March 13, 2017.
Weather sucks. In the mid-thirties for the high temp.. My “early garden” is probably toast. Fuck me.
But it will all be good. Nothing ventured…and all that. 5 bucks of seeds and i’m back in business.
I’m gonna go cover my garden as soon as I post this. I repeat: Fuck Me!
It wasn’t the first thing I did when I got out of bed this morning. First I got the coffee going.
But even before I put on some music, I unfollowed all my “news feeds” on Facebook. I need a short break.
I didn’t unfollow any of my friends.
I have never been a fan of resolutions, but I’m making some “Valentine’s week pledges” today. I’m gonna do my damnedest to follow through on them for a minimum of one week.
1. I’m limiting my time on Facebook to 15 minutes in the morning and fifteen more in the evening.
2. I’m gonna use the stop watch on my phone to make sure that I abide by the limit.
3. I won’t be launching any of the political items that my friends share on FB.
4. I didn’t unsubscribe to any of the items that hit my e-mail inbox….but I won’t be reading them.
5. I’m gonna spend more time reading the 8 magazines that I subscribe to.
6. I’m gonna write more in my journal.
I just need an online break. A short break….for now….
So if you are one of my FB friends, I may still give your post a “like” but I won’t be commenting on any political items for at least the next 7 days.
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Last March I wrote a piece rooting for Villanova in the NCAA tournament. I really did want the Wildcats to win it all….but what I really liked was the idea of “brotherly love.”
The piece was really a commentary on politics in America. I didn’t think it could get worse. But it did. And there doesn’t seem to be any end in sight.
I still believe that Love trumps hate, and that: “Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind.”
I still believe that we need more of the Beatitudes and less of Leviticus. More “red letters” and less bluster.
I need a short break….I just need to sail away for awhile.
Today i’m thinking a lot about hoops, the City of Brotherly Love and The Beatitudes.
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Hoops? I have been a basketball junkie for as long as I can remember. A music junkie too. If I had to pick between them, it would be a tough choice…a match-up of two great teams playing to a packed gym or an artist who is on my bucket list playing in a great venue?? I can’t commit without more details…
But it’s March Madness for the next three weeks, and I don’t see anything on JamBase that’s gonna require me to wrestle with a hoops vs tunes decision anytime soon….
Get the ball in the air. Let the fun begin!
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City of Brotherly Love? My best friend from my days in Cape Girardeau has lived in Philadelphia for a long time. It’s always great to see Don, no matter where we are when our paths cross. Several times that has been in Philly, where he serves as the ultimate tour guide and host. Good times with a dear friend in a great city…it doesn’t get much better than that.
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The Beatitudes? The meek, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers…and more and more….
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I was one of the early adopters of NCAA bracket contests. There are a couple of stories I could tell about NCAA tournaments in the past, and maybe I’ll write some of them down over the next three weeks while I’m glued to the tube, avoiding commercials and anything remotely political, and flipping between games hour after hour.
This particular post will be short as I need to pour thru USA Today’s bonus section, surf the net a bit, and pull my brackets together. Of course I’m excited that my Oregon State Beavers made the tournament for the first time in Caroline’s life…she was born 5/30/91. It has been far too long since my team made the tournament…
I can even be excited that the quackers from Eugene, Orygun got a #1 seed. But I’m rooting for them to lose their second game, when they most likley will play Saint Joseph’s, which is from Philadelphia.
I’m hoping that Villanova, another of the Philly Big 5, takes the trophy back to the City of Brotherly Love on April 4. I like Jay Wright’s team, and have since I saw them several times when they came to Tampa to play USF…but the key for me this tournament is where the Wildcats call home, and what that city represents.
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Lots of people aren’t happy, or even worse, they’re angry. I get it. But there is too much noise about building walls, carpet bombing, that “torture works,” and that we need to “take out their families.” I can’t guarantee it, but I’m pretty sure that none of these are WWJD to improve the living conditions of Americans.
And when I thought it couldn’t get worse, there were these:
“Knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously. OK, just knock the hell — I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees. I promise. I promise.”
“I’d like to punch him in the face, I’ll tell ya.”
Really??
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We need more of the Beatitudes and less of Leviticus. More “red letters” and less bluster.
So I’m gonna pull for teams from the City of Brotherly Love in this year’s NCAA tournament. And for more people who want to build bridges to the future rather than build walls, drop bombs, waterboard…and worse, including helping the rich get richer while the middle class vanishes.
“Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind.”—Henry James
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And this:
Go Beavers!