GIVING THANKS TO CAREFUL READERS

Giving thanks for anything is a good idea.

It only gets funky when you try to work it into something else, like the opposite of thanks.

Would that be irony?

But a sweet thank-you is not the same as a hearty F-you. All cleared up?

With that said, I get a lot of thanks in my spam folder.

From that I learn my posts have helped someone, given hope to someone, settled a problem.

And they all come from hair fashion pages, or hair style.

Is there something about my hair?

Now that I’ve moved my apple speaker near my keyboard it’s picking up things?

I don’t have hair problems that need a wig solution, but not according to my spam.

I googled hair spam and learned there’s a thriving business in wig scam spam.

How did I become a target of wig scam spam? I don’t know, but at least they’re nice about it.

I figure it’s all coming from a hair bot that cycles through my posts and picks one to leave a comment on.

Wig scam spam are not the careful readers I’m giving thanks to.

 

Most of my readers don’t leave comments, but I know they are out there.

I read blogs without leaving comments.

Everything doesn’t need one, or warrant one.

If I read a clever post on twitter I look at the author bio.

When I fine a link to a blog, I check it out.

Some open with a static page demanding an email to proceed, and that’s as far as I go on that.

If it’s a single author blog, like BoomerPdx, I look for franchise affiliations.

Do they do the work, or are they part of a plug and play blog network.

If you’ve got the bug to post important information online, a network is a good choice.

You may find new friends and expand your messaging.

That’s not for me and my kind.

We’re not messaging anyone in particular, but filling a need too often neglected.

 

Filling A Need One Reader At A Time

What’s the need I believe I’m working on, the need I’m filling?

Over the years I’ve learned that people make mistakes, and they sometimes learn from their mistakes.

All normal and good, right?

But some people make mistakes, get rewarded, so they continue making the same mistakes.

When their rewards slow down, they change their messaging to include even bigger mistakes with the hope of greater rewards.

Volkswagen had a problem:

 

Do you remember that minor incident regarding Volkswagen diesel models? Yeah, the one where VW was forced to spend billions of dollars to buyback and repair thousands of diesel models in the US and Europe.

 

Baseball had a problem:

 

The Steroid Era continues to have an impact in Cooperstown. All-time sluggers in Bonds, McGwire, Sosa and Rodriguez are not in the Baseball Hall of Fame, and steroid users’ Hall of Fame candidacy remains one of the sport’s biggest debates.

 

Penh State had a problem.

 

If you know right from wrong, have self control, and call yourself a good citizen, you’reway ahead of the pack.

 

Giving Thanks: Don’t Be A Problem

I knew two guys who went Christmas shopping together each year.

Part of the downtown Portland outing was stopping by Mary’s Club.

One year one of the guys headed to the bathroom before leaving; the other guy went out to the sidewalk on Broadway.

Just outside the door another man was weaving on blood stained cement.

 

Other Man: Wanna buy some weed, some stuff, something else.

Shopper: That your blood? Are you bleeding.

OM: I got weed and more.

Shopper: You’re standing in a pool of blood. Did you just stab the last guy out the door?

OM: What I’m . . .

Shopper: If that’s not from you, you’d better beat it. Some cop sees you in blood, they might find your stash. They will.

OM: You don’t want . . .

Shopper: I don’t want to see you taken down and eating concrete. That’s what I don’t want. Neither do you. Do you?

 

The guy left just as the other shopper came out of the door.

 

Another time a problem guy was berating two younger guys sitting on the sidewalk near the Portland Outdoor Store.

 

If the breadline outside VooDoo Donuts seemed unusual to an out-of-towner, two guys leaning their packs against a pole near the Portland Outdoor Store wasn’t. Every city has people living on the street in some form.

The two guys wore clean clothes, had current haircuts, and one wore glasses. Not the profile of the usual transient, but still not good enough for a man standing over them and yelling.

Trim, middle aged, and wearing a coordinated outfit that showed class and professional grooming, the angry Portland baby boomer barked at the two younger guys.

He accused them of everything from causing the economic crash to foreign wars. Each boozed up breath raised the volume. We walked by, then I decided to show the boys some Portland heart and walked back.

 

It’s hard to pass by some pissy old man going off on a rant.

He had a problem that he was caught up in. Things weren’t going his way and he needed someone to blame.

I wasn’t responsible for his behavior, but I was in the company of my kid and his buddy, so I did more than usual.

I went back.

 

I caught up with my party half a block away. They asked what I said.

“I asked the guys on the ground if they were okay, if they needed anything. The same thing you’d ask anyone who looks like they’re headed for trouble.”

“They didn’t look like trouble.”

“Except one was about to call the police on the old guy. Who knows what happens after that. This is downtown.”

“Are you the Heart of Portland?” the new guy said.

“Maybe tonight,” I said. “You might be, too. It’s still early.”

If it’s hard passing by a pissy old man in an angry rant, is it harder voting for one?

That’s the question this week. Find a way of giving thanks when you vote.