The Village Blacksmith

Love this poem




Under a spreading chestnut-tree
The village smithy stands;
The smith, a mighty man is he,
With large and sinewy hands;
And the muscles of his brawny arms
Are strong as iron bands.

His hair is crisp, and black, and long,
His face is like the tan;
His brow is wet with honest sweat,
He earns whate'er he can,
And looks the whole world in the face,
For he owes not any man.

Week in, week out, from morn till night,
You can hear his bellows blow;
You can hear him swing his heavy sledge,
With measured beat and slow,
Like a sexton ringing the village bell,
When the evening sun is low.

And children coming home from school
Look in at the open door;
They love to see the flaming forge,
And hear the bellows roar,
And catch the burning sparks that fly
Like chaff from a threshing-floor.

He goes on Sunday to the church,
And sits among his boys;
He hears the parson pray and preach,
He hears his daughter's voice,
Singing in the village choir,
And it makes his heart rejoice.

It sounds to him like her mother's voice,
Singing in Paradise!
He needs must think of her once more,
How in the grave she lies;
And with his hard, rough hand he wipes
A tear out of his eyes.

Toiling,--rejoicing,--sorrowing,
Onward through life he goes;
Each morning sees some task begin,
Each evening sees it close
Something attempted, something done,
Has earned a night's repose.

Thanks, thanks to thee, my worthy friend,
For the lesson thou hast taught!
Thus at the flaming forge of life
Our fortunes must be wrought;
Thus on its sounding anvil shaped
Each burning deed and thought.

American Society

Unfortunately George Bailey is a fictional character.  Yes this means he was never born. You know what that means.  We, in fact, live in Pottersville World. We are the sum of our lowest denominator.  Open your eyes, take a good look around…I mean a good look.  SEE what we look like, Look at it and try to be proud of humanity, of America of what we have become.  Realize what society is chasing, what our brothers and sisters are striving for, how they are going about it, how they live their lives and the actual choices they make, would make and what they perceive would make them happy.  Look at what America is doing to them.  This is what society is doing to us.

My only hope is that it is involuntary, that it is not thought through and that people are confused,trapped and feel helpless to do anything about it.

 

I hold this hope because in my experience the vast majority of folks I know, that I meet and speak with, interact with are good people.  Truly good people.  They are doing their best, keeping their noses clean, doing what they are told and believe in their hearts that they are doing the right things…or trying their best to do the right thing.

But they, we are powerless.  And the reason is that in this world there are greedy, soulless bastards (GSB) that are gaming the system.  These GSB only care about ONE thing – taking our money, being in power and staying in power.  

 

The GSB have spent time, money and vast research on how to mold society into a fold that maintains this world they dominate.  They realized early that PT Barnum was correct, there is a sucker born every minute and if you give him what he wants you can take everything from him.  Pat him on the back, tell him he is smart, tell him he can have what he wants, just sign here and take it home today.

 

Yet we do not realize that the Man has spent millions telling us what we want, showing us how to get it, instructing us on how to live the American dream/

 

It is so pervasive.  Billboards, radio spots, tv ads, adds in our movies, in our shows.  It has infiltrated our art, our culture. It is a 24/7 barrage of how to conform to society – how to fit in – how to be.

 

How else can you describe the word we live in?  We have two income families with both bread winners commuting great distances to jobs that do not fulfill them to live in bedroom communities insulated against the world.  We have countless “fast food” outlets, payroll advance outlets, furniture rental business.  Five year olds have cell phones.  Most people you see are looking down into their laps ¾ of the day searching for happiness.

 

It is in our education system.  We laugh at how brain washed other cultures are.  The North Koreans, the Chinese the Soviet’s.  How could those people buy that brain washing.

Yet we send our children off to school, like we were sent.  They are taught how special WE are.  They are taught the food groups (as defined by our agriculture and food industry).  We are taught how to get along, we are taught by teachers and the sons and daughters of The Man as to what is important to learn and more importantly – how to be cool, what it takes to be with the “in crowd”.  From the time we are children we are taught what we should want and what it takes to get it.

 

And then one day, as adults we are put into boxes according to where we fit into the spectrum.  Some of us are rewarded incredibly well, some very well, some do all right and then there are those who just do not make it.  These people are of special interest to The Man.  They are great examples to all the others as to what happens to you if you do not keep your nose clean, do not know the rules.  Step off the path and that will be you.

Wrestling with Life

Back in High School I participated in three sports, Football, Baseball and Wrestling. I believe I excelled in two of them, Baseball and Football.  Wrestling was another story.  I was a mediocre wrestler.  Sometimes I won, sometimes I lost.  It was a 50/50 proposition.

I wrestled for something to do in the season between the sports I loved.  It kept me busy, it got me in better shape, and it was something to do. I did not really like it that much.  I had no real desire to “pin” anyone.  I felt no desire to hold someone down on the mat and dominate them. About the only thing I liked to do in wrestling was to “take someone down”.  Once I did that, I eventually would let them go.  This became my strategy.  You received two points for taking someone down, and they got only one point for getting away.  If I could beat them on the take down issue, AND if I could get away from them, I would win the match. 

I learned life lessons from baseball, and I learned life lessons from football.  These were great team sports and the lessons learned have made me a pretty good teammate in life.  I am helpful, supportive and I believe I do a pretty good job of holding up my end, doing what is expected of me and helping the team.

Lately my reflections have focused more on what I have learned from wrestling. These reflections made me glad I participated in this sport that I did not enjoy all that much at the time.

Life, for me, has been more like wrestling. 

For starters, life, like wrestling really is an individual sport.  Yes, I enjoy family, friends, co-workers, acquaintances and even strangers.  But at the end of the day winning and losing is really dependent on what YOU do and YOU are pretty much alone on the mat.

It really is YOU and an opponent – LIFE.  And if you do not get your nose in there, if you slack off, if you do not pay attention your opponent is going to take you down.

And for me life is like wrestling because:

I am not all that interested in it – It is just something I am doing between the things I love.
            Lets face it, most of life is tedious, repetitive, somewhat painful and a struggle

            Most of life calls for you to stick your nose into areas that you would rather avoid

Life makes us DO things that we are certainly not prepared for, do not know how

            to do, and sometimes do not want to do but you do anyway

Like wrestling, life can be exhausting and wear you out 

And my approach to life is similar to my approach to wrestling

            I certainly have no desire to dominate anyone

            When challenges come I am content to “take them down” and once down to let

                        them up and avoid them.

I am content to take my two points and give back the one, I wish to win but have

no desire to “pin” life or other people in my desire to live

And it goes without saying that the hardest thing to do in life, like wrestling, is to make weight

A Sixty Year's Old Inventory

I know things.  I know how certain things work.  I know very little about most things in life, but I do seem to have knowledge about trivial things that apparently make life easier for some people.  I know how numbers work.  I can measure financial success.  And this talent for measuring financial success makes me valuable to capitalists who produce things to sell to other people.  Our flawed system of distributing rewards treats me better than most.

 

So the things I know about are pretty much summed up as follows:

 

I know how to measure financial transactions.

I can categorize them, organize them in such a way that they make sense to other people

If they do not make immediate sense to them – I can explain the results in a manner that makes them understand.

I can “read” these tea leaves (as it were) and indicate to those that are worried about financial matters whether things are going good or bad and what to do to make them better.

 

Although fairly disappointed in the state of mankind I can get along with people.  If I want to, I can usually make mad people calm down. I seem to be able to bring cheer to people and make them feel better about the mundane things required of them. 

 

I can use computers on a high level plane – I am not talking a high level of use – but mean that if ‘someone’ else has them set to work ‘right’, I can do things on them.  If they are working right I have a historical experience in how to operate most software and can get by.

 

I can drive a car and motorcycle. I am both competent and legally certified to do both.

 

I can do low end manual labor.  I have the physical strength and have limited experience at some tasks and the measured patience to explore new ones with trial and error.

 

I have better than average athletic ability and a level of hand eye co-ordination better than most people.

 

I have better than average knowledge of certain recreational games and a fairly strong competitive drive.

 

I am moderately well versed in literature, some aspects of our culture and have an appreciation for music.

 

I have limited, but growing musical ability

 

I can cook and prepare food.

 

I can keep the areas around me uncluttered and clean – at least clean enough for me

 

 

 

On the scary side:

I have no idea of where our water comes from, or where it goes. If problems arise with this supply and disposal I am totally screwed.

 

Likewise for electricity, and other forms of energy.  If I cannot buy it or access it I am in big trouble.

 

I have some ability for food foraging, but am totally dependant on our grocery system

 

My above described ‘gift” for getting along with humans will only work with what I hope is 80% of the human population.  At least 20% of humans scare me and I have no idea what motivates them or what they want out of life.

Getting Things Done!

I like to do things.  I want to make things.  Sometimes it works, but for the most part I end up feeling like Tooter Turtle*. And who am I kidding, it NEVER works and I ALWAYS end up feeling like this in the middle of whatever project I do.  But I do learn some things and have gathered enough skills to lightly compete with Middle Age Man**, although our most common similarity is age.

 

This weekend I combined these skills as I tried to help my son in the middle of HIS project.  Combining the forces of Tooter Turtle and Middle Aged Man I stepped right into areas that I have no business being in.  Rest assured, while starting to feel that it is time to call on Mr. Wizard, I am gamely proceeding forward.  It is only a matter of time before I seek comfort with my side kick, Drinking Buddy (see video below).

 

Peter, my son, is more than knee deep in his current discovery.  Having much grander ideas than even I would have contemplated, Peter has bought a new house that, although not what one would call a fixer upper, one that needs a bit of work.  He has ripped out floors (the hard way, i.e with my help), replaced windows, added sheetrock, painted walls, re done hardwood floors and laid tile.  All while trying to hold down his full time job and with a child under one, and oh yeah during that calm period of life between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  A chip off the old block(head) on steroids – what the hell was he thinking.

 

The current project problem has been set upon Peter from that notorious super villain Epoxy Haze.  Peter has been slaving trying to correct a flaw that all the experts are telling him (similar to my cooking disasters) could have been prevented by doing “something else” before he had the problem.  Nice advice AFTER the problem exists.  I have bought some secret formula epoxy haze remover from the super heros at Georgetown’s Legion of Tile Heros and hope to swoop in tonight and wisk the problem away like a TV commercial version of Scrubbing Bubbles.  That is my current optimistic position, but then again, you can just call me TOOTER TURTLE.


And stop looking at my gut....I'm working on it!

 

**

https://screen.yahoo.com/middle-aged-man-000000125.html 

 

*Tooter Turtle (sometimes spelled Tudor or Tutor) is a cartoon about a turtle that first appeared on TV in 1960, as a segment, along with The Hunter a detective dog, as part of the King Leonardo and His Short Subjects program. "Tooter Turtle" debuted on NBC, on Saturday, October 15, 1960, and ran for 39 original episodes through July 22, 1961. These episodes were later rerun as backups on other cartoon shows, but no more original episodes were made.

The plots followed the same general format. Tooter (voiced by Allen Swift) calls on his friend Mr. Wizard the Lizard (voiced by Sandy Becker), an anthropomorphic lizard wearing wizard cone hat, robe, and pince-nez eyeglasses. Mr. Wizard lived in a tiny cardboard box at the base of a tall tree. The introductory segment had Tooter knocking on the cardboard box, having "another favor to ask." From inside the box, Mr. Wizard would shrink Tooter small enough to enter through the box's front door, and invite him in. Mr. Wizard has the magic to change Tooter's life to some other destiny, usually sending him back in time and to various locales.

As Tooter is doing his destiny, Mr. Wizard narrates about it. When Tooter's trip finally became a catastrophe, Tooter would request help with a cry of "Help me Mr. Wizard, I don't want to be X any more!" where X was whatever destiny Tooter had entered. Mr. Wizard would then rescue Tooter with the incantation, "Twizzle, Twazzle, Twozzle, Twome; time for this one to come home." Then, Mr. Wizard would always give Tooter the same advice: "Be just what you is, not what you is not. Folks what do this has the happiest lot."

What Happened? – Why did the Republicans Win So Big?

I will tell you what happened.  It happens ALL the time and it is a crying shame that human nature IS the way it IS.  Go Read Steinbeck’s In Dubious Battle, it explains it all. It is the same old story every time. 

Men in power grab control and they go too far with the power grab. They make life miserable for the less fortunate and their power grab starts to negatively affect TOO many people.  And the people band together and say ENOUGH.  People banding together is the ONLY way people can survive against greedy men in power.  We must band together and join forces against greed. 

Men in power then say – Whoa… we went too far.  We better back off and throw some bones at the angry mob.  We have to make things a little better for the average guy.  Once the average guy is happy, he abandons those below. Change stalls and never reaches those who truly need the change.

George Bush and the Republicans made a huge mess of it.  They ruined the economy and made EVERYONE upset.  We banded together and we threw them out of power. 

Guess what? Things got better.  The average guy’s life improved and he has now left the unfortunate behind ….Again.

In In Dubious Battle, the farmers slash the price for picking the fruit.  ALL the workers in the valley join the strike.   Wages go up a little bit, enough for someone with a job to get by, and the workers take THEIR job and let the organizers and those without to hang in the breeze.  Once I GOT MINE, I do not care what happens to others.   

This brings me to the unpopularity of the Affordable Care Act.  I hope we can keep this together, but it does not look good. 

I will tell you why.  

#1 Nobody in America has liked their health plan for as long as I can remember. Because medical care is expensive, because insurance companies are in the business to make money – and paying out for claims is counter to making money and because (and I agree with this) we all have to feel some financial pain when going to the doctor or some of us would go to the doctor ALL the time. 

#2 The vast majority of America already had medical insurance handled and the Act did impact their plans, albeit ever so slightly and in a negative way. 

#3 Men in power do not like a) sharing limited resources b) waiting their turn and c) being told what to do. 

I find it remarkable that we even passed this bill (which explains many of its flaws, gimme my public option!) 

Now most Americans are attacking the idea (with NO discussion of an actual plan to replace it). The MAIN bottom line is - (and this goes for BOTH of my points) – We live in a democracy.  In a democracy MAJORITY rules.  It is VERY rare when the majority votes to burden themselves for a program designed to assist a minority.

What the Hell Are You Doing What About It?

I think it goes without saying that I am pretty lefty/socialist kind of guy.  I think the world is more than a bit skewered towards the 1% and difficult for the working man and especially the working poor.  I show this in my attitude, I show this in how I vote and I practice this in my day to day life.

……..But…….

I also get angry, and sometimes very angry and disappointed in Americans, and especially the Americans I am trying to help with my attitude, my votes and my day to day practices.

And what I think about and simmer about is…….WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING ABOUT IT?????

Life is tough now in the US if you lack skills and education.  Jobs are scarce and they do not pay much for “lower tiered” non skilled labor.  That is a problem.  And I have NO PROBLEM supporting a $15 dollar minimum wage….BUT……

Are you kidding me?  Your life is going to be HOW much better if you make $15.00 an hour?????  You THINK that is going to change everything???

And you THINK “they” are going to pay “you” $15.00?

And let me tell you who I am talking to…….you have seen them.  We have WAY too many people (!adults!) who look like SHIT!  Lack of personal hygiene, wearing horseshit clothes, tattooed, pierced up the ying/yang modeling lawn mower accident haircuts, smoking, littering and not giving a shit about anyone’s concept of society.

Hey, you want to get somewhere, you want to be somebody – take a look around, see the people with jobs, with skills, with “a life” (that you disdain) – yeah, all that “bullshit”  -  get on board or enjoy your freedom to be a bum.

And that is just the bottom.  To those barely getting by here are some random thoughts:

Savings accounts come before:

            Car payments

            Cigarettes

            Nights out on the town

            Cell phones (that you stare at constantly)

            Cable TV

            Flat screen tv’s

            Tattoos

            Piercings

Getting ahead at work includes

            Showing up on time (which is fucking earlier than others)

            Doing more than your peers (working your ass off)

            Looking presentable

showering, shaving before work

wearing clean clothes

tucking your shirt in

Not cutting off the sleeves of your shirt and wearing a shitty shirt underneath

                        Not going outside to smoke every five minutes

                        Not having your headphones on

            Asking “what else can I do” and DOING IT

            Figuring out WHAT ELSE CAN I DO and DOING IT

            Dealing with customers and vendors like they are important to your success

            Doing what YOU can to develop skills that your company needs

Getting ahead in life not only INCLUDES the above things BUT also includes the thought that MAYBE where you are working and what you are doing IS NOT going to get you anywhere and maybe, JUST MAYBE you may have to get off your ass and find a better job.

At an early age I learned that if you want to succeed at something it was not a bad idea to look at the people who WERE successful at something and study what they do; including asking them what they did to get where they were.  Here is the secret, calling them brown-nosing suck ups that have “sold out’ is not going to get you anywhere- nor is laughing at them and calling them names.  Look deep in your soul and realize that Aesop had a fable out describing “those grapes”.  AND he had another one about an Ant and a Grasshopper…….AND if you do not remember or never heard about AESOP perhaps reading these stories might be a good place to start getting your life together.

Which brings me to READING vs WATCHING TV.  We all say TV sucks and it is a giant waste of time, yet millions are made by the TV industry and Americans spend sooo much time watching it.  Stop the insanity, pick up a book and learn a thing or two.

Learn a thing or two – YES educate YOURSELF….. be somebody and quit your bitchin’.

Quit bitchin about life – chances are if YOUR life is a mess (i.e. you do NOT have the money you need to get by) YOU need to change something, and the above “advice” ain’t a bad place to start – BECAUSE the WORLD AIN”T GONNA CHANGE, so you had better.