Episode #73 to NOTEFLIX’s production of “Troubles in the Garden”: Scarlet and our Leading Couple, Mamzelle Pinkie and The Multicolored Bluebird of Happiness, rush off to see how their Protest/Demonstration (See last two postings) was covered by the press. In fact, it was not covered by the press at all – but our characters do not know that – because stuffed animals cannot read – except for Mathuzala (Far left of photo), he can read and write – but he is the rare Exception that Proves the Rule. He is at the newsstand because he is gathering information for his guest column in an oncoming post. Stay tuned for more action in this regard.
- I read studies that show people who can’t read well: Tend to drop out of High School, have a 7 year shorter life span than those who do read well, and are ‘Less Good’ in their ‘Civic Behavior’. This does not mean if you read poorly you cannot become President of the United States…
- Last week I was involved in a lecture series where it was suggested we should live in the PRESENT. The PAST, is where Anger lives. The FUTURE is where Fear resides. Live in the PRESENT…enjoy the NOW, now. I like some of my PAST, some of what happened back there. Every once in a while the NOW is pretty unacceptable…”What then?” I ask. Fires, Heat-waves, Pandemics, Politically extreme nut jobs – sometimes, all I want to do is go back to my PAST and pet a dog who used to live with me. Anyway, I read an article which said we are going to need 50% more food in 30 years to feed us all. And we won’t have enough water to irrigate the kind of food crops we NOW enjoy feeding on. The article went on to say we will be eating (for the most part): Millet, Cow peas and Bottle Gourds. I do not know what those are – and I do not want to know. This is an example of Fear of the FUTURE. The article did say we might also be eating corn, but you can eat only so much corn…except for popped corn, I can eat a lot of that – so that won’t be so bad. I think I might pop some when I finish this paragraph and enjoy the NOW, then.
- Another article I read went on to say we are going to have so much trouble with water supplies in the near FUTURE that: Hoards of people could die of thirst, 1/5th of the world’s population won’t have potable water, that rivers will be re-directed to the advantage of the rich and powerful, that there most likely will be ‘Water Wars’ between States and Nations. Talk about not wanting to live in the FUTURE. Maybe the guy who can’t read well is having a better time of it in the NOW than I am.
- Another article went on to say: “…20 Countries in the ‘Developed World’ have promised more than $49 Trillion in pension benefits than they can come up with.” And then another article suggested ‘we’ need more humans on this planet in order for the new, additional and younger people to go to work, so they can pay for the retirement of the old people (who will be me if I live long enough to get into the FUTURE). There must be something wrong with this system. If I read it right, we are going to run out of food and water, yet we need more people to survive.
- So. A question comes to mind about what good is it to be able to read well when what is between the lines is so disturbing. This is a fool’s question; but one that can only be answered by more reading. Below you will find a few comments to read on this subject:
- “People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading.” -Logan Smith 1865-1946 American Writer
- “What do we ever get nowadays from reading to equal the excitement and the revelation in those first fourteen years?” -Graham Greene 1904-1991 English novelist
- “Some read…only with a view to find fault, while others only to be taught; the former are like venomous spiders, extracting a poisonous quality, the latter, like the bees, sip out a sweet and profitable juice.” -Sir Roger L’Estrange. (This makes me sort of a Brown Recluse and a Honey Bear at the same time.)
- “The art of reading is to skip judiciously’ -Italian proverb (But how do you know what to skip until you have already read it? ah, There is the rub.)
- “Learning is like a great house that requires a great charge to keep it in repair.” -Samuel Butler Prose Observations – 1660-1680
- “Advertisements contain the only truths to be relied on in a newspaper.” -Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
- “Any man who reads too much…uses his brain too little…falls into lazy habits of thinking, just as the man who spends too much time in the theatre is tempted to be content with living vicariously instead of living his own life.” -A. Einstein
- “Quotations are like a (Bloggers) bullpen. Stealing someone else’s words frequently spares the embarrassment of eating your own.” -Peter Anderson
Thank you for your time, this time…
Remember? We said the TEDDIE’s are coming, the eagerly anticipated award ceremony which will heap glory on your favorite characters. Ballots will soon be sent out – so you can vote often. Unfortunately, there are rumors insinuating there might be some rigging going on – and the votes could be mis-counted. We have captured (Below) a picture of two miscreants, Bork, the Purple, and angry Slug – and the Slimey Green Toad, or Frog , or whatever he is…doing their best to destroy a voting machine. (To be cont’d)
