Happy Memorial Day

God Bless all you families who have lost a loved one in defense of our nation.

They gave their lives to protect our freedoms.

The religious bigots will be positioning themselves this week to try to drive us out of the neighborhood. Another business has refused to do work on our home, or garage rather. Perhaps I will name those companies later.

Irony is the appropriate word if you still hold hope for our country.

But I am alive and free, just not allowed to handle our personal property as we see fit. Actually, I wish we could handle our personal property as both we and the city sees fit, but contractors are refusing to work on our home.

And it will only get worse if the city does not relent. Yeah, just pile on. Take me to court. Put your stamp of approval on religious discrimination and hate Milwaukee.

Yes when you spread lies and work to defame that is hate, my neighbors who have never spoken to me in twenty-five years.

“We’re watching you!” I hear screamed out.

Bad on me, I guess they do speak to me. Sorry.

One new guy in the neighborhood actually told me to get off the sidewalk and walk in the street as I was taking my dog for a walk.

Bad on me again, but sometimes I wonder about the neighbors I do talk to.

I am such a bad guy.

This is why we are persecuted.

I am looking forward to hearing back from my Alderman on the book I sent him a while back.

Hope springs eternal.

I was up at our north woods property this month. One of my “No Trespassing” was taken out by a shotgun blast.

Don’t tell my wife she won’t let me go up anymore.

I just stopped by for a quick property check and thought; “Man, I didn’t even bring a knife. What was I thinking.” I guess I have been removed from nature for too long.

So I wish I had more time to write. I came up with a doozy of a telling on a drive throughout our great state.

“And we have to wait another month to read it.” Thou protests?

Sorry again. I guess I am just a really bad guy.

But I am alive, and those better than me gave their lives so we all could live. It is a day to be grateful and say “Praise God!”

God Bless America!

Thank you for reading.

This is some good reading.

The Auction

 There I was, standing amongst a complex of metal clad agricultural style buildings being asked, “What do they do here?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it is a school.” I answered my eyes moving forward, back upon the auctioneer and what was up for bid.

It was not too long afterward that a young Amish man came up and told me exactly what they do there. It was a metal shop, a dry goods store and a hardware store. They were downsizing, the hardware store closing hence the auction.

And what an auction; trailer upon trailer, three auctioneer trucks, and when I left after five they were still going. I was there from 8:30am, the beginning.

Which begs the question, “Can an auctioneer lose their voice?”

But what was this. I was standing amongst people that let no misunderstanding, misconception go without being corrected. A pleasant experience of coming across good character.

Would you expect anything less but to find people of character in communities that live real lives, centered on a faith in God?

Insights into the interior of Wisconsin… I found the billing for this auction not listed on the Internet, nor broadcast over the radio but on a local grocery store’s billboard as I passed through central Wisconsin. Amongst the fliers for fishing competitions and events at the local rod and gun clubs was posted the notice, “FREE COFFEE AND DONUTS, 7:30 TO 8:30”

In terms of a story, as whole boxes of goods were auctioned off, moving goods at a near unimaginable pace, that long used scenario of a whistle blower being chased and desperate to hide their evidence from their pursuers could not be ignored.

The true benefit of attending events new and unfamiliar is of course the personal experience that expands your understanding of the human condition.

Can you find a starker contrast, stepping away from people looking at screens all day seldom leaving their chairs, than spending the day amongst people making a living based off the land and hard work? Is it a surprise that God is unfamiliar to the former but not the latter?

I was happy I went. Not to much time to write today.

“What did I buy?” you ask.

Some very useful goods.

Thank you for reading.

Always a good read here.

Ignorance

 “Romeo and Juliet”

It is all about the ignorance. Of course any remake disregards the heart wrenching tragedy that makes “Romeo and Juliet” the best known story of any outside of the Bible.

A tragedy universally recognized; and to understand why is wisdom.

I guess people cannot handle tragedy these days. They believe no one should die.

Stay inside so nothing happens… and guess what happens.

One could say Adam and Eve were ignorant. Absolutely ignorant of the intentions of the serpent. I would say ignorant of who they were as God’s children, rulers of all creation, that they would actually believe the deception.

“Oh right Mr. Snake, little servant being. We own it all and you’re trying to tell me God, our Heavenly Parent, is keeping something from us, we His children, His heirs?”

Hard to understand the power of ignorance in a storyline if you belong to a generation that knows everything. Not to mention the significance of the potential ramifications of ignorance.

A truly human story? Chuck full of ramifications and consequences; the most emotional powerful story points of any drama arise from ignorance.

Occam’s Razor? The simplest explanation? It is all ignorance, a deception for some nefarious purpose.

Okay, like always I am most contemplating the condition of our current society.

Do you write a story to meet the expectations of the current society or a social class? I guess you can, or you could attempt to create something known as literature: a lasting artistic merit such as “Romeo and Juliet”.

Ignorance, lies, deception, all too common since the garden.

It will never be left all behind, if the truth we cannot find.

So did I begin March with the laying out of topics for each of my blogs?

I actually did, but with the melting of the snow, the softening of the ground, preparing for the awakening of Spring I have been just too busy to get out but this one post.

Thank you for reading.

Regrouping

No contemplating life, none of the metaphysical today, just a quick post as we transition into Spring. Several transitions going on.

Will I keep writing?

Cannot see how I can stop. I will try to keep a diary, as it is prescribed as valuable to a life of faith. Have kept some journals from time to time and have my blogs, but I lack the power of daily reflection put down on paper.

My December post highlights how beneficial the practice of writing can be.

It is good to write one’s life story.

But what about everything else?

The first week of every month I will title and outline a post for each of my blogs. So I should have more than one blog post a month, though some posts may take a long time to develop to my satisfaction.

Poetry, the sagas based on Chuck Hammer, and my short stories will be the focus for any additional endeavors. My short stories are most likely to be put up for publishing. Competitions may be an option as I do not see me getting large numbers of works put together.

Never got to any kind of writing conference.

Will also review all my Internet accounts related to my writing. Sometimes I think the Internet actually holds us all back.

I find the writing/poetry classes on Masterclass a valuable asset.

Then there is what spell check does to a sentence.

Of course creating a working schedule with my wife, and how much time it takes to manage our multiple income streams, will determine a lot.

Thanks for reading.

Pandora

 I have read a bit of science fiction. Grew up on “Star Trek” and the “Foundation Trilogy.” …It is all getting a bit boring; exploring the darkness of space.

Are writers stealing ideas off each other or simply working off the same theoretical science?

Watched a show called “Pandora”. Super soldiers held in stasis in cargo containers. Think I read that somewhere before, attention Ryk Brown, or is it “The Dune Trilogy”. Does “Star Trek Discovery” owe a certain author credit for battle tactics?

“Pandora” was just full of rip offs.

In a Master Class on writing I have been taking, an emphasis was put on understanding the fables of old as archetypes in story telling. The concept is that it reflects embedded elements of the human psyche that ring true, strike deep chords in one’s heart.

Like Pandora’s Box, the source of all evil and suffering in the world plays out over and over; the suffering and heartache of any subscribed scenario never diminishing.

Are we all doomed to a tragic existence? The product of a terrifying fall?

Salvation and liberation are available to all, as mankind has been lifted out of the darkness step by step. The elements of the process repeat as so many things do in life. The light grows ever brighter.

So what can one say, when climbing out of a life of tragedy, of the unspeakable, one finds they have been betrayed from every direction imaginable?

One says “Hello” as they find themselves in good company.

Good stories; literature comes from the space within.

Thanks for reading.