Lessons from Life

I'm sitting at my desk, looking southward out my window. Clouds are moving in with the night. Dark, ominous-looking clouds, with waves of lightning and an occasional far-away rumble of thunder. Off to the west, the last fading brightness of the disappearing day.

If I had a gun, I would blow to pieces the streetlights outside my window, that I might better be able to see what is about to take place.

I've felt like this for two or three days. A storm is approaching, but I can't see it because of all the "ground clutter" over which I have no control. Something is about to happen that will change the landscape of my life. I can see it coming, little by little, like this storm about to hit tonight.

I love storms. These two--the one tonight, and this other, mysterious storm--will have their own kinds of beauty and power, maybe leave some destruction in their wakes. But when the clouds break, and the day dawns new and bright, everything is cleaned up and clear.

There will be work to be done. And it will feel good.

Remember that expression from the '70's? John Denver said that a lot, making it very popular among teenagers, and driving many parents just a little batty. I still find myself saying that sometimes. I saw something on television early this afternoon (don't remember now what it was) that made me say that out loud--"far out!" I kinda giggled when I realized what I had said, no less for the fact that I live alone and there was no one to hear it.

It caused me to start thinking about John, and the pleasure I took in listening to him sing his songs back then. I always looked forward to a new album coming out. It seemed that the songs on the album that weren't played on the radio were always so much better than the ones that were, and I couldn't wait to discover what treasures I would find there.

That memory led me to YouTube, searching for John's songs. And I found one.

I know, I know. There are so many of John Denver's songs on YouTube. How can I say "I found one"? I watched quite a few this afternoon, and enjoyed every one of them. I even watched his 1975 TV special with Danny Kaye and Jacques Cousteau. (Danny Kaye happens to be one of my all-time-favorite entertainers, and I had NO IDEA that John Denver could dance. ) I mean, I spent a very good portion of my day with what felt like an old friend today. So, just "one"?

This song means a lot to me. I'm not sure why. But it goes deep, deep into my soul, and touches something that I'm not sure even I understand. It always has, since the first time that I heard it.

It almost scares me to share it. It almost hurts.

I don't know why.

I cry when I hear him sing this song.

Boy From the Country

The chairman of the Democratic Party in Arkansas was murdered at the party's headquarters in Little Rock today. The man who killed him was shot and killed by law enforcement shortly thereafter, following pursuit into counties south of the capital city. You can read an article about it on Yahoo's news service here.

Another article I've read has said that the murderer was a man from Searcy, a town north of Little Rock, and that his excuse for this crime is that he had lost his job.

Notice that I said excuse. There is no valid reason for something like this. From all reports, the two men involved had never met. The victim, an owner of several large car dealerships, had never employed this man in one of his businesses nor turned him down for a job that anybody knows of. Of course, the details are still trickling out--we may never know the full details about this.

But there is no valid reason.

The world has just gone crazy.

Back in the 1950's, there was an enormous outcry about the government's investigation of left-wing/communist influences in the entertainment industry in Southern California. Writers, actors, producers, directors, film crew members--just about everybody involved in the film and television industry who was also involved in politics or social activism (and some who weren't) was investigated, and in many instances, blacklisted from working in their chosen professions for years. It took a decade or more for these injustices to be rectified. Some of the victims of this "witch hunt" never recovered their careers.

I just read an article about this same kind of political strong-arming taking place in Hollyweird today. Today! And I'm mad!

Briefly, Jon Voight wrote an opinion piece for a major newspaper--an opinion piece, mind you!--that was published last week.

Voight’s piece slammed Democratic candidate Barack Obama, praised GOP contender John McCain and even repudiated his own Vietnam War protests as the naive flailings of a deluded youth.

Well, apparently, that catapaulted the liberal blogosphere into a tizzy. One blogger, Jeffrey Wells, went so far as to say,

[Voight is] obviously entitled to say and write whatever he wants. But it's only natural that industry-based Obama supporters will henceforth regard him askance. Honestly? If I were a producer and I had to make a casting decision about hiring Voight or some older actor who hadn't pissed me off with an idiotic Washington Times op-ed piece, I might very well say to myself, ‘Voight? Let him eat cake.'

Is this not exactly the same thing that happened to the left-wingers in the '50's? Who is this guy, or anybody else for that matter, that he can even begin to suggest that someone should be blacklisted for stating his opinion? How would he like it if somebody did that to him? Isn't that what countless wars, protests, demonstrations, flag-burnings, and on and on and on, have been fought and waged for over the history of this wonderful country? Isn't this one of the fundamental rights that we as Americans--NO, as HUMAN BEINGS--have given our lives and the lives of our loved ones for all these hundreds of years?

Okay, wonderful. Mr. Voight expressed his opinion. Mr. Wells expressed his. Now I'm expressing mine.

Hey, Wells. You're a blooming idiot.

These are polar mesopheric clouds, seen and photographed by astronauts aboard the International Space Station.

Another awe-inspiring photo from the Nasa Earth Observatory.