Nancy Reagan passed away yesterday. She seemed like a nice person even though some say her life was governed by her astrologer. How did that affect the President I wonder.
I'm sitting at my computer, writing checks for our bills... a lot of them. My XM radio just played a Fats Waller tune... I love his music. It's a shame that he had to die so young... but "one never knows, do one?"
My checkbook shows a $400 discrepancy still.. I have no idea what I did wrong .... yet. Meanwhile, I have to be careful not to overdraw on my checks.
How about cleaned-up cuss words by so-called religious persons?
Most people want to say "Jesus Christ!" or "God damn it!".. but instead, because it isn't smart to say the Lord's name in vain, they say::
Downton Abbey: "Crikey!)
In the US: Gee Whiz!.. or Gosh! or Glorryosky!.. or Cheese! .. or Jeez! .. or many other variations.
What do you say when you smash your finger with a hammer? The "S" word?
When I went to Germany in the late 1950's, I was amazed at how often Germans used the word "scheiss" in everyday speech, and even in movies and TV. Even politicians used it a lot. I guess I was a little shocked.
Now.. one can't see a movie without hearing our word for "scheiss".. our grandchildren consider that word and the "F" word as ordinary parts of speech. I still think that using these words tags you as an uncultured person. Call me an old prude and a hypocrite.. probably true. Try me out... tape my utterances when I get really frustrated or mad.
While we are on the hypocritical subject, let me reiterate what I have said about my religious upbringing in New Bedford, Massachusetts. During my junior high school years, I attended Sunday School and Church at the historic First Baptist Church. My life got turned around when I discovered the church's library. I read all of their collections of OZ and Hardy Boys books. Also, while there, I suddenly realized that other people's personal property was not my personal property.
However... let me list some hypocritical activity by members of that church... I really liked the people who attended, it was the leaders who destroyed any faith that I ever had.
o The preacher who sat in a rocking chair near the podium and leered at my Aunt Mary as she sang in the choir. You could almost see him drool.
o The other preacher who started a call in radio show. He convinced my Aunt Mary to disguise her voice and call in a few times each evening with questions that he gave to her to ask.
o The preacher who encountered me after I came back from the service... he immediately had me kneel down and close my eyes while he shouted out a prayer... all the time glancing at his watch and shaking his head. He was in a hurry to get to his real job.. as a real estate broker in New Hampshire.
o The church deacon who seemed to always be making noisy love to his wife as I passed by his open window with his daily milk allotment. Apparently, he thought of sex as sin, because every Sunday, when the preacher called for volunteers to be "born again".. he would step forward. I don't know how many times he got baptized.
o The leader of the ladies' guild. At a Halloween party at the church, I dressed as a magician, and I did a few practiced card tricks, until this giant woman grabbed and shook me and confiscated my cards and other paraphernalia. She was shouting: "Thou shalt have no other Gods before me!" Apparently, that pertained to my "Bicycle" deck.
o The men's club members who kept telling us not to curse or smoke cigarettes. On Sunday, after the service, every one of them would race to the back door so they could quickly light up their cigarettes.
Often, I am asked what religion I practice. So, if they really want to listen, I go through my litany of beliefs.
The first religious experience was my attendance at a Quaker meeting house in Mattapoisett, Massachusetts. Men sat on hard benches on one side of the building: women sat on hard benches on the other side of the building. No one said anything until the spirit moved them. Sometimes the spirit did not show up, so people had to learn to sit quietly for two hours each week. However, sometimes the children got a little twitchy or sleepy... this occasioned a swat on the head from the long stick that the elderly elder controlled.
However, the Quakers are a peaceful and kindly group, accepting of all types of people. If I were to be religious, I would definitely be a Quaker. Besides, where else can you say a lot of "thee's" and "thou's?"
My next religious experience was the Baptist Church experience that I talked about above.
Later, I fell in love with a beautiful girl of French Canadian Roman Catholic extraction. With her, I attended mass each week at French Catholic or Polish Catholic churches. It was an obligation that she felt she had to live up to, even though she had some bad experiences with mean nuns. After we married, we gave up going to mass.
My father in law was not happy that I was not a Catholic.. but he got over that and learned to be a good friend. He even got the head priest at St. Anthony's Catholic Church to let us get married at the altar. His church experience was sleeping through the mass.. but he wasn't the only one.. just by looking around or listening to the snoring in French Canadian accents.
The big problem with not being religious is that you don't have any religious holidays to observe, or so it's said... however, during our life in Baltimore, my late wife and I, as well as our children, tried to observe all of the religious holidays... Christian or Jewish.
Well, I have babbled on for some time. Sorry. But.. I feel a lot better than before I started.
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Oh.. wait a minute, did I tell you that I am an ordained Minister in the Church of the Modern Apostles. No scheiss!
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