Wisdom From Unexpected Places

“Cut out all of my dialogue, all of my lines, and have other characters talk about you. Which, by the way, is not bad advice on living in general” - Sylvester Stallone, explaining to Howard Stern how he made the script for Rambo work. Truth.

Boys Will Be Boys

PSA to anyone raising sons: Make sure your kids understand that ‘boys will be boys’ logic was literally used to defend Brett Kavanaugh’s attempted rape when he was in college, as well as Brock Turner’s rape while he was also in college. Maybe boys will be boys, but that is never an excuse not to be a decent human being.

Easy= Hard When It’s Time to Pay the Bill

The path of least resistance is always the most costly and regrettable in the long run.

Re: Adversity

It is so gratifying to be kind to folks who hate you. Your initial response to aggression is to be aggressive back, but to respond with kindness and understanding offers a much longer term reward. Not as instantly gratifying as a violent response would offer, but so much stronger, and so much deeper. Turn the other cheek.

In addendum, a quote from James Baldwin that I believe is complementary to this notion:

"You cannot lynch me and keep me in ghettos without becoming something monstrous yourselves. And furthermore, you give me a terrifying advantage: you never had to look at me; I had to look at you. I know more about you than you know about me. Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced." 

The Real Metric of Success

One thing I have learned in this life: degrees, accolades, and awards pale in comparison to what you believe in, how much you believe in it, and how you articulate that intensity of belief.

Scene from a Play #1

17 year old runaway runs into his football coach at the airport just as he is about to get onto a plane to a new city to start over:

Kid: Coach? How did you find me?

Coach: I read this (holds up kid’s journal). It fell out of your backpack during our last practice. I was going to give it back without reading it, but then I heard you had run away. I read it thinking maybe I’d find a clue.

Kid: it’s been so hard. Growing up it’s just been me and mom, and she’s got enough burdens...

Coach: you’re not a burden. Let me tell you, the stuff in this journal (holds it up again reverently), it’s inspiring. You capture everything so uniquely. You’re an artist. And that last entry where you decided to run away, when that thing happened at the party...you know you could have called me. I would have come for you.

Kid: nobody ever comes for me.

Coach: (puts hand on kid’s shoulder, his eyes well up) I would of come for you. I came for you tonight, didn’t I? (The kid embraces the coach)

Kid: you did! You came for me.

Coach: You know where else I came?

Kid: where else?

Coach: in your mother. 17 years ago tonight.

Kid: wait...dad?

Coach: that’s right, son. I am your father. And I have a feeling things are about to change around this place!

The End

Stats

When I was 8, I would always practice my signature for when I became a famous baseball player. I also used to write out the stats on the back of my imaginary baseball card. There would always be a slump somewhere in there, and I would get traded to some other team (usually the Baltimore Orioles). But I would come back, and it would be glorious, and I would return to the Reds.

Shoo-gar!

My 8 year old son is a super good reader, and normally he would pronounce the word ‘sugar’ in the conventional way, but last night I bought him a little bag of Swad—candy coated fennel—from Jungle Jim’s, and he liked it so much he decided to add it to a drink he had concocted this morning. I asked him what was in the drink, and he mentioned it contained ‘Shoo-gar coated fennel’. I laughed and told him that was the fanciest way I’ve ever heard someone pronounce ‘sugar’. The bag says ‘Sugar coated fennel’, and my guess is that Swad seemed exotic to him, so he must have guessed all of the ingredients were pronounced in an exotic way.

Left vs. Liberal

Liberalism is a luxury ideology bought and paid for by the left. Remember Jack Nicholson's character from 'A Few Good Men': "You want me on that wall!"