The old elephant on a diet went into witness protection and found he no longer had a home. Looked around and didn’t really see any welcome signs that didn’t just ask for donations.
It gets lonely standing out here. Nothing looks familiar anymore. The old guard has either died off or is getting selective dementia.
You know what they say about growing old, your mind keeps digging up old memories. So when I found myself standing out in the Oregon rain, my fabulous gray locks getting wet and not a hat to be found, I dashed into my outdoor BBQ ballroom, the one paid for with my own money, no taxpayer investment needed, and grabbed a saucepan and put it on my head.
What? Wearing a saucepan on your head? You’ve really lost it this time old man. Time for the dementia truck.
Hey. Hold on now.
Just good common sense and a fine memory.
Haven’t you ever read the tales of Johnny Appleseed?
I did. As a little boy. Johnny wore a saucepan for a hat and spread apple seeds through the land so apples could flourish everywhere. Smart little cuss. And that’s why we have apple pie.
After a year of political cartoons, then parody, migrating into complaints and now political commentary, I realized all I am really trying to do is plant some seeds for the future. The red versus blue war is too entrenched to flip a switch and start anew with sanity. But you can plant seeds of something better. You can suggest a better way. You can draw attention to failures that cost lives and hurt people and hurt nations.
We have elections coming up. You are going to have to make choices. I wish I could make them for you, and if so, I wish I were wise enough to make the right ones. But I am just a person with opinions and I hope you are as well.
The voters that scare me are the sheep. Here is how to vote, do it this way because I told you to. That is what keeps me up at night.
Those are people with unfertilized minds. The seeds didn’t find anything to take root in. Dead turf.
Besides, if you find the right pan, it isn’t that uncomfortable. And it keeps that mighty fine looking gray hair perfectly in place.
