Someone else use the phrase “mainstream media” to prove a point from any ideological perspective, I’m going to consider that person a complete non-started as a thinker. The phrase is meaningless.

Another sportscaster say “we need sports” as a distraction from the pandemic, I’m going to point to the Roman Emperor Nero, bread and circuses, the Fall of the Empire and the Dark Ages.

Yet another pundit utter the word “optics” to strengthen his/her opinion, I’m going to smash him in the glasses.

Another person tell me, “I’ll send a link to a video that will prove my point and that you’re wrong,” I’m going to say, “Sure, send me that link and the other links to videos that prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that:

The Holocaust didn’t happen.

The Earth is flat.

The Federal Reserve is illegal.

The federal income tax in unconstitutional and therefore voluntary.

Tupac is still alive pumping gas in Toledo, Oregon.

You’ll go blind if you masturbate (men only)

9-11 was an inside job.

Ronald Reagan is on Mt. Rushmore.

Jews run the world.

Rock and Roll isn’t dead.

Santa Claus exists.

Lewis and Clark were gay.

The sun revolves around the Earth.

Bloodletting actually works as a medical procedure.

Gravity isn’t real.

The moon shot was a hoax.

Mormon founder Joesph Smith once met Jesus in Cleveland.

Yeah, send those links along and be assured of your opinion even though you haven’t thought an original thought on the subject or know anything about it except the video. That’s what passes for your critical thinking. I’ve read over a hundred books on Constitutional history and law, got degrees in history and political science, taught the subject for years, seen my own Constitutional rights violated by the state of Oregon, been a card carrying member of the ACLU, followed the Supreme Court’s rulings since I was in high school…but you know more about the illegal federal income tax than I do! You don’t even know the number of the Amendment!

And if hear one more evangelist on radio, television or the internet who says the Bible is true because it’s in the Bible, I’m going to adopt The Lord of the Rings Trilogy as my sacred text and take it from there. And elves and dwarves are a lot cooler than Philistines and Pharisees.

I arrived to work the other morning, well before my boss showed up. I like the stillness on the site at that time, being alone, getting things cleaned up and organized and prepped, so more skilled workmen can work better. The sun was out, the birds were calling and singing, and I got to work and my mind began to draft a new piece of writing about a young woman who needs health care.

An hour or so later, my boss showed up. I went out to his truck to greet him. We said hello and then he handed me a $100 bill and said something to the effect that it was a stimulus payment to his crew and he wasn’t trying to earn my vote. Well done sir!

Now I have worked many jobs over the course of my lifetime, but I had never received a cash bonus from a boss. It felt damn good. It was a class act and you just don’t see much class around these days. It’s a long lost American cultural art form buried deep in the ground with Fred Astaire and tipping the newspaper boy. Most Americans today prefer debasing people instead of exhibiting class. It gets much better ratings and gets The Debasers elected over and over again.

I will remember this simple act of class by my boss and try to enact one myself soon. And really, it doesn’t take money to enact class. But that’s nice too!