“I have often regretted my speech, never my silence.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 1070

Most of us have had the less than enviable experience of speaking out when we’d have been better off keeping whatever nonsense we’ve spouted to ourselves. It can be especially embarrassing if said nonsense is uttered while speaking to a large number of people. When it happens speaking one on one, it’s bad enough; nobody likes feeling the fool. But in public? You may as well just go home and start packing to move to a far away city, because you can be sure and certain everyone in town will know about your gaffe before you can toss the first pair of socks into a suitcase. Especially a small town, where everybody watches everyone else, and discusses what they see over coffee in the diner, or over a back yard fence. Your little misspeak will be the subject of everyone’s conversation for days and days, until somebody else does something worth talking about. It all becomes a rather compelling lesson, doesn’t it? Like Harry Truman (I think…) said, “I never got in trouble for something I didn’t say.” Mankind has a long history, most of it orally recorded, and we humans tend to pay attention to what someone says to us. It is therefore a wise man or woman who only speaks when there is something worthwhile to say; otherwise, it’s best to put a sock in it!……

“I stopped opening my mail and now my life is so much simpler.” — Albert Einstein

There is no limit to what I would give to be able to follow this policy. Most, if not all, of the problems I have in this sad, but beautiful old world are brought to my attention via Snail Mail, aka the USPS. It would be a delight to just take each envelope with a window, and just toss it directly into the recycling bin (hey, I’m green!…). It probably wouldn’t help resolve any of those problems, but I would feel a whole lot better for having done it. Feeling better is, you will recall, one of the primary goals we humans all have loaded when purchased, a default program as it were. Obtaining better software, that is, programs designed to help us feel better, is expensive and time-consuming, so most folks just fly with what comes in the basic package, wherein modest changes, such as tossing the mail, can reap huge rewards. In this case, tossing everything would also cause a firestorm of outrage and anger amongst my creditors, which to my mind is a good thing, but probably isn’t positive in a karmic sense. I guess in the final analysis it’s probably not a good idea at this point. But, oh!, is it tempting……

“What a lumbering poor vehicle prose is for the conveying of a great thought! … Prose wanders around with a lantern & laboriously schedules & verifies the details & particulars of a valley & its frame of crags & peaks, then Poetry comes, & lays bare the whole landscape with a single splendid flash.” — Mark Twain

This is why there are so few really good poets out there. It takes a very special kind of mind to be able to do what Mr. Clemens so beautifully stated, very special indeed. When I was younger, I myself tried my hand at it, as do we all, I think. I found it to be a fulfilling enterprise; when I was able to write something moderately readable, I was rewarded with a great feeling of accomplishment. But, it is deceptively hard; I was exhausted afterward. And actually, this is why I decided to stick mostly to prose. When I write something I like, or feel is a good read, with a good message, it isn’t tiring, but the complete opposite. I feel energized, and often dive right back into a new piece, and that is how it should be. Producing artful prose, or poetry, or any other kind of artistic expression (sculpture, painting, etc.) should be an uplifting experience. The only time it should produce fatigue is when the muse grabs me by the throat, and won’t let me stop typing until it’s all down on paper, a process that can take a very long time. All-nighters are not uncommon in such cases, but even the fatigue that comes with such effort is uplifting. I have to struggle a lot to create poetry, and often end up with good material for a bonfire. Prose is not the same for me, and what I create is well, better than the odd little rhymes I’ve written . So be glad I have the common courtesy to not subject you to any of my efforts in that arena; it’s all for the best…….

Speaking of honest efforts, I believe this one has achieved that status, so let us get on with the day. Y’all take care out there…..