Full count

Tonight it was a beautiful evening for a little league game. My grandson Ragin' Cage is now in his second year. This time the kids are pitching instead of the coaches and it makes for a fun time. They are still learning the rules and how things work. Last year the concept of a force out was something at their age they couldn't quite grasp. However, that isn't the point of this ramble.

As I was waiting for their game to begin I turned and began watching the action on the next diamond over. It was a small group of kids, about half a dozen that were practicing with a few older adults, coaches I believed. The kids were a range of ages likely from six to twelve or so. They were special needs kids. I assume they all had various challenges such as autism or other issues. There were five kids in the infield and I noticed quickly they all shared a fielding similarity; they were all left-handed. I thought that odd.

I turned to a gentleman who was about my age or slightly older and asked if he had a son on the field. He told me his grandson was there and pointed him out. He said they were part of the Achievement League. I pointed out my observation and he just nodded and smiled before turning back to the action. As I continued to watch the kids rotated in and each took a turn at the plate. I watched as five players took their turns and did their best to get a hit.  My observation of left-handedness was again validated as four of the five batters hit left-handed. I have a friend or two that may be able to speak to the left-handedness of my observations. Perhaps I'll give one of them a holler about it.

Baseball is an interesting game. It is challenging both physically and mentally, if you want to be good at it, it takes years of practice. Yet, it is simple enough to allow anyone who wishes to have a good time the chance to do so. I wish these young players well in their endeavors.

Once again, over reaction

So, we as a society just can't seem to stop over reacting to everything. Yet again, we see another example of this in the news. It seems even corporations aren't exempt.

The 'ultra cool' and 'hip' (do people still use that word?) Starbucks has found themselves in the midst of a PR crisis, and their reaction is one that simply baffles me. Starbucks has decided to close approximately 1000 of their stores for an afternoon in May to give their employees 'anti-bias' training. If you aren't up on the story, one of their highly enlightened managers called the police to have two Black men removed from the store because they were sitting there and hadn't ordered anything. Really? Someone in a coffee shop sitting around and not ordering anything? Who would have ever thought that would be the case?

Well, why is this an over reaction? Actually, if you have to ask that question, you are likely part of the problem. Just because one employee is an idiot, you as a company need to shutter 1000 stores for a few hours? What if at the next store, one of the employees drops their pants in front of a customer? Are you then going to shut the store down for two hours and give everyone training in sexual harassment? I was under the impression that Starbucks' employees were above this kind of behavior; they're the young, cool and confident generation that does nothing but poke fun and complain about the generations that came before them, that becoming a coffee barista was a life goal.

Here's a thought from just some old guy: why not just fire the manager who obviously isn't qualified to do his/her job and move on. Besides, if this was such an egregious act, why is Starbucks waiting nearly six weeks to get this done?

I guess it's just not THAT important after all.

Current events of the past

It often seems that the more we move into the future as a people, the more we drag along the past. It is something as humans we seem to do a lot. It is a sad state of affairs we bring as a country as well. Sometimes you can chose your enemies, sometimes your enemies chose you. How much has our foreign state of affairs changed in the past thirty years? The Soviet Union fell and it has simply been replaced by a Russian entity.

Three years ago I penned a novel that closely resembles the potential conflicts we face in today's world. The Bear is a novel that is a throwback to an earlier decade, a time I remember well. The nightly news often featured tales of the Soviet Union. It was the world we lived in.

I invite you to give this novel a read. Although the story takes place in the current times, it has the feel of the Cold War era that I and many others lived through.

I hope you enjoy the work. It is available through Amazon, iTunes, Barnes and Noble and Kobo.

Who is entitled to what?

I was struck by a thought the other day as I watched and listened to the world pass by. I attended a home improvement show near the home town that is a yearly major event. It features all the vendors and things one can do to improve their home with all the products and services one could hope for. It was attended by people of all ages, income levels and backgrounds. It was a true mish-mash of our culture.

What struck me was how much we have in this country. Sure, there are pockets of poverty spread throughout. There always has been from the earliest days of our nation. There likely always will be. With that being said, think about the current situations we live with. Years ago our mothers and fathers jumped at the chance to defend this country in the face of world-wide oppression. World War II was the largest conflict in the history of mankind. Yet these people, farmers, tradesmen, whites, blacks and immigrants from all over the world who had either been born here or came to these shores lined up to serve and possibly die.

What were they defending? At the time they were coming out of the worst financial depression that had ever gripped the nation. They were only sixty to seventy years removed from the Civil War and blacks from the oppression of slavery. Social and racial injustice was still an ongoing national strife. But from this group, a group of people that had just enough to survive, maybe just a bit more, these people stood up and rallied together to overcome the tyranny that was true oppression.

What I find now are several generations that have one of the highest standards of living in the world. If they so choose, they want for nothing. Years ago if you were poor you had no resources to even eat. Now, even for the poor resources are plentiful. Yet what do I hear? I hear voices raised in discontent, not always due to social issues but, 'I'm not getting my share'. 'What's in it for me?'

I'm coming to the point in my life now that I want to turn a deaf ear to those who rail against others who have more. No one owes you anything material in life, not the government, not anyone. What you should expect is the opportunity to succeed and be treated fairly by everyone else. Guess what? This is the real world and although it would be nice if it worked that way, it isn't going to. It would seem even the poorest in our society have televisions and cell phones and creature comforts that those who lived several generations ago could not even imagine, and yet they are ungrateful. So what does that mean? If you want it, go out and earn it yourself. There will be obstacles in the way. That's the way life works. Don't want to overcome obstacles? Then don't complain about others who did.

Remembrance and joy

My Brother’s Fire

My time has come that I must break these earthly bonds

and shed the fickle chains that tie my earthly soul.

That I have lived a life, a life of dreams

a life that holds a fervent fire,

And quenched my thirst of love and grander things I have not known.

That I have climbed the mount and flexed my wings

and soared to heights unbridled,

and touched the sky with thoughts and prayers my mind may only raise.

In starlight’s glow I bask above the earthly blue

and breathe the breath of angels

as God’s own hand does call me home.

Those hands I touch that comfort me

that soothes my soul I touch no more,

yet revel in the memory of a touch long lost.

I fill the void my heart has longed to keep

and hold dear the face of my child

and I shall sleep now in peace as I await my valentine.

*     *     * 

That five years has now passed is nearly unfathomable, and there is nearly not a day goes by that I do not think of one of the seminal souls that touched my life. His wit and humor influenced not only my life but had a profound effect on those who knew and loved him, and love him still.

Yet with our faith, a faith that, although I question from time to time, I know that one day I shall again place my hand in his, that my check shall brush against his and my lips shall kiss his forehead in celebration of our reunion.

Donald Lee Thomas

North of 50

3 of 5

 

Of a certain age

It has been well documented over the years in this blog that I really don't watch much television. There are shows that over time have caught my attention, yet with my irregular schedule I just don't have time to follow along, especially shows that have a continuing story line. I will simply miss too many episodes to be able to follow along.

Recently I discovered a secondary channel that shows the Star Trek shows, Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager. In the days of my youth these were shows that captured my imagination and to some extent, led to the recent publications of Star Eagle Six and Ghost Fleet and the series which I hope to add to this year with the coming book, Battle Wagon. But I digress...😉

Since I do most of my writing at night, usually after My Beloved and Ragin' Cage go to sleep, it turned out to be the perfect accompaniment to my writing, especially since I'm working on the Home World series. During one of the commercial breaks there were certain types of commercials that filled my screen ...

This blog began nine years ago this month. Fairly soon I'll have to decide if I want to change the name of this ramble to 'Thoughts of a Sixty Year Old Man'. Have I come to that age where the television shows I recall from the days of my youth are filled with ads for; back braces (fully paid for by your insurance), an on-line site for reduced prescriptions and other ads for the aging population.

Now, I still think of myself as forty-something, except when I have to do things like shovel the driveway (without a snow blower) filled with six inches of snow and wake up slightly stiff at the hips the next day, but to have myself targeted by ads targeted to the senior population is really making this week rather difficult to acknowledge.

I supposed it happens to all of us at some time where life just creeps up on you, it just isn't supposed to happen this fast. Maybe to my older siblings Anonymous and Greybeard, but not me.

Flawed is flawed

Every once in a while you see something on the news that is just a head-scratcher. It was reported on the evening news that a group in California has filed suit so that coffee is labelled as a product that causes cancer.

Now on the surface of that, I suppose that it is good that someone is looking out for the rest of us. Apparently everything in the State California seems to cause cancer. Now, I'm not the smartest bean in the hopper but I'm not an idiot either. The report stated that there is an ingredient in coffee that is also found in many other plant based common foods including such things as bread. (I apologize that I don't remember the actual name of the chemical). That is actually immaterial.

But even to the idiot bean the study is flawed beyond belief. Mice were given doses of 1000 to 100,000 times the doses that a person would consume. I would hazard a guess that nearly everything on the planet given to an organism at that dosage would cause cancer. In my view the science is bad and therefore does not warrant a lawsuit.

I understand one can not monitor every possible thing over time to determine if it is a health risk. Entire generations would or could fall victim to a true health hazard, but to continue to do this type of study is nothing but a hoax. I'm not a scientist, nor do I play one on TV, nor did I sleep in a Holiday Inn Express last night, but this type of research simply cannot continue. The scientific world needs to look at itself and come up with another method of determining carcinogens.

I for one am glad I don't live in the Land of Fruit and Nuts. They might as well just put a label on everything in that state and say it causes cancer. Buyer beware.