Keep Your Sunny Side Up

My brother is one of the few, (maybe none) optomists left I know of. There are bunches of phoney optimists, that are really just cynics deep down, that don't want to admit this place we call home is in a shitstorm of bad mojo. Of course, there are morons, too.

But my bubba is a true-believer of the sort who is convinced that humanity can whup any trouble once we get our collective mind to it. Incidently, where the President's quality of positive outlook lies on this human scale is anybody's guess. I have a feeling he has a box of canned goods, macaroni and a flashlight stored somewhere in the house. After all, he was vigorously hawking Volts yesterday with an earnest smile.

With all the gloom around; made that much worse from the hazey smoke of burning Abilene suburbs, I was cheered a little to see this week that the Senate found a little bit of money to save state athletic programs and slightly weaken cuts to HHS, ironically, from the "Rainy Day Fund." Of little note, a local court did temporarily enjoin further spending on an unpopular flood control program, but since Nature obviously never intens to let it rain again, such measures fail to generate much excitement.

Anyway, mi hermano allows himself little patience for Henny Penny's telling him to wear a helmet. Finally, we both agreed that at our age, hiding with a shotgun in the Hill Country, nervously clutching our gold coins and un-engineered seed corn is petty silly. If a Strangelovian underground compound stocked with a 100 to 1 babes was offered up, that's different; but, I don't think Newt Gingrich has me on his list.

It's the children that need the help. We don't seem to be helping much. And the conviction that humanity will wake up soon to realize that the time to pull together is slipping away might come too late.

There's a guy who has kids that are relying on them to be strong, optimistic and hopeful that needs us to think positively about his current struggle. If you know him, you can affirm that he always gives and never complains, and in that sense, is the real optimist.

Gary Raymon "Beat-O" Spring survived complicated heart valve surgery in Houston on Thursday, and is recovering at home. I, and all of the ZDD tribe wish him God's Speed.

I will forward him any messages, but feel free to say hello.