Thoughts of a Common Man

The 23rd edition. And this has been a trying year. We’ve suffered through medical difficulties, death, illness. All the things that one doesn’t think about much on the wedding day. “Would they ever be so happy again; the handsome groom and his bride as they step into the long black limousine for their mystery ride?” I have to admit, I thought of that Bruce line on our wedding day. It’s from ‘Walk Like A Man’, a beautiful song about fear in marriage. And the happy part is easy. Marriage is a lot harder when life gets in the way... ...but thankfully Bruce wrote another song about it, and it’s actually our wedding song. ‘If I Should Fall Behind.’ The verse that I think about a lot begins with: “So let’s make our steps clear so the other may see. Should I fall behind, wait for me.” It’s hard to step through things together. Grief is a really tricky one. Yet... ...knowing that you have the right person beside you is exactly what you need right then. I’ve fal...

When I woke up following the 2016 election I was filled with dread. My son, Jake, asked me: “How bad will it be?” I said, “We’re white. It’ll be a disaster but it’s going to be a hell of a lot worse for gays, women and blacks.” I was really worried about the minorities... ...and on Friday morning I woke up and read the block that Twitter had over the Trump tweet that was most definitely glorifying violence. Looting would bring shooting. I was rightfully horrified. The president was seemingly calling for the shooting of American citizens. To make it worse, hours later the same tweet was posted on the official White House page. 103,000 dead Americans because the pandemic was handled poorly and the administration lost interest. Minneapolis is burning. The Flynn transcript was released and it appears that he was trying to tell Russia that they had a common enemy in the Democrats. “This is going to be a helluva’ day,” I thought. The fight with twitter is ridiculous, ...

Was watching a show on Netflix and the main character went to his boss to grab his paycheck. The boss made a wise crack and I was immediately blessed with a memory of my boss from 1987 when I was a union laborer at the Fairmont Hotel project in San Jose, California. My boss was named Bob McClure. Bob was 60 years old. He stood about 5’7” and weighed about 140 pounds. He was tough as nails. He was missing a couple of tips of his fingers from his days as a carpenter. He would deliver our checks on Friday afternoon. Would always shake my hand. His hands were worn and weathered from years and years of hard work. “You should have a gun,” he’d say. “Why’s that?” I’d ask. “‘Cause you’re stealing.” Then Bob would look at his shoes and smile, as if he’d said the funniest thing ever. We repeated that little routine each week. Back in those days my constant buddy was Zane Conway. He was the man who traveled to every country in the world - last time I heard from him he was in China...

In the last two weeks I have watched video of two men murdered. They had one thing in common: They were black men. The videos were horrific to watch. They’ve been played over and over again. What makes it even worse is that there were bystanders right there. “He can’t breathe!” A young black man is heard screaming. The police officer has a bit of a smirk. And yet he kept kneeling on the man’s neck. There was another officer there standing guard. “You’re killing him!” And the officer continued to take a knee. It was hard not to consider Colin Kaperniek and the knee he took to protest black men being killed by police officers. “What did he do?” Someone asked on one of the job sites. “What does it matter?” I asked. “They can bring in a white kid that guns down a church filled with people. Why can’t they arrest a black man?” “I’m sure the guy was no angel,” the guy responded. I walked away. That’s not what should come to mind. George Floyd was just 46 years...

Hot enough for you? It was rough yesterday, but I live in Buffalo and I decided a long time ago that I would never cry about it being too warm cause I hate the cold. I also got irritated again yesterday. More virus aggravation as the split between mask wearers and non-mask wearers is a true partisan issue now and it shouldn’t be. But it’s a clear split. Ah well, can’t fix it. I’ll try my best to keep myself and my family healthy. The disgusting story of the day??? Guess who? Trump started sending out tweets about the death of a woman who worked for television host Joe Scarborough. Just an awful story. The young woman had an unknown medical condition. She was working alone, fell and smacked her head. Trump’s tweets spoke about how it’s all so suspicious. Except it’s not. The death was thoroughly investigated. Ruled an accidental death. Trump is all over a conspiracy because Scarborough has been critical of him. Big deal, right? Trump being Trump. Who cares, r...

The weekend was everything an American weekend can be. I saw people engaged in cook-outs and pool parties and walking boardwalks and sitting in bars and having fun in groups of ten, twenty, fifty and two hundred. And it made me a little woozy because it will exact a price. A virus spreads. That’s just a fact. The virus we are dealing with appears to be highly contagious and the price so far is more than 100,000 dead citizens. We will exceed the 250,000 dead in the model that was a high end guess because why? Why? I can’t help but think it’s because we didn’t have the stomach to sacrifice for the greater good. And I’m not looking for a debate. I don’t need to hear about people who die in car crashes or abortions or suicides from sitting in your apartment. I understand that the world couldn’t stop forever, and as a matter of fact, I was out there all through this, and I didn’t enjoy much of it. But I understood the facts, and I took all the precautions, hoping that it w...

I think it’s because the weather always seems to be great for the first time all year. The cleanup is always cathartic as well and I seem to do a lot of that on Memorial Day weekend. When we were young that was the weekend when the garden went in. So it’s always a working weekend. And it’s my favorite weekend of the year. I thought about it in the context of what it’s all about as I mowed the lawn. Men and women killed in action. They deserve a Memorial Day that’s full of fun and family and good food. This year there are also 100,000 dead Americans who deserve our grace, respect and more than a passing thought. That’s a sad thing to think about, and what’s making it much worse is that some are disrespecting the memory of those people by fighting about how insignificant it appears to be when put up against the flu numbers. Or surrounding someone wearing a mask and chanting “Take it off.” (I saw that video). Or getting into a pool with 500 people you don’t know. ...