With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.
The good life, as I conceive it, is a happy life. I do not mean that if you are good you will be happy - I mean that if you are happy you will be good.
Too much sanity may be madness and the maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it should be.
I enjoy paying taxes. With them I buy civilization.
July 07, 2008 - 5:56 p.m.
I think I might actually like this entry. It is one of those days that I sit down knowing exactly what I'm going to write. I just have to work on the details of the segues.
I'm in a good frame of mine because I did one of my favorite things last night. I went to a house concert; Abbie and Anthony played at Gene and Isabel's house, Phil Minissale was the opener. So my friends played at the home of my friends. Oh yes, I had friends in the audience. I was a happy camper.
There was a pre-concert-pot-luck. I got there for the pre-pre-concert-pot-luck barbeque. The cheese steaks were very good. My compliments to the chef, Gene.
Also there early were Chris and Sharon and Dennis (Anthony's father) and Rebecca (Phil's girlfriend) and probably some people I'm insulting by not remembering. Was Mike there then? I'm not sure. He certainly was at the concert.
I hadn't seen Phil in ages and I don't think I've seen his girlfriend Rebecca since Falcon Ridge. We should not be allowed to talk together we come up with evil schemes.
All in all I think I knew half the people there.
I was telling Mike that I don't know how to review concerts. I still don't. Phil opened. He was joined by Abs and Anthony. Then they went on. It was great. They didn't play Fell in Love so it wasn't the best show ever.
After the show I of course didn't make a hasty exit. I did the merch for Abs and Anthony. Not much of a surprise but not a sure thing as Chris and Jim were there. Sales were pretty brisk considering that so many people already had Bad Nights/Better Days Abbie and Anthony's duo CD. I'm being lazy. I really should check on that title. I'm not going to though. You'll have to do it yourself.
One theme of the evening was mocking me. When Gene did the introduction he said, "Before I saw Anthony I heard good things about him from people I respect … and Gordon."
After a bit of heckling on my part Anthony said, "It's good having Gordon in the audience. Some nights you are tired and don't feel like saying anything and just want to sing. Gordon does all the banter for you."
A prophet is not without honor …
I was of course not upset as I knew that was all said with love. (right guys?)
Now watch this segue.
Does pointing out a segue ruin a segue? I think it does. I could just go back and delete it but pointing out you ruined a segue by pointing it out restores it to life.
Insults are often really terms of endearment. When I call up Lena She says "Hi Freakish Freak."
Leah used to say "Hello Creep."
Carey would say, "Hi Loser."
That's what the people that love me say, you can just imagine what I hear from other people. Except of course the other people don't say anything mean. Words alone do not convey how people feel.
There is one person I know that has never said an unkind word to me. He always greets me with a hug. Yet I hear mocking in just about everything he says to me. I am never comfortable with him. I have another acquaintance that I used to feel I needed a shower every time I hugged her it was so insincere. I'd much rather people didn't pretend they cared when they don't. The proper interaction for us when we met would be to simply say "hi," then keep on doing whatever we were doing. We didn't really have anything to say to each other.
Then there are people that I hardly ever see or interact with but there is genuine warmth whenever we do no matter how long it has been. How do I tell the difference? I'll tell you, I don't know. But it is as clear as night and day.
Some people genuinely like me but forget I exist if I'm not actually in the room with the or talking on the phone or online. Once I learn the score, it amuses me more than anything else.
Sometimes when I read people's blogs I'm dumbfounded. It is almost as if they are writing in a foreign language. Now it isn't just a matter of being different from me. It is deeper. Some people seem totally different but their minds really work much like mine. It is like the same piece of music transposed to a new key or arranged for different instruments. But the others have no more to do with me than an atonal work by Schoenberg does with a Bach cantata.
Then there are people that I don't speak to often in real life that write entries that make me say, "me too!"
People can be hard to figure out and that includes me.
I had a friend that I called literally dozens of times without reaching. I knew she couldn't call me back but you'd expect her to be able to answer once. This is someone that I felt I had a real bond with. I had to decide what to do. Now reason told me to just forget it. People hesitate saying, "I don't want to talk to you;" even when they don't. I know I don't like saying it.
I did what was usually the worst thing. I wrote her and asked if she'd rather I didn't call. This kind of thing is usually used as an excuse for the person to stop talking to me. I get vilified for being too demanding and then the person doesn't feel guilty about saying he doesn't want to talk to me.
So why did I write it? Because even if that was the response it is really no worse than inferring it and perhaps I'd be pleasantly surprised.
Guess what? I was pleasantly surprised. She sent me a short email that was genuine and sincere and made me feel good. There is a first time for everything.
Looking back this entry isn't nearly as well done as I thought it would be. I still like it more than what I've been writing recently. I bet a lot of you can actually relate to what I've said. Maybe one of you is even saying "Me too!"
The International Jewish Banking Conspiracy - October 07, 2008
On the Road to Westchester County - October 06, 2008
Inside the Madison Square Studio - October 05, 2008
I'm a Bosniac and I'm debating like I've never debated before - October 03, 2008
Islands in the Stream of Consciousness - October 02, 2008
Email me: GordonLew at gmail
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. Horvendile July 07, 2008
