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VALIDATED LIFE? GET YOUR TICKET STAMPED EARLY

A validated life, like a validated parking garage ticket, means freedom. Except the validated parking ticket is more direct. Put the card in the slot, the bar rises, you drive away. What constitutes a validated life that raises the bar to escape the couch you’ve been parked on?

HARD TRUTH FOR SENSITIVE PEOPLE

Hard truth comes in one flavor, and it’s not sweet. It’s more of a gag-reflex flavor. You listen, want to disagree, but you keep listening instead. Then you go to the ICU? Maybe.

LIFE MOMENTS FOR NORMAL MEN

Life moments come when you least expect them. When things work out better than planned? Life moment right there. Things work out worse than planned? What do you call that?

YEARNING NOSTALGIA vs REAL LIFE

Yearning nostalgia poured out of the TV screen during CBS Sunday Morning. It happened when they ran a story on the town of Mayberry where Andy Griffith kept order. People in North Carolina love Mayberry, except it’s pronounced Mount Airy.

LONELY PEOPLE: WHERE DO THEY ALL COME FROM

Lonely people come from the same place you come from. How can that be? They didn’t seem lonely. Why would they be lonely? As if you need to ask.

SEARCH RULES: DON’T GIVE UP TOO SOON

Search rules come up when you need to find something bad. Real bad. So bad that your life plans may change if you don’t find what you’re looking for. Soon. What is so important to find?

BEST MAN EVERY DAY FOR BEST RESULTS

A Best Man for a wedding has a big job. It’s usually a variation on ‘Don’t screw up.’ If anyone is going to make a mistake, it has to be someone else. But what makes a Best Man good?

TAKING TIME: EXPLAIN OREGON HISTORY TO YOUTHS

Taking time to explain history to younger people is a gift that keeps on giving. What if it’s someone from another country asking about a place like Oregon? Oregon? Who cares about Oregon? I know a young man from another country who cares.

ASSISTED CONFRONTATION FOR CAR CRASH VICTIM

Who needs assisted confrontation? The nice guy who finishes last, that’s who. Besides, when you assist, and it goes wrong, you’re just trying to help, not hinder. I knew a nice guy once.

MANLY MEN WHO FORGET TO BE MEN FIRST

The manly men where I grew up were loggers and truckers and fishermen. They were hard men doing hard jobs. One of them liked to visit with my dad and tease my older brother. There may have been tears. But it’s different now. What changed?