life

People Got to Be Free

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The other day I cued up this song by the Rascals on my old record player. One of my favorite songs, it lyrics quote from the bible and other sources on the topic of freedom. “It’s a natural situation for man to be free.” Indeed, it is.

“You should see, what a wonderful world it would be, if everybody learned to live together.” Such good advice, living in a world that sometimes seems to have so much hatred of our fellow man. We all live on one small planet, and we have to learn to live together and respect our fellow man.

“Seems to me that we got to solve it individuality. I’ll do what you to you what you do to me.” Our world’s great problems won’t be solved by an single individual’s actions, but that of many Americans. We must learn to respect one and other, and realize how we treat one individual will reflect back on how we are treated by others.

Why I Like Working on the Blog

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Notes on the Re-Run for Saturday, May 19th.

— Andy

Occasionally people as I why I blog.

I have a story to tell and a life to share.
I want people to read and experience a little piece of my world.
I have a desire to express.
I want to be an individual.

It’s not because I want to impress anyone.
It’s not for a girl friend, a boy friend, my boss or anyone else.

Route 357 Dannemora

I just want to develop a sense of identity.
Some kind of meaning.
Reflect upon my own priorities in life.

I want to figure out right and wrong.
I want to be able to look back and see what I’ve done wrong
and right.

You Do Your Thing

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Over the years, I’ve been fortunate to watch the gay marriage debate in Assembly several times on the computer. Its always fascinating to watch how passionately people will debate an issue that they have no stake in themselves nor do their district has no stake in it. There is no (significant) economic benefit or cost to gay marriage. It doesn’t deprive anybody of their rights or restrict what they can do in their back-40. It really doesn’t do much at all.

So why do people really care? I don’t understand.

Tower Steel

The same-sex marriage bill indeed is only a single page long. It simply replaces man and women with person in the definition of marriage in the domestic relations law. It also states that no person can be denied the right of marriage simply because of their gender, and that no church or religious institution must preform any marriage. Not a big deal.

The critics of gay marriage are right in saying that many gay couples engage in behaviour that is quite strange. Yet, there are many other gay couples that are quite happily living together, living the American life like most other Americans. There are certainly gays living in suburbs, gays who own farms and ranches, and gays who live in the city and work for big corporations. Most of them are totally normal except for their choice of a partner.

People often fear what is different. They might even believe that what is different is having a negative impact on their lives. People need to do their own thing, and just ignore what other people are doing. Indeed, it seems the people who complain about the smell of cow shit are no better or worst then those who complain of gay marriage.

Time in a Bottle

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“There never seems to be enough time to do the things you want to do when you find them.”

— Jim Croce, Time in a Bottle, 1973

The song, Time in A Bottle was release posthumously to Jim Croce’s death in a plane crash. In many ways the irony of this song made it particularly sad. A romantic love song, those lyrics have particular meaning outside of a relationship.

These lyrics stress the fundamental problem of time — it’s unlimited until you find a use for it. By the time you find the meaning in something you are doing, it’s too often on it’s way out. Certainly that was true for Jim Croce, whose death came as his singing career was only starting to reach to a pinnacle. It’s also true in our lives.

Golden Rods

They say that man has a remarkable ability to destroy what he loves the most. By the time one has found his real passions, others have already taken it up and used or abused it. Or we might no longer have time in our lives to do the thing that we really wanted because we got committed to doing other things.

We have to constantly be evaluating our world around us and searching for our passions. We can’t be afraid of our changing selves, and embracing the world. We must do what we believe in, and be the change that we see needs to be done. There simply is no time to be afraid as if we pause our dreams will go up into smoke.