Musings Of A Dumb Ass

At its very best life is fragile. The structure that makes whatever we live in that we call ours, is subject to change without warning. What makes us happy is sometimes whimsical but nevertheless when denied we may become obsessed over the pursuit of what is unimportant. But unimportant to whom?
We are and always have been self centered, and so am I. But what really is important? My life has been such a roller coaster of events that was a constant in range from disaster to Pollyanna that I may have become indifferent to just about everything. I don't know how and why my life has been as it has, but as casual strangers are given a glimpse of my life experience the reaction is usually one of admiration and jealousy, while from my tree branch I can never quite let go of dark periods and bad luck memories. I never allow it to take me to depression but I can never get rid of it either.
As I traveled the globe and became aware that my bad memory and treatment in the Buffalo River Valley in Arkansas as a child can be dwarfed in an eyeblink by the terror and misery of those in a third world country, I grew a little as a human being and found room in my inept brain to have compassion for those with no future, fully aware that in my misery as a child, at no time was there ever a period that I didn't have a future, in stark opposition to my fellow humans that had the misfortune to be born who they were where they were, and locked into degradation all of their days unto the end.
We are an ungrateful and dishonest species, and will remain so as long as we be. We now know even Mother Teresa was a hypocrite and sometimes I fear I'm no better. I have to think about that. Problem is, if you must have time alone to think, you may be alone to think. I suppose I should read my own poem again called 'Once Upon A Thought'...... It actually says everything is only in your head, and it is, be it good, bad positive or negative. What incredible power we have..... How stupid we are to waste it.....................

Once Upon A Thought

once upon a thought
i believed the world would surely get better
and it did
once upon a thought
i believed the world would get cold and unsettled
and it did

Once upon a thought
I believed in dedication and trust
and i was right
once upon a thought
I wondered if there was really such a thing
and there wasn't

Once upon a thought
I thought there was a God
and he spoke to me
once upon a thought
i wondered if there was really such a thing
and i've never heard from him since


A.G. Champlin 8/21/07

Musing Like The Dumb Ass I Am

The ability to deduce what happens next based on behaviour is sticky ground for most, and almost never understood. If you waste your money, you will become financially troubled. If you cheat on or disrespect your spouse, you will most likely be alone at some point, and if not alone at best inherently unhappy. If you insult a true bad ass, likely, you'll get your ass kicked.
The same kind of logic rules all things in our world. Don't waste anything, believe in and respect those close to you, and know who you're ordering around. That's a simple recipe for life and living and it works in theory in all applications, especially for societies.
I'm not a sage but I've lived long enough to understand a bit about behaviour. I also have lived through what is unequivocally the human races' most exciting time. While all of humanity hasn't enjoyed good times equally and advancement at the same rate, I've watched us bend and give over to the 'me time' to the point that as a nation we long ago stopped being the beacon to follow and have become the 'spoiled ones' that a good portion of the world will celebrate when we fall on our faces.
I can't think of many values that formed us that are still intact. I can't think of many rules for living that are not unchanged or diluted.
I say grace over 156 addresses in a private community and because of my place and position, I know things. Privately and publicly I keep it to myself, but some facts are evident without giving away anyones private situations. On a drive through our property a couple of weeks ago I counted those addresses whom I knew were recieving a Government check. It makes no difference to me why an address is recieving a Government check, only that they do, or not. My figures suggested that about 65% of our residents get a government check every month. Not included were those who might be recieving food stamps, day care subsidy, educational benefits, nor those who are working on a Government funded program, such as building roads or employed by an entity providing service to Government. If those individuals had been included the overall percentage of those beholden to government would have been much larger, in fact probably in the 90 percentile.
We are not self sufficient on anything now. The only thing we're really good at is printing money, and that will prove to be self destructive in the end. When that no longer works, and when we've learned that the biggest arsenal won't make the world bow down, we also will find we are helpless. We have no factories, no one to work in them anyway, which will be disastrous for transportation and textiles, and eventually we will have no military because to be military is no longer a requirement to be American, and without money, who the hell wants to fight.
The best thing about such a bleak picture is that there'll be no danger of another country taking us over, that's already been done, and not a shot was fired. God bless all the Honda's, and don't forget Wal-Mart who in their brilliant strategy taught us to not worry about where it came from, just have the cheapest. And don't forget those lovable politicians who showed us we don't have to work at all if we'd rather not...... just sign up for the check...or checks......

Paths To No Where

Paths that lead no where are the best kind
no need to rush for there is no end
take time to enjoy what is there
what isn't there isn't known

no long range plans on this path
it has no future
though most of us remember its past
sometimes fondly, sometimes not

did I follow you as far as i could
or did i quit because it seemed i should
life is always a question
so what?


A.G. Champlin 8/15/07

Have I been correct all along?

As of the date of this writing, Wall Street stocks have dumped by about 10% over the last month, most of it the last week. The cause is multi-faceted although the blame has centered around the collapse of the home mortgage lending market. We have to blame something in particular because we lost the ability long ago to address the bigger picture. Most of the real problem is inflation. We've lied about it and been lied to, much like the weapons of mass destruction and Saddam Hussein. So is this the real thing? I doubt it. Although the real thing is like an unseen hurricane off shore and out of sight building strength to obliterate everything when it comes ashore. Our Government has done what it always does in answer to any domestic problem. It has printed brand new stacks of money and handed it out to those who will first steal all they can before the ink is dry, then flood the rest into our dying economy to feed the illness that will decimate it completely.
My prediction? Runaway inflation that we will be lied to and lie about until this crippled economy can no longer stand. When? Don't know. If nothing sensible is done, maybe a year.........

When Did I Live

was it when i laughed... or when i cried
sometimes they both hurt about the same
was it when i knew i had to go
or when i did
little changed... just rearranged

was it when i really understood the night
or when i finally saw the day
or when i fought myself
and lost
O pain, you sonofabitch... go away

the scent of lilac once smelled
is forever remembered
and once lived.. life must be tended
for as the smell of the lilac lingers
...lifes' memory is never ended


A.G. Champlin 8/15/07

Is This Us?

In the summer of 1955 I spent a considerable amount of time with my stepfather in a semi just traveling around and seeing places and things. It was a great time for me. I loved my stepfather and the time we had together and travel was my thing. We wandered around through Louisiana and Alabama and while we were on that portion of the trip a hurricane was building and as we traveled through the south toward the Atlantic coast everywhere we stopped all anyone was talking about was 'the hurricane'. The hurricane was named Connie and turned out to be a vicious one, and even more than that was followed immediately by another one called 'Diane'. When things cleared the two together had devastated an incredible amount of real estate and killed way over two hundred souls. When we got back home to Rogers Arkansas and I started talking about the hurricane I was amazed that not many had even heard about it.
Someone said all politics are local, meaning, I'm sure, that local was what drove National, and therefore was more important, and that was once true, but no more. As a child, news was basically a local affair too, but my how things have changed. Now our politics are worldwide and has to do with everybody else first too much of the time and us last. One of the most dangerous and destructive things about how we are is that we are now media driven. In 1955 when I was so surprised that everybody hadn't heard about hurricanes Connie and Diane, I could have never imagined how media would become so unbelievably powerful and control how we think and act. While in 1955 not many just a few hundred miles away had even heard about the storms that killed hundreds and demolished so much property, through the media's power the Nation almost came to a standstill because a bridge fell in Minneapolis. On that same day many more died in car accidents over the country, yet we stopped to hurt and share emotion over the dead from the bridge.
Our mental health, and the way we feel about 'things', has become the media's power and we are the sucklings that thrive on it. The Government has become our keeper and protecter against all things in life and as such is also our oppressors and we are its prisoners willingly, eagerly, with heart body and soul.
This is devastating to our spirit and does nothing but make subserviant morons out of us who promote more of the same while burying our grandchildren beyond recovery. There was little notice as we gave ourselves away, and no one will be sure just when we give our last thought away. But we're being trained properly. Simon Cowell tells us who will be our next singing stars on American Idol, and we accept that. I wonder if Johnny Cash could've made it past Simon. Then 'America's Got Talent' tells us who will entertain us on an American Show judged by two Brits and an idiot, and we'll sign on to that. Then there's the 'Last Comic Standing' who's judged by three misfits who are twisted and will provide us with the main one who will make us laugh. The fat folks have their show to cling to in 'The Biggest Loser' and we give a new house to some kumquat every week on 'Extreme Makeover' most of whom are basically too damn lazy to work, and we broaden our horizons and understanding by switching wives on 'Wife Swap'.
All in all we're just a sorry damned lot and will remain so till the inevitable occurs, and we no longer count for anything, which will probably be in my lifetime...............

Old Houses

old houses know things
they don't speak
they don't have to
they've seen

they know passion
they know gladness
they know laughter
they know sadness

they know pain and solitude
they know dreams and disaster
they know hope
they forget those who would be their master

whether alone or waiting for the next
they stand in granduer
or in waste and debris
it won't matter

they will go as time dictates
never again to be seen
old houses never tell all their stories
and that's a good thing

A.G. Champlin 8/5/07

The Road To Hell

THE ROAD TO HELL

the road began when i was concieved
it was a meaningless act
but i became
so here i was

few choices are ones own
in a world that demands you exist
one breath leads to another
and one day life is kissed

beauty and anger are strange bedfellows
as is plenty and none
love and hate are near together
day and nite are different but tied as one

the road to hell is continuous
with occasional delusions that pass
then fools that we are
amazed it is over, we too are cast

i knew hell, hell knew me
i knew from lay to rise it never rested
no need to, it is all
hell is nothing, hell is everything


A.G. Champlin 7/30/07