Did Jesus brush his teeth? [Religion]

        We usually see Jesus pictured on the cross with a cloth around his personal area. I don’t know why it never occurred to me until it was mentioned in passing during a sermon that Jesus was completely naked on the cross when he was crucified. I just never thought about it.

        Jesus’ humiliation was complete in addition to the pain he endured. He is covered in pictures out of prudery I suppose. Believers don’t want to visualize him naked. But it’s real. It’s accurate. It’s honest. Yet a picture of Jesus naked would be controversial even though we have seen every other aspect of his death portrayed vividly. I do think that it’s important to understand it.

        We don’t often think about what Jesus did in his earthbound body. I mean a lot of his day to day activities probably consisted of doing similar things the rest of us do. There are just some kinds of bodily functions that can’t be skipped. I’m not trying to be graphic. The point is that we often don’t think of the more basic or mundane aspects of life in regards to the time he was here on earth. He slept. He ate. He drank. He learned a trade. He helped out his mom and dad. The majority of Jesus’ time spent here on earth was just being like those around him.

        Setting aside the religious aspect the smallest history of the man named Jesus made it down through the ages. Odd that. What we know about Jesus is hearsay based upon a tiny snapshot of everything that he was and did. We only have bits and pieces of conversations out of all the millions of words that he surely spoke in his life. The most of what we don’t know about is that for a big part of his time here on earth he didn’t stand out in a crowd or we would have heard more about it. He just wasn’t on the historical radar for a large portion of the time. We fill in all the space in between the words that we do have through myriad translations with what he probably meant or would have said about subjects not specifically covered. In some cases context of the times is applied and at other times not.

        Jesus speaks in 15 verses in the bible. 193 words. (KJV) That’s it, give or take a few words. What 193 words would you choose to have as your record here on earth? What would your life story say?

        The claim is that the important essential thoughts made it through. Then wouldn’t that mean that most of what Jesus said wasn’t important? Well, that can’t be true. Besides, it just wasn’t up to us. In reality most of what we know is what we don’t know.

        In idealizing him have we made him unrecognizable? He wasn’t ethereal in his physical body. Jesus the man was human. I think that we skip a lot of the Jesus was a man part or at least don’t spend much time dwelling on it. Why is that? Is it totally unimportant? Is there fear that humanizing the man Jesus would de-deify him, make him less approachable? The life stories of Jesus tell us that he was completely approachable to the poor, the afflicted, working people, the masses.

        While I am not a literalist when it comes to the bible it seems apparent to me that Jesus had emotions. We know that he got frustrated, could be angry. Could he joke around or was he always Mister, “Our father in heaven and he is me said…”? Were there times when he just walked out of a morning and thought, “It smells like it could rain today” or did he already know what the weather would be? Did he tap his foot when a catchy tune of the time was playing?

        Did Jesus have “Hey, how ya’ doin’?” over the backyard fence kind of conversations that didn’t make it to the final book version? It wouldn’t have made for powerful reading but I kind of think it would have helped provide context and color. If we can accept that he was capable of simply saying “Hi” to someone without it having any deep philosophical meaning then some other things kind of fall into place. In other words he was capable of just having everyday types of conversations. Have we taken comments made in passing and made them gospel?

        We have a sense of humor. It seems like that should be for a reason if our design is indeed intelligent. So if Jesus saw someone in one of those silly pratfall slapstick incidents that have gone on throughout man’s existence do you reckon that he would chuckle at the humor? If he talked about someone having a plank in their eye was he joking or was he being sarcastic? If he could be sarcastic we have some serious problems.

        What about his early years? He didn’t start doing miracles until his later years. A toddler performing miracles surely would have made it into the good book. As a child did he play? I like to think so and we don’t know otherwise. Did Mary and Joseph have to sit him down and explain to him who he was or was he born self-aware?

        There was certainly literal and figurative ritual cleansing during Jesus’ time. But how about day to day personal cleansing? Those weren’t times that were real conducive to maintaining good personal hygiene. People smelled and had to have extremely bad breath. On a day to get through the day basis these were not the sweetest smelling people and frankly somebody not smelling or having bad breath would have stood out.

        We can say beyond any doubt that people in Jesus’ time got cavities and were missing teeth at an early age. Did Jesus? Smiling with a few front teeth missing wouldn’t have been noticed. But having a full set of chompers!? It would have been mentioned and noted if he had the glowing white teeth that are becoming so popular today. Granted it wouldn’t have been a miracle on the scale of turning water into wine but it certainly would have qualified as a minor miracle. That’s the kind of stuff that gets written down. “Sure he can raise the dead but did you see those teeth!”         

        If Jesus didn’t brush his teeth then he had bad breath. Would a disciple offer him the equivalent of a tic-tac before he went into a crowd to speak? “Here Jesus, how about a nice mint leaf to chew on before you talk?” Would that make any difference? What if bad breath, body odor, terrible table manners and image aren’t all that important to God? If he showed up for dinner would people tell him to wash those hands and brush those teeth first? I don’t think so.

        Religion market share is about numbers. In the world of business who has the best number is the one that wins. Would a god that doesn’t brush his teeth be less believable than one that does? Or would a god that brushes his teeth be one that we can more readily identify with? Whose picture would be the most marketable today?

        Would the Jesus of his time be welcome in our homes today? Would we let him through the door, or turn him away because of his looks or hygiene? Would he return or check up on us as a contemporary man? The kind of man that would blend in with the crowd?

        It is the actions reported not the word for word dialogue of Jesus that inspire as well as the message. I’m talking about the barest of scraps of all the parts that were Jesus. The message of unconditional love survived regardless of the specific words. Some things, like love and faith, you have to feel and believe with your heart. Falling in love is more than a physical response; more than hormones. It’s knowing. Faith is or can be the same way. Believing can also be a matter of intellect, an intellectual acceptance derived from a variety of disciplines. Faith can be an experience.

        My belief and faith falls into the experience category. My two deepest connections and communications came during a time when I was unchurched and though still a believer I was not engaged with any of the trappings of the faith including regular study. While I am comfortable with my beliefs I do believe that it’s important to study the bible and be inquisitive. It’s our nature as human beings.

        There are some things that we need to start accepting as Christians. What we are proposing for others to accept does sound a little cray cray if you strip away the religious covering. We have to be open to challenging thoughts and questions. Mostly we need to live in a way that would be considered desirable to others. There has to be a reason for people to change behavior. Jesus lived real and did good. He loved and told people to love. (We’re talking spiritual love not the act.) He taught acceptance.

        Accepting that there was a real person named Jesus can be the first step of a journey. Just leave out the God stuff. Who was he? What did he stand for? What did he believe? Can his ideas help me? Can I be a better person? Ask questions of yourself. Are you happy? Do you feel empty? Is there more than this physical world? Do you always have this feeling like an itch that you can’t scratch? Do you feel fulfilled? Is life just something that happens to you? Would you like to know joy? Would like to not be alone? Perhaps a figment of the imagination can be a help to you. Perhaps a very real Jesus beyond just the concept of Jesus can be with you.

        We have what we have. We just have to make the best of what there is before us. That’s what we have to work with. The evidence before us is that his “message” of love from the past did make it through a couple of thousand years. There is the message that there was Jesus. Just that means a lot and speaks volumes about his few written words.  

The Vacation letter [Humor]

My wife Shelley went on a vacation with her Mother and Sister in 1995. I faxed the following letter to her while she was at the Ghost Ranch in New Mexico. It's self-explanatory. It starts off a little slow and then builds.

My dearest wife Shelley,

            Hopefully, the 3 of you are having a wonderful time on your vacation.  I think that it’s wonderful that your mother, sister and you are getting the opportunity to bond.  If you’re worrying about how Joshua, Gizmo and I are doing in your absence you’re wasting valuable time that could be put to better use by enjoying your much deserved vacation.  I think that considering the total picture we’re doing pretty good.  Some concerns have arisen that are hardly worth mentioning but I think it best that I keep you informed just in case.

            Gizmo was certainly a sad little puppy when you left.  I tried to make him feel better the first couple of days by running to the door saying, “Shelley is here, Shelley is here!”  His little face would light up with excitement and anticipation.  He would jump, bark delightedly and wag his little tail for all he was worth.  Of course, it was kind of a downer when I would finally open the door and you wouldn’t be there.  It was great seeing him happy for at least a little while.  Towards the end of the second day he developed a limp.  The vet said something about hysterical sympathetic response due to sensory manipulation and some other dog psycho babble that I haven’t a clue about what it means.  Now, he seems to have forgotten that he’s housebroken!  I can’t get him to go to the door when he wants out.  We should have it all worked out by the time you get back.  Right now he’s staying pretty much out of sight, only dragging himself out when he goes to eat a little something.  That brings up another point.

            Except for the stuff in the freezer, packages and cans we’ve run out of food!  Don’t worry about Gizmo.  He has plenty of food.  It’s a good thing too since he’s throwing up so much.  Do you remember the time that he ate a pound of chocolate?  Well, it’s worse than that.  Frankly, I’m surprised more dogs aren’t throwing up eating that nasty tasting stuff.  The vet said something about stress and a nervous stomach.  I think that he’s just trying to drum up repeat business.  Fortunately, Pizza Hut, McDonalds and the Quick Trip are willing to take checks.  By the way, how important is it to write down the amount of the check in that little register?  Never mind.  I’m sure that we can get it all sorted out when you get back.

            Oh yes, I almost forgot.  Some of the laundry I did may not have come out exactly right.  You know -- odd colors, things not the same size as when they went in, melted things -- the usual run of the mill laundry problems.  It’s a good thing I got most of the clothes done before I put that last load of bedding in the machine.  I heard you mention before you left that you wished you had got all the bedding washed before you left.  I wanted to surprise you by having it done before you got back.  Wouldn’t you know it that stupid washing machine gave out on that one load.  So now none of the beds have any sheets, bed spreads, mattress pads, pillows (Boy! You never mentioned how hard those things are to get in the machine.) or pillow cases.  The washer repairman said that he didn’t think the smoke smell from one burned up overloaded washer motor would linger for more than a week.  I really took exception to that because I contend they shouldn’t put “extra large load” on a machine if they don’t mean it.  Anyway, it all probably worked out for the best what with all the strong smells in the house.  It really isn’t all that bad sleeping outside.  Also, it’s good to know that the smoke alarms are working.  If they hadn’t gone off alerting me to something being wrong there’s no telling how much more water damage we would have sustained.  It was good to see Gizmo excited again.  I really felt bad about his hair getting singed like that.  He was such a brave little guy trying to warn us of danger.

            Josh left home and says that he’s not coming back until you’ve been back home at least a week.  I don’t care what he says about being embarrassed about all the media coverage.  In case you should see something on the news you need to know that things look worse on TV than they actually are.  All those muck raking journalists are just looking for an easy story at some poor husband’s expense.  The screams attributed to me were taken completely out of context and I honestly have no idea in all that confusion where those circus people came from.  I must say those 911 operators have a good sense of humor and irony.  The police were very sympathetic and understanding.  As luck would have the wife of one of the investigating officers was on a vacation. He’s walking around with a loaded weapon.

            I think Josh left because he wanted to spend some time with his girlfriend.  Should I have called to see if her parents were home?  Actually, I did call a couple of times but no one would answer.  Since they have Caller Identification they had to know that it was me calling.  I had to laugh when he left.  He really doesn’t have much in the way of clothes left due to that possibly correctable in some isolated instances mishap with the laundry.  He certainly isn’t going to be able to buy much in the way of clothes with that signed blank check that I gave him since there couldn’t possibly be much left in the checking account at this point.  Did I mention that since I misplaced your check I wasn’t able to deposit it?  I think that I misplaced it during all the commotion at the bank.  Some pretty darn happy street people were carrying on, jumping up and down behind me when I was outside the bank.  I had to be a little rude I’m afraid and tell them to be satisfied with what they had and to leave me alone.

            I have to tell you my little sweet that I was just a tad aggravated with you when you left concerning the performance of the dishwasher.  I distinctly remember you telling me that it was supposed to be a really good one.  The point is moot since food preparation in the kitchen at this juncture is impossible anyway.  I believe you had mentioned wanting to do something different with the tile in the kitchen.  A rather large portion across from the microwave has now been removed.

            The next appliances we purchase are definitely going to have more warning labels I can tell you for sure.  I was surprised when the microwave lit up like a Christmas tree but I was totally unprepared for the explosion that followed.  I think that there must have been some sort of design flaw.  It was a deafening explosion but at least there’s an upside.  I can no longer hear the constant shrilling of the smoke alarms.  That was starting to get on my nerves and make me just a trifle edgy.  I have also been just a bit on the blinky side but the doctor said that could eventually go away.

            This seemed like a good time to try and get some outside projects done.  For the most part the security lighting system I installed is working pretty good.  Most of the lights work.  You know I was checking one of those little bitty bulbs and smoke actually came off of my fingers where I grabbed it to see if it had become loose when I inadvertently ripped the top off of the fixture.  I didn’t want to take a chance on having another short since I had been having so much trouble with the breaker box.  Who would have though a bulb that size could get so hot?  I think that I have the majority of the lights inside the house back on now. I moved the VCR and TV to the basement.  I did manage to salvage our wedding tape.  I’ve been watching that for better or worse part of the ceremony over and over.  Do you remember that part babe?  It really is one of the more moving and inspirational parts of the whole ceremony.  That blinking VCR light is distracting though.  If I just could get the dumb thing to stay on I could get around in the basement better.  It is too bad that I couldn’t get some of the majority of lights to stay on down there since the basement is now the only cool part of the house.  What with all the fumes and all I’m just too afraid to light a candle.

            When you come home don’t use the garage door opener.  Should by some miracle the garage door actually work it still wouldn’t be safe for you to enter the house that way.  Since this message may be read by others the lawyer has advised that I not say anything further.  We’ll talk more about it when you get back.  I sure hope that the check you had me mail to the insurance company turned out to be one of the good ones.

            Someone named Okra, I think, keeps calling and asking for you.  It’s kind of hard for me to hear the answering machine.  If you call pretend you’re talking to mom.

            The instructions you left were helpful but I have learned some other things in your absence:

·         Make sure that the spray nozzle of that personal defense mace is pointed away from you and that you’re upwind when you use it.  The safety is not on when that little lever is up.

·         That hot wax hair removal stuff should not -- I repeat not -- be used on ear or nose hair!

·         Herbal bath gel is not an acceptable substitute for salad dressing.

·         Your mother may have been right.

·         Fireplaces are a lot heavier than they look.

·         There’s a quicker way to get to the basement.

·         The difference between tbs. and pt in cooking directions.  Incidentally, you can get way to much dough in a bread machine.

·         It’s not a good thing for a loaded clothes dryer to run all night on high.

·         There’s a lot more than windows that those cleaning people won’t do.

·         I’ve discovered how truly grateful I am to have a spouse who doesn’t overreact to small un-pleasantries.

            I talked with my mom and she said that since your mother and sister are with you and will probably read this letter I shouldn’t fax it to you since there’s no telling how they might react given your family’s history.  I had completely forgotten that your sister goes medieval occasionally and that you mother has a long history of dealing with groups of people in confined spaces.

            Gizmo is just fine.  Lorena, the dog groomer, didn’t cut his hair too short.  We’ll know more when the stitches come out of him or her depending on what they find.  If he doesn’t come when you call Gizmo try calling Missy instead.  The vet said he may be having an identity crisis.

            So, disregard the first part of this letter and start here.

Dearest Shelley,

            I’m crazy in love with you, miss you, hope that you’re having a wonderful time and look forward to your return.  Even when apart I still find joy in our being together.  Distance doesn’t separate the closeness of our hearts.

Your loving husband,

Hate is hungry [Politics]

NOTE:  I posted some of these comments on Facebook before I deactivated my account on Sunday 11/13/16. To make them more coherent I have edited and reproduced them here at my blog.

Congratulations to all democracy minded people. Well played. Well fought. The Republic stands. Democracy works. We should all celebrate the day. The hating needs to end. A nation divided can be defeated. This country should be about family, love, friendship—those things that truly count the most at the end of the day.

We need to follow a practice that works well for couples--never go to bed angry if you want to stay together. Half this country needs to stop going to bed angry about the other half. My best wishes to all those that voted. It is what it is. We need to make it work.  I believe that the Christian response should be to embrace the vote and move forward in a positive fashion. That doesn’t mean capitulation of one’s ideals and values. Jesus accepted Rome’s laws. (Matthew 22: 18-21, But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription? “Caesar’s,” they replied. Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” NIV) He didn’t tell Romans to follow Caesar with their actions and lifestyle. He died at their hands for his beliefs. Beliefs that he did not compromise on or change. This election doesn’t require anyone to take such drastic action.

Hate has a voracious appetite and it is never satisfied. Hate always wants more. Hate needs more. I made one of my last posts on Facebook about stopping hate in hopes of making things better. It was nice seeing a lot people expressing “likes” in support of the idea.

Facebook algorithms allow users to see what “friends” are liking, including the posts of others that we like. Expressing sentiments are nice. Actions will be much more important. If we “like” seeing a post that denigrates others then that doesn’t speak well for our sincerity about coming together as a nation.

I checked in on several of those ‘liked’ posts and it seems that I am now lumped in with what sounds like a pretty unsavory crowd including both liberals and terrorists. Hateful posts are being liked with alarming frequency by some of those who said we should pull together.

Then I made the huge mistake of checking in on a live feed awaiting the meeting between President Obama and President elect Donald Trump and watching the posts scroll. OMG! The amount of hate being expressed was overwhelming. The rest is history.

History will be what we make of it.

Electoral Divide [Government]

Hillary Clinton won the popular vote but lost by a wide margin in the Electoral College. (The popular votes are still being counted and while she is currently ahead 990,758 votes, there are still millions uncounted in California as of 11/15/16.) So, there’s going to be a lot of talk about the Electoral College (EC) between now and the time that they take action in December. If the count holds then this is the second time in this century that Democrats will have won the popular vote but lost the presidency due to the EC. The last time was Gore v. Bush in 2000.

The electoral votes NOT the popular vote determine who wins at the national level. With the exceptions of Maine and Nebraska the winner of the popular vote in states gets ALL the electoral votes. Just real quick there are currently 538 electoral votes. The number comes from there being 435 House members, 100 Senators and the District of Columbia gets 3. No federal official can be an elector of the EC. To be elected a candidate for President needs to win 270 electoral votes. If two candidates got 269 votes then the House of Representatives would vote and decide who would be President. The Senate would vote to decide the Vice President.

There are concerns now that somehow the election is going to be stolen from Donald Trump by electors of the Electoral College not voting as their state has voted. (There is no legal requirement that forces electors to vote a certain way.) NOT going to happen. (Of course I also said that Donald Trump couldn’t get elected. Shows what I know.) Trump has too big a point spread for a couple of rogue electors to make a difference. There will be no groundswell of opposition among EC members. The vote in the EC will be like the Republican “Never Trump” movement that “Never Was” when it comes time to vote. Seriously, don’t lose any sleep or get yourselves worked up either way over this.

I’m going to start off with examples of how things could really appear out of whack because of the EC.

While this scenario isn’t realistic today it is possible to win the election by winning only eleven states and disregarding the rest of the country. A candidate, by winning the following states by a majority vote, even if the vote was only 50 + 1, could win the presidency. If one ticket were to take California (55 votes), Texas (38), New York (29), Florida (29), Illinois (20), Pennsylvania (20), Ohio (18), Michigan (16), Georgia (16), North Carolina (15), and New Jersey (14) that ticket would have 270 votes—enough to win. Eleven states. Even if they lost every other state by huge margins. I don’t know how probable that is but it is statistically possible. What these states have in common is they have lots of people.

Just because it’s interesting I’m going to share that when Kennedy beat Nixon in 1960 Kennedy did NOT win Florida or California. A little over 100,000 votes separated them. Al Gore won the popular vote in 2000 by a little over a half million votes but lost in electoral votes. Bush got 271.

Now let’s say that California had chosen to award electoral votes proportionally. Then Donald Trump would have picked up a few more EC votes giving him an even larger win. Had Florida awarded EC votes proportionally then Hillary Clinton would have picked up a lot more. M’kay? With me so far?

These ‘make believe’ examples can ‘make believe’ go anyway that a person wants. So is that enough out-of-whackiness for one day?

I read a brief article about the Electoral College when I was on Facebook that gave a nice perspective about the Electoral College. BUT I am no longer on Facebook and have been unable to find a link to the article in its entirety.

Anyway, I think one of his examples of the EC vote used a sports analogy. I hate sports analogies but here goes my memory of it. Let’s say in the World Series that in one game one of the teams, let’s call it the “A” team, gets a bunch of runs and wins like 8 to 1. A real blow out. A 7 point spread. (I have no idea if that’s a blow out in baseball. I believe I mentioned that I don’t follow sports.) Now the opposition team wins every remaining game by a 1 point spread. Should the “A” team win the series because they got more points in that one game or should the other team win because they won the most games? The rules say the team with the most “wins” wins. (I really like that last sentence.)

Most of the maps shown on television as to how the votes are awarded are state maps. These maps are representative of geography NOT population density. Changing how votes are counted for the Electoral College doesn’t change population densities. Even if popular votes were the deciding factor in the election population densities would still be the same. Heavily populated states like New York and California would have big concentrations of popular votes.

My point with this is that the country can change the way the President is decided and end up with the same or at least a similar conundrum.  A candidate could win the popular vote in only 11 states because of population density but lose the popular vote in every other state and still be President.

Despite the fact that it comes up after nearly every election, there has never been a serious push to change the way we vote for President by either of the main parties. It isn’t in their best interests. They are able to concentrate their resources in the states and areas where population densities are the greatest. Where the most people are is going to get the most attention. What is truly unique about this election is that it is the rural areas where Trump built up his votes across the country while both parties poured money into the urban areas.

Changing the ways that things are done can often bring up foreseen and unforeseen consequences. Deciding what is fair depends on where you live and who your candidate is. There was a lot of gnashing of teeth after Gore lost to Bush. There were calls then to change the way the President is elected. In 2012 Donald Trump tweeted, “The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy.” What is fair is often a matter of perspective.

  It’s almost poetic that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote but lost the election.* The people voted in the majority for her. The Electoral College will vote for Trump. So, technically Trump was correct about the election being rigged. It just turns out that it was rigged in his favor by the designers of our Constitution.

In terms of changing the way that we vote for President I think that the caveat is to be careful what we ask for because you don’t always get what you think you asked for. In this fast paced age do we really want to wait for weeks to have a decision while states keep on counting, recounting and fighting in court? Remember, at this time (a week after the election), California still has millions of ballots to count, and it doesn’t seem to be going very fast. Fortunately for us, the outcome of the California count is not significant in terms of the EC votes for that state, unlike Florida in 2000.

NOTE:  Here’s a link to an excellent video explaining the Electoral College. This is the link to the total popular vote.

* Now I understand that the fake news sites are already saying that Trump won both the EC vote and the popular vote but as of this writing that simply isn’t true. You can check out the popular vote at the California Secretary of State’s web site.

Life’s too short [Life story]

We have the free will to do thoughtless things that can bring harm not only to ourselves but to others as well. Evidently I am still able to forget lessons that I’ve already learned.

Somewhere out there I am now a “This idiot tried to pass…” road story for a couple of truckers. They would probably use slightly more colorful language.

Toward the end of 2015 I had been dealing with some health issues and made a trip back to Wichita, Kansas for some tests. (We had recently moved to Missouri and had not yet chosen doctors at our new location.) On my return trip home to Missouri the doc in Wichita called me on my phone with the results. Let’s just say that they weren’t the best of results to get over the phone and I was distracted. I would like to say that I was driving deep in thought but well…you know.

Whenever I returned to Wichita I tried to make sure I drove back with a load of stuff we had in storage there. So, I had a full load on the Nissan pickup and was pulling a fully loaded cargo carrier. That tends to make my little truck less responsive. Okay, a lot less responsive.

I had been behind a slow moving semi for quite a while. We hit a stretch on the downside of the hill where I had enough room to pass. When I first pulled out to pass a little voice said, “Not enough time”. But I went anyway. Ever done that?

Anyway, I found myself looking at the front of a truck closer than I have done since 1966. (I had fallen asleep at the wheel driving home on leave and woke up in the wrong lane looking at the front of a truck with his horn blaring. Incidentally, I could tell the guy needed a shave. Life can get interesting in just a few seconds. A lot of thoughts can go through one’s head very quickly. The first of which for me was “what a stupid way to go.”)

Once again I found myself within a couple of seconds of being a splatter on the front of another semi approaching from the opposite direction. I had passed the point of no return; it was either pass or go for the ditch and it wasn't a good ditch. I couldn't tell if the driver needed a shave but he did need a trim. My little Nissan and I barely made it. Emphasis on the barely.

We think about having time to do some things before our last moment happens. My plan has always been if I had a few seconds to simply close my eyes and think about dancing Shelley down the aisle like I did at our wedding. Instead I was just hoping not to pee my pants or worse.

Some things, like telling my wife that I love her every day, several times a day, I don’t have to relearn. Telling my family or friends that I love them is easy for me. But I do forget to pay attention at times to the little things that are important. I forget to acknowledge the constant little joys of the day. Too many times I put off enjoying what’s right before me.

Here’s one very small example. I have this beautiful hand-made coffee cup. My wife picked up the cup at Ghost Ranch located in New Mexico while she vacationed there on a “no stinky men allowed trip” with her family. It has incredibly thin sides, minimalist turquois glazing with Indian symbols on the slightly flattened four sides. I saved it for “good” use only; meaning that it hardly ever got used but was admired by me almost every day hanging there with other special cups on the coffee bar.

One day I bumped the coffee bar and the cups swayed. My bestest cup swung into another cup hanging there, made a tinking noise and chipped a tiny piece of glaze off the lip. The cup I hardly ever used was now damaged goods.

How many things do you have that you save for “good”; using them only for special occasions? I’d like to make a suggestion: how about we try and make every day a special occasion; treat every conversation as if it were the last one?

My dad was sitting on a table, leaned over and then he was gone, from a massive coronary. A neighbor of ours was walking down the hall of her home, fell and was gone before she hit the floor. Our older brother was diagnosed with brain cancer on a Thursday and was gone by the next Monday. I found out a cousin had passed away a year and a half after she was gone. I was halfway through writing her a letter when I learned. Every person has similar stories. “Why, I was just talking with them a couple of days ago!”

Families and friends have squabbles and say things that reach past today and into the future. To what end? Is that what will be remembered? “I never talked to them again and our last conversation wasn’t good.” Every time we see or talk with someone it might be for the last time. Remember that. Hold onto that throughout your day. We may think that we have plenty of time, perhaps years, when we may only have days, minutes or that last time that we’re with them right then.

Those of the faith should remember that one of the prime directives above all others is to love one another. Those with a different corner stone should bring what’s best about humanity. Do good things. Do things that don’t bring hate, anger, hurt feelings, regret, sorrow or tears unless they’re tears of joy. Fill your day with good acts, thoughts and last moments. Be the best version of you.

Donald Trump knows [Politics]

As I mentioned in “The back door” the first indication that Donald Trump knew he’s losing came when he hedged his bet for the Presidency by having a family member test the waters for Trump TV. They did a beta test during the 3^rd debate with the hash tag #TrumpTV on their live stream. Now Trump TV is up and running on Facebook.  Gotta’ give it to the guy—always looking for a way to make a buck. He’s like a gambling addict--he can’t help himself, always trying to feed his addiction to himself.

Another indication that Donald Trump knows he’s losing has now occurred. He’s saying that he is going to sue every woman that comes forward with allegations that he sexually assaulted them after the election is over.

Two things.

First, does that really sound like something a President should be doing? Once he started he, as President, would open himself up to having to testify under oath. (That’s how Bill Cosby did himself in, for those that don’t remember.) Imagine, years of this sordid crap in the news. Incidentally, after he lost he would be counter-sued; the President is not immune from civil litigation.

Second (and most plausibly) is that he’s pretty sure that he’s going to lose and believes that it’s in his best interests to start threatening those who have stepped forward and accused him of sexual assault. He seems to believe this course of action will be a deterrent to additional women stepping forward. I can’t help but remember that Cosby accusers started stepping forward slowly. The sheer weight of numbers finally silenced him. Now Cosby’s just waiting for the ax to fall. Trump is working at joining him.

Trump continues sending mixed messages. At a recent rally he asked his supporters if he should even have run. An odd question to be asking at this stage of the election. It also isn’t a good idea to go around telling supporters that the election is rigged so be sure and vote. What’s the incentive there if he doesn’t believe that their vote is going to make a difference?

I would say put a fork in him but we really don’t know what that last week is going to bring. What will Putin or Assange do in regards to trying to influence our election? Late in any campaign it’s difficult to respond to new allegations or threats in any meaningful way to any last minute hit pieces. That’s why perpetrators wait until the last minute.

If you believe in our country, you should vote regardless of who you’re going to cast your ballot for. Don’t depend on others to fulfill your civic responsibility. Whatever happens you’ll know that at least you did your part.

Charitable comments [Politics]

It would show how insightful I am if I could claim much knowledge about the Al Smith dinner reported in the news; I can’t though. I had to look up stuff. It’s remarkable that I can be sitting here in a little two room domicile in a barn in Missouri and have immediate access to all kinds of information. I now know that it’s an annual event for Catholic charities for needy children that is hosted by the Archbishop of New York.

It’s evidently a long standing tradition for both Presidential candidates to attend. This is not an event attended by the hoi polloi. (I love working that word in since I know how to spell it now. It’s almost as much fun as just making up words. Almostly.) The elite attend this event. People with money. Billionaires. Yes, more than one. We’re talking fancy suits now. Rich people. Lots of ‘em. You couldn’t swing a dead cat without hitting one.

Donald Trump managed to get booed and cat-called at a charity event for bitty children. Several times. (I’ve watched the video.) How do you do that? From the comments coming from attendees this doesn’t happen often. This is a bigly deal evidently. Did he read the comments he was going to give beforehand? What kind of joke writers did he use anyway? He started off nice enough but then it’s like he fired all the joke writers mid-speech and went with the script writers of “Plan 9 from outer space.” I mean it was OMG painful to watch. Why couldn’t his mic fail when we needed it?

And we have the next day’s headlines and we weren’t even done with the ones about him undermining our republic. What next? What new headline will tomorrow bring? It’s exhilarating yet enervating at the same time. Is he meeting with his 200 retired generals to plan a Trump d’état in case he doesn’t win? I can hardly wait to see what the morrow will bring! 

Our time here. [Inspirational]

The older I get the more I think about mortality. Not an uncommon occurrence as we get closer to the end. We start to wonder when buying big bottles of pills if we are in fact buying a lifetime supply.

The other night I was thinking about my wife, our life together and life in general.

Here's what I know.

Life and death are capricious. Here one second and gone the next. Blink of an eye.

We have the time that we have.

We get this one chance to do it right.

Don't take the day for granted. Find some part of each day to enjoy.

While there is ambiguity in the many interpretations of the bible available there is also clarity when it comes to the expressions of Jesus. There is eternity. There is salvation. There is putting god first. There is love. There is caring about our fellow human beings. There is placing the less fortunate and the poor first in line. We should do more than say we're Christian. We should be Christian.

We're supposed to ease suffering not cause it.

We're to be less concerned with self-gratification and material gain.

The perfect church edifice or leader doesn't exist. We can't create a church in our image.

We can question every action we take or don't take to the point of non-functionality.

There's never going to be enough time to get all those projects done.

There will never be enough time to spend with loved ones, family and friends.

We have the time that we have.

Make the most of it.

Make sure that the people you love know that you love them. Say the words, sign the words or write the words:

“I Love you.”

The back door [Politics/3rd Debate]

How about that debate, huh? After all the aforemath the aftermath was pretty much the same.

Perhaps the most telling incident occurred behind the scenes before the debate took place. But more on that later.

Moderator Chris Wallace did an excellent job. It’s a formidable task keeping two ego-driven, strong personalities under control. For the most part he was able to do that but there were a couple of times I wish he had had one of those air horns or maybe a starter pistol. I hate it when they’re both talking over one another. What they’re saying is lost for the most part. Not effective. Not effective at all.

As in the previous debate Trump didn’t need to just hold his own or come out a little on top. He’s a candidate declining in the polls; he needed a decisive unquestionable victory. He needed to be the dominator. He needed to talk circles around her, not stalk her. He needed to knock the ball out of the park. Instead he hit a grounder.

As far as the “debate” goes I will give it to Clinton again on technical performance. Technically they both screwed up bigly but she was much less bigly about it. (I like the word bigly. Shortly legitimizes it. Thank you.) In general, she was again the more poised of the two and comported herself better. Whether we like it or not, it’s about appearance and I’m not talking physical appearance.

Once again Trump’s lack of preparation worked against him. He doesn’t practice being civil at rallies. The problem for him is he brings his personal style to a debate and it doesn’t work well in that environment. For one thing the feedback from a positive crowd is missing. He feeds off of that and uses it to provide direction to his comments. Since he can’t have Hillary Rodham Clinton physically removed he’s reduced to interjecting snarky comments. Such actions don’t give him an appearance of strength.

Trump’s continual denying in debates things that he says, when the videos and audios of him saying them are all over the internet, works against him. It isn’t his evil twin that we’re watching making those comments. It’s him. Hillary Clinton at least has the sense to try and figure out credible responses.

Again Trump stomped on any gains he might have made by making the next day’s headlines about him negative. He said that he wouldn’t accept the outcome of the election. He said that he would keep us in suspense. By saying that he ensured that negative headlines would stay in the news along with his refusal to release his income taxes and comments about sexually assaulting women. Yet again he manages to keep Hillary Clinton’s negative news on the back pages.

But as I mentioned in the first paragraph what happened before the debate is perhaps most telling. In addition to all of the external polls the two main parties are doing their own internal polling and also have a pretty good idea of how the election will probably go down, though we don’t see those.

What we do sometimes see is a letter or sign, even before the vote takes place, where the second (VP) will let people know that they’re available for work after the election. In this case it wasn’t the second, it was the son-in-law, Jared Kushner, shopping the idea of a Trump television network. While Trump supporters might like the idea of Trump Presidential network it would probably be just a little too Banana Republicky to sell. More realistically the Trump campaign family knows how this election is probably going to go down and is dutifully trying to figure how they can make money off of his following. They even rolled it out by televising the debate #TrumpTV. It’s a savvy move. But it isn’t Presidential.

The polls will continue to provide insight as to how the election is going. The election is November 8^th. I will accept the outcome. 

We are the United States of America.

The art of the con [Politics]

You can’t con people, at least not for long. You can create excitement, you can do wonderful promotion and get all kinds of press, and you can throw in a little hyperbole. But if you don’t deliver the goods, people will eventually catch on.

I’d never understood how Jimmy Carter became president. The answer is that as poorly qualified as he was for the job, Jimmy Carter had the nerve, the guts, the balls, to ask for something extraordinary. That ability above all helped him get elected president. But then, of course, the America people caught on pretty quickly that Carter couldn’t do the job, and he lost in a landslide when he ran for reelection.

The above two paragraphs are not mine. They belong to Donald Trump. They came from his book “Trump: The Art of the Deal.” In between the words above Trump was talking about how Jimmy Carter had come to ask him for donations to his Presidential library. In the paragraph right after he threw shade on President Ronald Reagan.

 This time around Trump is the one running the con, just as he described. This time, as we approach the finish, voting citizens appear to be catching on to Trump not being the man that he says he is. He does not have the stamina nor qualifications of President Carter. He hasn’t been able to deliver the goods in his own campaign.

The major difference between Trump and President Carter is that Carter had a lifetime of service to people through his church, his service to the country, as governor, as President and post-presidency. Oh yes, he also won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Trump has a lifetime of service to himself, making money, avoiding service to his country, and debauchery. There are several versions of Trump to pick from depending upon what he wants at any given time.

Hillary Clinton also has a real history of service to her country and qualifications too numerous for mentioning here. She also has blemishes, real blemishes, not the fake ones made up by men with the morality of Trump. She received them in the ring while doing the job. She made mistakes and owned up to them. Fortunately you don’t have to take my word on her qualifications. Here’s what Donald Trump said about her:

Hillary Clinton I think is a terrific woman. I’m a little biased because I’ve known her for years. I think she really works hard and does a good job.

Well I know her and she’d make a good President or Vice President.

How did she do as Secretary of State? Probably above and beyond everybody else.

That version of Donald Trump knows she’s the best candidate. Be like this Trump—vote for Hillary. He did.

Apologizing v. forgiveness [Politics]

For a Christian the concept of apologizing for something versus asking for forgiveness can be tricky. We may apologize to Jesus for our actions but we have to ask for forgiveness. I’ll probably have to ask for forgiveness before this post is finished. Saying that we’re sorry isn’t the same as asking for forgiveness. I may tell a friend that I am sorry or apologize for telling them the truth about something and hurting their feelings but not want forgiveness for being truthful.

People are forgiving Donald Trump for his actions. Trump is specifically not asking anyone, including God, for forgiveness. There is video of him quite specifically and repeatedly stating that he does not ask God for forgiveness. People are forgiving him so that they can ease their own consciences. Forgiving someone so that we can commit a bad act doesn’t make it better.

In the ongoing debacle of the 2016 election Trump could have apologized and asked for forgiveness from women that he said he had assaulted. (I’m going to guess that his lawyers wouldn’t have been happy if he had accepted responsibility for his actions.) Instead he coupled his apology with an excuse (locker room talk) that made his words less than honest. This isn’t asking for forgiveness for the actions he said he had committed. This is just saying I’m a liar and sorry I got caught being vulgar. Can people really forget that he’s a man who lives to brag about the things that he has done? He denied doing the things that he bragged about doing. He also claims he doesn’t lie. Does this make him a truthful liar? It’s a conundrum.

Before I go any further I want to say that I have watched the video of him dealing with this issue multiple times. Anderson Cooper had to ask him several times if he was denying that he had done what he said. Trump finally worked a “no” response in during a stream of consciousness talk about ISIS. How hard a question is it to respond to? Seriously? How hard? That should have been an easy no. Instead Cooper had to drag it out of him. And if he hadn’t repeatedly gone back to the question Trump wouldn’t have answered. I don’t think that he wanted to answer. His answer is what pushed his accusers over the edge.

So, victims stepped forward saying that he done to them exactly what he had talked about doing. Oops. Not good. It’s not Bill Cosby not good yet but it’s getting there.

Trump could have stopped talking about it but as he has often said—he’s a counter puncher. So in addition to denying that he had done anything he called them a variety of names and said that they were ugly as in not attractive enough for him to grope. Then his supporters went after them. One victim said that she’s going to leave the country because she fears for her and her family’s safety. Way to go Trump supporters. Nothing says support like witness tampering.

This is why women don’t come forward especially when they’re up against one of the billionaire global elite. Trump is now playing the “I’m the poor victim card and women are picking on me.” Kinda makes me want to call him a cat. I apologize for the remark but I don’t ask for forgiveness.

Forgiveness isn’t difficult for Jesus. He can forgive all. He would forgive all. He did forgive all. There is one caveat. We have to ask him (God) for forgiveness. There isn’t a reward.

Media Bias [Politics]

Is media coverage of Trump biased?* I think that it’s a fair question to be asked in a Presidential election.

Let’s try this in regards to media coverage especially if you’re undecided. For the sake of this argument about media bias pretend that there’s a new candidate that burst upon the scene and got elected President. Take any candidate names out of the equation. (I know that this will be impossible for some people.) After the election you learn the following about the President:

·         Hadn’t paid any taxes for decades.

·         Incited people to violence.

·         Cheated sub-contractors out of payment.

·         Owes hundreds of millions to bankers.

·         Was caught talking about how they had sexually assaulted women because of their wealth and status.

·         Then women came forward claiming to have been sexually assaulted by him just as he described.

·         Cheated openly on at least one of several wives.

·         Had multiple bankruptcies.

·         Wouldn’t release their tax returns.

·         Had multiple failed business ventures.

·         They had been involved in thousands of lawsuits and settled some out of court including settling racial discrimination charges out of court.

·         Being sued for scamming people out of money for a false educational school.

·         Are currently being sued.

·         Had a cameo in a soft pornography video.

·         Okayed referring to their daughter as being a piece of ass.

·         Allowed for their private airplane to be used for a nude photo shoot of their spouse to be.

·         Praised the leadership of foreign dictators.

·         Their name came up on FBI wire taps of mafia members under investigation.

·         Lost a billion dollars.

·         Have financial interests in the Middle East, China and Russia.

·         Operated a charity illegally.

·         They were far less rich than they claimed.

·         Claimed to buy politicians and was then accused of bribing elected officials.

·         Had zero qualifications for public office.

·         Has never served the interests of working people

This list could be a lot longer but I’m going to stop here. If you found out all the above AFTER the election was over would you blame media for not reporting information like this? Would you think that journalists had done their due diligence in reporting on the candidate? Would you be upset that they had not done their job and that you had a right as a citizen and voter to know these things about a candidate for the highest office in the land?

Traditional news outlets are going away. Print media is in decline because it’s well…print media in a digital age. News is now about market share, revenue dollars and entertainment. That’s why we have “talking heads.” We still have thousands of hard working journalists doing their jobs. Headlines sell advertising.

Hillary Rodham Clinton is in the news but stories about her current activities are lost in the headlines that Trump is constantly generating. He’s a man who has said bad publicity sells. Hillary Clinton has been under the media spotlight for decades with every aspect of her personal and private life being taken apart on the public stage. She’s been investigated over and over again along with her husband Bill Clinton. They’ve been taken to court. She’s been called before committees. All this scrutiny and no convictions from the people that hate her guts and have been in charge of her investigations. With the exception of the 33,000 deleted emails (investigated by the FBI—no charges) there’s nothing new. The Benghazi inquiry by 8 Republican committees has gone on for 4 years now. No charges from people dedicated to taking her down. What we’re seeing now predominantly from alternate news sites is the same stuff that we’ve been hearing about for decades recycled, reformatted and presented as new.

Trump missed all this scrutiny. Digging into his past and current actions has taken place on a much compressed time frame and he has only served to bring more scrutiny on himself in instances where he decided not to cooperate like in releasing his taxes or working with other Republicans.

Trump has decided to try and make former President Bill Clinton news again but we’ve already been there and done that in the news for months on end. None of this is new news. It isn’t bias not to hash through all of this stuff again.

A couple of billion dollars of free media publicity during the primaries helped Trump win the Republican nomination. He was calling in interviews sometimes doing them minutes apart. He was a sideshow, a carnival barker talking about the size of his penis. Now though he’s in the Bigs. Different ball game. But he’s still an attraction.

Here’s the problem with Trump. On Tuesday 10/11/16 He told his supporters at a rally in Panama City, Florida to be sure and vote November 28th. This kind of statement from a Presidential candidate is newsworthy. Did he misspeak? Probably, but with Trump it’s hard to know, based upon his lack of knowledge concerning the mechanics of how our government and the real world in general is supposed to work. But this is mild compared to how he usually ends up in the news with his actions and words. He’s a walking, talking media attraction on a regular basis—at times daily.

For their media support Trump, along with his some of his supporters, are depending upon a traitor like Snowden, fugitive Julian Assagne of Wikileaks and the Russian hackers at the direction of Putin to help out with “source material” for his campaign. Why is that? Because all of these people are trustworthy, honorable and are above corrupting any of the data in their hands that they’ve had for months? Why would the “True Patriot Americans for Justice” or whatever super patriotic name they claim and Fox news trust people like these before their own citizens? Their conspiracy beliefs are so deep that the foreigners they say we can’t trust are the ones that they go to now for information. Trump passed along “information” gathered from these sources towards the end of the debate. Guess what? The information was wrong!

Had that long list in the beginning had Hillary Rodham Clinton’s name as the person that committed those acts Republicans and Trump would be screaming that citizens had the right to know. Citizens do have the right to know even if it’s one of the Global Elite like Donald Trump.

*Not all media. The alternate hate Clinton trust no one but us Alt Right news conspiracy media are excluded because they’re fiction sites.

Conservative Madrasas [Political]

Having just read my umpteenth post about the undeniable evil of the Clintons it occurs to me that we now have an entire generation of children that have grown to adulthood, raised within an environment where things are viewed through a filter of distrust. Conspiracy theories are endemic. A generation raised not to trust: government, law enforcement, the courts, media, specific groups of people like those who have education and those who don’t think like them. Agents of the New World Order are everywhere. The UN is trying to take over America. Black helicopters with men dressed in black prowl the skies. Being armed is encouraged in order to fight back when the agents come for you. What’s more those who don’t buy into all the paranoia are to be ridiculed. Stay away from those people, you don’t need that kind of liberal negativity in your life.

 There is the actual history of events supported by reality as opposed to a contrived history not supported by the facts. Where does all this alternate faux history and education come from?

Well, that got me to thinking about Madrasas.

Throughout the Middle East there are schools called Madrasas or Madrassas. Madrasa is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, whether secular or religious. Some of these schools have come under criticism for teaching a radical form of Islam to children just as we have Christian schools that teach extreme views of the faith.

 These Madrasas are physical locations but these days thanks to modern technology the internet has become an educational institution accessible to anyone with access. (I’m happy, yet sad.) The internet gave a larger voice and reach to the Alt Right movement. You can look up the definition of what the Alt Right movement is on Google. I almost went with the definition provided by wiki but decided to go with one from the Southern Poverty Law Center instead:

The Alternative Right, commonly known as the Alt-Right, is a set of far-right ideologies, groups and individuals whose core belief is that “white identity” is under attack by multicultural forces using “political correctness” and “social justice” to undermine white people and “their” civilization. Characterized by heavy use of social media and online memes, Alt-Righters eschew “establishment” conservatism, skew young, and embrace white ethno-nationalism as a fundamental value.

Now the above definition is the far Alt Right. If you’re a holocaust denier you would be with this crowd. If you’re not a white supremacist or anti-Semitic you would be to the left of this extreme but still be with the Conservative Alt Right. As example, Brietbart News is considered a conservative Alt Right news source. Pat Robertson would be in the Religious Alt Right.

As far as the Alt Left is concerned I don’t have much in the way of a definition for the Alt Left. The Alt Right would probably call them liberal cultural Marxists and other more colorful nouns. (Throw in neo something or other for both of them.) “Christians Tired of Being Misrepresented” would probably qualify as being religious Alt Left as well as…well…The Christian Left.

In essence the faux history is coming from literally hundreds of Alt Right sites. They started pumping this stuff out through email at the very beginning. As the internet and social media evolved so did the Alt Right. They are exceptional at dis-information. Seriously! I am impressed. They have videos and books as well.

In the beginning I would spend hours checking and tracking all the various accusations passed along to me from these sources. They always ended with the same result: Not factually truthful. I don’t bother doing it any more.

I have friends, or at least used to, of all kinds of political persuasions. From the very beginning years ago the Alt Right stuff poured in starting with email. VCR tapes and books were passed around as well. The Anarchists Cookbook was also popular. That’s kind of ironical. I have received more racist stuff and seen more racist postings in the last 8 years than I have seen in my entire life. What do I mean by racist? A picture of our First Lady morphing into a monkey eating a banana is the type of racist crap that I’m talking about. I have not received this kind of material from my liberal friends.

Here's an example of how people can be duped: there was a family member that was drawn into the “Y2K bug civilization will collapse theory*.” We would receive books, email, VCR tapes and all sorts of references to alternative sources of information provided by those with “inside” information. They became a survivalist, moved, acquired guns, lots of ammunition, survival equipment and provisions enough to make it through the breakdown of society. No, you didn’t miss it. It didn’t happen in spite of all the “information” from trusted alternative news sources that said it would.

What we see now with the Alt Right is a continuation of the same methodology. In other words they just make stuff up with information that doesn’t exist mixed in with real life events. Get people that are already pre-disposed to believing the worst or having a predetermined expectation of what to expect and you have an audience of believers. They will not only drink the Kool Aid they will ask for more and pass it around. It is poison. They are poisoning minds and society.

Then the leadership of the Republican Party started pushing the same narrative because it served their political agenda. Their agenda was to blame President Obama for everything and not to pass any legislation he proposed no matter how beneficial it was to American citizens. This played right to the Alt Right's hands. Liberals are liars. Democrats are liars. Media lies. They were the truth tellers; the champions of the Constitution. Then they turned on the Republican leadership. It turns out that they couldn’t be trusted either—especially if they had principles and put the country before the party.

So, no, I don’t need to watch any more videos about how the Clintons are a part of Murder Inc., Bill Clinton’s love child, Obama is not a natural born citizen, or the endless stream of crap that has been debunked over and over again. To the true believers nothing will ever change their minds. If you see this stuff like “This will end Hillary Clinton’s campaign, The secret video Hillary doesn’t want you to see, etc.” and the link is to some real patriotic sounding name, web site or social media page that you’ve never heard of save yourself some time. If it sounds outrageous don’t bother with it. The problem is that with Trump outrageous is going mainstream.

The Alt Right has to make Hillary Rodham Clinton evil in order to make her one of the lesser of two evil choices. I will state again that I don’t believe either of them is evil. However on the worst day of her life she is more qualified than Donald Trump on the best day of his life.

Yes there’s evil in the world. We don’t have to join in. We don’t have to incite people to violence.  Believe in our system of government. Believe that all the major news organizations are trying to do their jobs. Believe in our legal system though fallible we keep working on it. Believe in normal. Believe that not everyone is out to get you. Take a deep breath. It’s going to be okay.

If you’re a Christian keep in mind that Jesus was liberal. Jesus believed in the good of people and doing right in the service of others. That was Jesus’ normal. Be normal.

*From Britannica: Y2K bug, also called Year 2000 bug or Millennium Bug, a problem in the coding of computerized systems that was projected to create havoc in computers and computer networks around the world at the beginning of the year 2000 (in metric measurements K stands for thousand).