An Evening With '57, in the Spirit of Mark Twain and Eckhart Tolle

[FiftySeven]

WARNING:
It is not my intention to offend, but
If My Version Of Sacred Truth Offendeth Thee, Best To Returneth To The Safeth Spaceth Prontoeth
/WARNING


You’ve been warned, now onward and upward!

This will be a Long One, multiple posts if I and TFLF can stand it - maybe you’ll want to get your popcorn and adult beverage now – I’ll wait.


Refer to the WARNING above.

Let’s Roll!!

Ol’ FiftySeven saddled this Rock quite a few years back and has made a few trips around the Sun.

I have no wisdom; perhaps I can add some perspective instead.

These Are The Best of Times; These are The Worst of Times.

These Are The Times That Try Men’s Souls – And Women And Children’s Souls As Well.

FiftySeven, who do you think you are , to be writing a Rant?

Well, a few of you have met me IRL. I’ve attended a few Meetups, including the one that @Kak organized in Erie last autumn with The Undercover Billionaire. Thanks again @Kak , by using your Superpower you created value out of thin air. I am in awe of you and all others that have similar talents.


Yes, I’m an introvert and that is coming in handy now.

When I show up at meetups and say nothing, I’m not trying to harvest your idea and run with it. I’ve just been on This Ol’ Orb long enough to realize that when I’m in the presence of people with superior intelligence and capability, JUST STFU AND LISTEN!!!

OK, be patient – I’m laying the groundwork for my Rant. It’s going to take a while…

How did I grow up & where did my family come from?

As I’ve posted before, my great, great etc, etc, -grandfather came over to North America from London in 1634. I’m not bragging here, just in wonderment…

Let’s look at this from a modern point of view:

You go down to the docks in London. You walk up to a ship that has a sign out, “Passage to Northe America, 90 Quid. Ye Musteth Bringeth Yore Owne Foodstuffes To Eate Duringe Thee Voyage”.

You walk up to the Captain. He reeks of rum. The First Mate reeks of rum. The entire crew reeks of rum.

Me, looking at an 80-foot-long wooden ship with water squirting out the side periodically: “I’d like to go to North America. BTW, do you have extra batteries for your GPS?”
Captain: ”Blimey, Mate, what in h311 is a GPS?”

Me: “How you gonna navigate?”
Cap: “At night, we pray for the clouds to open up long enough to take a reading with this mechanical thingy”. Mechanical thingy then falls to the greasy deck and is knocked out of calibration as Cap is waving it in my face.

Me: “Got lots of Diesel aboard? Enough to get across the ocean?”
Cap: “Diesel !!, laddie, no Germans in THIS crew, by Gad!! We just point the boat west and hope that the wind blows the right direction, every day for 2 months in a row!”.

Me: “My girlfriend is in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. Are you bound for there?”
Cap: “Rhode Island, boyo, we’ll be lucky to strike the CONTINENT!! And you want to pick the CITY??!! Landlubber!! Haw”.

Me: “Does this tub leak?”
Cap: “Leak, matey? What’s between those big ears o’ yourn? Lard? Can’t you see the water a’squirtin’ out the side o’ this fine big ship? We’ve got two tars a-sittin’ down in the bilge mannin’ that pump 24/7! We just give them a mouldy bisquit and a cup o’ rum once a day! If they don’t like it, we just toss ‘em overboard and intern a couple more”.

Me, walking back toward shore, thinking, “No way am I buying a ticket on THAT sh!teshow! Man, my xxxxgrandpap had bigger ones than I got! Glad I’m here in 2020, just dealin’ with this virus thing… besides, I got plenty of tp, hand sanitizer and a ham radio!!”
Cap, looking at my back receding toward shore: “F3ckin’ wanker!! Go Back To The Future!!”

Now, my family tree might not have as many branches as other people’s, but let’s shake one o’ the limbs from my Mum’s side:

My Mum’s Dad, my grandpap, was a small-statured guy, smaller than I myself was as a teen. He left the eastern U.S. at about age 16 and traveled to a gold mining town in Montana by himself. He traveled cross-country periodically; buying a ranch, develop it a few years, sell out, move on, buy another ranch; rinse & repeat.

When grandpap would sell a ranch there was always some stuff that could not be moved to the next ranch; so there would be a public “sale” of those items. Sometimes there would be a dissatisfied customer who misunderstood the item he bought at the sale. So Grandpap would take him out of earshot of the sale and convince the dissatisfied customer that the item was "as described by the auctioneer"...

One (short) time, he worked for the Ford Motor Company in Dee-troit. His job was to install wooden spokes in the wheels of Model Ts. He didn’t last long. He implied that his foreman was a jerk. I don’t know how he “separated” from the company, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was due to punching aforementioned jerk.

He was a man of action, not words. Was he smaller than me? Yes. Did I ever “sass” him? Never even crossed my mind.

Same with Mum’s brother, a US Marine during the Korean War. Smaller than me. Did I ever “sass” him?

Growing up, we were in awe of our Dads and our uncles. Many of them had seen service in WW2, the Big One. They didn’t talk about it much. Dad, his brother and my paternal grandpap worked a farm together, after WW2, for many years. Dad’s brother, a relatively young guy at that time, couldn’t hear very well because he got his eardrums blown out in Europe. I can recall my dad picked up some jungle fungus during his Navy tour during WW2.

How did Dad’s brother happen to get his eardrums blown out? Well, the short answer is that he probably was unaware the gun he was helping to man was about to be fired; hence, it fired when his mouth was closed.

The longer answer is, about 15 years before my uncle lost his hearing in a place he had never heard of; a certain country chose to elect a dwarf, failed s……t who was promising Fr.e Ev..yth..g. Like a good politician, this dwarf had a Plan and a Scapegoat to go along with it.

Fr.e Ev..yth..g; the electorate just forgot to think about the future and ask themselves What Could Possibly Go Wrong With This Scenario?

That electorate chose one of those things that you can vote your way into, but have to shoot your way out of. But by the time the electorate realized their mistake, all their shooters had been turned in. Whoops…

There was a German officer who realized his mistake. Erwin Rommel, another officer named von Haeften and a few others tried to bomb their way out; unfortunately, der beloved fuehrer chose to cross his legs before the bomb did its work; Rommel was given a cyanide pill and a state funeral.

Millions of people would die after that failed bombing.

Another uncle of mine was in the Army Engineers in WW2, the Big One. At times he served under Patton, and even shook Patton’s hand. My uncle helped bridge the Rhine and Rhone as the Allies closed in on Berlin. In the 1960s the things my uncle went through came back to haunt him. He was one of my favorite uncles and could talk the hind leg off of anything. When he reached retirement age, kids from the local U interviewed him for their dissertations. I hope this helped him gain a sense of closure and put some of that stuff behind.

My Dad, uncles & grandpaps were my heroes growing up; along with my Mum and Grandma. Mum and Grandma picked their men and stood by them until the clichéd “Death Do Us Part”, working their fingers to the proverbial bone on the farm; day in, day out.

Still, my Dad and uncles were the lucky ones; they came home, and came home in one piece; one of Dad’s cousins was in a B17 that never came back. And a lot of guys came home without eyes, hands, legs or other parts. There was a powerful movie about this called “The Best Years of Our Lives”; in fact, one of the main actors was a GI who lost both hands during WW2. It was amazing, what he could do with 2 hooks; he could even put on and remove the hooks by himself.

That awful thing referred to as WW2 re-shaped civilization. It shaped my Dad's life, my life and continues to affect geopolitical events to this day.

A lot of that destruction was started as an idea in one twisted, warped mind.

Here in the U.S. the end of WW2 preceded one of the greatest economic booms ever seen on the face of the Earth.

What if a single mind, a powerful mind; better yet, a group of powerful minds were aimed at a positive goal?


So I said all that to say this:

“Wuhan Fluhan, covid19version2.0xyz123.hashtagwhatever or ”whatever your name is morphing to” and whoever or whatever you are;

these here United States of America are not only going to kick you to the curb, we are going to chew you up, spit you out; then write books, make movies and 3 Stooges Comedies celebrating how we did it; now stick that in your covid-ar$e pipe and smoke it”.

P.S. for readers who utilize similar forms of the English language, substitute “kerb” and the name of your country of residence in the above and yes I know we are all Allies in this together.

You may be thinking, “Hey FiftySeven, that’s some Pretty Heavy Stuff you are Laying On Us. Lighten Up. You must be Angry. Tell Us How You Really Feel. You must have deep-seated resentment against your parents for the irreversible damage done while they were potty-training you. Light Up, Turn On and Tune In. Mellow….”.

I hope some of you are thinking, “Right On, Brother! When’s the next post?”.

You are the people I’m posting for; the ones who will hold it all together, find solutions and make it all happen as we move through this.


I’m here to add Perspective.

Although the above sounded like a Rant, really, it’s just facts - World History and background.

I’m one of the luckiest people I know.

Eight years ago, I was Divorced, Homeless and Unemployed. I started with nothing and multiplied it.

I’m an optimist by trade. I’m such an optimist that as I’m downloading that newest Windows Update, I actually expect my PC to work better afterwards. Now what could be more optimistic than that?

Seriously, I’m Blessed. I have lived the American Dream and am just getting started. I do whatever I want 24/7/365 and that is only going to increase and multiply. I’ve had a great life and maybe I’ll talk a little about that in a subsequent post.

Everything goes in Cycles.

In my next post, maybe I’ll channel my Inner Tolle and give some New Age perspective. I’ll probably touch on my Unified Theory Of It’s All My Fault And That Gives Me Power Over Everything ©.

As time goes on, maybe I’ll talk about when my Dad laughed in my face, when I laughed in my Dad’s face ( and lived to tell about it ), how five people lived in a 2-door automobile with indoor /outdoor plumbing and still grew up to be relatively normal, how can we help the virus strengthen us, add some talent to your stack and other things – remember, Rant, with perspective on the virus.

This virus thing? NP. We're gonna smash it together!


Thanks!

‘57

 

Dislike ads? Become a Fastlane member: Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)