Sunday, July 5, 2020

It's Livin'

Frequent visitors to this space know that I love that Gus McCrae quote from Lonesome Dove...

"It ain't dyin' I'm talkin' about, it's livin'!"

Another way to think of it is this, which is a philosophical perspective as old as mankind...

"You can't get there from here. Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow is out of reach and will not be what you demand, but rather what it will be. What you do have is today, and today is all you have. Embrace it. Live."

And this...

"You have a finite number of heartbeats but you cannot know the total. You can never get squandered heartbeats back, so waste them at your peril."

At this moment in time the governmedia complex is all in on destroying America in the name of a phantom menace of convenience. That's terrible and it can only lead to horror. But the problem isn't the governmedia complex. And the problem isn't the government of, by, and for the people. That entity hasn't been seen in a very, very long time. The people, including me, abandoned that long ago. No, the problem is with the people.

With all the people, including me. With "we the people." There's an old saying, "you can only con a con artist." What do we think all this free shit is about? It's the opium of the masses. All of these government goods, services, cash, protections, and lovely, sexy, wonderful oppression and victimization. It's all on us. We let that shit happen on our watch, and we knew we were letting it happen.

So here we are, and it sucks. It's going to get much, much worse.

But remember the story of Pandora, who is us. She/we loosed unspeakable ills upon the world, and they will run their course.

We/she opened the pithos. We/she knew better and had plenty of clear, unambiguous warning.

But in the bottom of the pithos, Hope.

So don't be bummed out by this message. We have and will always have hope. We have and will always have the ability to form and hew to the foundational principles we know are right and proper.

So when you look at the impossible task remaining before us, remember that it all starts with what you do today. Don't squander your heartbeats railing against the opium narrative. Embrace today, and do your very best to do the best things for the best reasons.

When you have your own shit suitcased (and you don't -- you're not even close) you can worry about those images and noises emanating from the tee-vee. Until then...

Be well and embrace the blessings of liberty.


  1. What works for me is to get up every morning and start putting one foot in front of the other. When putting one foot in front of the other don't count on a glass belly button to see where you are going.

    1. Never heard the glass belly button before. That's good advice!

      Thanks for stopping by and commenting WSF!

  2. I don't share your pessimistic outlook, yet. Things are bad in SOME places, not everywhere. There are places where respect for one's fellows is still practiced. Will you hear about it on the news or the Internet? No, you will not.

    The infamous "they" are trying to divide us, fake news and outrageous claims by partisan supporters of one cause or another obfuscate the real issues. Now if things go a certain way in November, then I will lose all hope and resign myself to having to take up arms against a new Dark Age in my dotage.

    Puppies, diamond rings? These hints are really making me curious.

    Do tell.

    1. It's a crazy time. My pessimism stems from experience over time with human nature. It's pretty clear that very nearly 100 percent of the people who live here operate from a "whatever I can get away with" perspective and lack a thoughtful and robust set of foundational principles to hew to. That's always the case with most people most of the time, but when nearly all the people all the time have forsaken doing best things for best reasons and instead do whatever they can get away with and firetruck everything else, then I believe we've crossed the rubicon. When the feces hits the fan the adjustment will be severe.

      There is of course hope, which is an important and vital concept. I wouldn't do what I do were there no hope. In my daily walk I stick close to god and try to get my own shit right. I got no time or heartbeats to waste on fixing others. I make observations and suggestions here but that's mostly selfih -- I look to you kind readers to stupid check me and you all do that very well. For free! What a country!

      Puppies, kids, rings, a spectacularly beautiful woman...

      Yeah. There'll be a post.

      Thanks for stopping by and commenting Sarge!

    2. Purty ring...looks like an engagement ring. Too bad your Mom doesn't know the details...but then you share very little with her about your "private" life even though you live a mere 5 minutes apart.
      A gentle piece of advice I learned from the folks who did our roof - don't walk on it unless you have good reason.

      Am guessing you're a big trumpster/dumpster diver...sad. Personally can't stand the man for many many reasons. So I'll hold my nose and vote for ABT (anybody but trump) Last time I couldn't stand the hillary or the rump and wrote in the Bern...a lot of good that did!

    3. Well there's all of that!

      Thanks for stopping by and commenting Pat!

  3. Learned a lot about thistles, I did.
    Always fun to learn stuff, even if not necessary to know. Someday it may link up with other pieces of other puzzles and be useful, but in the mean time, just interesting.

    Thanks for the clarification on the ring thing. I though it might just be an error in a link that ended up with a jewelry ad. Congrats to all concerned and best wishes will be in order at some point when secrets are revealed.
    John Blackshoe

    1. You can never know too much about thistle!🤪

      Glad you enjoyed at least a bit of it.

      I'm trying to get to the reveal of the worst kep secret since the channel dash, but the kids won't sit still long enough to make a tintype!

      Thanks so much for the best wishes. Really means a lot! You guys rock!

      Thanks for stopping by and commenting John!

  4. I've been trying to tell others the same thing, it is us, we let this goat rope happen.
    Oh and for Pat in Oregon, All in for... TRUMP 2020!
    Beautiful ring, congrats!

    1. It's certainly gone all lord of the flies in the first world.

      Thanks for the kind words Brig, and thanks for stopping by and commenting!