This Could Be Heaven, This Could Be Hell

Ah, the 70s and 80s. Seems like the best music produced was during this period. I won’t even count country as it seems to be a perennial favorite.

This post isn’t even about the Hotel California. I just liked the words for a title.

When you get old, seems like you have more time to philosophize. Since I don’t drink, golf or watch sports, I have a whole lot of time to ponder the mysteries of life.

For a lack of a better word, I want to share my thoughts on fate. The ancient Greeks believed there were three goddesses or Fates and that man was powerless in determining his destiny.

Maybe I’m a little mad for spending my time thinking about the past and how I arrived at this point. What if my mom had told my dad, “Not tonight, dear”? Or if my dad had married a different woman? What if I had never met my wife? What if I’d had different parents? What if I had had sons and not daughters? I think I would have been a lousy father.

Would Oprah be a one name dynamo if she hadn’t bombed as an anchor in Boston and since she couldn’t be fired because she was under contract and the station had to come up with something else for her?

I believe there are hundreds of thousands of talented people the world over that will die in obscurity because fate did not smile kindly on them. I’m reminded of the winners on America Has Talent that would never had their 15 minutes of fame had they not appeared on that show.

I’m reminded of the movie “Sliding Doors”. This from Netflix, “Two wholly different universes unfold …. about alternate realities, the reliability of subway schedules and the role fate plays in shaping random lives.”

I’m betting 98% of folks go about life with nary a thought of what might have been or what life altering event may be just ahead. I for one wonder how my life might have been without my wife (not very good) or if I had finished high school or graduated from college or gone into the service.

Too many possibilities to spend so much time on. Fate is an unforgiving bitch.

MADD MEXX

Field Trip

 

I took grandson number 1 on a field trip a few days ago. We went to my hometown and I showed him where the first house that I remember was. It is now a restaurant parking lot. Across the street was the Methodist church where I went to kindergarten. My grandmother’s house was down the street about a block away.

Next I took him to the site of the first Hispanic/Latin Assembly of God church of which my parents were founding members. We did not get to see the site as a train was blocking our way.

My grandson got to see the elementary school which my siblings and I attended. It sure wasn’t as big as I remembered it. The school has gone through such a transformation. There are all kinds of buildings that have been added for a growing population.

There is also a great demographic transformation. While my siblings and I were the only students of Mexican descent, 100% of the present student body is either Mexican or of some other Latin American parentage.

The school seems to be doing quite well as it has exemplarily status.

The ride to the old homestead was not quite the same as we were in a car. I would have liked to have walked the mile home so he could experience that. But, now, because of all the child predators and other freaks, I realize that may no longer be an option.

Finally we arrived to where our first home had been. It was literally across the tracks. I told him of how we lived in a street car the first winter we were there. The street car was on the property when we move in. The whole area is now an industrial area.

I get disgusted with all the people with cable TV, cell phones and on well fare. My parents did the best they could without any help what so ever. But, that was 60 years ago. We didn’t have a daily drum beat reminding us of how bad off we were and how we deserved better at someone else’s expense.

I hope my grandson got a better understanding of his dna and that life must go on.

MADD MEXX

Old Dead, White Guys

"Freedom is never an achieved state; like electricity, we've got to keep generating it or the lights go out." -- Wayne LaPierre

A few years ago it was fashionable to bash old, dead white guys.

Figures; only morons could come up with something that dumb.

Let’s see; what did those old, dead white guys give us?

Well, for starters they gave us democracy. Granted, women did not have a voice outside the home and their whole economy was slave based. Still, they made attempts that hither forth would light a fire in men’s hearts and that fire has not yet died.

They gave us some of the greatest minds known to man. Men like Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. They gave us literature, drama and political theory. Some of the world’s greatest art is from Old Dead White Guys.

While Americans take their liberty for granted, we can see in the nightly news people the world over wanting to be free. Hundreds may die tonight for their hope to be free.

Some of those dead, white guys risked life and limb to explore new worlds. Men like Christopher Columbus and Lewis and Clark. Granted, things may not have gone too well for the indigenous people but don’t blame them. They were only the messenger.

It’s easy for us to condemn in hind sight what happened in the past, but let’s not forget that it’s in the past. We can’t go back and change what went before.

I got an email once that stated “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a present. That is why it’s called the present”

MADD MEXX