Monthly Archives: June 2009

Michael Jackson, Profit In Death

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One reader of my blog asked if I was going to blog on Michael Jackson’s death. I replied I would not be blogging about Michael Jackson’s death, but I may blog on what I think is disturbing about Michael Jackson’s life and death. What follows are my views and my opinions of emotional manipulation and the uncaring quest for extra pennies in the coffers of the greedy.

Michael Jackson, I am guessing did not make much money over the last decade of his life. Now that Michael Jackson has passed on, Michael’s death is a money magnet for some. Radio stations, broadcasting networks, independent media stations, bars,  the internet (ad nauseam, now myself included), and t-shirt printers, along with assorted bobble and trinket makers have cranked up to make as much money as they can from Michael Jackson’s untimely death.

thoughtsI find it is disturbing, to turn on the radio to hear, “This is hit song number xx of the late Michael Jackson’s musical career”, or something similar. Likewise to turn on the television to watch the ten o’clock news and see (and hear) the end of what for some was an emotion filled, tear producing hour. A carefully planned special on the life of a person who a few hours before was all but forgotten by most of us. Now, Michael Jackson is a golden child, potentially grossing millions in manipulated emotion driven profit.

What a great person Michael Jackson is now that he has passed on. Michael is now possibly the nearest and dearest human being we have known in our lifetime. Profit out of death. Soon if not already, there may be items changing hands for money, purported to be used by or on Michael Jackson during the last minutes in this life.

Is this what we want, greed garnished with the tinsel of remembrance and reflection; cashing in on  a man’s life who for the most part, tried to keep his private life private? It would be a noble thing for all of us not to buy into this over glossed greed machine. We should balk at others using someone’s death solely to improve their bottom line.

Soon, emotion wringing will slow down. The hype machine may re-crank the tempo with baggage and trash, squeezing a few more coins from the collective emotional purse. Later, attentions will turn to making long term profits.

I choose to remember this about Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson had his run in the sun, and the last years of his life were not what anyone would willingly choose for their end. Michael Jackson I imagine, tried to live the best life the best way he knew how to live. Michael Jackson did the best he could with the tools he was given, no one can do more.

In my opinion – considering what little I understand about Michael Jackson’s life, some people in Michael’s life could have done a better job of helping him. Helping Michael Jackson become the human being he publicly appeared to wish to become.

If my pondering holds any merit, I reckon the adult Michael Jackson really tried to be a worthwhile human being first, and an entertainer second. I find the idea of someone warping another’s attempt to live a healthy, happy, spiritually productive life, a travesty and tragedy.

Writing this, I feel I am taking a cheap shot, trying to ride ride the media blitz. It does not feel good deep down inside. It feels rather chintzy. I equate it emotionally to living in a garbage dump slum, picking through rotten, slimy, rancid filth looking for something of value.

If there is any value of my thoughts in this post, it is the idea of unabashed greed driven manipulation and exploitation, wrenching as much profit from Michael Jackson’s passing as possible before he fades to another big event. I find it distasteful being an unwilling part of it.

These are my current thoughts Michael Jackson and his passing. It is healthy and wonderful to embrace and celebrate the achievements of another at the time of their passing. Generating anything else from the passing of another, only with the bottom line in mind, is in my way of thinking, less than desirable. I believe we collectively are not so desperate for coin we willingly promote greed in death. Memorabilia has its place in death of course, but greed has none, please choose wisely.

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Respect Of What We Do Not Need

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I like to eat out, my cooking gets old. My normal run of the mill eating out is generally a buffet of some type; salads, mexican, barbecue, chinese, or home style cooking, if the price is reasonable, I will check them out.

I have noticed a long time trend seemingly absent when I was a kid. Today for example, I was at a fast food place, and a young man filled his cup to the rim with ice, and then dumped it all out and refilled it halfway with ice. His friend asked him why he did that, and the young man answered, “Because I overfilled my cup.”

wasteI see people all the time follow an identical pattern with napkins, condiments, and at the buffets. Plates of food piled higher than a party of three could eat in one sitting – for themselves, or taking an excessive amount of condiments. Most of the extra food goes into the trash. It seems the food industry has been evolved into an industry that now caters to gluttony, and sloth. It seems to be okay with the people on both sides of the counter.

Looking a little farther away from the food industry I see this ‘waste’ mindset is pervasive in many areas of our life. For example, salt has been used in oral hygiene for as long as salt has been around. Recently it is not good enough. Today salt and warm water has been replaced by expensive mixtures of alcohol, water, flavorings, and a few other exotic ingredients. Men and women are losing their hair at an alarming rate because they ‘need’ the sealers, conditioners, and gels, to get the right look.

I wish I could blame it all on the younger generations, like it was something they created, but it is not. With the recent economic bailout, it is obvious this condition has been simmering since I was a kid. I was probably one of the founders of wasteful living. Mega companies, business oriented men and women, and almost every charity imaginable stand in line with their mouths open, and hands out, demanding that someone place an excessive amount of money on their palms, because they need it.

The idea that any company, group, or individual may not need free money is not important today. Self sufficiency and pride has gone out the window. Begging has become the new standard for the American Way. ‘What is in it for me’, is what seems to compel begging all the way from Capitol Hill, to the street corner. It does not matter what you really need, what matters is how much you can get.

When the Christmas holidays roll around this year and the ‘giving’ trees are up, take a look at what children are asking for. Gone are the days of a board game, a pair of jeans, or perhaps some new shoes. Those items are already mainlined to the nations needy by others. Looking at the wish list of the needy, you will see requests for game counsels, cell phones, and designer purses. Nothing is out of the question when it comes to asking.

I like to think I am kind, and I think I am generous with my life. I grew up poor, and I understand the feelings that being poor can have. I understand that something happens, and we find ourselves needing. But when people are asking me for things that I choose not to buy myself because they are out of my budget range, I find myself drawing a line in the sand.

I used to hear about the poor starving children in Africa when I was a child. I now listen to parents hearing from their children how their life is a tragedy because they do not have a two hundred dollar cell phone, at least two of the latest gaming stations, a new sports car, and half the family income for spending money each week.

Is this the America I helped create when I was not paying attention? No matter, I am ashamed of what I see. It is time we have some respect for what we need and use, and live gorging ourselves on what we can get. We do not have the right to expect our government and others to cut back while we live a porkfest life.

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Time Travel To Spiritual Growth

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I was thinking about time travel today, which reminded me of the story H. G. Wells wrote in the 1890’s. In the story the main character discovers a time machine and goes well into the future, has a long adventure, and returns three hours later our time, then entertains dinner guests with an accounting of his trip into the future. As the story goes on, the main character goes on another trip and is never heard from again.

It was not the only story of it’s time though. Jules Verne had his own stories, regaling his readers with stories of submarines, underwater cities, and other wonders. Other writers of the day were also writing stories that would fit well in these two story tellers.

Phillip Jose Farmer did a great job in on of his books of tying it all together. Farmer introduced aliens into his story, with the idea they were being chased around the world. What if all those stories had there roots somewhere in fact, and not imagination?

Wouldn’t it be incredible to discover a time machine hidden away, taking a trip into the future and returning? All that is missing is the technology. Or maybe there is no technology gap. Maybe we do not allow ourselves the possibility that we already know about time travel, and we ourselves are time travelers already.

blooming treeWhen I think about our history, I have odd thoughts at times. Our human history which we really care about only goes back a few thousand years. Before then, one day was pretty much the same as the next to us. Mankind made no leaps and bounds changes to their lives, but lived pretty much the same as people living a thousand years earlier did.

I have created a story of my own having too much free time one day. My story involves reincarnation, time travel, and multiple lives. Plus it all takes place in the last five thousand years. Who would want or need to incarnate before this time, once would have been enough, because nothing ever changed. Perhaps as some feel, our end is near, and our time is short on this planet of ours.

What if we incarnate multiple times in this century alone? What if we were to experience recent history and time over and over and over? What if you live right now where you are reading this, but you have read this exact post numerous times, living in different parts of the world, with different lives, different experiences, and different learning’s?

How interesting would it be living in the United States living in a family close to Dr. Martin Luther King, in India as a part of Mahatma Gandhi’s cause, or in Europe with all Europe’s changes in thinking, government, and political boundaries?

Imagine living a lifetime as a supporter of an important cause, returning over and over to experience this same cause from different perspectives. Living one lifetime longing or fighting for basic freedoms, and the next lifetime as an oppressor of those same freedoms?

What possibilities would exist for the growth of our spiritual self! Imagine being deeply opposed to something that does not conform to our present beliefs, and living other lifetimes accepting the possibility of multiple lifetimes during a single century as not only possible, but probable.

Living now as your parents’ child and coming back as one of your now parents Parent! What a tremendous possibility for spiritual growth! What we would experience to be able to live through all our human experience, living each and every opposing facet, experiencing a single event from all sides. Maybe Casey had mostly it right after all, and we chose not to believe him?

Of course I have to include a standard disclaimer. If you are in a lifetime where your framework of how life works excludes this story as a possibility, you may not know in this lifetime if it is true, or not. Unless you have a major paradigm shift, or life experience that moves your world and spiritual views, and live through the experience, it will remain only an absurd story.

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How To Feel Better About Your Community And Yourself

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feel goodI was out walking last evening, and thought up another use for my rule of three. Perhaps it will change the world too, or at least your little slice of it. As I mentioned before, I enjoy doing things by three.

The number three is important or valued in some areas, a powerful number. The Christian bible being a good example. When there was a battle, and the good guys won, the army is a number divisible by three. On the other hand the defeated is usually a number divisible by four. The Trinity is another good example, the Stations of the Cross, and I imagine the list goes on and on. Three is thought to be a powerful number. I happen to like using three because it feels like a little more than one or two, but not as hard to remember as four or more.

I thought late last night, why restrict doing something good to just where I walk. Why not bring that thought or act into the rest of my life? I went through a number of ideas, and came up with this one. It will take some time to get it moving, but I think people will catch on and help because it makes our world a cleaner prettier place to be.

As I walked to the park yesterday, I slowed down where some tumbleweed was growing in the rocks next to the sidewalk. As few cars approached I saw my opportunity. I bent over and pulled some tumbleweed out and placed it on the curbside of the street.

Once on the walking path, I picked up some paper trash as two people were walking towards me. For my third act, I again pulled some tumbleweed and set it to the curb as a car drove by and a walker was walking towards me. I used three timed opportunities to attempt to influence neighbors and fellow walkers. If I do this every time I am out over the summer, say sixty times over the next months, I am providing almost two hundred people the opportunity to be influenced into doing something good for themselves and their community.

That is great for the few blocks to the park and the walking path, but what about the rest of my day. That is when I decided it was time to turn it into three. Three times during my day, I am going to look for opportunities to do something positive and helpful, in an effort to influence other people to do the same. I think it is a great grass roots movement in the making!

Doing something good in front of other people is modeling a behavior we all should be doing, but for various reasons do not. Some of us have become shy about standing out in a crowd and doing anything that makes them stand out and be noticed. Being noticed for role modeling a good action is a great thing.

I think it is time to end those behaviors and do something good for all of us at the same time. The rule of three can be a guideline, but by no means a stopping point if opportunities present themselves. For example today, I told a worker at a local salad bar, that I hope their boss notices how hard they work, and what a good job they do. I commented on a pretty blouse a woman was wearing who looked up as she ate, looking tired from carrying life’s burdens.

Please join in by looking for three opportunities every day to model a positive behavior in front of others or by doing something for someone else. Pick up a piece of paper on the ground, pull a weed from a city flower bed, offer to help someone with something simple, like carrying their books as you both walk home. I do not think it has to be anything big to start making a big difference.

It may feel awkward at first, but the feelings of happiness and contentment that follow later on make up for any feelings of standing out. Plus picking up a few pieces of trash and throwing them away where they belong will make your neighborhood a more pleasant place. And you will feel good about what you are doing!

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Think About Fish Before Fishing

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Carp fishing last week was very slow. Fisherman who are willing to pay a few dollars more for their license can fish with two poles in most waters in this state. I pay those few dollars, so I can fish with two poles. Many people do not, and the fine I was told is $140.00. The difference in dollars for the proper license makes me realize how much people are willing to gamble.

I caught only one Carp on last weeks outing. I had three more bites, but they never came to fruition. I was using two different baits, and I had one bite on each one. I caught my one Carp on corn. There were two men close by, who were wandering along the lake shore as I was. We checked up on each other through the day, to see who was catching what.

They were intent on catching Catfish, which I found odd, because they started fishing at 08:30 am. That would be late night snacking for any self respecting Catfish unless dinner fell right in front of its nose.

The two men were frustrated as they made a long drive to fish for Catfish and they were not catching any. I told them about the catfish I caught a few weeks ago in the early evening hoping they would read between the lines, but they did not. I them mentioned that Catfish were night feeders because they are not developed for capturing prey with speed, they use darkness and stealth instead. I think the men were too frustrated to realize I was telling them nicely; middle of the day is not a good Catfish fishing.

CarpThe Carp were far out in the lake. They were jumping forty or more meters from shore and on the far side of weed beds. Perhaps fishing pressure on this particular lake is heavy enough to force them from shore. I fished in close to shore on the bank side of the weeds, and the Carp were having none of it. I changed to my twelve foot Carp Rod so I can cast halfway to Texas, or at least out where the Carp are.

There is a parameter within fifty or so feet of shoreline where any fish is very wary about eating any food that is not natural. Hence my long Carp rod to get my bait well out beyond the reach of most fisherman. My non standard long rod is not normal lake fishing gear and is looked at with skepticism, until I start catching fish. It does not create believers, but it makes them wonder what my real secret is.

Fishing on the far side of a weed bed is always a challenge. Carp when hooked head right into the thick weeds. Weeds are a defense for most fish, and fish try to swim to the nearest cover when frightened. I thought I lost my one fish, but once I mowed a five foot patch of weeds down (that floated to the surface), I could feel a fish still on. It was over a six minute battle, and the fish was only average for the lake. Its size was nothing remotely close to the big carp pictures on the net. That says a lot for Carp’s ability to provide a good fight.

Taking an informal poll, I found I caught one more fish than the nine people I spoke with. That does not reflect any skill on my part, only the willingness of Carp to eat. As one of the men fishing for Catfish told me, at least I could drive home knowing I caught something. I think all the fisherman present may have caught at least one fish if they did a little homework, and thought about what they know about fishing. Catfish generally do not feed in the middle of the day. Bass are spooked by anything splashing through the the water. All fish have a healthy fear of anything unnatural near shore. Where fish are jumping is a good indicator of where there may be fish.

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Robins, Generations, and a Life Lived Well

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I have been living at the same address now for over twenty years now. That is a record for me. The longest time spent at one address in my life. It seemed odd after a few years at my present address not to be moving on. Once I became used to the idea of living in one place, it became comfortable, and even normal, not moving after a few years.

generationsOne of the first visitors my back yard had was a Robin, which according to natures way became a pair of Robins. They only stayed in my back yard for the month of April which was the first month they flew up from warmer climes where they had wintered. The Robins would scratch about the few areas of mulch material that was left by blowing winds looking for insects for dinner.

After April was over they would move to greener pastures so to speak, I imagine where there were opportunities for real food, rather than the meager existence provided by my back yard. I used to let my cats outside in those days. In their third year, one of the cats killed one of the Robins. There were a second pair by then, offspring I am sure, but the old Robin remained stoically alone until its natural death. Or at least I imagine it was natural, it left end of summer, and never returned.

These days a descendant pair of Robins, many generations later think the bird bath is their property, which they allow other birds to use, but is their bath by virtue of being there first. Over the years, I have lost track of how many pairs of Robins have lived and died in my back yard, but I am guessing this must be the sixth or seventh generation of Robins who claim my back yard as theirs.

They also stay through most of the summer now, scratching and looking for a juicy meal. I know it is not their prime hunting territory for food, but it has become as much a part of their life, as seeing them in the back yard has become mine.

Watching them become agitated when a Dove comes to drink from their bird bath the other day reminded me of the way the Robins and I view our lives. I see the Robins, daily for a few seconds at a time. The Robins on the other hand, have an intimate knowledge of the ebb and flow of life in my back yard. They know when certain insects come out of the ground, and when other insects leave. All I see is them is scratching, and I watch the progress of their lives from first year birds to matriarchs of their Robin clan.

I drew an interesting contrast between the life of Robin’s and my own, and how it applies us all and our own lives. Some of us, who are Shepherds our lives pay attention to what is happening both to ourselves and those around us. We notice most subtle ebbs and tides of life around us, as the Robin’s notice the changes of time and season.

Others among us live pretty much the same as they did yesterday. Tomorrow will be pretty much the same as today. They go about their day out of touch with their lives, and the world around them. They are live their lives ignoring the idea that each day of their life is dynamic and special.

I hope to live my life more like the Robin’s who claim my back yard as their own. Trying to live and appreciate the uniqueness of each day. At my end, I may not be able to recall each and every day, or perhaps even remember my days and nights at all. I will be content knowing that up until that moment I tried to live each day appreciating the subtle changes as the season of life ran its course. How sad it would be to look back on life thinking, I am happy it is almost over. Believing my life was one long day never punctuated with anything special. That must be be a sad finish to ones life.

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