The venerable, time-tested idioms and clichés are rusting out. They’re about to bite the dust. Acronyms and instagrams of verbal arcana now rule, the new Esperanto. I’ve dusted off and cobbled together a few old ones. They still tell it like it is. ********** We live in a culture of idiomatic clichés. We’re comfortable with …
Year: 2017
It’s easy to fit in…it takes courage to step out. ********** I’m reading La Rochefoucauld’s maxims. This one catches my interest: “In every walk of life each man puts on a personality and outward appearance so as to look what he wants to be thought. In fact, one might say that society is entirely …
Brains and sponges have something in common: they require squeezing on a regular basis to remain useful. Sponges are simple, utilitarian tools. Our household has lots of them, big ones, small ones, all colors. They’re mainly used for cleaning dirty dishes, a simple task requiring little brain function, which explains why men are sometimes assigned …
It’s hard to imagine what thoughts may come from the simple act of peeling a peach. ********** There’s a tool for every job; choosing the right one is critical. Today’s choice for me was unfortunate but instructive. Sadly, Georgia’s meager peach crop is about over. They’re harder to find now than hen’s teeth. The only …
“The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.” Patrick Henry The card simply read, “Happy Birthday, America…for 241 years old, you’re looking pretty good.” Inside was a small scroll. On it read these words: Dear America: My, how you have grown. From a few stout souls to what, over 315 million now? My plan seems to …
Chance has a way of untangling many issues that wisdom left dangling. ********** Churchill took his best shot at defining Russia: “It’s a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.” Insightful, but leaves us hanging. Al Franken, a comedian and U.S. Senator, (is there a difference?) came closer to a sort of wisdom when …
Neptune Park, St. Simons Island, Georgia. In this place for many years multitudes of a cross-section of diverse Americans celebrate Taps at Twilight in remembrance of Memorial Day. We come to pay tribute to those who have died in service to our country, as well as honor those living who have served in our preservation …
Behold, the Leaf Blower cometh, sowing the wind, and reaping the whirlwind. ********** In your silent reverie it comes. The distant roar encroaches, closer, closer. You hear it before you see it. You smell the fumes of its foul breath before you feel its vibration. No explanation necessary: the Leaf Blower is here. The ear-splitting …
“Stood alone on a mountain top, starin’ out at the Great Divide. I could go east, I could go west, it was all up to me to decide…” Bob Seger I left home at 18. Not willingly. Poverty evicted me. My parents couldn’t afford my enormous food intake. They had to choose…a new car or …
Shadows are always dark. ********** Blame it on Newton: For every action there’s an equal and opposite reaction. Took him three laws to infer that every action is a gamble. He never even suggested a hedge. Chew on that for a while. The thought bounced around in my dream like a marble in a tin …