I’d Punch Him In The Throat

If you ask me to tell you what letters follow S and Q the answer would be T and R.

If you asked me what that means I would say not a damn thing but if it makes you feel good to have answers you can make one up.

Sometimes a writer writes with purpose and meaning but not always. Sometimes you pound the keys with the sole intention of stretching your writing muscles and testing out combinations of words and patterns.

I once produced a piece of fiction about a man who heard a story about the actions of another man and proclaimed he would punch him in the throat and kick him in the junk.

Why?

Because the things he said didn’t merit words as a response for they weren’t strong enough.

So the character wished to use something a little more demonstrative to illustrate his displeasure with the actions of the other.

The beauty of fiction is that you don’t have to worry about the consequences of your actions. Heck, you can pretend that the punch and the kick would fix everything.

The bad behavior would be wiped away and there would be an appropriate apology and everlasting regret from the mutton head who received the five finger and toes present.

Such things wouldn’t happen in the real world not just because of the consequences but because the violence wouldn’t fix the broken brain of the other.

Life doesn’t work that way. The Force isn’t real and so you never have to worry about keeping Jedis from succumbing to the Dark Side.

If You Could

If you could really harness the power of The Force it would be pretty darn cool. Cool enough that maybe it would be worth the challenge of trying to keep people from going Sith.

Somewhere in that work of fiction there was a comment section in which a debate raged about whether we could trust people to not abuse power.

That’s not a new conversation but the focal point there was on whether original sin exists and why that is the real problem.

I don’t believe in original sin or think you have to be religious to be moral.

Makes no sense to me and I can provide as many examples of people doing good things because it is the right thing to do as others can because their particular faith proscribes it.

I don’t believe they are one thing or another because they believe or disbelieve something.  There is an intersection between science and faith.

Some have accused me of trying to get the best of both worlds but I haven’t spent much time trying to convince them to agree because I don’t need their validation.

Faith or lack thereof is never an indicator of someone being good or bad. That is based solely upon action.

Part of why I have enjoyed living in the U.S. is the separation of church and state. Faith ought to be a personal thing, especially since it is not uniform.

Differences of opinion on what is divinely inspired provide significant challenges for coming to a consensus so law ought not to be based upon your faith or mine.

Pull it out and it is much easier to come to compromise on how to build society.

****

That position is at odds with the wishes of a number of people who badmouth other religions while lauding their own. They aren’t bothered by the hypocrisy of their position or interested in recognizing adoption of such a thing led to the Crusades.

Heck in their world you can throat punch others who don’t adopt their philosophy.

Sad.

I do wonder what would happen if I responded to the actions of scoundrels with a throat punch and said I found their lack of faith disturbing.

Would that be enough to get away with such actions.

Would it be excused.

Would the recognize the pop culture reference.

****

There are lots of ways to address the end of “If I could” with words like “fly” or “live forever.”

Lots of different opportunities for discussion, some of it quite interesting even if ridiculous because it is impossible or mundane.

Consider this another reminder that if you find people you never tire of speaking with you ought to keep them around because there really aren’t that many.

And don’t forget those who soothe your heart and your soul, especially during times of chaos and crazy.

That covers the current period in which the court is crazy and there is an element in politics that excuse the bad behavior of those who attack democracy.

But I have put enough about that upon paper for the moment so we’ll go back to just writing for the purpose of stretching the muscles.

Took longer to fall asleep last night to somewhere around 1:30 AM I played around with story ideas and wondered how many people were still awake.

In my college days there was no question lots of people I knew were but now I hear so many stories about people going to bed around 10.

I don’t judge them, that is there choice but I find it hard to do that. Suppose it is just how I am wired, the nights are often when I feel most awake and most alive.

Not My Park

I once tried to convince someone that Joshua Tree was named for me. Came up with a tale in which I was the sixth generation of men named Joshua and that the park was named after a relative.

“Technically it is not named for me, but it was a gift to one of the men who came before me for some incredible, heroic behavior and now we honor his memory with the same first name.”

I think that is close to what I said to start it but don’t ask me to try and flesh it out because I can’t remember what I said.

Though if needed I could come up with something on a moment’s notice. That is the beauty of being a storyteller.

And one day if you are lucky you might hear some of the really good ones.