Remembering some stuff about 2018 and earlier and then it is today

I turned 21 in February of 1967.  For a long time I thought 1968 was the summer of love but I was wrong....even though I was in love during the summer of 1967 with a beautiful girl from Corona del Mar, California named Leslie.  I had been at San Jose State in the fall of 66 and spring of 67 but all I ever saw was pissed off students tipping over ROTC buses on campus. Things were getting intense across the bay at Berkeley but there was very few indications that massive displays of LOVE were about to break out.

The 1967 and 68 college football seasons were large because of Leslie and another small time player named O.J.Simpson.  (Whatever happened to that guy?)  Leslie was a Pi Phi at USC and in 1968 was runner up to the Homecoming Queen. Her escort to the dance was Al Cowlings (who later would be the primary escort for the other dude mentioned above) and O.J. probably saved me an ass whipping because I got a bit vocal and a tad jealous of how many times Mr. Cowlings was dancing with my babe and "The Juice" pulled me aside and told me to chill because Al would "kill" me.

I chilled.

For the last two years I have been amazed at how people continue to support the current President of the United States. Telling lies and making erroneous comments about multiple facets of daily life just doesn't seem to be a deal breaker with his "people".

I haven't chilled.

I pause and try to consider the worldwide important events of 2018 and tragedy (or something stupid our President did or said) always rises to the top of the list and I'm sure that can be blamed on the summers of 67,68 and 69. (huh?)
Therefore all one needs to do is focus on personal important events in order to find positive results.  Of course the people who had their personal lives shattered by tragedy are having a hard time remembering good times during the last year.

That's one reason I always recommend young people try to find a sports team to root for and if possible find one in each sport and then they will have year long points of diversion from the crap that takes place in a space known as "reality."

Reality can truly suck at times and when it sucks it usually happens without much warning....which always brings me back to one of my favorite quotes by Joseph Campbell.

Participate with joy in the sorrows of the world

it's hard to practice but if you stop and think about it you will see that it might be the only answer to assure that the world events don't kick our ass.

I also realize that one important method of dealing with the world situations 
is to simply not pay attention....but that ball does not bounce on my court......

.......and that brings me once more back our President....
and the reason.....

....I refuse to chill.

It is so hard to accept the reality he creates on a daily basis because like millions of other people I KNOW the guy is an idiot.  I also know because he's made a ton of money in his life that the people who support him don't think he's an idiot....and therein lies the rub.

How much was Nikola Tesla worth when he died?
How much was Gandhi worth when he died?
How much was Einstein worth when he died?
How much was Copernicus worth when he died?
How much was Leonhard Euler worth when he died?
How much was Martin Luther King worth when he died?
How much was Jesus worth when he died?
How much was Elvis worth....oh wait he's still alive...............

How many bankruptcies has Donald J. Trump been involved in?

Should he be respected because of the money he's made?

Is that the most important barometer of how we judge human behavior in the 21st Century?

THE MAN CAN'T FINISH A SENTENCE WITHOUT READING.....

The truth is 
the United States of America has allowed an idiot to run our country and he's doing everything possible to prove this statement correct.

HE'S F**KING UP THE ENVIRONMENT
HE'S F**KING UP FOREIGN RELATIONSHIPS
HE'S F**KING UP TRADE AGREEMENTS

HE'S F**KING UP THE BASIC FABRIC OF WHAT                               AMERICA STANDS FOR

THE ONLY THING HE SEEMS TO BE DOING IS MAKING OUR MILITARY STRONGER THAN IT WAS
AND
IT
WAS ALREADY
THE STRONGEST MILITARY IN THE WORLD
BY
LEAPS
AND
BOUNDS

People that listen to him and support him do not research anything...all they do is listen to him and follow the yellow brick road to 
TrumpOZ.

There will be no chillin on my part in 2019 until the idiot
has moved along....and then we will have to figure out how to
deal
with
Pence....which might be harder because he's an actual politician......

So I stop and reconsider the summers of 68,69,70,71 and 72 which were MY summers of love and I remember how we approached a really really really weird leader by the name of Tricky Dick Nixon.  I'm pretty sure we took it to the streets and then created incredible music and then danced and danced and danced.

Of course not everyone is a good dancer so there was the other types who were busy doing their math homework and figuring out how to operate under a new system.....and yes
a
new
operating
system
was
invented......and we became
connected

And now we are all connected and yet we don't talk to each other anymore except through machines just like the one you are staring at right this very minute.

My NETWORK moment......

GET OFF THIS MACHINE.....DON'T PICK UP YOUR SMART PHONE....DON'T READ THE TWEETS OF AN IDIOT 
AND 
MOST OF ALL
FIND
A
TEAM
TO ROOT FOR DURING THE NFL PAYOFFS
AND
WATCH THE GAMES WITH FRIENDS AND START YOUR NEW YEAR
WITH
LAUGHTER AND HOLLERING AND 
AT THE END OF THE DAY YOU WILL KNOW
EXACTLY
WHO WON AND WHO LOST
and since your team is probably out of the playoffs
why
not
root
for
the
RAMS?

Let's hope 2019 is less Tweets and more 
love just like those summer's we almost remember.

Imagine if Viagra had existed in those days?
America's population would be 500 million instead of 325


Michael Timothy McAlevey