WHO KNEW ?

 

WHO KNEW?

 

162 years ago this week, Abraham Lincoln gave us the Gettysburg Address. As you might recall he also gave us this famous quotation, “Don’t believe everything you read on the internet”.

That quote may very well be false, but these days who knows.

They say that history is written by the victors, which may very well be true, and this is what is causing all of us so much anxiety these days. The folks who conquer countries or nations get to write their story as they like to without any opposition.

It is virtually impossible today to know what is or what isn’t truth. The advent of so-called AI or artificial intelligence is leading us all down the primrose path to eventual stupidity.

Who can tell what is real or not these days?

You might recall a Greek philosopher in about 300 BC named Diogenes. He was reported to be searching for ‘an honest man’. I sincerely doubt if he could find one in those troubled times. Anymore than he could find one in this day and age. Lots of luck doing that.

But isn’t that what we all are trying to do in this day and age. Looking for something to be honest and truthful? And it seems to be harder and harder to accomplish each and every day, isn’t it?

Now we have to question each and every piece of information we receive and try to determine if it is true or just make believe. The other day, for instance, I saw this NBA basketball game being played atop a stadium built on top of this very tall skyscraper in Dubai. The quotes from people included one that stated, “you could actually feel the building swaying.” Now the graphics and effects were very realistic, and I started to look into this only to find out it was all make believe.

My question, is why go to all of this trouble? They weren’t selling anything or pushing me to subscribe to anyone that I could see, so what is their purpose?  For fun? Who knows?

Anyway, rather than getting my panties in a wad, I have decided to view the news and internet the same as I do a novel. Pure fiction until I can prove otherwise. I will trust but verify anything I read from now on. Those ‘feel good’ blogs and ‘reels’ that show lost kids who become brain surgeons and save the guy who gave them a sandwich thirty years ago or the lost dog that pulls the children from a fire. I will read those and cogitate upon them for what they are or might be. I will view those with a grain of salt and smile or laugh or cry in the right spots. But I will not be consumed by something that I cannot verify. News or not.

Maybe real, maybe not.

Who cares, it could be real, it might not be, so why get all upset over it and ruin my perfectly good day? There you have it for this week.

See you next week…Peary Perry

I'M DYING HERE------

 

I’M DYING HERE------

I’m living in the middle of a hay field and why am I surprised to have hay fever? In Houston, I had ragweed…in Austin, it was cedar. It seems as if the entire globe has some thing or another that sets me off. If I was living in the Sahara Desert, I imagine I would sneeze, snort, cough every ten minutes due to the abundance of sand.

Last Sunday we went to a doc-in-the-box and got three shots of something or another. I’m pretty sure I would be disqualified for any Olympics games at this point, but I do feel better. The positive thing that has happened during all of this is that I have started on our Christmas decorations. The new tissue boxes are all done up in festive colors.

Retiring is a mindset that you have to get adjusted with. I know lots of people who have told me, ‘when I retire, I’m playing golf and fishing every day’. I don’t know of anyone who ever lived up to that statement. Perhaps they are out there, but I’ve never seen or heard of them. Even now, I like to stay busy, and I enjoy myself without having goals or deadlines to meet. It’s great to work at your own pace and actually have less stress than the workplace. Try it for yourself.

I started working at fourteen, my first job was cutting up melons at a watermelon stand. I got fired after the first week since I was cutting the slices too large to suit the manager. My second job was a caddy at a country club in Baytown, Texas. I think this had a lot to do with my attitude towards golf for the rest of my life.

I hated it.

Number one, I never saw a happy golfer. They always seemed mad about something or another. Secondly, I knew nothing about the game and here is some adult asking me what club to use for this shot as if I knew. Then yell at me for picking the wrong iron or wood. How was I supposed to know you shouldn’t use a driver to putt?

I don’t have time to describe all of the various business opportunities I was involved in after I got out of the army and the police department. I’ll get around to those at some later date. The rest of my pre-adult jobs were mostly paper routes, grocery stores and service stations. Paper routes were ok, but when it came time to collect each month, you came to dislike those who avoided you for payment. When you rang the doorbell and the curtains moved, you knew they weren’t going to fork over that $3.50 again that month. Bagging groceries in paper sacks was not bad. Most of the customers were nice and tipped well. It was only those who wanted to stand over you and berate you on their method of double bagging and how canned goods were always placed and the bottom and the bread on top. As if I didn’t know that already.

All of these jobs gave me lots of positive experiences in learning how to deal with people and handle their individual characteristics. It helped me when I became an adult.

Do kids today even have after school jobs and if they do, do they learn anything from them?  

I wonder….will have to check into this. Keep reading.

See you next week----Peary Perry

GIVE IT UP....

 

GIVE IT UP…..

So, go back in your mind when you were young and think about the stuff you moved from one apartment to another. It probably could all fit inside your car or truck. Not much at all. We were kind of like nomads carrying our stuff from one place to another, weren’t we?

Now come back to present day and open your eyes, what do you see?

Stuff. Junk…crap you will never in your lifetime ever use. You bought that handy corn on the cob shucker, didn’t you? Used it once and threw it into the ‘things I’ll never use again drawer’. That nice Ronco slicer/dicer that takes longer to set up than it does to cut up some carrots and celery, into the drawer. Along with those knives you bought on sale that went dull after using them twice. But in your mind, you think you will get around to sharpening them someday.

Keep dreaming because it will never happen.

Recipe books? Who needs them anymore? Remember all those Junior League books you bought with all those pretty pictures that you never used?  Your version of a coconut cake never even came close to the one on page 54. Your forks and napkins were nice but that’s about as close as you came, wasn’t it?

The Tupperware starter and master set of 36 containers that you have stored in the overhead cabinet over the stove. A cabinet you cannot reach without a ladder from the garage. Just sitting there, year after year doing nothing or anyone any good whatsoever.

When we downsized for our move to the country a year ago, we were faced with a serious dilemma. Move from a 2500 square foot house with a huge garage and lots of storage to a 1500 square foot house with a 250 square foot storeroom. It’s plenty big enough for us.

Most of the stuff we had to get rid of were things we didn’t really need. Or missed once it was gone. I can’t think of one thing I wish that I had kept.

Being married for over 54 years brings 108 birthdays, 54 anniversaries, 54 Mothers and Father’s Day gifts and multiple vacation and other mementos. School annuals? Who needs them? I can hardly read what anyone wrote much less make sense of their comments. “I’ll never forget THAT night” signed Ace. Who was Ace and what night is he referring to?

Your kids are grown and married, it’s time for them to come and get their letter jackets and school crossing certificates. Those finger painting pictures they made in first grade have got to go as well. Your mother’s favorite china dishes she never used because she was saving them?

Why and for whom was she saving them? Why haven’t you used them? Your kids don’t want them, or they would have gotten them by now.

Toss em’. Give them away to charity. Let someone else try to figure out what to do with it. In 10 or 15 years, maybe longer they will be asking themselves the same questions?

“What do we need this for?”

See you next week…Peary Perry