...iwonder

thank you, that was a genuniely sweet comment, one of the nicest I've read in quite a while.

I'm quite impressed with your postings regarding the ads as well.
Gutsy, and you held your own.

I sent an essay I just posted on MindHub to you, incase you don't subscribe, sort of similar theme.

(It's long, not espeically about Fresno, and besides, I don't want folks throwing another clot regarding too many notes in the symphony within 24 hours... just sit on my hands and give somebody else a chance.)

Thanks again.
Bless Ya

-Eric

dear out of the void-
your "long-winded" comment was an unexpected and refreshing surprise. thank you for making a heart-felt, humorous, humane, statement about war and life. this war has been going on for years, and still I long for the ability to express the feelings of brokenness and despair I have learned to live with. you expressed yourself with an understanding and patience that I often lack.

thank you

;)

I think Peter Sellars said it even before Peter Buck and crew:
It's all part of life's rich pageant.

A 1,000 word comment on a 300 word post.
Is that some kind of record?
Way to hijack a post, dude. nice. (or not very nice?)

I have one real wish in life.
(okay, that's a bald-faced lie,, I have several.)

But.
I've never had a serious girlfriend, fiance' wife, (any of that, or them, I guess is the right use of the queens tongue...)
-Never sat, with a girl in my arms, and just lay back and watch Fireworks, (which I happen to love, always have, always will...) --and just smell her hair, and feel her react to them too...
-Not such a strange request, I suppose.

Sometimes I go and invariably wind up sitting next to families... -and it's always cool to see them all sit there, and watch them interract...

Bruce Cockburn (as well as Sarah Harmer) were on 'E Town' this weekend, (not a show I usually listen to.. I'd much rather 'Mountain Stage,' or 'Austin City Limits,'
---But Bruce Cockburn is Bruce Cockburn, and excellent no matter what...

He wrote a song about being in Bagdad, and how, while he was there, it was supposed to be a quiet time in the area... (things were settling down for a while,)
-And then there was this massive explosion. (Some sort of bomb or something.)
---but he said that what got him, wasn't the sound, --but that everybody just went about their business, --and didn't even look up.
-He thought, 'what do you have to go through, day in and day out, that you can be in the middle of a huge explosion, --and it not even phase you,,, -and it would seem 'normal.'

We're a nervous itchy bunch, in this area.
All full of opinnion and righteous anger over whatever...
Very thin skins in the valley.
... And we need to settle down.
-but at least there is a sensitivity, at least there is still as sense of right and wrong, some sense of caring, there is a heart and a soul that hasn't been so shell-shocked that we just sit there and stare from behind a weld-plate conditioning.

We need to settle down, as a country as well.
We weren't designed as people...
(ooops, did I say designed,,, my bad..)
-we didn't evolve from a hapless series of 'hopeful monsters,' who managed to mutate 'up,'(and still find a date, and procreate to make others of a higher level...) -hey, it could happen... maybe the mutated whatever was rich or had a great personality or something...

---we weren't designed to kill each other.
---we're passionate about things, sure...
get mad at a car, throw wrenches and use every bad word you know when you skin your knuckles on a bolt that slipped... (it's only a car, it really doesn't care...)

But people...
-Most folks don't know this, but when 9/11 happened, I know of a whole bunch of folks, (nearly the whole country, --mostly the women,) in Sarajevo got together and prayed 'that America could forgive who did this to her, -and not attack them.'
---not because they felt that what happened was excusable..
--but because they knew that if we moved on it, and attacked,,,
the whole pond would be disturbed,
--and the violence would ripple out like a cinderblock going into a full bathtub... (Their country basically exploded.)

I think we're up to 2500 killed in Iraq. (US) since we've declared ourselves 'the winner.'
---that's about as many who I had die all around me during the air attacks.
--and one of the most recent ones was one of the Marine recruiters who was in Farenheit 9/11, (the guy who went to the poorer neighborhood malls,)
-he was taken out by a bomb along side the road.

WHY?

Wouldn't it be great if both sides, just looked at each other and said.
'...look, this is horseshit, you got family you want to see, I got family I want to see, you want to take a shower, you want electricity,,,
-how about we throw the guns over there, we get the water and the lights on,
and when we're done, we just close our eyes,
-I'll get out of here,
--we count to a thousand,,, and if you see any enemies go ahead and shoot,,,
but if not, just go about your day,
-we'll be headed home, and mail me a Christmas card, -and I promise not to mail you a fruitcake...
Whaddya say, Achbar, that fly with you???'

I love our military...
I'd look up at the jets flying overhead in the hours after 9/11 and just say thanks to the pilots, (even though they had no clue.)

-I just hate waste of life.
I got a buddy of mine back east, (I used to work with him,) who's older than us,
--and they activated him.
He's got four kids and a wife.
Eldest daughter in her mid teens,
one son in early teens,
a little girl who is around ten or so,
and a toddler... (they had a romantic night, and nine months later a little surprise...)
...he was doing things like changing oil in the truck, making sure she was ready for winter with the kids...
I can't imagine how they must have felt..
He was cool about it, but still, I know he was really having a hard time coping..
He was too old to go over, --and still he went.

I know we're each given a measure of life.
That's comforting to me.
I just have a hard time aligning that with bodybags, -and kids coming home, (sometimes couples,) who are so fragged from combat, to no jobs, and such difficulty in returning to 'normalcy.'

It's a lot to talk:
(to a Deity that will remain nameless, so as not to disturb non-Deity acknowledging eyes,) about...

It was nice, the whole neighborhood, standing out in the dark in our pajamas the other night, watching the fireworks over fashionfair, though...
Nobody shooting or carrying on...
even the 'bangers...
we all just stood out there in our socks and jammies, looking at the colors and blinking at the 'bang,' with smiles...