An Undercover Hippy, Judgement, A Remedy to Confusion
“Sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whisky bottle in the hand of (another)... There are just some kind of men who-who’re so busy worrying about the next world they’ve never learned to live in this one, and you can look down the street and see the results.” — Harper Lee (To Kill a Mockingbird)
Happy Friday, you made it. Was the climb up the mountain worth it? Will you spend your weekend celebrating or fretting over some decision you made or didn’t make? We will celebrate another great week; things have been great; after a blizzard, it should be 60 to 70 here today and tomorrow.
I found a great article discussing Suess, Twain, and Harper Lee and the cancel culture that will soon be coming for these timeless authors. If you want a good read, might I suggest:
The author, Allen Straton, does a good overview of the situation and offers options that don’t include removing titles and modifying them. He is a gay man that shares a personal story about watching a play. During one scene, a gay character was mocked; he was initially horrified for all the younger gay men and women in attendance but, in the end, came to terms with his judgment and became enlightened.
I’m a fan of the comedian Tim Dillon. Tim is a good voice pointing out the lunacy of these times. This past week he was doing a live show and noticed one woman in the front not happy. He called out to her and learned that she was a nurse and was upset about a joke he made about nurses. Tim explained to her that his act was based on jokes, ridiculous things that made people laugh. He pointed out he made fun of nurses and himself and every other race, color, and creed he could think to poke fun. She kicked back that COVID was no laughing matter; people had died. Tim shared he understood, but people have also died from the mass government overreach of power. It’s a great example of where we find ourselves today. Here’s the clip:
Is it just me, or are people hypersensitive these days? I heard a program while driving to drop off our marriage license about our country’s whiteness problem. It is whiteness that is the cause for all our misery and to remediate; we need to recalibrate society to make it less white. Imagine if the program stated our country’s main issue is we are too black, Asian, or Native American?
There is a push for diversity, and I don’t deem that a bad thing, but when you take an existing group and begin removing people based solely on their race, that seems a little racist. Thank you for your 20 years of service, but in a move to become more diverse, we will give your job to someone who checks higher on the victim heiarcy. Are you awake, or are you woke? There is a difference.
I’ve got my men’s group today. In a virtual meeting where 13 other men and I show up, we have a female leader that facilities the meeting. We talk about life, how we are doing and collectively work on solutions if someone has an issue. It’s like a thanksgiving dinner for the mind; I will be more enlightened after my meeting. I think the world needs more of this work, men helping other men with their bullshit and a subtle reminder, we all have bullshit.
We arrived home after dinner with Kris and Marzy; we had to park at the top of our drive since our plow guy’s truck is broke down. As we walked down the steep drive, I hit some black ice, began to fall, but caught myself. My Queen was not so lucky and seemed to have sprained her knee. I’m a little worried about my wife; thoughts and prayers are appreciated. I’m sure she will be fine, but when someone you love is hurt, it’s as if you, too, have the same injury.
We are heading down the hill; I was asked yesterday by a new friend, “what does down the hill mean?” I said anytime we leave our home, we have to go down the hill to renter civilization. We have some meetings set up, we try and keep our Fridays open for weekly errands. Between I have some Zoom calls to run, it will be a fun and full day of talking to strangers and checking things off our to-do list.
We had a dog trainer visit our home yesterday morning. Amy comes to your house and works with your puppy to help train; she gives tips on how to sit, stay, walk alongside you when hiking; we will continue working with PVHT; she’s good, but we want her to be great. Never forget, good is the enemy of great. We plan to have Amy do three sessions, and then we will attend one of her classes with many other dogs to help socialize her. Not only did we get married, but we also have a “baby.”
I ran a call with a friend yesterday afternoon. I’ve booked some studio time to record some promotional videos for my new company. I’m in no hurry; it will be a slow journey; I’m building an infrastructure to support my new program. I’m not leaving my firm; my new company’s basis is set on The Thompson Group’s foundation. It’s my second mountain, and I’m giddy to get to climb to the peak.
Another friend was on a podcast discussing LinkedIn. He shared he liked original content, gave me some props; it’s nice to know at least one person appreciates my work. Thank you, Jason. But I know I am not for everyone, and I’ll remind you that neither are you. There are some people out there that think you are a horrible human being. I know you are not, but for some reason, they simply think you are a rotten egg.
I’ll wrap with this. Last night when we arrived to meet our friends, my friend had on a shirt that said, “I judged Anson.” We met this couple a couple of years ago; he judged me as a left-leaning hippy, he has strong conservative values and opinions. He did not think we would ever be close friends, but one day on a hike, we had a conversation about our belief systems, and he was shocked to learn we had many of the same core values. He said, “why do you act like a hippy?” I said, “Brother, I’m undercover.”
Don’t judge a book by its cover; get to know people, and let the open dialogue be the remedy of confusion. I have many liberal friends, and I love them equally to my conservative friends; we might have different views on society’s solutions, but I tend to learn from those with other ideas. I’m not the same man I was five years ago, nor am I the same man that entered a pandemic one year ago. I’m more enlightened and will continue seeking knowledge and understanding, sharing my findings through my daily word soup. I come to you from a place of kindness and ask that you return the “flavor.”
“Sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whisky bottle in the hand of (another)... There are just some kind of men who-who’re so busy worrying about the next world they’ve never learned to live in this one, and you can look down the street and see the results.”
— Harper Lee (To Kill a Mockingbird)