Some Of My Observations On The 21’st Century (from a Dinosaur)

 

I was purchasing something at a store. I said “Thank You” to the clerk. Expecting a “Thank You” back, I heard his answer. It was “Not a problem.” “Not a problem” I thought. Whatever happened to “We appreciate your business” or “Thank you, Sir or Ma’am”? Another thing I’ve noticed is people saying, “There You Go.” Is this the new saying that has replaced a simple “Thank You”?

What kind of young people has this generation raised? Does nobody have the business (and common) sense to say “Thank You” and “Come Again” or “We appreciate your business”? Does “There you go” convey our attitude today?  In several restaurants I’ve noticed the waitress saying “You Guys”. Maybe the definition of “guy” includes women too but it just doesn’t sound right to me. I don’t think my wife is a guy. My wife and I went into a buffet type restaurant where you pay before you go in. The girl at the register said, “Do you want to add a tip to this transaction? (We paid with a credit card). I always thought a tip was to reward someone for good service. How can you reward someone for service you haven’t yet received?  Is it just me or is the whole world backward?

Tipping: In years gone by, a waitress (or any service people) would get a good part of their money from tips. Here in the South, we have always been known for friendly waitresses. Nowadays, the waitresses in a restaurant are often anything but friendly. I’ve figured out what has changed. A lot of restaurants now put all the tip money into a big bowl and split it between all the waitresses at the end of the day or the end of the week. So, being friendly and cheerful is no longer necessary because these people are going to get the same amount no matter how they act. This practice just encourages people who do not have good people skills to get by.  Why would a hateful waitress be nice when she doesn’t have to be? This communist type compensation discourages a lot of people from striving for excellence. My wife and I do not go to some restaurants in the area (which may have good food) because of the unfriendly people.

I called a retirement place about playing some music for their residents. I have a traditional country music singing act and enjoy trying to entertain folks. I felt this particular place would be a good place to entertain these senior citizens such as I am. Folks this age usually enjoy my kind of singing and humor. This place was relatively new in our area. I was told on three different occasions that their activities director was busy. Then I went by this place and (of course) she was still busy. I left my business card with the receptionist and never even received a phone call from this mysterious activities person.  After a few days, I called and left a message for her to call Mayor Jim Coppinger with my cell phone number. I received a call in less than 10 minutes. Needless to say she was disappointed when I answered the phone. People don’t even bother to return phone calls unless it is someone they think is important or famous or unless they think their boss will hear about it.

When I worked as an auto damage appraiser for an insurance company, I learned that business people use their voice-mail to screen their calls. Very seldom would someone respond to your phone call unless they felt it was to their benefit. As an auto damage appraiser, I’ve called claims representatives with a question about a specific claim and never got a returned phone call. Is everyone just making their day and dodging people’s phone calls with their voice mail? Am I the only one this happens to?

The Do Not call List: This is a joke that isn’t funny. I have registered my home telephone number and cell number on this list for years and I still get these phone calls almost every day. Some used to say they are exempt from this because of one reason or the other. Others just hang up when they find that you are not going to listen to their pitch. Now there are the robo calls, a recording of a sales pitch. I also have a cell phone. I’m now getting robo calls on it. They call about my student loans and my staying in a hotel and say there is a problem with my credit card (none of which is valid). I’ve had to stop answering my home phone if I don’t recognize the number.These calls have gotten out of control.

Have you noticed that a lot of young people can’t sit down and talk to you unless they are preoccupied with their phone that is in their hands. This is ill-mannered. In my day, we were taught to look someone in the eye when you talked to them. Nowadays you can’t even get young folks to take their eyes off their smart phone.

Speaking of technology, why can’t I make the decisions to do daily stuff on my own? Why would someone make a car door lock automatically? If I want my door locked, I can do this. Why must I endure an alarm beeping in my own automobile if I choose not to buckle my seat belt? I’m a grown man. I can decide whether I want to buckle my seat belt or not. These burglar alarms that they put on a car these days are just a pain in the rear. Hardly anybody knows how to work them and nobody pays any attention to them when they go off. You can’t even go in the WalMart and take a leak without encountering this automatic stuff. Let me flush the urinal, turn on the water in the sink, and dispense my own towels. Are we too lazy to do these simple things? The new cars have a feature where they automatically shut off the engine when you stop at a traffic light. Let me control my own car. I’ve had too many cars in my life that were questionable as to whether they would start every time. I won’t drive (of buy) a car with this feature.

 

Where in the world did people get the idea to tell me to have a nice day? That is about the most foolish thing you could say to someone. I think this has somehow replaced the old term of “Thank You”.  What about, “What goes around comes around”?  What idiot came up with this?

There recently was a report about girl who was a senior in a high school in Tennessee who got in trouble in school because someone sneezed and she said, “Bless You”. I had a link to a video about this, but the original video has been removed so I guess you’ll have to take my word for this. The teacher sent her to the principal’s office and she was disciplined for saying this. They said this was a religious act and school was not the place for this. I wonder if anyone is aware of what “goodbye” is short for? I figure they’ll try to outlaw this saying too. (Goodbye is short for “God be with you”.)

I heard a commercial on TV that said if you or a loved one was injured or killed because of a certain product to call their phone number for an attorney’s office. I’ve got news for them. If you were killed you’d have a hard time calling them.

Am I the only person who doesn’t say I was “woken up”. When I was in school, we were taught that you should say “I was awakened”   but not ‘woken up”. I was taught that woken was not a word. Has somebody changed it?

How many u’s has the word two got in it? I keep hearing young women (even on TV) saying tuuuuue for two. It sounds like the first part of the word Tuesday.  The Yankees always make fun of the way we Southerners talk. At least most of us can pronounce two correctly.

Why do a lot of people on TV say “I” when they should say “me”? Example: He passed the ball to Tom and I. Would you say , “He passed the ball to I”? It should be, “He passed the ball to Tom and me.” It amazes me how many supposedly educated folks say things like this.

My wife and I went to a local hospital for an outpatient test. In the registration process, we were taken to a place they called the “Quick Registration Waiting Area” We weren’t able to sit down because the seats were all full of people waiting there.

Karma: I hear this word spoken a lot by young people these days. They often say, “That is good Karma or That is bad Karma.” Have we reached a point where these Buddhist or Hindu beliefs are common to our young people? Here is one definition listed on the web for Karma: (in Hinduism and Buddhism) the sum of a person’s actions in this and previous states of existence, viewed as deciding their fate in future existences. Are our young folks taught that they are living in a world where their fate is determined by their actions now and in a so-called previous existence? Do they believe that they are climbing up a ladder one rung at a time that leads to Heaven? This thinking has crept into our young folks education and I think it is sad. Do we not believe that God created the world and He is in charge? Has this way of thinking crept into even our Christian beliefs? Do people think that their future is determined by a set of scales that weighs the good and bad? Either God created this world and sustains it or He didn’t. Do people actually believe that they can do enough good deeds to get to heaven?

Who decided to say, “Someone gifted something to me”? Gifted is a noun that means somebody who is exceptionally smart or talented. I don’t know who decided to make this a verb, but they are showing their ignorance.

This may sound strange, but I wondered why I see men in the winter time with a coat or hooded sweatshirt and short pants. Do they not realize that it is winter and cold weather? The only answer I can come up with is that they think their legs are attractive and they want the whole world to see them. I’ve even seen some men who apparently shave their legs. I guess there is nothing wrong with this but it just looks strange to me. I have a problem with circulation in my feet and wearing socks makes my feet burn like they are on fire. It seems to drive people crazy when they see me without socks on my feet in the winter (or summer). It seems that everywhere I go someone has a comment on my lack of socks. I’ve never heard anybody questioning these men for their choices in apparel. Maybe wearing long pants make their legs burn.

Driving: The street on which we live connects to a pretty well traveled road. There is a hill close by and cars come over that hill pretty fast some times. Pulling onto this street is a crap shoot. This blind spot on that hill makes for a dangerous intersection. I expect there to be a bad wreck there sometime and I hope it is not I. The county has a 20MPH speed limit sign there and this is also written on the roadway. Recently, I pulled out on this road just as a woman (I won’t call her a lady) came over that hill at about 60 MPH. She flashed her lights at me and made some hand gestures. There is no way anybody could anticipate her coming over that hill even if they looked closely (which I did). This is a pretty good representation of people driving on our highways. They try to talk on their phones or send text messages while they drive. If you are running the speed limit on a major highway, they will run over you. If you are in the extreme right hand lane on the Interstate and you are running the speed limit, often cars will follow behind you as if they were drafting in a Nascar race. This type behavior can not be corrected by laws. It reflects an attitude that is inside people and a total disrespect for the law. Paul Harvey used to say, “You can’t legislate morality”.

I was watching a cooking show and they kept saying “fridge”. Are they too lazy to say refrigerator? Speaking of cooking shows, why do these cooking shows all have to put garlic and some other strong smelling stuff on everything they cook? What is wrong with eating a steak and tasting the flavor of the meat? Have you ever smelled someone’s breath who has eaten this stuff. It smells like dog manure. I’ve been around people who had eaten that Chinese food the night before and it almost gagged me to be within 5 feet of them. What kind of stuff do they eat that leaves such a smell?

There was some guy that had a cooking show who always said “Bam” when he put hot sauce or pepper on something. The audience would always applaud loudly. Am I the only one who doesn’t like that stuff? Why don’t they just drink the hot sauce?

Eat Healthy: I hear this all the time. What in the world are they talking about? Is this some of those tofu and broccoli eating vegetarians whose main concern is that they don’t want anybody to murder a cow or a pig? I think eating healthy is a rib-eye steak (no garlic) with a baked potato smothered in sour cream and butter.

Green: I hear people saying that something is green. I read in the newspaper that the City of Chattanooga was spending about 3 or 4 times the normal cost to put a roof on their downtown facility because they were putting a green roof on it. It will include dirt and grass planted on top of it instead of a traditional roof. Guess who is paying for that. I’m not against protecting the environment but it has gotten completely out of hand. I can imagine a few years from now that someone will be suing the city because the building has mold in it.

They announced that Hamilton County’s Central High School needed a roof on part of it a few years ago when a tornado damaged it. The price to replace this roof was $730,000.00. This school is a combination of round buildings. I realize that the round roof is harder to replace but this appears ridicules to me.  Why would the county build a building that has the potential for this expensive a repair? This is part of the reason our taxes are always going up. Doesn’t anybody question this figure except me? That is almost three quarters of a million dollars for a roof on part of this building.

Dog lovers: First of all let me say, “I don’t hate dogs”. I’ve had dogs through the years and I know how much comfort they can give people and how attached you can get to them. I just don’t believe that you can have a dog living in your house without your house becoming a little more like a dog pen than it was without it. If you share your home with a dog (or other animals), then, either the dog will come up to human standards of living or you will move down to a dog’s standard of living. Usually the result is somewhere between the two. I just don’t choose to live like that. I believe God created this world and everything in it. He put man in charge of it and said that man would have dominion over the animals. People who share their home with an animal are just more willing to do the extra cleaning and care than I am. I’m not being critical of this practice. It just isn’t for me.

Cat lovers: You can usually step into someone’s home and immediately tell whether they have a cat. The smell of cat urine is something that is hard to cover up. They advertise products to mask that smell but I believe I could still smell it. I have seen some people who smell like cat urine or cat feces when you get close to them out in public. Maybe they like that smell. I suspect that everything in their home has this smell on it. Do they just get used to smelling that way?

I’ve seen folks on TV with eagles and big birds living in their homes. Have you ever seen one of those big birds turn loose and take a dump? They will squirt that stuff for several feet. Do people live in that?

There are people living in the same house with monkeys or pigs. We had a monkey in a cage outside near my Dad and Mother’s small grocery store in the 60’s. This was a big monkey, old Cocoa, who probably weighed 40 pounds or more. You could smell that monkey cage from a hundred yards away. I’ve also been around hog pens and I didn’t like that smell either. Do people really live in a house with these foul odors? We humans have spent hundreds of years refining our lifestyles to get away from the barnyard smells. Now it seems like people want to go back to that. I saw on the news where there is a big problem with bed bugs. Maybe these folks should just start sleeping out in the barn with the animals on the hay. I’m pretty sure a lot of these pet owners have fleas in their house along with the dogs. The schools have problems with head lice. I think a lot of these problems are a sign of people who won’t clean their homes or themselves. Spraying Febreze on nastiness doesn’t clean it up.

There was an incident recently where a woman took a pig on a commercial jet on a U.S.Airways flight. I had a link to the video on here, but it has been removed now. You’ll have to take my word for this. The flight crew escorted her off this flight after the pig was squealing and defecated in the floor. It seems that some our genius lawmakers in the government have passed a law (namely the Americans with Disabilities Act) declaring that people can take an animal anywhere they want if it is termed a service animal or even an emotional support animal. I can just imagine where this is going. Are we going to be forced into riding on an airplane with any barnyard animal that some idiot wants to take with them? I realize that there are legitimate service animals and I don’t object to these. It is the people who are using this law to allow their pets access to places with whom I have a problem. The businesses are limited in how much they can question these folks. I’m sure the threat of lawsuits is a big factor, too.  Lately, I’ve seen dogs with people in the WalMart and I recently was in a restaurant where a woman was holding a dog. These folks think they can put a little sign on these pets and call them “service animals” and take them anywhere they want. Where is this foolishness going to stop? A human is subjected to the strictest searches and rules before they are allowed to fly on a plane. Maybe the terrorists will start putting their bombs in a pig. Nobody would dare to question an animal’s right to be on the flight.

School: What are they teaching our kids in school? They apparently spend a lot of time on self esteem. I don’t think anybody is teaching them to read, spell, or count. Just look on Craig’s List or on most any listing on the Web and you will quickly see that most folks can’t spell or write a coherent sentence. Many of the young people working at the fast food places can’t count money. If your bill is $4.05 and you give them a five dollar bill and a nickel, they will usually have to call a manager to figure your change. I don’t think this “new math” is working. What is this business with people saying “ax” instead of ask? Did you ever watch some of these athletes or so-called celebrities when they are interviewed? Count the times they say, “You know” or “ You know what I’m saying”. No, I don’t know what you are saying because you are not saying it coherently. Our young folks can tell you who all these celebrities are married to or sleeping with but they can’t tell you who George Washington or Abraham Lincoln were. I saw where the math scores for the United States are way down the list compared to the scores of other countries of the world. We need to start teaching our young folks a little of the “3-R’s” again instead of all this politically correct stuff. I found this article from the New York post the other day. It was dated December 8, 2014. It says that, “A majority of students training at scores of New York colleges to become teachers flunked a literacy test they have to pass to be licensed…“

http://nypost.com/2014/12/08/majority-of-citys-teacher-trainees-flunked-literacy-tests/

In case you could not or did not read this article, it says that several New York students training to be teachers could not pass a literacy test. In one college, 13 students took the literacy test and NONE of them passed. Is it any wonder that our students are not learning in school?

Text Messages: I can see where a text message has some value. Why do people use these shortened words? They do the same on the web on the emails and messaging services. Our young people can’t spell now. How are we going to teach them to spell if all they ever see is UR for you are or stupid terms like LOL. This seems like a minor thing to complain about, but I think it is part of our educational downfall. They never capitalize any words. Shouldn’t these messages be a part of the young people’s education? Do we ask them to go through 12 or 15 years of learning parts of speech in order to write like they do in these text messages? How much longer could it take to properly spell out words, capitalize them, and punctuate them?

Prayer: There are folks who don’t want anybody praying out in public.They are attacking our schools, ball games, and public meetings complaining about public prayer. Prayer has been a part of this nation since it was founded. I don’t think anyone should be forced to pray, but it seems nobody gets upset about any vile thing that is said on TV or in public these days. There are some shows on TV where there seem to be more beeps than words coming out of some folks’ mouths. Nobody seems to complain about this. If you go to Washington, DC and read all the stuff carved in stone on those buildings and monuments, I think you will agree that our forefathers weren’t ashamed to mention God. I didn’t hear anyone complaining about prayer after those terrorists flew the planes into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon in 2001. I think the United States needs to pass an amendment making this a “Christian” nation. Israel isn’t ashamed to be called a Jewish state. These Muslims and Buddhist are not ashamed to stand up for their religion. These Muslims started protesting and killing people because someone made a movie and didn’t portray their leader in the way they wanted.  Why should we be ashamed? The people who made the laws of this land weren’t ashamed to include God in the mix. It seems like a small minority of atheists call the shots and we Christians are forced to sit back and let them do it. This politically correct stuff has gotten way out of hand. These so-called singers can say anything that is imaginable on the radio or television and nobody says anything. These young people hear this crud and we just ignore it. They can talk about any vile act you can imaging and nobody seems to care. If the name of Jesus Christ is mentioned, it seems that everyone gets upset.

Our economy is in the toilet and it seems that nobody cares. I saw on TV last week that the U.S. is no longer the number one in the world’s economy. China has surpassed us with their economy. Fifteen years ago our economy was three times that of China. Almost every product we purchase is made in China or some third world country. I don’t pretend to have the answer to this problem. The stupid regulations imposed on manufacturers and the stupid lawsuits filed in this country are both hurting our economy. Any product made has to be idiot proof and this still doesn’t prevent lawsuits against manufacturers. If you wonder why you can’t find a plastic gasoline container cheap any more, it is because the one company that was making them in the U.S. was forced to shut down after a lawsuit several years ago. The Blitz company in Oklahoma was forced to shut down their operation  after 50 years of manufacturing. One hundred and seventeen workers lost their jobs. Now I’d bet those containers are made in China. I’d think it is safe to say that nobody can manufacture a gasoline container that is impossible for someone to catch on fire.

There are instances where a person goes to a bar and gets drunk and has a wreck on the way home. The lawyers sue the bar or liquor manufacturers because these manufacturers have some money. The lawsuits are always against the ones who have the most money. Maybe when we get down to everyone in the U.S. making about twenty cents an hour, we’ll stabilize things in this country. I think these liberals will be happy when we are all dependent on the government for EVERYTHING. Older people who worked all their life and saved their money for retirement are now in a position where they can’t even purchase a CD that pays enough to benefit them. One or two percent on a CD is not a lot. Short term CD’s sometimes only pay less then 1%. The illegal immigrants can often get more Government benefits than someone who was born here and worked all their life here.

Credit Cards: Why is it that credit cards charge interest in the 20% range and CD’s only pay 1 or 2%? I have a credit card but it is for my convenience. I pay it every month and don’t pay these high interest rates. Young people start out life with a credit card and most of them are close to maxed out. Do you ever hear anybody say, “I can’t afford that,” these days? It seems that the credit limit determines what a lot of folks purchase instead of them thinking about the long term cost. What is wrong with saving your money until you have enough to purchase an item? The Federal Government had a partial shutdown recently. After about a week, the news media started talking about these workers not being able to make their mortgage payments or buy food. I’ll bet none of them cancelled their internet, cable, or cell phone service. I often notice that the folks we see on TV who are on welfare often have on expensive clothes, expensive shoes, have tattoos all over, have expensive hair styles, carry expensive cell phones, and drive expensive cars. Am I the only one who notices this?

Mother Nature: This is a term you hear a lot these days. Where did this come from? You can’t teach the children in school that God created everything, but you can say mother nature. I also hear folks mention the “gods” are with them. The “golfing gods” or the “weather gods” or any other “gods” are idiotic things to say. Either God with a big G is in charge of this universe or He isn’t. These so called little g “gods” are just like mother nature. They are a figment of someone’s imagination. I get the idea that our country is drifting toward the belief that animals are on an equal plane with humans or maybe they are above humans. The view that humans came from a monkey has permeated our society. Our children are being taught that this universe came into existence from a one celled animal that evolved into  what we have today. Anybody who dares to believe that God spoke this universe into existence is thought to be an idiot. I don’t believe mother nature is responsible for anything. Where are the people who don’t accept this idea? Have we lost our right to speak out?

Why is it that the only descriptive term for an amount of stuff these days is “tons”. People say “We’ve got tons of this and tons of that.” I doubt if most young people even know what a ton is.

The politicians these days run for office and their main thing to express is that they are not as crooked as their opponent. What ever happened to a man running on his record? These people try to be all things to all people. They rely on advisers to tell them how to talk and what to say. I think a lot of these politicians would say ANYTHING to get elected. We often are not hearing the politicians real views but we are hearing what his advisors perceive to be the most popular view. The socialists are trying to take over this country. A good president has finally been elected and all you hear is criticism of him.

I read an article that said baseball is a dying sport in this country. Am I the only person who doesn’t watch it because the players appear to be a bunch of rich, arrogant, egotistical young men? I saw on TV where one baseball player recently signed a contract for $325 million for a 13 years. That is $25,000,000.00 a year. The news clips of players rushing the pitchers mound and having a brawl stand out in my mind. What about these NASCAR drivers and the way these arrogant drivers act? I used to watch boxing. I quit watching boxing after Mike Tyson bit his opponent’s ear.  I think these folks should be setting a better example for the young folks in this country.

The NFL lost my viewership after that guy refused to stand for the National Anthem. These high paid athletes should be the ones praising this country instead of criticizing it, but they all jumped on board for this little protest. I hope the NFL goes bankrupt if this is how they feel about this country. The contempt they seem to have for law enforcement and military people makes me sick. I’ll bet if they were in North Korea they would stand up for the flag. They act like a bunch of spoiled rich people. Let’s move the NFL to Russia, Iraq, or North Korea and see how well they do there.

It seems like the athletes and so called celebrities want to see how many tattoos they can have showing on their bodies. What is it with all these piercings in peoples’ eyebrows, noses, lips, and who knows where else? What about these young men who run around with these baggy pants and have to hold them up when they walk? We may have progressed with electronic technology in this world, but we have failed our young people in our training them. I think this country was better off when the mothers could spend more time with their children and weren’t forced to work all day and leave their children at home. I think we are now paying the price for this. We need to get back to the Bible and God’s way of doing things. This politically correct way is not working.

I must mention the homosexuals. This country (and the world) is accepting this way of living more every day. It seems like everyone is afraid to speak out against this. I, for one, don’t accept this way of life as normal. God’s Word is plain about this lifestyle. It plainly speaks against this. Why are we afraid to confront this? Have these liberal news people brainwashed the whole society into thinking this is normal and acceptable? I don’t hate these people. They are free to live any way they want in this country. Their way of living isn’t directly affecting me. I’m offended and it insults my intelligence to tell me that this way of life is normal. Don’t tell me that I’m wrong for opposing the teaching of this lifestyle to our young people. I see more and more on TV showing these queers. I even see them trying to take over TV shows like Jeopardy. I’ve seen several men on there saying something about their husbands. I wouldn’t be surprised to see human beings marrying their dogs or cats in the future. The same arguments could be offered for this practice as are offered now for the homosexual lifestyle. I was watching Jeopardy the other night and a woman contestant was on there who lived in Colorado. She told Alex, the host, that the act of telling the cable company that her live-in boyfriend was her “husband” constituted them being legally married in that state. I probably shouldn’t have been shocked by this coming from Colorado. It is sad that something like the institution of marriage has become trivialized to mean absolutely nothing. God instituted marriage between a man and a woman. It is a serious covenant. This is just one of the things that illustrates how far we as a society have drifted from the Truth.

It seems odd to me that there is a large campaign to get people not to smoke cigarettes, but at the same time they are legalizing marijuana smoking in a lot of states. I don’t think either of these is healthy but it seems like crazy logic. Now they are selling some products that are supposedly a medicine. These products are made from these marijuana type plants. Several states have legalized marijauna smoking.

Is it no longer a shameful thing for young girls to be pregnant without a husband? When I was growing up, it was shameful. It is not fair for these little children who are brought into this world to not have a father in their life. The government is not a replacement for a father in a family. The government has (in effect) subsidized these fatherless children because they pay to raise these children. The mothers know that more children means more money from the government. The young folks today don’t even know what the term, “bastard”, means.

Some of these young women just go and get an abortion. They have tried to de-humanize these babies who are in the womb. You hear these women saying it is their body. This is true, but these babies have a body (and a soul), too. There are murders committed every day in our city. Murders are not a new thing. This has gone on since Cain killed Abel. I think that human life doesn’t mean much to people these days. If we are just some animals that evolved from a monkey and don’t have a soul then I guess it would follow that human life is not so valuable. If man was indeed created by God in God’s image, then it is a different story. I think this evolutionary view of this world and the denial of God’s creation both contribute to these murders and terrible crimes being committed.

I feel I must speak about race relations. I don’t think the average white person in this country these days looks at someone and judges them on the color of their skin. If you listen to the TV, you’d think that there is a BIG race problem still in this country. Some folks make big money by representing this thought process. I, personally, don’t think that is so. After all, we had a black president for 8 years. I can only speak for myself, but I don’t judge folks by their skin color. It seems like the left will quickly say someone is a racist if they disagree with them. How do you defend yourself from these accusations? Is it possible for a black person to be a racist? Oprah Winfrey once said she wouldn’t let a white man be her producer. Was that racist? It seems to me like the TV has over reacted on a lot of things. On TV commercials, I see a lot of black folks now days and that is not a bad thing. It seems to me like the white guy is almost always portrayed these days as the dumb one or the bad guy and the black guy is the smart one or the good guy. I don’t think it would pass if it were the other way. A good example is the Allstate commercial on TV. They have a good looking black man who is well spoken and represents Allstate in a good way. Then they have a white guy who is portrayed as “Mayhem”. He is the opposite of the good guy. If this commercial were reversed and the black man were portrayed as the bad guy, someone from the left would object loudly. It is just not right for the white guy to always be the dumb or bad guy. These little things are mostly unnoticed by most folks, but they are real.

I realize that with all these criticisms it sounds like I’m not happy with anything. That is not so. I’m a blessed man. God has been good to me and my family. There are 10,000 times more things that I like than these few that I don’t. I’ve chosen to list some of these pet peeves just to get them off my chest. It seems like in today’s world, the liberal viewpoint and the opinions of the so called educated folks are all we ever hear in public. It brings the old Peggy Lee song to my mind. “Is that all there is?”

I remember when I was a very little girl, our house caught on fire.
I’ll never forget the look on my father’s face as he gathered me up
In his arms and raced through the burning building out to the pavement.
I stood there shivering in my pajamas and watched the whole world go up in flames.
And when it was all over I said to myself, “Is that all there is to a fire?”

Is that all there is? Is that all there is?
If that’s all there is my friends Then let’s keep dancing
Let’s break out the booze and have a ball
If that’s all there is

And when I was 12 years old, my daddy took me to a circus.
“The Greatest Show On Earth.”
There were clowns and elephants and dancing bears.
And a beautiful lady in pink tights flew high above our heads.
And as I sat there watching, I had the feeling that something was missing.
I don’t know what, but when it was over,I said to myself, “Is that all there is to a circus?”

Is that all there is? Is that all there is?
If that’s all there is my friends Then let’s keep dancing
Let’s break out the booze and have a ball
If that’s all there is

And then I fell in love, with the most wonderful boy in the world.
We would take long walks by the river
Or just sit for hours gazing into each other’s eyes.
We were so very much in love.
Then one day, he went away and I thought I’d die. But I didn’t.
And when I didn’t I said to myself, “Is that all there is to love?”

Is that all there is? Is that all there is?
If that’s all there is my friends Then let’s keep dancing
Let’s break out the booze and have a ball
If that’s all there is

I know what you must be saying to yourselves.
“If that’s the way she feels about it why doesn’t she just end it all?”
Oh, no, not me. I’m in no hurry for that final disappointment.
‘Cause I know just as well as I’m standing here talking to you,
That when that final moment comes and I’m breathing my last breath
I’ll be saying to myself-Is that all there is? Is that all there is?
If that’s all there is my friends Then let’s keep dancing
Let’s break out the booze and have a ball
If that’s all there is

 “Is that all there is? If that’s all there is my friends, then let’s keep dancing. Let’s break out the booze and have a ball. If that’s all there is.” I believe there is a whole lot more to life than just a bunch of humans who evolved from a one celled animal and live life and die. If this assessment is correct, then I’d be the first one to say, “Let’s break out the booze and have a ball, if that’s all there is”. The something missing is Jesus Christ. He can take a meaningless existence and make it new.

I don’t mean to sound like I think I’m better than anyone. I have more flaws and sins than many people. As Steve Brown used to say on Key Life, “I’m just a beggar telling other beggars where I found bread.” It just seems to me that our world is going down quickly. I believe that the answers to life’s problems are found in the Holy Bible. It is the best selling book in the world. I don’t think we are reading it and giving it’s truths a chance to be pondered and weighed out. Most people who criticize the Bible have never read it. This is the only book that answers the questions of where did we come from, why are we here, how did we come to be here, and where we are going when we die. It’s theme is Jesus Christ. He is God in flesh and He came to save man from their lost state. He was born of a virgin, lived a perfect life, died as a substitute for all us sinners, was buried, rose from the dead, and now sits at the right hand of God. He is coming back here some day. He is the only solution. He can change us from the inside if we put our trust in Him.