve to give us another viewpoint which helps to maintain a balance of opinion while we have that third beer.  This is a good thing... the balance, although the beer is pretty good too.

We are from all walks, all races and religions, political parties, single and married, young and old, and we meet at Cigars to celebrate the almost forgotten customs of face to face communication, camaraderie, and an unspoken agreement to disagree, all accomplished over a glass of local brew and a fine cigar.  This is not a bar, but more of an old English pub, a seldom seen business in the states anymore.  This is a becoming a true "public house," a focal point for our small community.  Almost all of the people frequenting Cigars, is a character, displays character, or has character.  There is a mayor, aldermen, other town officials, business owners and retirees.  When the barber chair arrives on site, we will finally be able to get a haircut while watching the game, drinking a beer, and smoking a stogie.  Does life get any better?

"The great thing about getting older is that you become more mellow.  Things aren't as black and white, and you become much more tolerant.  You can see the good in things much more easily rather than getting enraged as you used to do when you were young."

-- Maeve Binchy (1940-2012), Irish novelist

For me, life is gently flowing stream.  It is what it is, and the water... it is fine.  So, what's the point?  The point is, I like my life.  I want to remember each and every minute of it, good and bad.  I want to remember why I go into a room and where i'm supposed to pee.  I want to remember the names of my kids, and their faces.  I want to add two plus two and get four, and I want to remember that just because some mathematician says, point nine infinity equals one, it really doesn't because there's a 99.9 infinity chance he's a certifiable idiot, and I'd put more money on me being right than him.  If I don't remember who I wake up with in the morning I'd want it to be because of the tequila and not because I'm losing my faculties.  And I want to remember my friends at Cigars in the Pass for as long as God will bless me.  If I have to play computer games daily to keep my mind sharp to this end, it is a small price to pay.  I will stay involved in life!

God gave us a mind, and for some reason more and more of us seem to be losing track of it.  What are we doing differently than we did before?  Is it our diet, exercise, or stress?  Perhaps it's our lifestyle in general, or a government conspiracy?  Maybe we spend too much time on our collective ass, sitting in front of the television watching mindless reality shows or escaping our own reality through someone else's fiction.  Maybe we need to peal the cell phone off our ear and go visit someone, face to face.  Or, perhaps it started when we began to lose our faith; when we began to put more stock in a book than the truth God placed in our hearts.  Regardless of the reason, life is too short to begin with, and now that we're living longer, most of us may not be able to remember it from one day to the next or from minute to minute.

“I was thinking about how people seem to read the bible a lot more as they get older, and then it dawned on me - they're cramming for their final exam.”

-- George Carlin, comedian

Be happy.  Be happy every minute of your life.  If your current life does not allow it, change the life you have until you are happy.  The morning may come when you wake up wondering, as you walk into the bathroom, if you're supposed to be happy.  You look into the mirror, and ask the startled face staring back, "Who the hell are you?"

Editor's Note 

(re: disclaimer cum "get out of jail free" card) 

Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, this finger is not a gun, and just because I make it go "bang-bang" it is a safe bet no one will die so why in God's good name are we expelling small children, to young to understand, for doing it in class?

But, you might be correct in assuming I'm giving you the finger.  It is essential to understand that this is just an opinion on an opinion based site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion. It doesn't make either opinion any more right or wrong than the other. An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so.

It is my fervent hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions and then engaging in peaceful, constructive, discussion and debate in an arena of mutual respect concerning the opinions put forth. After over twenty years as a military intelligence analyst, planner, and briefer, I have come to believe engaging each other in this manner and in this arena is the way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.

We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human. God's test for us is what we do afterward, and what we learn from the experience.

Frank Anthony Villari (aka, Pastor Tony)

Pastor Tony is founder of the Congregation for Religious Tolerance and author/editor of the Congregation's official blog site, "The Path."