NICE THINGS. WHY NOT US?

If you want nice things, and who doesn’t, keep a sharp eye out on what’s around you.

An evening stroll under the crescent moon?

If that’s not nice, I don’t know what is.

For this you don’t haveto go to Paris, or Portland, but you do have to go outside.

Can you do it? I think you can.

A crescent moon and a string of lights looking like pearls from heaven. Can you see it?

I’m no visionary, as I’m often reminded by those who are, but nice things aren’t always the most expensive things.

You don’t need a string of the most expensive pearls in the world to feel enthralled looking at something that costs nothing, but is priceless in the moment.

Unlike a string of pearls you’ll worry about, check on, and never wear because they’re too nice, the priceless moment is over in a flash and you move on.

But you’ll remember who you were with, and how you felt, in that moment.

 

One Illusion After Another

Do you need to go to Japan for sushi to be real? Noooo.

But, maybe that’s where everyone was in this place?

It was too nice to be so abandoned, which got me thinking about other nice things that have been abandoned.

What else gets a baby boomer blogger thinking besides abandoned people and places? Plenty.

On a large scale, abandoning people used to a certain standard of living is inconceivable.

People who need the basics of food, shelter, and clothing, while trying to improve their situation, have had American help around the world.

 

 

Fierce Debate Coming In

You can string beautiful lights and erect pink plastic trees, but only if they correspond to the local codes.

Otherwise, no go.

I’m a guy walking around with my wife and thinking about building codes?

Maybe.

And maybe that’s why I’m not always the best company. Lucky for me, my wife is all about codes.

Married code? Check.

Parent code? Check.

Code of responsibility? Check.

The only thing missing is the work code and money code.

She would have been a great wife for a rich man who wanted an ambitious go-getter, a planner, a do-er, someone with their finger on the pulse of the next minute, next day, next week, month, year.

But she married me instead, a roadblock, a speed bump, a work-in-progress.

She saw potential husband material I didn’t see.

When we started out she knew I didn’t want to meet her parents, her friends, or anyone else. I said:

Me: Let’s just hang out and walk around.

Her: Okay.

After that we met all the parents and friends and everything else leading up to a wedding.

Then we broke up.

Instead of hanging out and walking around, she wanted a future and would find it without me.

Without me? Now that was a surprise. It shouldn’t have been

My girl wasn’t about to be demoted from fiancé back to girlfriend.

With that new information we resumed wedding plans.

The whole break-up, and then back, took about an hour.

It went from the longest hour to a short forty years and counting. (And counting, right honey?)

We’re counting on each other, which is what married people do, are supposed to do, but don’t let me tell you your business.

 

Nice Things Take Commitment 

If you want nice things, you need to (fill in the blank) _______.

At this particular time why not take a good look in the mirror and repeat after me:

 

It’s a world of laughter
A world of tears
It’s a world of hopes
And a world of fears
There’s so much that we share
That it’s time we’re aware
It’s a small world after all

There is just one moon
And one golden sun
And a smile means friendship to ev’ryone
Though the mountains divide
And the oceans are wide
It’s a small world after all

There’s so much that we share
That it’s time we’re aware
It’s a small world after all

 

Vote like you see the real world as it should be, not as we’re told it is.

With the correct leadership there won’t be the same level of jackassery and television performances from bad actors justifying their decisions as the best way forward.

Vote for people who understand America’s role in the world, and at home.

Vote for people who want better citizens so we’re not surrounded by morons and idiots.

Newsman: What has the current administration done to make your life better?

Voter: They’ve done everything they promised to do.

Newsman: Can you tell me one promise made and kept?

Voter: No, but I trust them.

 

George Washington’s most urgent theme is union.

“The unity of government which constitutes you one people,” he writes, “is…a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad, of your safety, of your prosperity, of that very liberty which you so highly prize.”

He warns that “designing men” will try to convince Americans that their interests are irreconcilable, stoking division along regional, sectional, or factional lines.

He frames such efforts as the work of “internal and external enemies” who seek to “enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts.”

 

PS:

Vote for people who support tranquility at home, peace abroad, your safety, and your prosperity.

 

PSS:

Or vote for candidates whose main qualifications are ass-kissing, glad handing, and speaking on approval from their guy.

Do you want American representatives who dance to the tune from a tone deaf bully who answers questions about his decisions with, “Because I said so?”

When a man or woman can’t stand up on their own and instead use an orange crutch, they’re not fit for service.

There’s nothing wrong with being unfit to serve.

I’ll put on my Army E3 hat to explain: When one guy brings discredit and punishment to the whole platoon, the platoon responds.

No one deserves a blanket party for their poor decisions, don’t do that.

But poor decisions that hurt the country, drive costs up, interferes with education, creates doubt and mistrust in what were stable relationships with other nations, and draws in smart people who hadn’t thought of bullshitting their way through life for fun and profit, don’t deserve your vote.

Instead, vote for the grinder instead of the grandstander, the person who is running to solve problems they understand from their own deep immersion in the process, not the fuckstick who’s never held office but knows more about everything than anyone in the history of recorded time.

We’ve seen those people work out their weird-assed ideas on the world stage.

One of them shit-talked an entire nation into WWII. No one needs that.

Vote for people who understand a better life for you, for us, is more than tearing shit up and leaving it, more than consorting with jerks more than happy to tear shit up and leave it.

Vote like an American with a working conscience and consideration for your fellow man.

Those are two nice things worth your vote.