MY TWO BUDDIES - MISTERS SMITH & WESSON

     I am currently sitting at my desk in the company of my 'two friends' - Mr. Smith and Mr. Wesson. My revolver is a beautiful classic - a Model 19 .357 magnum. It's blued steel with diamond-scored wooden grips. It has a 4-inch barrel and hold six cartridges, but all I would need is one. At over two pounds, it gets a little heavy to hold, but that's okay; I'm not holding it - I'm just looking at it; for now. It's just there on my desk. Harmless.

     In a moment, reach down and pick it up; it's got some heft to it - it's actually fairly heavy (relatively speaking) and solid. I extend my arm and deliberately aim it at the TV screen and then up at the ceiling and then slowly swing the end of the barrel around and place it against my right temple. And then I pull it back and bring the barrel up under my chin. I hold it there for a moment. And then I put the gun back on my desk.

     One pull of the trigger is all it would take, and it would be over. Any future I have would end right there.
  
     Or if I wanted to have some fun and prolong the matter, I could remove all the bullets except one, spin the cylinder, point the gun at my head and pull the trigger to see what happens.

     Please understand I wouldn't take either action. You want to know why? I didn't think so, but I'll tell you anyhow. I wouldn't do either because I am smart enough and aware enough  to know what would happen. The result would be a permanent solution to what is really a temporary problem. 

     Whether immediately or eventually, I would die, which I really don't want to do. I have too much to live for. I know exactly what would happen, and I also know there is no Narcan-like dose to reverse the effects of a gunshot wound. Somewhere along the way, I learned and understand cause and effect. If I were to perform either option mentioned above, I would die (or spend the rest of my life in a vegetative state) because when what's done is done, it can't be undone.

     I remember telling my daughter (probably many times as she grew up) never to try drugs... not even once! In a way, it's kind of like the same thing with the same result. The contemporary wisdom is if one does drugs, it ends when they either get clean or get dead.

     If you don't do drugs, don't start! If you do, take the first most difficult step and say, "I need help!"   

     1-800-662-HELP (4357)

     Please. 

    

ACCEPTABLE LOSSES

     (Full disclosure: I am a gun owner, and I support the Second Amendment)     

     There is an old military saying that states: ‘No plan survives after the first contact with the enemy.’

     When the military and other groups consider and develop a plan, there is something built in called ‘Acceptable Losses.’ What that means is if all goes as planned (which it rarely does), it will result in a certain percentage of life or materiel loss that is deemed worth losing (acceptable) to attain the objective of the mission.

     Keeping that in mind, while many are calling for tweaking the current laws, doing something, there is an unyielding refusal of others to consider anything to make a positive difference in our gun culture.

     Six people dying with vaping is unacceptable (now up to 59), so action is taken.

     Thirty-six thousand people killed each year by guns is apparently acceptable. In mass shootings, as shocked as people profess to be, we have become numbed to the regular increase of incidents. To help, they say we should keep sending thoughts and prayers (yawn) but do nothing else.

     Sandy Hook (29 killed) should have been when action was taken, but that was apparently acceptable. Las Vegas (58), Pulse (49), Virginia Tech (32), El Paso (22), etc., etc., should also have brought about action, but apparently, some still see those as acceptable losses. Any suggestion of changing any laws result in, ‘They’re coming to take our guns.’ To them, keeping the status quo is worth the piling-up bodies.

     Until such killings become unacceptable to all, they will remain acceptable.

CHOOSE WISELY!

"I believe that in each lifetime there is one day of destiny. It is probably a day of which none of is ever aware at the time, or can even recall. But for every one of us there is that day. And when it leads to a bad end, it's better not to look back and search it out because nothing can be done about it. We can only be wise after the event." Stanley Ellin "The Day of the Bullet."

Bad decision: I am hoping there is a statute of limitations as I confess this (this was probably 50 years ago); one night, I made the drunken choice to drive impaired. All I remember is my eyes were crossing, my head was lolling, and I knew I was incredibly drunk, but I drove anyhow. For whatever reason, I am now convinced a higher power got me home safely that night.

Nothing happened, but it very well could have! My life would have drastically changed! I could have maimed or killed someone or several someones or myself. Once one pushes aside the 'It won't happen to me' concept, we get into trouble when it does. And regret always comes after the fact.

Good decision: I used to casually (very casually and only very occasionally) ride with a truly bad-ass group of Boston bikers. One night, we met up in an empty parking lot, and it quickly became clear they were discussing and planning a burglary. When everyone mounted up and headed out, I made the decision to turn off and not join them. I never saw them again. In my life, whatever possibilities (good or bad) might have happened didn't. 

One more: growing up I had a friend with whom I spent a lot of time. He was, well, different - very creative but different. We started a dittoed newsletter/magazine together - I did the writing, and he did the artwork; we sold copies for 5 cents each. In junior high school, he smoked marijuana (which at the time only bad people did - it was around 1960) and started to hang around with 'bad' people (the 'wrong crowd').

Long story short, as he made his choices of friends and activities, I started to drift away. The final turning point came when he showed up at my house and wanted to store a motor scooter he had just 'obtained.' My parents, who were smarter than I was, firmly said 'No,' and that was that.

In 1967, when he was 20, he beat up his 15-year-old girlfriend and shot her six times leaving her in the Despite numerous appeals, he is still in prison 53 years later and will be for the rest of his life.

Think carefully and choose wisely... before something happens.

CHEESE IT - THE COPS

As a former NH Bail Commissioner for several years, I was blessed enough to work with and get to know numerous police-persons from local towns as well as several staties (is that an okay label or is it pejorative? I am sure someone will let me know). All were fine, but there was one (and only one) whom I'd describe as having an attitude, a most disrespectful attitude.

I was brought up to respect the police, the military, the opposite sex (are you the opposite sex or am I?), teachers, students, and, well, pretty much everyone. Through the years, however, I have modified that respect.

One day, I don't remember how old I was 14 or 15?, I was playing baseball with some friends in a suburban field when a patrol car with two young officers pulled up. We walked over to the car (not everyone runs). Ignoring us at first, the driver slouched back in his seat and shook out a cigarette from a pack that had been in his shirt's breast pocket, put it in his mouth, and lit it. He then flicked the match at us. I don't remember the exact conversation, but I do recall it was punctuated by some swear words and a couple more flicked matches. In retrospect, from that interaction, I realized he was a punk.

On the other hand, on a more positive note, a friend and I were walking down a dark side street in Boston at night when a police car came whipping up to the curb and stopped by us. We too stopped and just stood there. Two officers got out and walked up to us, hands on their butts (gun butts). They professionally yet politely frisked us and then asked for our IDs. They told us there had just been a robbery and the two suspects' description vaguely resembled us (or vice-versa), so they had to check. They offered an apology and left. Respect.

And one more. I was driving on the James Jackson Storrow Memorial Drive (aka by locals as Sorrow Drive) down by the river Charles. My car got a flat, so I pulled into a small turnoff on the road and checked for a jack and spare. The spare was there, but I had no jack (I know - I should have checked sooner). It didn't take long for a police car to pull up behind us to see what was happening. He too checked and didn't have a jack either (hmmm - he should have checked sooner), so he got on his radio giving our location and saying, "Officer needs assistance." Wrong thing for him to say. In what seemed like almost immediately, several more cars whipped up with lights flashing and sirens blaring. Embarrassing (yet impressive) to say the least. Respect. 

Long story short, I learned through the years to respect the uniform but not always the person wearing it. 

(By the way, yes, Istill do respect the office of the President of the United States.)

Father Knows Best

I recently had an epiphany (no, I didn't get any on me).

It's not tRump at all. He clearly is who he is, says what he says, and does what he does. It's you; it's me; we are the problem. Everything that has come before has made us who we are and what we deem acceptable, which is the reason why the perception we have is the perception we have, and you're wrong; I'm right.

By the time we are adults, we are supposed to have matured, developing and shaping a personal moral compass along the way. We should have a reasonable sense of what's right and what's wrong for us and the world. We read, see, and hear things and should be able to figure out what's okay and what's not okay. 

In class, I used to draw a vertical line on the board and labeled one side 'Right' and the other Wrong.' Then I would toss out some concepts and ask which they belonged on. 'Being honest,' 'Stealing,' 'Helping someone in need,' 'Lying.' 'Bullying,' 'Cheating', 'Murdering,' etc. When I upped the ante with explanatory circumstances, the line blurred and bent to either side - 'Well, this one time it's okay.'

tRump is tRump. To some, he is a bold knight in shining armor, the Second Coming - a self-proclaimed stable genius. To others, he is the Antichrist, a person with no morals, class, or any basic human decency. With either view, he is who he is - what we see says more about who we are. As viewers and listeners, we see and hear the very same things, but to some he can do no wrong, and to others, he can do no right. I can only assume when he does or says something absolutely appalling (to me), someone else is looking up at him with dreamy eyes and battling their eyelashes and thinking, "Sigh... My hero..." 

So, here's the thing. With my background and upbringing, I have concluded tRump is a divisive liar with no sense of anything decent (except winning [for him and his family and the rich]). He thinks (and has now seen) he is above the law, and his supporters eat it up. No matter how crass the act, his supporters cheer. I want to scream, "How can you possibly see this as something good or right or desirable?"

Sadly, we are hard-wired, unable to be altered by an external force. Someone's parents taught them what their parents taught them, and so on. Robert Frost captured it perfectly when he wrote: "I see him there/ Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top/In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed./He moves in darkness as it seems to me,/Not of woods only and the shade of trees./He will not go behind his father's saying...."

And never the twain shall meet...

I am so old...

How old am I? I am so old, I remember when:

-Candy bars were 5 cents and bottled Cokes were 10 cents

-Paperback books were 25 cents (and the really thick ones were 50 cents. Hardbacks topped out at $10 for the big ones.

-Gas was 30 cents a gallon

-A brand new Ford Mustang was under $3,000

-Comic books were 10 cents

-Postage stamps were 4 cents

-Pay phones were all over and cost 10 cents

-McDonald's burgers were 15 cents

-Levi's were $5

-TVs were all black and white

-I played outside

-Many people waited until they were married before having kids

-The National Guard really was the National Guard

-I saw Disney's "Song of the South" in a theater

-Doctors made house calls

-The music was great

-I really thought I was cool.

That's it for now. More later?

It was a Partisan Hoax!

     I recently published a Note on Facebook, which expresses my views on the Impeachment trial. All I asked for was a fair trial with evidence and witnesses, not a cover up or what IMPOTUS called a 'partisan hoax.' Toward the end, I wrote: "How can senators in good conscience take this solemn oath on Thursday when many of them have already decided whether the president is guilty or not?" That is why I am praying for a fair trial. Present evidence, evaluate it, and then decide; let the chips fall where they may."

     I ended the note with "No comment is necessary."

     Of course, there were those who had to comment. Apparently anything spoken or written that in any way could be construed as anything against their Dear Leader must be addressed.

     I didn't want comments because I knew exactly what they would say. I know where you stand, and you know where I stand, and nothing will change either one of us.

I have never seen this kind of angry national divide. Never!

     As far as I am concerned, there are only two things to know, which summarize where we are: first, IMPOTUS was absolutely right when he said, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters,” folding his fingers into the shape of a gun. We have seen where nothing he says or does makes any difference. NOTHING!

     The second thing takes the form of a joke: Q. How do you get trump to change a light bulb?

     A. You don't; he'll lie and say he changed it, and all his followers will sit in the dark and agree how bright it is (or you could just say Obama put installed it).

     By the way, IMPOTUS was right – after the Senate vote, it was a partisan hoax.