Random Reflections Pt16

66. I’ve got a confession to make. Unless the product is really cheesy/tacky/horrible, I don’t see much wrong with the commercialization of Christmas. Yes, it’d be nice if people spent more time with their families, celebrating the birth of the Christ. I ain’t disputing that.

But. There such things as supply and demand. There’s a demand for Christmas gifts, and it’s amazing and inspiring to see the human creativity at work in trying to get a share the money that WILL be spent fulfilling that demand. It’s not a horrible thing – it’s human intelligence and ingenuity at work.

67. It’s hard to believe in evil and badness when looking at a countryside in the fading light of a fall afternoon. The sun skimming the tops of the corn stalks, making them glow, the way the fields roll on and on, bordered by either dark looking patches of evergreens or grayish-brown skeletons of trees. I can understand, now, why so many people love the countryside. Never used to – I hate empty skies. Now though…well, it is the stereotypical American dream going back 200 years: Buy some land, raise some crops, raise a family…and I can see why. I guess I’m getting mellow in my old age.

68. Never had a significant other in my life, not so far at any rate. Don’t know what the future will bring. But I see these guys being jerks to their girlfriends and I want to dope-slap them upside the back of the head – with lead-shot gloves. You do not tell anyone you care about where to go by pointing at them and then pointing at where you want them to be. You do not make fun of them. You do not stop them from going somewhere by grabbing their arm and buttonhooking in the other direction.

And sometimes I wonder why my gender gets a bad rap.

It’s the golden rule here folks. Learn it.

69. Rappers who invoke God on their albums bug me. They spend hours rapping about violence and stupid or immoral choices, arrogance and their prowess in the criminal trade, and then they have the audacity to croon about how they’re just trying to do the right thing and God sees and either approves or forgives.

If you’re going to create an 80 minute CD about drug use and drive-bys, and the last 3 minutes are about God, I expect that to be your last CD with that subject matter.

*sigh* They’re just trying to show their sensitive sides, trying to keep from looking like total wastes of space and oxygen. To those of us with a brain, it ain’t working.

70. Political yard signs weird me out. Are we to believe that seeing a sign with a person’s name emblazoned upon it will inspire them to vote for that candidate? Or that a bigger sign will have a bigger impact? Is a bumper sticker more or less likely to inspire someone to vote a certain way than a yard sign? How about a pin? Or a highway sign-board?