Peace of Mind for Me? Baseball. Dancing's Too Taxing

I’ve just finished my Panera Bread cinnamon roll and am working on my coffee. Sam is at Top Dog Daycare. The sun is shining outside. And I’m at something of a loss as to what to blog about today.

I thought earlier this morning that I would blog about peace - as in, we should have some. North Korea is rattling nukes at us; Israel and the Palestinians are still carrying on; another bomb in Iraq killed more police officers (boy I wouldn’t want that job!); a drunk driver killed two people near Seattle and left an another two (a mother and baby) in comas; a drunk driver in Olympia hit a young woman and tore her leg off so now she only has one; a shooting outside a bar near Seattle left three people dead and another in the hospital in critical condition; someone was stabbed near here; two Texas prosecutors and a Colorado prison official were killed - possibly by white racists. GOOD GRIEF! I am so reminded of that song, Let There Be Peace.

The problem with peace is that it has to begin with me and I’m not really at peace. I’m totally wigged off at DISH TV again, this time because I couldn’t get the Seattle Mariners’ baseball game on my set. What the sam hill am I paying $84.86 a month for if I can’t get the ding-dang baseball games on TV? I’m not cussing here, though I’m tempted, because the DISH people didn’t like it when I cussed at them before. Besides, it does no good. But I’ve been waiting for months now for baseball to come back and last night was the opening game of the season or the Mariners and I couldn’t get the game. When I called DISH I was told, “Maybe the game was blacked out (meaning by the league).” But the DISH rep. assured me, she could probably rectify that problem with a $20 upgrade to my service. Fortunately, my contract with DISH expires in two months. I’ll likely be gone when it does.

Whine. Whine. Too bad I can’t bark like Sam when I’m not at peace.

If there is one thing I am at peace about today though, it’s the fact that Washington State taxes certain venues that provide the opportunity to dance. I don’t know if we’re talking about lap dancing, honky-tonking at the local bar, the ballet or what. But according to the local newspaper some people are trying to talk the state legislature into dropping the dance tax - which apparently would cost us about $880,000 in lost revenue.

The idea of taxing dancing venues sounds okay to me. Like a lot of other guys I don’t generally dance unless I’m drunk or I have to. And I don’t drink much anymore. Knowing that I might be taxed for doing the boot scootin’ boogie or the fox trot, also gives me a great excuse to opt out of those activities. I’ll never forget, when I was in the sixth grade my teacher informed my class that we were going to learn to square dance and the only way we could get out of it was to bring a note from home saying dancing was against our religion.

I BEGGED my mom to write me such a letter but she wouldn’t. To this day I blame her for my aversion to dancing. Two bags of poop on dancing when you don’t want to. I’m at peace with that idea baby! I’d rather watch baseball.

Peace Brother And/Or Sister

Are you at peace with yourself? You know how important that is right? 

I wish I could figure out how to teach Sam a little peace. When we go somewhere in my truck and I have to leave him in there for a few minutes while I conduct business in a store or the post office or wherever, he goes berserk and barks his little head off. It’s embarrassing to come out of a store and see people looking at Sam jumping around in my truck and carrying on like the white Shih Tzu Tasmanian Devil. . I almost want to get into another vehicle and drive away. 

Sam also gets really rambunctious in the evening at home, jumping around and barking at me to play with him or give him snacks. Occasionally, he totally ticks me off and I take him outside to pee and put him to bed early. I suppose Kathleen’s right when she says, “That dog really knows how to push your buttons. I love that little Shih Tzu so darned much . . . Caesar help me! 

The real reason I bring up the subject of peace though is because I just spent a couple of hours with my good friend Paul K. from Bellingham. During the 20 years or so that I have known Paul I have thought many times how at peace with himself he is and how rare an individual that makes him. The best thing I can say about Paul is that he is just Paul. He is totally unpretentious. He believes what he believes and doesn’t put other people down for what they believe. In fact, he has encouraged so many people I often wish I could host a gala tribute to him for the way he lifts people up. He laughs easily and heartily and I’ve only ever known one person who didn’t like him right off the bat - I don’t know what her problem was. 

Anyway, I was doing some research on the word peace recently for my next novel and came across the following quote by Amelia Earhart Putnam (Putnam being her married name). 

“Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace. 

The soul that knows it not, knows no release 

From little things; 

Knows not the livid loneliness of fear, 

Nor mountain heights where bitter joy can hear 

The sound of wings.” 

Obviously, Amelia said that before flying off to her death. I think I got the quote out of my Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations but I’m not sure. 

Here’s another quote about peace: 

‎"Peace does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. Peace means to be in the midst of all those things and still be calm in your heart" - Marcel Morin 

Exactly. My nephew David shared that quote with me on Facebook. Thank you David. 

Then, of course, there’s the Bible passage about a peace that “passeth all understanding.” 

Lastly, there is that beautiful poem Desiderata, written by Max Ehrmann in the 1920s. If you’ve never read it you should. 

I have to teach Sam to be at peace somehow. Maybe I should have sent him home with Paul K. after we had coffee today. Hey Sam! Two bags of poop on sometimes being a little poop. Otherwise, I love you man.