Archive for April, 2009

On Regret (April 27, 2009)

Posted in On [Traits/Characteristics], Society on April 27, 2009 by e-commentary.org

“I have regretted it a hundred times.  All it would take is one human being deciding to change her mind about one small comment and to forgive a slight slight, if it was a slight.  It seemed wry and witty at the time.  I thought she would enjoy it.”

“[Formal first name], real men don’t regret.”

“It seemed felicitous.  . . .  By the way, [formal first name], I don’t buy it, I just don’t buy it.  Real men think.  And feel.  If you fool yourself into thinking that you don’t have any regrets, you are only fooling yourself and not thinking.”

“Forget it.  Move on.”

“Funny thing about this life.  As these things go, she likely will get married in the next few years and then deal with many more slights, resentments and transgressions through the years even if she marries that ephemeral entity known as her soul mate.”

“Give it up.  No regrets.”

“Don’t buy it.  Unless I cease thinking, there will be more than a few times when I will wonder what could have been.”

[With a nod to Montaigne’s essais.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

“Yesterday”  P. McCartney/J. Lennon (?)

“In My Life”  J. Lennon /P. McCartney (?)

“Let It Be”  P. McCartney/J. Lennon (?)

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BB Alliance (April 20, 2009)

Posted in Press/Media, Race on April 20, 2009 by e-commentary.org

Some years ago, Paul Rodriguez, usually described as a comedian, was a guest on Arsenio Hall’s talk show.  He shook Hall’s hand in one of those funky hand shakes and spoke directly to the audience about the need for Brothers and Browns to get along the way the two of them visibly got along.  He and Hall pitched peace and unity to Blacks and Browns.  The country needs to create a private sector “BB Alliance,” the Black/Brown Alliance or the Brown/Black Alliance, and introduce positive role models into the ghettoes and barrios.

Tavis Smiley and Ray Suarez, both with public broadcasting, could inaugurate the endeavor.  Each could then spin off and team up with another person from a different enterprise or walk of life and spread the message.

(See the “e-ssay” dated February 18, 2008 entitled “Brown Is The New Black.”)

[This project requires some initiative, tenacity and luck.  Tavis Smiley and Ray Suarez must respond and deliver.]

Bumper sticker of the week:

Black can stay around;

Brown can stay around.

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Not Really A Writer (April 13, 2009)

Posted in Society on April 13, 2009 by e-commentary.org

. . .

“Big deal.  Everyone is a writer or an actor.  How can you be a writer.  You aren’t living in poverty.”

“Those with a pen are penurious?  Hard to avoid collecting some spare change when you understand the economy.”

“You aren’t suffering from insanity.”

“But I am insane, even if I don’t suffer from it.”

“You aren’t an alcoholic.”

“I can’t see bequeathing my sprit to the sprits, yet I do like to get goofy especially on those red grapes.”

“You aren’t gay.”

“Traditional wiring sure is more convenient.”

“You are a goof.  You aren’t Jewish.”

“One of my friends observed that I am the ‘Episcopalian Seinfeld.’  I like ideas.  My conception of the Beyond is ineffable and certainly not anthropocentric.  Enough?”

“Buddhist, Unitarian, maybe.”

“I’m half Irish.  They invented writing, you know.”

“You aren’t oppressed.  So maybe you are qualified to write owners manuals.”

“Don’t read owners manuals.  You must write what you know.  And sometimes you must write to know.  I retrieve paper from a recycling bin, write a tract on some compelling topic and then return the paper to the bin.”

“You aren’t a novel voice.”

“Essays?  I have a voice, although others may not have an ear for it.  What troubles me is that no one I can recall has ever said anything positive about my writing.”

“So what.  Who cares what others think.”

“If it were that easy.  Others are the ear to one’s voice.  I may not have a voice, yet there is something there.”

“So you aren’t really a writer.”

“Probably not, yet why not reserve the right to write.”

. . .

Bumper sticker of the week:

Ars longa, vita brevis

But endeavor to make a positive impact on society now

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Beans and Bullets (April 6, 2009)

Posted in Depression, Dollar - World's Reserve Currency, Economics, Society on April 6, 2009 by e-commentary.org

The Democrats seem to be responding to the coming economic collapse by stockpiling rice and water.  The Republicans seem to be responding by storing guns and ammo.  Now may be the time to be bipartisan.  Beans and bullets.

Will lead replace copper, nickel, silver and gold?  Will daily transactions be conducted using 12 gauge shells and .22s as the medium of exchange, unit of value and store of account?  Will the 12 gauge itself be used to facilitate exchanges?  And will the 7.62 x 39 emerge as the world’s reserve currency?

The signs are unpromising, yet one sure hopes that these are not a sign of the times.

Bumper sticker of the week:

Guns and Butter

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