Okay, that’s enough for now; it got me here, and that was the solitary requirement for today’s initial paragraph…. Sort of the literary equivalent of sleight of hand, you see…. Practicing the lead in by a bit of fantasy, all made up to move the eyes along, without necessarily engaging the brain too heavily, just enough for the purpose of distraction, while I, the handsome, young, clever male (well, one out of four isn’t ALL bad…..) author of the offending piece, slip up and steal your wallet while you’re trying to decide if anything I’ve said makes any sense…..

It’s all safe enough, really, as the only wallets I can really obtain are metaphoric, and the only real harm is to your dignity, which, as we all know, is a hit and miss proposition in the first place, right? Right…. losing it again isn’t going to break your heart, too much…. Besides, if you didn’t enjoy that sort of horseplay and humor, you’d be reading a different blog, wouldn’t you? Yep, you know you would….

Now that I have denigrated and insulted most of my readership (all four of them….), I could go on to the regular part of today’s post…. though, it really doesn’t matter much, as there’s probably nobody left to direct, anyway. SIGH… I don’t know why, but for the last two or three days, the visits and Likes on my blog have been reduced a LOT, almost as if a bunch of people fell off a cliff all at once, or something…. I haven’t been able to spend as much time as usual reading other blogs, but, that hasn’t had this kind of effect before, so I don’t know what to think about it….

Not that I’m particularly unnerved by confusion; it’s rather a common state for me. No, it’s just a puzzle, one that strikes right at my natural worry that nobody will like me, or what I write…. Silly, I know, but perfectly human, to want approval, or at least acknowledgment, from our peers. This is perhaps less critical in my case, as I don’t write for money or fame, but, for sanity, but, it is a concern, if only a small one…. I have all of those I need, in sooth, and really don’t want any more, so I’m going to set it aside, and deal with it in the most appropriate fashion, by ignoring it….

Besides, while y’all were looking the other way, I got us all the way here to the end of this intro section, without, I would have you note, experiencing any bloodshed, or any minor injuries at all…. Bonus! I’m out of Oxy cleaner, and the bloodstains are getting harder to get out of the seats….. Any who, I think this is sufficient for one day; I ride too close to the edge of sanity as it is, and don’t need to tempt Fate with an overlong intro…. Besides, I’m fairly certain that y’all have reached a state of confusion I can work with, so I’ll strike while the iron is hot, metaphorically speaking, of course…. Shall we Pearl?…..
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“Any culture which in the interests of efficiency or in the name of some political or religious dogma, seeks to standardize the human individual commits an outrage against man’s biological nature.” — Charles A. Reich, THE GREENING OF AMERICA

Most people, on reading this, would, I think, say they agree with it; it has been a rallying cry for the liberal movement for many years, since the book was first published, sometime back around the late 60’s or early 70’s, I forget exactly. It can be considered a defining statement of the humanist philosophy, and can be seen as an essential component in the making of a progressive activist. Like Mark Twain said (I paraphrase…), it can take some time for a man with some edges to him to fit himself into a round hole, square peg that he is….

Yet, the entire humanist movement…. Oops, excuse me… My computer tells me an email just arrived, and I’ve been waiting to hear from someone, and need to check it… Be right back….  Okay…. A single word, which, as you will see, I consider to be a very, very controlled response to the news the email had for me…. In fact, so controlled, I am now unable to let it out the way it needs to be let out….. but, I’ll try….

YEE HAW!!!!  I am saved! Okay, well, a priest might argue that, but, that is how it feels…..  My SS benefits, which includes 26 months of back payments, just hit my bank, and my wait is over. All the patience I’ve cultivated is now rewarded, and I can start the actual process of putting my life on the track I’ve worked to enjoy for fifty years…. I’m abandoning this pearl, and I don’t care at all….  😀  To finish out this section, here is an old pearl, from sometime in 2007, I think… It seems apropos, somehow, and will fill in the necessary space to replace the above aborted discussion…. so, voilá….

I like it like that….

Ffolkes,
It’s the name of the game, you know. And if you don’t know, well, look in the old music files; it’s a great song. The offerings this morning picked themselves, and in spite of my protests to the contrary, keep insisting there is a point to be made. Apparently it is a very subtle point, and escapes me completely. But, since each of these is good to go by itself (by my standards at least), we’ll let them have their way….naturally, the point to be made is left as an exercise for the Gentle Reader……

“A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep.” — Saul Bellow

“A man must not swallow more beliefs than he can digest.”  — Havelock Ellis

“He who adds not to his learning diminishes it.” — The Talmud

Hmmmm…..it’ll probably come to me as I’m on the throne….. y’all take care out there…..

I was right… it is apropos to the moment, as it speaks to how we deal with those times that are a challenge to our inner peace…. a perfect description of my last three years of life…. Onward, to finish out this Pearl, and get on with the business of the day, to wit: MY GUITAR IS COMING HOME!!!  I can’t tell you how sweet that is, though some of you may know….
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I’m amazed at myself…. Last night, this poem spilled out of my head almost as fast as I could write it down, taking about 10 or 15 minutes altogether, start to finish….. I’ve read it over this morning, and it will do…. I hope you enjoy it….

Due to the events outlined in section one, to wit: money in the house, I will again cheat a bit, by using an old pearl, from the past…. this one is from January 4, 2012, when it was one of five sections of a complete Pearl, all of which had five, at that time…..

“How often we recall, with regret, that Napoleon once shot at a magazine editor and missed him and killed a publisher. But we remember with charity, that his intentions were good.” — Mark Twain

A few days ago, I was flabbergasted, and extremely flattered, when a reader said that one of my lines sounded like something Twain might have written. I almost burst with happiness, and floated around for a while on that little bubble of joy. Now all I have to do is figure out how to sound like that all the time. Well, not JUST like Mark Twain, more like me with his skill. I’ll keep working on it…….

~~ Back to the present…. I think this was a good pearl, in that it remains as valid today as the day it was written, for me…. Writing as well as Twain, without sounding TOO much like him, would be a good thing, I think…. It’s worth a shot, anyway, eh?   😆
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