Author: Rev. Joe Dirt

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Pit Bull Owners

On the back of some whomping big SUV, all across the back window was this:   If it ain’t PIT (then a outline drawing of a pit bull’s head)  It ain’t SHIT.

Rightly or wrongly pit bulls have been maligned.  I really do not understand why anyone would want one.  It is not my idea of a good pet.  Most of the stories you read or hear about dogs attacking/killing humans are pit bulls.

The bill board on the back of this vehicle pretty details the attitude of the owners of animals, in your face and not caring about other folks.  I am hoping it was the husband’s vehicle, because there was a sweet young thing driving it.   Sad part is it had Arkansas tags.  I do not see this sort of thing as helping the state’s image, which is already not the best.

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Eavesdropping Terrorism

I’m really not an eavesdropper, but I am an observer.  Sometimes you cannot help but hear little snippets of conversation.

I was at the park stretching out before a jog.  A couple parking spots away from me were three twenty-somethings,  two gentlemen and a lady.  The young lady was highly tattooed and on crutches.  The two young men looked like a cross between 60ish hippies and members of an Indie rock band.  They seemed to just be out to enjoy the day.

As I stretched I heard a little snippet of conversation when the wind was coming at me, “Did you hear that she said that Ryan’s second child might not be his?”  Continue reading “Eavesdropping Terrorism”

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Another snippet of conversation

Again, I was in my bedroom with the window open when I heard several footsteps on the sidewalk below my second story window.

Woman’s voice, “I did not pull her hair.  I was trying to stop her and that was all I could reach.”

Footsteps as they proceed down the sidewalk.

Woman’s voice again, “You’re not happy with me?”

Man’s voice muffled as if he had entered a breezeway, “No.”

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The Middle Class Is Crumbling

Quote from video accessed by link below:

“Thirty years ago, the CEOs that are in ‘Undercover Boss’ were making 30 times as much as their working people. Now, they’re making 300 times as much! We’re about to become Venezuela, or Brazil, you know where the people at the top are basically behind they’re gates with guards to protect their kids from kidnapping. The middle class is crumbling and that’s the country we’re going to become… if we don’t fundamentally change where we’re going.”

Arianna On ‘Real Time’: The Middle Class Is Crumbling

A comment was made about CEOs not knowing what was going on below their levels in a company.  It is not that they do not know, it is that they do not care.  So many of those folks have a sense of entitlement to their obscene salaries.  Bill Maher is right.  We have it backwards.  The upper echelons get theirs before the folks that really produce get theirs.  I have no problems with those having more responsibilities, skills, etc getting more money for what  they do.  Heaven knows, I was a boss for 6 years and I hated every day of it.  But I am sorry, no one is worth 300 times the what the worker bees are making.

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How Do You Say Goodbye?

Here is an open question for everyone, how do you say goodbye. 

A friend’s mother is in hospice, partly the result of age, and partly the result of several diseases she failed to manage properly catching up with her.

My friend flew her twenty-something daughter in for the week so that she could see her grandmother before she passed.  At the first  of the week my friend’s mother was still occasionally coherent and aware.  By the end of the week she was out of it, and sleeping most of the time. 

The three of us went to visit her on the Saturday before the daughter had to fly back out on Sunday.  It was more than a little sad as the grandmother was only there physically.   The granddaughter knew that this would in all likelihood be the last time she saw her grandmother alive. 

We stayed about two hours.  The granddaughter tried to feed the grandmother who was not interested.   Some attempts were made at communication, but those essentially failed.  Both mother and daughter were crying off and on.  Towards the end the granddaughter just hugged her grandmother and stroked her. 

I went out a little before the other two to give them some time alone.  The granddaughter came out first and asked me, “How do you say goodbye to some one?”  I took a minute to answer as I was a little choked up myself.  All I could muster was a lame comment about “giving them positive energy and remembering the good times.”  I do not imagine it satisfied the daughter.  It did not satisfy me. 

I’ve been thinking about it, and I still not sure I have a good answer.  How do you say goodbye to someone?

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It Is Time We Linked Arms

I was visiting with a relative the other day who was about to retire from a state job, but would not be old enough for Medicare.  It was explained to me that he could continue his insurance from the state for $500 a month.  Now that is a lot of money, but almost seems cheap in today’s health care market.

A  little math will tell you that $500 a month is $6,000 a year.  Next add Continue reading “It Is Time We Linked Arms”