There’s No Place Like Home

Daily writing prompt

Write about your dream home.

View all responses

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Forward: Just in time for Sunday morn…

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To-die-for, dream home, awaits us; show gratitude
Its locale knows no known longitude / latitude
It’s neither the mansion nor tent
No payments of mortgage or rent
Behold Heaven! Its radiant beatitude!

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Be humans Vaxxed OR Unvaxxed, We
can still shed and spread the batcrap
crazy contagious coronavirus which,
in turn, spawns new variants; which,
in turn, could, eventually, render the
available vaccines worthless; which,
in turn, will drag out the pandemic’s
needless suffering, illness and death!

HENCE… this easy as pie, cover your
nose and pie-hole/hole-up heads-up:

Stay Publicly / Properly Masked!
Stay Safe at Home!
Stay Healthy!

-30-

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Gov. Issue God: Fortune Cookie Blog

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Nothing (But Trouble) Up Their Sleeves

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Be wary of Radical Righties who hide diabolical tricks up their sleeves.
In the end many wear their religion on their hued brown shirtsleeves;
strikingly so; right above (or is it beneath?) their Swastika armbands.

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Be humans Vaxxed OR Unvaxxed, We
can still shed and spread the batcrap
crazy contagious coronavirus which,
in turn, spawns new variants; which,
in turn, could, eventually, render the
available vaccines worthless; which,
in turn, will drag out the pandemic’s
needless suffering, illness and death!

HENCE… this easy as pie, cover your
nose and pie-hole/hole-up heads-up:

Stay Publicly / Properly Masked!
Stay Safe at Home!
Stay Healthy!

-30-

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Open Letter To Warmongers Worldwide

Inspired by Carl Sagan, NASA’s famous “Pale Blue Dot” image of Earth was “snapped” by the Voyager 1 probe on 14 February 1990

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That one can barely see our sunbeam enveloped home world, depicted above, is precisely what makes the entire viewing experience all the more heartening and humbling. And, that said…

Let the open letter begin: We, the members of our evolved, enlightened, global family (the champions of peaceful coexistence), are sick and tired of egotistical, little boy leaders’ turf wars. We encourage you coldblooded butchers to expand your small minds and find / open your hearts; with any luck, courtesy of the following, soul-searching, non-negotiable truths.

• Brains over Brawn sobriety is infinitely preferable to bellicosity.
• Holy Wars fought on behalf of deities are fraught with hypocrisy¹.
• Our planet Earth has more than enough real estate to go around.
• Accept the lots-in-life² you started with, shut up and stand down.
• If you can’t accept such terms, would you, at least, butt/bow out?

¹how, pray tell, doth one kill in God’s name, YET, obey God’s “Thou Shalt NOT Kill!”
²obviously, the phrase, lots-in-life, can be considered both literally and figuratively.

The late astronomer Carl Sagan’s earthly essay, A Pale Blue Dot, spot-on assesses the absurdity of mindless aggression, in general; in particular, addresses the sort of needless, deadly/destructive attacks against Israel and Ukraine (respectively, by the Palestinian National Authority and Russian Federation). More to sagacious Sagan’s point…

“The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot.” [Read More]

Personally, my own backyard, naked eye and telescopic travels thru the vast universe (even under light polluted conditions), can be credited, in part, for my winding up with an empathetic nature; my being able to perceive the big picture whenever considering humanity’s travails. And, oh, how I long for the true dark skies of my long gone youth; as captured in the Milky Way, galactic depiction, below…

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Be humans Vaxxed OR Unvaxxed, We
can still shed and spread the batcrap
crazy contagious coronavirus which,
in turn, spawns new variants; which,
in turn, could, eventually, render the
available vaccines worthless; which,
in turn, will drag out the pandemic’s
needless suffering, illness and death!

HENCE… this easy as pie, cover your
nose and pie-hole/hole-up heads-up:

Stay Publicly / Properly Masked!
Stay Safe at Home!
Stay Healthy!

-30-

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The 1 Minute (or less) Op-Ed

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Tho unaffiliated with any specific sect, I do shudder at the
very notion of how a re-resurrected Jesus Christ would be
received by radicalized, uncivilized MAGA members/tools;
especially were He to speak out against racism & classism.
To say the very least: things would not turn out well for J.C.
To say the most: he’d wind up an AR-15, crucifixion fatality.

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Be humans Vaxxed OR Unvaxxed, We
can still shed and spread the batcrap
crazy contagious coronavirus which,
in turn, spawns new variants; which,
in turn, could, eventually, render the
available vaccines worthless; which,
in turn, will drag out the pandemic’s
needless suffering, illness and death!

HENCE… this easy as pie, cover your
nose and pie-hole/hole-up heads-up:

Stay Publicly / Properly Masked!
Stay Safe at Home!
Stay Healthy!

-30-

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Spirituality’s Significance in My Life

Daily writing prompt

How important is spirituality in your life?

View all responses

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By the time I reached 12 years of age, I had realized that organized religion is not my scene.

What I’d found objectionable, in part, was how my particular, peculiar parish boasted congregants far more possessed by their worldly possessions than by the desire to become more spiritual. And more to my point, the even bigger turn-off, in play, was their apparent disinterest in advancing and applying each Sunday sermon’s wisdom towards the overall betterment of our global society.

I also found some of the fundamental indoctrination (charitably speaking) implausible.

For example, how could we, wee humans have been made in our creator’s purported image; that of a wizened, long bearded, XY chromosome configured entity; boasting a full inventory of boy parts (to say nothing of that booming bass voice) when roughly fifty percent of human beings are XX chromosome configured; boasting a full inventory of girl parts? Of course, as my awareness heightened I realized there was an unanswered (perhaps never to be honestly answered), natural follow-up Q, too…

How, pray tell, could intersex individuals ever be expected to identify with a cisgender male head honcho?

Granted, I do realize that all I’ve said, so far, could be easily misconstrued as sinful, sacrilegious, irreverent or even blasphemous (depending on the fervor / fever of each critic’s devoutness / intolerance).

Over what? My critical thinking inspired non-conformity with organized religion? I’d sure like to know how the hell anyone could ever find my consequent, alternative belief system objectionable. To flesh that out a bit…

Over three score ago, I came to the realization that the Golden Rule affords me all the spirituality driven guidance necessary for leading a moral life. While spirituality can be learned via theologians’ sermons, it’s far more profound a learning experience when the revelation comes from deep within.

And spirituality does run deep. It’s a Force of Nature; one of the main ingredients that had been bubbling within our worldly primordial soup.

I experience such heightened awareness whenever / wherever I observe the orderliness of nature; be this the…

• sight of the nighttime constellations, nebulae, planets, etc.
• sound of a passing by hummingbird’s whirring wings
• scent of fresh air following a gentle summer’s rain
• taste of brewed at the crack of dawn coffee
• touch of hand-in-hand love and affection

Seeing how the prompt did ask, “How important is spirituality in your life?” I hope all that I posted above has proven to be an adequate answer…

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Be humans Vaxxed OR Unvaxxed, We
can still shed and spread the batcrap
crazy contagious coronavirus which,
in turn, spawns new variants; which,
in turn, could, eventually, render the
available vaccines worthless; which,
in turn, will drag out the pandemic’s
needless suffering, illness and death!

HENCE… this easy as pie, cover your
nose and pie-hole/hole-up heads-up:

Stay Publicly / Properly Masked!
Stay Safe at Home!
Stay Healthy!

-30-

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Religion? Yes! Organized Religion? No!

Daily writing prompt

Do you practice religion?

View all responses

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Here’s why my above title replied in that manner…

As a twelve-year-young boy, I found organized religion to be rather hollow and unholy, so much so, that when the Catholic church left me, I didn’t shed any tears. My dissatisfaction was less about Clerical errors, more about some of the congregants’ erroneous interpretations of what it means to be, in general, a good Christian; more specifically, a righteous Catholic.

In essence, their soulless, sole motivation for showing up each Sunday was to shamelessly flaunt their their Godless, stratospheric station in life. As if what? Acting all high and mighty might get them closer to God?

Well, since “they” say the devil is in the details, let’s now dig (aptly enough) deeper down.

BTW, I’ve chosen to illustrate these unwise parishioners thru my wise-guy eyes. While my nearing the deep end, cheeky exaggerations do run rampant throughout my narrative, nonetheless, the net result does accurately portray the depth of my bygone displeasure. And, maybe it’s just me, but once my words stripped back their artifice, fakery and superficiality, that even elicited a few of my chuckles. Hopefully, you’ll react similarly? And, that said, here goes…

When it came down to Sunday services in my small hometown, quite the spectacle played out on a regular basis; their bad behavior now broken down along provincial cis gender lines.

The womenfolk seemed to be viewing our church’s center aisle as if it were some NYC catwalk designed for strutting their stuff (i.e., haute couture); where their finery’s flow-able fabric was free to flutter within the breezy wake created by each, preceding parishioner / supermodel.

As for the menfolk, it was ALMOST as if their burning desires were limited to tooling up in the parking lot; sporting their pride fueled facial glow (ditto that wasted energy re their eyeballs’ flashing dollar signs). Hell, upon exiting their shiny, swanky luxury rides, even that new car smell was heavy in the air. Palpable, too, was each patriarch’s temptation to pop open the bonnets (hoods); in hopes of turning the less fortunate passersby green with envy. Yep, even the Motor City’s gas guzzler engines were capable of roaring to life; strutting their Sunday best.

Naturally, no Sunday service would be complete sans the benediction; in this case, really driven home, courtesy of these Indy 500 wannabes devolving into eat-my-dirt mode; indulging their puerile desires to full throttle speed off, homeward; the ample corroborating (carburetor-ing?) evidence? Their billowing heavenward, hellish, acrid, cloudy, dense, dark, carbon monoxide saturated smog.

Now, that above story is what I’d classify as an unsightly, brand of un-Godliness!

It’s easy to conclude that anyone turned on by that sort of snooty, sooty irreverence is likely beyond redemption. It’d also be no shocker were we to discover that such mindsets have (regrettably so) survived intact; into the 21st century.

To flesh that out, they’d be today’s imbecilic, theocratic, FOX News talking heads; Iran’s intolerant mullahs; and treasonous Trumper / MAGA magnitude Republican insurrectionists; all of these bad actors’ job #1 being to…

• misinterpret, mutilate and expurgate scripture
• ram their bastardized religious dogma down decent folks’ throats
• mete out death sentences to punish women for mere dress code violations
• burn down hallowed human decency / precious American democracy

Now, let’s classify, below, what an upbeat, inclusive, brand of spirituality is…

My belief system is all about us, wholeheartedly, respecting all respectable people; that the only labels that accurately assess folks’ character are Good, Bad and In-Between. Also, we must always give credence to the Golden Rule’s Prime Directive; namely, that succinctly, eloquently worded, honest to God creed…

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you!”

In closing… I’d like to expand on this day’s writing prompt, “Do you practice religion?”

Too many people in our world do need all the practice they can possibly get; for they seldom, if ever, practice what their preachers are preaching. Worse yet, what too damned many preachers are preaching, nowadays, is accompanied, not by church organs but by dog-whistles; regrettably, such tweets are inclusive of xenophobia, misogyny, homophobia, and fascism.

In the end… those indoctrinated along those deplorable lines will wind up raring to go on their science silencing, book burning, freedom gutting, rampaging crusades.

And God help us all, should their un-Godly behavior ever prevail!

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Be humans Vaxxed OR Unvaxxed, We
can still shed and spread the batcrap
crazy contagious coronavirus which,
in turn, spawns new variants; which,
in turn, could, eventually, render the
available vaccines worthless; which,
in turn, will drag out the pandemic’s
needless suffering, illness and death!

HENCE… this easy as pie, cover your
nose and pie-hole/hole-up heads-up:

Stay Publicly / Properly Masked!
Stay Safe at Home!
Stay Healthy!

-30-

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The Conversation of a Lifetime

Daily writing prompt

Who would you like to talk to soon?

View all responses

My “A” to that “Q” would be the Cosmic Custodian; the Mistress / Master of the Multiverse; or, all summed up neatly and a tad more reverently…

God!

And I would hope that the prerequisite for such a confab would not, necessarily, involve my dying.

Anyway, I’d attempt to keep my quips and questions to a minimum but, based upon the complexity and grave nature of our worldly woes, keeping such vow would likely be impossible. Our conversation would commence with a bit of a concession…

I do reckon that you’ve likely been staging your Fatherly, on the QT, interventions to prevent us, your children, from totally annihilating ourselves, YET, wherever we look, there seems to be no end to the chronic human suffering and abject misery. What the hell is preventing you from really, Really, REALLY putting your foot down?

You know, to, once and for all, render impossible the rise and spread of authoritarianism, racism, sexism, classism, ageism, narcissism and materialism (on steroids); as well as every other horrifying “ism” known to humankind! In other words, how about unleashing your own, considerable power to topple all of the power and land grabbing, money grubbing freedom choking, nuclear saber rattling Trumps and Putins; that inane and insane ilk, who only lives to lord over their ill-gotten, obscene wealth and drool all over their overrun nations’ real estate.

Why can’t you convince the gaggle of insufferable multibillionaires that they’ve already accumulated more wealth than they could ever, possibly piss away if they were cocaine / heroine addicts and shopaholics, who lived to be 50,000 years old. Why is it that you cannot ensure that conscientious, common-folk, who want and need to work full time, can secure living wage jobs with decent benefits? Why is it that health care for all, cannot be regarded as the birthright that it is?

Why did you grant the coronavirus free rein to go on its debilitating and deadly worldwide rampage; to fatally infect the (known), nearly seven million souls, AND, simultaneously, fail to fully motivate world leaders to motivate the citizenry to take the necessary, life saving precautions (such as sheltering at home, social distancing and masking up publicly).

Why can’t minority groups be afforded all the other birthrights; to name a few more, equality, life, liberty and justice for all?

Why can’t we convince all of our leaders that catastrophic climate change is real and looming; that we are stomping so damned many of our carbon footprints all over the good Earth that we’ll (sooner that we think) be condemned to exist within an inhospitable world that’ll, in all likelihood, morph humanity into an endangered species.

Well, at about that juncture, I’d begin to suspect that our Mistress / Master of the Multiverse might be growing weary of me; so, I’d quickly save the rest of my questions and quips for another day, HOWEVER…

Not before expressing my final, for the day, desperation fueled, heartfelt plea for help…

Dear God, IF you don’t feel it’s within your purview to directly, interminably stage such interventions, can you, bare minimum, at the very least, school and spur-on a sufficient number of us mortals; embolden us to take on this Herculean DIY Task? Perhaps you could help us heighten our own powers of persuasion and hone our communications skills; so we can more effectively spread the life saving, good word (or gospel, as it were).

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And speaking of the good word…

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Be humans Vaxxed OR Unvaxxed, We
can still shed and spread the batcrap
crazy contagious coronavirus which,
in turn, spawns new variants; which,
in turn, could, eventually, render the
available vaccines worthless; which,
in turn, will drag out the pandemic’s
needless suffering, illness and death!

HENCE… this easy as pie, cover your
nose and pie-hole/hole-up heads-up:

Stay Publicly / Properly Masked!
Stay Safe at Home!
Stay Healthy!

-30-

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“We Meet Again” (Part 2)

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Compelling how that headline’s quotation marks can express such contrasting sentiments. When specifically connected with this post’s Part 1, it involves words I don’t really mean; i.e., signifies my shunning days of yore, superficial, dreary students. Yet, when associated with Part 2, it refers to an actual quotation; words which showcase a long ago, meaningful, far too fleeting friendship with a delightful classmate (more about her in a moment).

BTW, if you happened to miss Part 1, my following catch-up synopsis should prove adequate.

Of late, I’ve been flouting bygone, classmate acquaintances’ persistent messages (logged on my landline answering machine / lodged within my snail mailbox); thwarting their attempts to invite me to OUR… correction… THEIR 50th Class Reunion. Here’s why…

• From the 4th grade, onward, bullies had rendered me a social pariah
• As such, I have absolutely boycotted all of THEIR previous reunions
• Past reunion organizers could not track down THEIR other outcasts
• If “lepers”, such as I, aren’t gonna to show up, why bother attending?

Even so… truth be told… I certainly would love a second chance at transforming that above mentioned fleeting friendship into something more forever. Alas… long sigh… No Way On Earth could that ever, possibly happen.

You see, a delightful young Miss had officially joined the Class of ’72 at September’s outset of the 2nd Grade. Assigned to the desk directly in front of mine, on that Day-1, she spun around to introduce herself. Tho she had certainly needed no assist from beauty, Debbie’s charming presence did get further enhanced by her shoulder length wavy blonde hair, sparkling blue eyes and beguiling smile.

And that was just for starters. From each school day, onward, she’d turn to face me, remind me, “We meet again.” Wow, what an original expression from someone so young!

Regrettably, that was not for long. Debbie was destined to complete her formal education ten years too early; “graduate” in a most unexpected, unconventional manner when her oncologist meted out his death sentence diagnosis.

Sadly, in that bygone era, schools didn’t, yet, have grief counselors in their employ; delegating such a duty to our teacher, Mrs. M. Her sixty seconds, tops, somber announcement was all we could rely on to console us.

The problem with such a scenario… developmentally speaking, seven and eight-year-olds have yet to fully grasp the finality of death. Personally, up to that very moment, my only previous experience was as an even less aware six-year-old; my ambivalence to my maternal grandmother’s passing on, due, mainly, to the multiple hundreds of miles between Minnesota and Michigan; the expense of travel keeping us apart (my school teacher father was working for peanuts).

Returning now to the life that Debbie might have had… to this day, I cannot help but wonder. Had she remained healthy, been allowed a full lifespan, what might our friendship have become? Considering how well we had gotten along, might the phrase childhood sweethearts have been appropriate?

Returning now to the life that Debbie had been denied… due to the custodian’s next day, get ‘er done efficiency, my classroom’s far left column, where I was situated, was now shortened by one desk; that omission advancing me forward. Somehow, none of this seemed right. In essence, I was now seated at Debbie’s desk; and even worse, would never, again, ear witness her cheerful greeting… unless…

Theologians’ claims of an afterlife do prove true. If so, once my final day on Earth arrives, perhaps I will finally be granted my second chance at transforming a fleeting friendship into something more FOREVER?

I do intend to train my ears… correction… fine tune Eternity’s equivalent telepathy, which will permit me to discern Debbie’s in good spirits, three welcoming words…

“We meet again!”

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Stay Publicly / Properly Masked!
Stay Safe at Home!
Stay Healthy!

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Chewin’ the Fat

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Even tho I haven’t been an adherent of the Roman Catholic faith and regular churchgoer, since my preteen days of the 1950s/60s, I’m still a spiritual, moral man; fully aware that today is the advent of the Lenten Season; where the following doctrine will be playing out for my former sect’s estimated 1.2 billion, present day congregants:

“Summed up succinctly, Roman Catholics must fast and abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday, Wednesday, March 2, 2022 and Good Friday, April 15, 2022. Additionally, they must abstain from meat on all Fridays during Lent.”

The Catholic Telegraph • 26 February 2022 • Read Full Article

Of course, back in that bygone era, such dietary restrictions were year-round; tho, our having always been allowed to substitute fish for beef / pork / poultry products, strictly speaking, meant “meatless Fridays” had been (still is) a misnomer.

And, tho it’s unclear whether or not the earliest Catholics had even the slightest inkling re the actual health and environmental benefits of humans maintaining a more fish and plant based diet, that was the net effect.

One thing for sure, the earliest agriculturists had certainly realized how much simpler / cheaper sowing and harvesting crops is, in comparison to the breeding and slaughtering of livestock. Better yet, is the life cycle of fish, which requires very little human supervision / intervention.

Anyway… from the time where my age was still measured in single digits, I had actually felt a distaste for meat. You see, my folks had both been poorly paid public school teachers and, as such, had little choice but to purchase the far from choice grades of beef / poultry / pork.

To flesh that out further, whenever Mom had served up the typical hunk of beef-with-a-bad-attitude, it oft meant our biting into gristle; an eye tearing episode that, at times, required conscious suppression of the gag / hurl chunks reflex. To fully fess up, once the Morton brand salt had rained till it poured, I’d frequently chew (to no avail), discretely spit it out into a paper napkin and toss it into the trash.

ASIDE… you know, deep down, I would’ve much preferred meatless Friday rules being in play, everyday, and could’ve easily become a vegetarian; i.e. had my parents been more aware of / amenable to that alternate, far healthier lifestyle.

Be that as it may… the only thing worse than the chewing had been the flavor… uh…

WITH ONE NOTEWORTHY EXCEPTION…

My mom’s pot roasts, totally imbued with onions, garlic, black pepper and other seasonings; the drippings turning into savory gravy; pooling all around the accompanying spuds, carrots and green pepper slices.

I can still fondly recall our intentionally postponed, Friday night suppers, where she’d be slow roasting everything for approximately six hours and then, one minute past the midnight hour; our being safely ensconced in Saturday, temporal territory, we’d dig in and pig out.

Typically, these cuts of rump roast were all large enough to last our family of four, the entire weekend; the delectable leftovers getting served up as both warmed over stews and as cold thinly sliced beef, oft warmed up between two slices of fresh out of the oven, made from scratch, homemade bread.

Truth be told, what this all proves is how our being carnivores is far less about the meat, itself; is all about how expertly everything gets prepared.

So, as for my own observation of the Lenten ’22 dietary restrictions, I’d say all shall go well; seeing how, when I am feeding my face, my primary, protein sources are plant based; how, when I’m not chowing down, this is mainly due to my heightened awareness of all the tasteless, sickening, bad actors playing out their uniquely, ugly, unappetizing current events upon human-UN-kind’s world stage.

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Stay Publicly / Properly Masked!
Stay Safe at Home!
Stay Healthy!

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Respect people who don’t deserve it?

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A fellow blogger, whose devoutness, nearly always, translates well into the secular world, recently posted the following paraphrased Biblical passage, which I simply cannot cotton to. Check it out…

“Show respect even to people who don’t deserve it; not as
a reflection of their character but as a reflection of yours.”

Titus 2:7

Really? Is that even possible? Let’s e.g. my concerns…

Just how, pray tell, could anyone ever respect:

• Genocidal autocrats who oppress and slaughter millions of innocent people
• Propagandists who irreversibly poison gullible minds
• Insurrectionist tyrants who subvert their homelands’ charters to deny personal freedoms and thwart the peaceful transition of power
• Sadists who rebrand torture as “enhanced interrogation techniques”
• Misters 9 to 5, time clock punching, airbased drone pilots who commit carnage and merely say “Oops!” when the collateral damage starts to literally pile up
• Science deniers / eco-terrorists

Need I go on? Yes, I do need to go on…

How could anyone ever respect:

• Mass murderers, who shoot up elementary school houses and houses of worship?
• Nazis and Klansmen who lynch people of color; all who can’t conform to their whitebread criteria?
• Bristling with bloodlust and bigotry cops who deem the badge as their license to kill with impunity?
• Human traffickers / perpetrators of sexual violence / child molesters

Now, I’m not about to suggest that such problematic people don’t deserve compassion. Au contraire! Once due process does its thing, each individual deserves all the time and attention that’s humanly and humanely possible; inclusive of livable lodgings; namely, cells of the barred and/or padded variety; for as long as his / her rehabilitation, if possible, may take.

My conclusion… Titus EITHER dwelt in a never-neverland, where serious crimes never existed OR with a bevy of bodyguards in tow, he routinely donned his rose colored glasses while traipsing thru a much earlier incarnation of un-American Donald’s Dark Ages.

To end this post on pragmatic note, consider my constructive criticism / slight revision of Titus 2:7…

Pay close attention to people who don’t deserve it; not as
a reflection of their character but as a reflection of yours.
The survival of innocents will depend on such awareness.

Tom 1:1 (numbering subject to change if/when re-dos become a regular feature)

Now, to be sure, I honestly believe that, just as I do, the above-mentioned blogger feels appalled by all the above-mentioned, deplorable conduct. I merely deemed it necessary to rehash this particular, paraphrased passage to point out how it’s far too easy for spirituality to (unintentionally) impair 20/20 vision / cloud reality.

In today’s world, that could prove downright dangerous!

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Stay Publicly / Properly Masked!
Stay Safe at Home!
Stay Healthy!

-30-

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