Nothing gold can stay. Today might be the most beautiful day of summer. The sky is a brilliant blue with no clouds to disturb the sun's gentle rays caressing the countryside. There is no evil rain to disrupt the pleasant, placid rhythms of life. This evening will be a delightful time to play the sport I love, tennis. I want this to last forever. I want this feeling of warmth and satisfaction to never leave. Unfortunately, I know it won't last. It never does.Today is gold and I know it can't stay. I will embrace it while it lasts and when its over I will remember this day as a truly extraordinary moment in time. Nothing gold can stay.
I definitely live in the fringes, in the outskirts, left of center out of the mainstream. Odd, weird and strange, does that describe me? I don't know. If someone thinks that, I consider it a compliment. I don't want to be like everyone else. I like being an outsider, the one who doesn't fit in. Its liberating.
Why follow in others footsteps? Blaze your own path. Look at life and make your own decisions based on what your brain tells you. The day I stop thinking for myself and blindly obey means its time for a box of pine. Integrity, on the menu for today is Integrity. Never forget it. Look in the mirror and say to yourself "Am I living my life with Integrity?" If so, you will know it in your heart and soul. Until I lay myself down in that box of pine or have my ashes dumped in the local sewer, I must decide is life taking me for a ride or am I taking life for a ride?
As the sun sets on another lovely weekend, I sit here anxiously knowing summer is rapidly drawing to a close. So far this has been a pretty lousy summer, weather wise. There has not been a single 90 degree day in the area. It seems to rain almost every day or every other day. We have been pretty lucky with tennis, not getting rained out much but rain is always an ever present menace to playing. I broke a string on my racquet Friday, fortunately there is a guy in town that can string it pretty quickly.
I have been thinking about this quote by Camus "In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer." I am dreading the cold weather and snow. Its months away but occasionally the thoughts of 20 degree days and snow cross my mind. I am going to use that quote by Camus to help me in the season of despair that is winter. I don't want winter to arrive but choices are nil. I wish I could go into a deep slumber on December 20 and awake April 20.
The shooting of the unarmed Michael Brown has bothered me intensely. The details of the shooting are uncertain but this scenario happens too much in this country. It seems black guys in the U.S. are presumed guilty. As a white male, I have no idea what a black man goes through. I can only empathize and even then I can't come close to how hard it must be for a young black kid who lives in the ghetto. How does he get through life? Many people thought with the election of Barack Obama that we were beyond the scars of racism. This is not even close to being true. The unabashed hatred of Obama by the right wing is not only political, many of the old white men in the republican party can't stand that their commander in chief is black. The south is a virtual cesspool of bigotry, people displaying the vile confederate flag. Will people ever change? I don't see it in the near future because racism is passed from one generation to their children to the next and so on. How can you stop it? I don't have a clue.
The sun has set, the day is now done. My minuscule brain has begun its nightly process of shutting down. I wish I could think of something interesting to say to end this dull piece. Therefor I will end with a quote to ponder by a much wiser man than me, T.S. Eliot. "I don't believe one grows older. I think that what happens early on in life is that at a certain age one stands still and stagnates."
