Helping Out

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It’s been awhile since I last posted so I thought I should share what is on my mind before I get lost in my day. I recently posted on my Fractured Thoughts FaceBook page something that I want to share here:

This danged ole pandemic has hit the singer/songwriters of the world hard. I think one of the ways to help them is to stream their music. It doesn’t pay much, but every little bit helps. There are several services to do this through. To use most of them, a listener has to kick in a few bucks each month. Another way is to find one that lets you stream for free. Once you have found the one you like then stream away. All you have to do is start the stream in the morning, set it to loop, and let it run all day, whether you are listening to it or not (you can even turn your speakers off, just so long as the music is streaming). The services like Spotify, Napster, Pandora, Apple Music, YouTube, etc. don’t pay the singer a lot, but if hundreds/thousands/millions of us do that, then our favorite singer/songwriters might be able to keep the lights on, or fund the purchase of another bottle of Jameson.

Buy their merchandise, listen to their music, and attend their shows when they begin performing again. Just enjoy the beauty they supply the world.

Good night, Mrs. Jackson, wherever you are.

Circle The Wagons

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We’re only a week into the new year and already we can see that the old year is not done with us, yet. 2020 will just not lay down and die. It will not go out peacefully. From what we witnessed yesterday we should now realize that time does not mean a thing when it comes to the despicable acts of people. Specific people, and people in general. A new year? Not hardly. Not yet.

There are very few individuals that can be held responsible for what transpired in our nation’s capital yesterday, but it puts a bad light on all of us in the eyes of the world. How many years, decades, generations will it take to recover what has been lost? I don’t think that is possible in my lifetime. What few years I have left are only a drop in the amount of water that is going to have to pass under the bridge for life to begin to return to what we once had. If it can.

I’ve always heard that one bad apple can spoil the barrel. If yesterday wasn’t proof, then I don’t know what is. When I was reading the headlines of the papers from countries around the world last night I was appalled. Their words said it all. And with such clarity. People, we have lost our standing among the nations of the world. The slide began a few years ago, but it has picked up steam in the past couple, and dropped over the precipice into the abyss of darkness yesterday.

It is now time that we circle the wagons and hope that the calvary arrives before it’s too late. I am not in position to do that on a national level, but I can sure do it on a local level. I think we all can. I would like to persuade everyone else to concentrate taking care of their own, their family, their friends. Pull them near. Hold them close. Appreciate them for who they are. Know that, as a small group, you will not be able to influence the large world, but you can sure influence and take care your small world.

If everyone were to accomplish that, then maybe, just maybe, our collective whole can do that which just one of us cannot. I never thought I’d live through what I saw yesterday. I hope I make it long enough to witness the recovery, or at least the beginning of a recovery.

Good night, Mrs. Jackson, wherever you are.

Was I Ever Wrong

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In April I asked a question: How many deaths are acceptable (Let The Cows Roam Free). At the time I thought 500, or maybe as high as 1,000, a day might be the point where the public rebels. I was definitely wrong.

Take a look at these numbers from yesterday and see how far we have come in accepting death from a source that might have been contained if it had been handled differently.

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