Friday’s Odds and Ends

What’s trending in the news this week is pretty disgusting, so full of hatred with folks spewing venom like lava from Mt. St. Helen. This from a pastor in Arizona about Caitlyn Jenner, “Listen to me, I hate him with a perfect hatred. I have no love for this Bruce freak. I hope he dies today, I hope he dies and goes to Hell. He’s disgusting, he’s filthy, he’s reprobate.”

Faithful Word Baptist Church Pastor Steven Anderson needs to reread his Bible. I think Jesus said we should love our neighbors, all of them, not just the ones who live and believe as we do.

Then there’s the flap over the McKinney, Texas pool party. I’m sure you’ve heard of the melee that ensued when police were called to a pool because kids were crashing a party and a fight had broken out. Police arrived as people, mostly women, were yelling and hitting each other, and McKinney Police Officer Eric Casebolt was videotaped pushing a young black woman down and drawing his gun on people who tried to interfere. That tape went viral last weekend, and ever since, the news has been filled with hateful talk from all corners. There have been threats to the entire McKinney force, and Officer Casebolt is in hiding after receiving death threats.

There was a lot that was wrong as that incident played out and nobody is above censure in my opinion. People were jostling and shouting and running and didn’t stop when officers told them to. Yes, Casebolt treated the young woman harshly. And maybe he didn’t need to draw his gun. But really, in the midst of a near riot and adrenalin pumping like geyser, the wisest thing civilians can do is to stop. Shut up. And let everyone calm down. Had that happened, maybe things would have turned out differently.

I am not taking sides here and certainly not denying that too many people operate off a platform of racism, but violence and death threats are not the best response. Are we ever going to get past that “two bullies on a playground” mentality?

And there is a proper way to behave when confronted by police. I even wrote a book about it – Everything You Need to Know About Dealing With the Police.

Enough said. Now it’s time for some fun. First this meme from Funnyand.com

This next joke is a little naughty, but really funny. Enjoy….

A group of 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders, accompanied by two female teachers, went on a field trip to the local racetrack, (Churchill Downs) to learn about thoroughbred horses and the supporting industry (Bourbon), but mostly to see the horses.

*When it was time to take the children to the bathroom, it was decided that the girls would go with one teacher and the boys would go with the other. The teacher assigned to the boys was waiting outside the men’s room when one of the boys came out and told her that none of them could reach the urinal.

*Having no choice, she went inside, helped the boys with their pants, and began hoisting the little boys up one by one, holding on to their ‘wee-wees’ to direct the flow away from their clothes.

*As she lifted one, she couldn’t help but notice that he was unusually well endowed. Trying not to show that she was staring the teacher said, ‘You must be in the 5th grade.’

‘No, ma’am’, he replied. ‘I’m riding Silver Arrow in the seventh race, but I appreciate your help.’

Instead of doing Writing Wisdom this week, I thought I’d close with this joke about a writer:

A male romance novelist was hiking in the mountains, and he came upon a shepherd who was tending a large herd of sheep that were grazing in the alpine meadow. The writer took a fancy to the sheep, and asked the shepherd: “If I can guess how many sheep you have, can I have one?”

The shepherd thought this was an odd request, but thought that there was little chance that the man would guess the exact number of sheep, so he said, “Sure.”

The writer guessed, “You have 297 sheep,” to the shepherd’s astonishment, since this was exactly how many sheep he had.

The writer got excited and asked “Can I pick out my sheep now?” and the shepherd grudgingly gave his permission. The writer selected his sheep, bent over, and swung the sheep over his shoulders, to carry home with him.

The shepherd then asked, “If I guess what your occupation is, can I have my sheep back?”

The novelist was a bit surprised by this, but figured that it was unlikely that the shepherd would be able to guess his occupation, and went along with the deal.

The shepherd then guessed “You’re a romance novelist, aren’t you?”

The writer was very surprised and asked, “How did you know?”

The shepherd responded, “Just put the dog down and we’ll talk about it.”

That’s all for me folks. Do you have big plans for this weekend? I will be gathering with some of my kids, and I always look forward to family time.