Soon, I t Will be Time to to Say So Long to this Blog

The time has come to acknowledge that this blog did not turn into anything like I envisioned it to be.  Rather than try to resurrect it and make it into something it's not, I have decided to examine the few posts I've made, save the ones that have merit of some kind, and kill the remainder of this beast.  That will happen soon...relatively soon...as soon as I decide to make it happen. I am in no particular rush, but I do enjoy wrapping up loose ends when the mood strikes me.   Getting these pesky glimpses into my deeply troubled psyche off the internet is important.  Taking that step, I will be one step closer to purifying something...me...that needed it long before now.  It's truly important.  It  matters. 

It matters deeply, but only in the most superficial way. 

Peace

It can't hurt to wish for peace on earth.  But the effort required to achieve it seems too great for humankind to succeed in achieving it.  Oh, it's achievable.  But we're just not willing to set our personal and parochial interests aside long enough to make it happen.

The desire for peace may be universal, but I am afraid it's not.

Regardless of that sad assessment, I do wish peace for all of my friends and my family.  If we can't achieve it on a national or global scale, let's just do it locally, from our doorsteps to the end of the street.

Street Art

This is one of the most exceptional pieces of urban "street" art! I am impressed with good, provocative, well-conceived street art. See much more at StreetArtUtopia.

Pie in the Sky

I've had to deal with it for as long as I can remember: "Oh, come on, of COURSE you want a birthday cake!" No, I don't. I want a birthday pie. (The fact that it's not my birthday has no bearing on this discussion.)

Almost everyone seems to think it's just WRONG to turn down a birthday cake in favor of a birthday pie. But I don't. It's not that I have anything against cake. Cake is OK. In fact, there are plenty of cakes that I find appealing. But when it comes to my birthday, or anyone else's for that matter, I prefer pie. I don't think I have a favorite pie. If I did, it would probably be apple. Or cherry. Maybe pecan. Possibly peach. Chocolate pie is not my top choice, but I can eat it. Buttermilk pie is good. So is coconut cream pie.  And lemon meringue has a place.  As does black-bottom pie. 

It seems a bit odd to me that I, never much of a sweets-eater, have always liked pie.  What's odder still is the fact that the older I get, the more I like it.  I guess it would be even more odd if I were to like it more the younger I get.

Transformations

This first post-business road trip was supposed to be fantastic. Somehow, though, it's lacking the transformational character I expected and hoped for.

I wonder if I was looking for the wrong transformation? There will be transformations, I just don't know now what they will be.

Questions

My father never, to my recollection, spoke to me about religion or god or his religious beliefs. I knew, though, that he was religious. He was just very, very private about his beliefs. I don't, to this day, know exactly what his religious beliefs were, but I do know (or I think I do) they were Christian beliefs and he was a religious man. My mother told me, after he died, his favorite hymn was Amazing Grace. I remember a few occasions when I heard him humming it...or maybe even singing it. Or maybe those are false memories. I don't know.

Regardless, I associate that hymn with my father. Whenever I hear it, I think of him. When I hear it, I get very emotional and I tend to tear-up. Don't know just why, but I do.

I'm not religious, at least not in the traditional way. I don't believe there is a god that has ultimate responsibility for everything. I don't think there's a powerful being that created mankind. All of that stuff strikes me as utter fantasy. But I believe there is more to "us" than higher-level animals who can think and plan. I don't think there's an afterlife, but I think the lives we live allow us to have a mark on the future...or at least on the present. I believe in concepts of goodness and badness. I believe people should be good to one another. I don't believe people should steal from one another. I don't believe murder, whether by individuals or the state, is acceptable. I have morality. I just don't quite know how to defend it. I don't do it through god.

Physics cannot explain all the "BIG" questions to my satisfaction. But I don't buy the religious explanations, either.

It's late. I have to sleep. These questions won't get answered tonight. They won't get answered in this lifetime.