Hindsight 2020

Another horrible, senseless school shooting. 19 innocent children dead along with 2 adults; the 18-year-old shooter dead and his grandmother seriously injured after he began his rampage by shooting her in the face. The shooter seems to be an all-too-familiar type; a bullied loner with few or no friends who legally purchased two AR-type assault rifles along with over 300 rounds of ammunition shortly before the shooting. We've seen this detail before too: the shooter posted his intentions on social media prior to carrying out the shooting. While we may have become accustomed to these types of tragedies, most of us are still left feeling like we were sucker-punched in the gut. And we have to deal with all those emotions yet again. Shock, horror, profound sadness, anger, fear, futility, frustration, helplessness. I've experienced all of those over and over again. It keeps on happening and we all keep arguing about how we're going to stop these tragedies from happening. Unfortun...

 Since when did we start taking to heart and branding as gospel everything the following people say: comedians, talk show hosts, podcasters, sports stars, and -generally speaking- people who are famous for being famous. These are NOT the people we should be paying attention to when it comes to important information. Let's use COVID as an example. The ONLY people we should be listening to are infectious disease experts, doctors, and WHO experts involved with tracking and tracing this virus. Add to that list anyone who is faithfully and accurately quoting these experts and using that information to try to mitigate the spread and severity of this virus. That's it. Anyone else who is NOT an expert on diseases or treating diseases can continue to say whatever the hell they want. Really. Keep spouting your bullshit about how the virus is a big hoax and how the stringently tested vaccines are dangerous and deadly and how masks are useless and how Ivermectin can cure COVID. Scream it f...

This Thanksgiving, one word comes to mind for me as a human being: GRATITUDE /ˈɡradəˌt(y)o͞od/   -noun-  the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.  Being thankful -truly thankful- requires a moment of pause, reflection, and introspection. I've come to realize that "happiness" is really just a state of mind. It's a person's ability to take stock of what they have and where they are in life and focus on those things in a positive and thankful manner. Take, for instance, the millions of people around the globe that are living in squalid conditions by most of our standards. They have very little food, clothing, or material possessions. Many lack a decent house, running water, or electricity. Their days are spent working and struggling just to survive another day. But, incredibly, many of these people are quick to smile and laugh. They're generous with what little they have and they are truly thankful for what little ...

On April 30, 1975, the last few Americans still in South Vietnam were airlifted out of the country as Saigon fell to communist forces. North Vietnamese Colonel Bui Tin accepted the surrender of South Vietnam later in the day. The Vietnam War was the longest -20 years- and most unpopular foreign war in U.S. history and cost 58,000 American lives. As many as two million Vietnamese soldiers and civilians were killed. The U.S. military was sent to Vietnam to protect the United States and the world against the spread of dirty, nasty Communism. See, back then, there was this thing called the Domino Theory that suggested that other nations throughout Asia would become satellites of either the Soviet Union or Communist China, much like nations in Eastern Europe had come under Soviet domination. So the United States spent upwards of $168 billion over 20 years to make sure Vietnam didn't become a communist county. And, guess what, despite all the time, effort, and money, it did -pretty much ...

 It's been a long, strange, difficult year. As of the writing of this, the United States has lost a total of  568,962 lives to COVID-19. By my rudimentary mathematical calculations, that equates to an average of 1,425 people dying every day since the lockdown began last March. Sure, people die every day. It's a fact of life. In 'normal' times, an average of 5,500 people die in the United States everyday. But it's the way that a lot of COVID victims died -alone, isolated, afraid, struggling to breathe- that really weighs heavy on my mind. And what about all those people who survived their initial bout with COVID-19 only to continue to suffer "long haul" effects and ailments? I consider myself and my wife and two kids some of the extremely lucky ones. None of us contracted COVID-19 yet and my wife and I are fully vaccinated while both my kids have just received their first vaccine doses yesterday. I feel like we've managed to dodge a bullet for over a ye...

 Prince Philip dead at age 99. It's all over the news today. I'm sure there'll be dozens of touching tributes to this man. He obviously led a full life. 99 years. Can you imagine? He also led a life of privilege and prestige because, well, he was royal . Royalty . In this modern day and age, we still have kings, queens, princes, and princesses who are revered and honored because they are royal . It's laughable to me. Royal people are just rich people who, somewhere along the line in history, had a title bestowed upon them or just simply had a great-great-great-great-great grandfather who declared himself King. There's no such thing as royal blood . We know this as a scientific fact. And yet millions of people in Britain swoon over Queen Elizabeth and the rest of the royal family. While they have no real political power, they have plenty of influence and are still included in various ceremonial/political events. As if they were something special. Millions of British...

This year's Super Bowl was kind of a let-down for me. I was hoping for a highly competitive barn-burner of a game that went into overtime. That certainly wasn't the case, eh? Maybe it's because I'm no longer a fan of a particular team.  About six years ago, I came to the conclusion how utterly stupid and moronic it was for me (emphasis on ME) to be a 'fan' of any particular team in the National Football League. Years prior, I had rooted for the team now known as The Washington Football Team. While I didn't shell out money on game-day tickets or a bunch of team swag, I did have an official NFL jersey and I engaged in my fair share of smack-talking with fans of opposing teams. I also played armchair coach and quarterback with my fellow fans as we talked about the team as if we were actually players or coaching staff. "What we need to do is draft ourselves a quarterback next year and not spend so much money on defense!" Or after a hard loss; "We ...