You might be wondering what that means. It occurred to me that a lot of people that write “stuff” and put it out for the world to see, are Keyboard Kowboys in that they may not have the cojones to back up what they write about. I’d like to think that I am not one of those. I’m in that “awkward age”… too old to take a whuppin’ and too young to die. Use your imagination to figure out a finish to a “discussion”. I belong to a couple of veteran groups and it’s sort of a rite of passage to “pledge” your services again, if called upon.
In June 25 and 26 of 1876 it was the battle of the Little Big Horn, and we know what happened there. It was George Armstrong Custer versus Chief Crazy Horse, and the Indians won. However, that’s not the point of this little nugget. Both men, as young boys, shared a nickname. They were both called “Curly”.
If one is a lawyer, the greatest peak that could be sought, would be a Justice of the United States Supreme Court, right? Now, if you were really sharp and aspired to be the Chief Justice that would be a dream come true, and if you got it, you’d have to agree it could possibly be a minor miracle! Now, what if you were NOT a Justice of the Supreme Court, or even a lawyer … you might think that your dreams would never come true…but you’d be wrong. John Jay, John Marshall, Roger B. Taney, and Salmon P. Chase (he was on the $10,000 bill) were all Chief Justices of the US Supreme Court … and none of them ever went to law school!
I like cowboys. There was something about these guys that rode horses, herded cattle, and crossed hundreds, sometimes thousands, of miles to deliver the herd. It was not an easy life, and my guess is that you have to get good at it, quickly, or you might just fall by the wayside, so to speak … and the wayside back then was just dirt, or dust, and maybe a bleached bunch of bones. Those bones could have been a cow that fed the cowboys, or just one that had the misfortune to break a leg. Maybe, at night when the cattle were bedded down for the evening, there’d be a campfire and lots of stories told … and it might be that some of them were tall tales. It definitely was a certain way of life that didn’t appeal to everyone … and there’s probably very few of them left working.
The older I get the more I appreciate what I’ve learned … and some were very hard lessons. One thing that has stayed with me all of my life was a saying that my father used to say and I doubt seriously if he knew its origin. He’d look at me and say “To thine own self be true, and it must follow as the day the night, thou canst be false to any man.” I’d laugh at the funny language, because I was a kid and didn’t understand. He was adamant that I would read books, all sorts of them, and to this day, I treasure them. When I was a teenager, before I joined the Navy, it began to sink in. Then, once I was in the Navy, it was easy to tell the truth, no matter what, and wonder of wonders, it earned me a reputation as someone that could be trusted. If that wasn’t enough I also got a reputation as a “sea lawyer” because of my love of reading, I read all sorts of rules, regulations, changes in this and that, and on those occasions when I got into trouble, I almost always got myself out…barely scratched.
One would have to be living in a cave, and way down in it, not to know that The Golden State, Crazyfornia, is in dire straits. For years and years now, legislators of a district haven’t been living in the district that they represent…so, either they’re blind, or by choice, they are not aware of what’s going on there. A tremendous amount of money, which could be spent in much better ways, goes to cleaning up human feces and urine from public streets. Some cities have tent cities springing up and the state leads the country in homelessness. In a recent “online article” it was said that there are four families that seem to control the entire state and that reminded me of the reign of “King” Daley of Chicago and his long-time stranglehold on not just Chicago, but all of Illinois.
Weed, MaryJane, pot…whatever you call it, it’s big business now, and in some states, it’s legal. You just walk into the store, browse until you find something you like, buy it and take it home and get high. Medical uses, I can understand…but when the crime rates seem to jump in those states where it’s over the counter, I have to question the wisdom of its legality. No…I’ve never tried it, not because I’m afraid of it, but afraid that I might have liked it! I’m not the sharpest tool in the box but when I hear enough warnings, I listen to them. After all, l they can’t all be wrong, can they?
Parting shot: You don’t get to be as old as I am by being stupid.
