Number 3

MAYBE BECAUSE IT’S FLAG DAY… If we were to do a survey on the streets where I live and asked, “Which is your favorite of the 10 Amendments listed in the Bill of Rights?” I’m just guessing, but I think we might get some of these:

• The Bill of Whats?
• Thou shalt not commit adultery.
• Definitely #2.
• I like them all, but if I had to choose one, I would go with #2.
• Which one is the one that says I get to keep my guns? [That would be #2.] Then #2, for sure.

I like #2 as well. Search my house though and you’re not likely to find evidence that I like #2. Oh, in case you’re wondering #2 is this one:

A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

The only “arm” I have is a Red Ryder BB gun. Some might advise that I shouldn’t publish this publicly as it could make me a target of ne’re-do-wells or worse. Be forewarned, if there is a BB in my Red Ryder, I will shoot your eye out; unless I miss, the BB ricochets and I shoot out my own eye; as we were all warned could happen.

I have to say that my personal favorite is #1. Maybe it comes from my time at the University of Tulsa as a journalism major. Maybe it’s because I can still feel the rush of joining an all-night campus protest following the shootings at Kent State University, May 4, 1970. Maybe it was from a wonderful sense of simple freedom that came when we thought we were redefining “church” during the “Jesus Movement.”

Whatever it is or was; I love #1. All of it. Here, read it:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Isn’t that beautiful?! But this blog post isn’t about #1 or #2. This post is about #3. The one that is often called the “runt piglet” of the Amendments.

It goes like this:

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

I guess they call it the “runt piglet” because it is the least cited section of the U.S. Constitution and no Supreme Court decision has ever used the Amendment as its primary basis. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, “as the history of the country progressed with little conflict on American soil, the amendment has had little occasion to be invoked.”

And I’m not about to start invoking it now. Other than the occasional visiting brothers-in-law, I’ve not been faced with the issue of quartering soldiers in my house.

The reason #3 is fresh for me right now is that in a few days, with button-busting pride, we’re headed to Fort Benning, Georgia to pick up our soon-to-be-graduated U.S. Army Infantryman. And this new soldier can quarter at our house anytime, in time of peace or not. 

I have always leaned to the dove-ish side, politically speaking, and even more so now, with a son standing ready to deploy. But if war should come, help us God; I am honored to have a son who has raised his hand and said I will go and defend this country, it’s Constitution, it’s Bill of Rights with it’s ten Amendments and all the rest too, along with the people who enjoy these rights, even the Ss-Of-Bs that won’t stand up off their fat asses and take off their filthy hats when our flag passes and our National Anthem is played.

Well that’s not exactly the oath… just saying.

Celebrate!

WE NEED TO CELEBRATE MORE. Sometimes you just have to find a cause, and decide it's a worthy one.

So Saturday, March 14 at 9:26:53 AM, and PM for that matter, have some pie and celebrate Pi Day. You know Pi: 3.141592653, right?

What pie could be eaten at 9:26 AM? One of our favorite brunch places is Kitchen No. 324 in Downtown Oklahoma City. Their Chicken Pot Pie is amazing. You will know it buy the fried chicken leg stuck right in the middle.

When it comes to traditional pie, my personal favorites are pecan and apple. My favorite pizza pie is Uno's in Chicago.

But to celebrate Pi Day this year, I plan on the ultimate pie: The Frito Chili Pie. Yum Yum.

Help I've Fallen Back And I Can't Get Up

I'M NOT SURE I HEAR AS WELL AS I ONCE DID, or if it’s just that I don’t pay attention. Actually you can look at teacher’s comments on my earliest report cards and know that “not paying attention” is not new for me.

Someone asked the other day, “Are you a perfectionist?” 

“Why, yes, yes I am,” I replied, thinking they had said “percussionist”.

I am a percussionist, but not a perfectionist. I’m not sure us humans have seen perfection, at least with our own eyes. But that’s for another day; another post.

Percussionists value rhythm. The older I get, the more I appreciate it, and need it. I’m speaking here about the rhythm of life. While I love jazz and it’s characteristic syncopation, I find life as a senior adult to be more peaceful when the rhythms are constant. (For example, seniors all celebrate “regularity”.)

Tonight, before I turn in around 9:30p, I will be forced by some kind of law, to throw my routine into chaos. I, and you, will have to “Spring Forward” turning our clocks ahead one hour. Just the other day, I felt like I had finally adjusted to last Autumn’s “Fall Back”.

I don’t know if “fracking” is at the bottom of Oklahoma’s current plague of earthquakes, but I do know that these full-hour adjustments in time itself shift the tectonic plates of my life’s rhythms.

But it’s not all bad. Springing forward is like the first promise of Spring time. On this Saturday morning, the sun is shining bright, but snow still sits in shady corners. In the poetry of Paul Simon:

Look around
Leaves are brown
There’s a patch of snow on the ground

Here are the complete lyrics of the song “Hazy Shade Of Winter” by Simon & Garfunkel. I recommend going to iTunes to buy the song. For a buck-29 you’ll have a soundtrack for this seasonal transition, making rhythm out of chaos. Oh, and it’s also a thought-provoking look at life’s seasonal rhythms.

Time, time, time, see what’s become of me
While I looked around for my possibilities
I was so hard to please

But look around
Leaves are brown
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter

Hear the salvation army band
Down by the riverside, it’s bound to be a better ride
Than what you’ve got planned, carry your cup in your hand

And look around
Leaves are brown now
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter

Oh hang on to your hopes, my friend
That’s an easy thing to say but if your hopes should pass away
Simply pretend that you can build them again

Look around
The grass is high, the fields are ripe
It’s the springtime of my life

Oh seasons change with the scenery
Weaving time in a tapestry
Won’t you stop and remember me at any convenient time?

Funny how my memory skips
While looking over manuscripts
Of unpublished rhyme, drinking my vodka and lime

I look around
Leaves are brown now
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter

Look around
Leaves are brown
There’s a patch of snow on the ground

If you’re intereste in a few more thoughts on life’s rhythms, I’ve written a couple of other posts on the subject. You can find them by clicking these links.

About Time
Aequus Nox

Back To The Present

RECENTLY, I WAS HAVING A METAPHYSICAL DISCUSSION WITH MY 6-YEAR OLD GRAND-GIRL; you know, like you do.

The discussion was brought on by watching a Christmastime episode of Dora The Explorer. Dora has a monkey sidekick named Boots and a nemesis named Swiper. Swiper is a masked fox who, well, swipes stuff. You can help Dora prevent Swiper from swiping by holding up your hand in a “stop” motion and saying, “Swiper, no swiping.” You have to repeat this three times. Swiper then says, “Oh, man!” and walks away dejectedly.

In this Christmas episode, Swiper is swiping presents and ruining the Christmas party. Santa sweeps in in his sleigh to explain Swiper’s fall from grace and the price of redemption. Then in the theme of Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”, Dora, Boots, and Swiper do some time-traveling to see Swipper in the past and in a bleak, lonely, heart-wrenching future. Their time-travel is accomplished by shaking their travel capes, given to them by a grumpy old troll who lives under a bridge (of course). We get to travel along on the adventure by shaking our imaginary travel capes, and singing the little song: “Shake, shake shake. Shake your travel cape.”

While we were “shaking our capes” Karlee asked me, “Pops, if you could time travel, would you go to the past or the future.” “I’m not sure.” I replied, honestly. “How about you?” I asked.

She thought so hard, you could almost see, hear, and smell her gears turning. “I’m good with the present.” she finally decided.

I explained to her that that is a very smart choice. In fact it was what Jesus told his followers they should do.

“Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.” Matthew 6:34. The Message.

More 6-year old gears turning. Then she smiled and said, “Cool”, and we continued watching to see if Dora could help her friend Swiper put his charater flaw on hold through the Christmas Season.

Spoiler alert: The episode ends happily. Swiper repents and the party goes on.

It’s been three weeks since my last post here at About Pops. It hasn’t been writer’s block, so much as it’s been too much thinking about the past and about the future. Some personal stuff, no one cares to hear about, is at the core of it all; I think. It must be in our human nature to do that. Why else would Jesus use some of his red letters to encourage us not to?

But, if you could shake your travel cape, which direction would you go: past or future or both? I think I would go back. Not so much because I would like to change things or because I didn’t enjoy it, but maybe because I enjoyed it so much. Without a doubt I would look some people up and tell them I am sorry that I was, so many times, a self-absorbed jerk. I think I would pay more attention, listen more carefully, use people less, but who knows.

Contemplating the future paralyzes me. If you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, you know that I used to write occasionally about my dream to own an Airstream Travel Trailer. While an Airstream is no travel cape, there is a mystique about them and the travel I imagine that has a grip on me. 

People who know me tend to make fun of the way I’ve obssessed over the idea of owning one, but can never take the big step. The uncertainty of the future scares me into inaction. Not just with buying an Airstream but a lot of things.

Let’s take the Airstream for example. I watch the classified ads for Airstreams religiously. At least once a month you’ll see an ad that basically says, “We used the trailer once but now major health issues prevent us from using it.”

Is there some correlation between buying an RV and having a catastrophic malady? Or, worse yet, what if I buy the thing and then “buy the farm”? Now my Amazing-Missus is stuck not only with my ukulelee and my Vespa, but with an Airstream as well.

[Shake the cape] Conclusion: if they were handing out tickets to the wormhole, I think I would pass, because in the wise words of a 6-year old, “I’m good with the present.” (For now.)