Tag Archives: evil

Brassy

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Brassy: (adj) tastelessly showy or loud in appearance or manner

How much is enough?

That may be the central concern to human life.Dictionary B

Because in hours of reflection, when opportunity is long gone, the question raised in our soul is either “did we do enough?” or “did we do too much?”

  • In a world of indifference, how much flash does it take for someone to notice your pan?
  • How many cherries before you actually have a bowl?
  • And how many sunrises before someone grabs a camera?

What does it take to draw enough attention to goodness that evil pales in comparison?

I am convinced that the promotion of a great idea is not achieved through a deluge of advertising, screaming, yelling and promotion.

Goodness, gentleness, kindness, righteousness, beauty are all required to maintain a consistency while the world overlooks them until such a time that the planet is prepared to be aware.

Therefore, the quandary is not whether there’s anything good in the world. The issue is whether goodness can survive all of the brassy critique and dark representations to finally get its chance to inherit the Earth.

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Boycott

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Boycott: (v) to withdraw from commercial or social relations

“Don’t make waves.”

I heard this all the time as a young person. Since I was raised in land-locked Ohio, it was very simple to comply.

It was also made easier by the fact that anyone who stepped beyond the boundaries of acceptability was quickly ostracized from the general flow. Yet issues always arrived which demanded immediate attention, consideration, deliberation and action.

Sometimes we must boycott stupidity. Otherwise, it grows faster than weeds.Dictionary B

Growing up in my town, prejudice was accepted, gossip was honored, chauvinism was the household norm and music was deemed raucous and evil until it gained a great respectability through financial solvency.

I had to make decisions:

What did I think about civil rights?

What did I think about the war in Viet Nam?

What did I think about the notion that “a woman’s place was in the home?”

These were dangerous questions. If they were posed in public, you were viewed as a troublemaker. If you offered an opinion other than the standard fare, you were basically dubbed “anti-American.”

It took me many years to learn how to boycott the inhibiting doctrines and platitudes which permeated my little town.

Today it’s easier for me. Matter of fact, I can suggest several things we should boycott immediately:

  • The word “bitch”
  • “Baby Mama”
  • Disinformation
  • Racial stubbornness
  • Too much violence
  • Chauvinism in all its forms
  • Gender wars
  • Talk of “culture”

For after all, culture is just another way to introduce stereotypes, which invite prejudice.

I wish I had been more brave when I was a “Buckeye Boy.”

But I guess I can do my penance … by learning what to boycott around me today.

 

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Bolshevik

Bolshevik: (n) a member of the Russian Social Democratic Party, which was renamed the Communist Party

There’s a way that seems right but it’s wrong.Dictionary B

Any attempt we make to correct the ailments of our society by merely using pity ends up with a dissatisfying conclusion for all parties involved.

Those who are pitied become resentful, and those who pity are disappointed with the results their sympathy brings.

The world is not fair because the world would not work if it was fair.

If everyone had ten dollars a week given to them, and prices were adjusted to that stipend, we would still have human beings who would steal from others–to make sure they had a double portion.

Evil is not eliminated by financial security.

Evil is not intimidated by stirring the conscience.

Goodness demands that we tap our own soul and use our free will to bless others.

The Bolsheviks arrived in Russia speaking out against the inequity of the distribution of wealth. They succeeded in putting up a Communist tent of protection, which attempted to generate an even playing field.

Trouble was, nobody wanted to play–and when they didn’t play it was necessary to eliminate them in order to continue the game.

So they succeeded in achieving some financial equity, only to invite violent conclusions.

The poor will always be with us. Without them we would not learn to be givers.

And without occasionally taking our turn at being poor, we would not have the schooling for generosity.

 

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Blown

Blown: (adj) past participle of blow

Dictionary BYou can’t make a duck bark. It’s a simple statement.

Therefore, it’s virtually impossible to get your dog to quack.

Patterns of behavior are established through choice and genetics, and maintained by stubborn tradition.

So as I listen to people complain about leaders who are causing turmoil and steering the American public into bad decisions, I look on, perplexed.

  • Nobody can make me prejudiced.
  • Nobody can turn me into a bigot.
  • Nobody can suddenly convince me that black people are evil or that people from China are out to get me.

I am the one who is ready to hear the nonsense.

So therefore, it is the responsibility of our citizens to own up to the fact that the transitions which have occurred in our lifetime, which have promoted truth or at least tolerance, have been avoided by many, who have sat by, pretending to be part of the parade, only to whisper complaints to each other as the floats go by.

There is a disgruntled spirit in our country which is blown by every ill wind.

It is unconfronted.

It is denied–as we pretend that everything is alright.

It isn’t.

We are still one of the most bigoted countries in the world, intolerant of the behavior of each other, and willing to become violent if someone takes our parking space.

I don’t think we will change these attitudes by hatching meanness to address the meanness.

But as long as people are blown by every wind of doctrine and every carnival barker, we will suffer under a cloud of uncertainty.

 

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Block

Block: (v) to make the movement or flow in a passage difficult or impossible.

Dictionary B

It is easier to get coverage on the news of evil than it is to receive attention toward even an intriguing good.

The media would argue this point, and would stubbornly insist that they are merely providing what interests the public, and therefore, stimulates their advertisers to contribute revenue.

But meanwhile, many things are being blocked from the common good.

We don’t ever hear the best music because it mingles the melodies of the past with innovative tunefulness. Too risky.

We’re blocked from the best inventions because they don’t necessarily appeal to immediate marketplace requirements, but instead, address longer-lasting concerns.

And we’re blocked from the best people to govern us because they cannot pass the scrutiny of purity, or haven’t learned how to lie about it.

So we settle for the mediocre, discussing levels of inadequacy, assigning excellence to the more promoted portions.

I suppose at this point I should offer some alternative to this paradox.

I have none.

As long as finance is the determining factor in what is paraded, we will have to learn to hang to the rear to escape the clowns.

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Blight

Blight: (n) something that frustrates plans or hopes.

Dictionary BWhen good is ignored because it’s not bad enough to be exciting.

That is the blight on every culture.

Any time we begin to believe that the pursuit of happiness, the joy of generosity and the cradle of creativity is not enough to instill enthusiasm in our lives, we bring an infection into our thinking, which culminates in chaos.

I ask myself a simple question: what can I do to bring joy to myself and my fellow-humans without being relegated to the role of the silly, foolish, naive dunce?

I don’t know why we think evil is so intriguing.

I don’t know why, in the presence of good, that Adam and Eve pursued the knowledge of evil.

Is there some sort of misguided notion that doing things in a cloud of deceit actually increases the level of pleasure?

  • For women, do bad boys make sex more exciting?
  • For men, do prostitutes actually have more experience for thrilling encounters?
  • Does lying make political victory sweeter?

Goodness has always suffered from bad public relations.

It is time to take the blight off of our society by exposing what really happens to darkness in the third act, instead of merely leaving the play after Act One … believing that wickedness is cool.

 

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Bleed

Bleed: (v) to lose blood from the body

Dictionary B

Seventeen.

In the course of watching one evening of television–with a lot of channel flipping–I counted seventeen people who were shot.

All of them started to bleed.

I watched with interest.

It seemed to stain their clothing.

They appeared to be in pain, though I felt no empathy.

In one particular gun scene, ten of the seventeen were wounded with blood loss.

I watched intently.

Turning my television set off, I went into my bathroom to prepare for bed and realized I had not shaved that morning. So for some inexplicable reason, I thought it was a good idea to do so before I went to bed.

Call it clumsiness, stupidity or just a bit of “sleepy eyes,” I cut my lip with the razor.

Blood poured forth.

Not as much as you would expect to come out of a gunshot wound, but it struck terror in my soul and nearly made me frantic.

It was my blood coming out of my face with no immediate prospect for cessation.

It took me five minutes to stop the bleeding.

I looked down at discarded toilet paper covered with my red fluid and the sink stained. It was gruesome.

In actuality, I probably didn’t lose more than a tablespoon of blood–but it terrified me to see my life dribble away.

One of the things that disturbs me about entertainment is what we now consider to be entertaining.

Bleeding is bad.

Things that cause bleeding are equally as sinister.

And losing our sensitivity about a single drop of blood may be the definition of evil.

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Bet

Bet: (v) to feel sureDictionary B

There are those who deem themselves very conservative and would insist they would never place a bet on anything–as they sit down at a fast food restaurant and devour a double-bacon cheeseburger, betting that their arteries will withstand the attack.

We all bet.

  • In politics, they call it “tendencies” and “polls.”
  • In business, they refer to it as “great ideas” or “hunches.”
  • In romance, it’s deemed “beauty” or “fragrance.”
  • And in religion, we revere it as “faith.”

For after all, none of us are sure of much of anything as it pertains to the future, and all attempts to contradict that ignorance only make us appear insistent, not intelligent.

So what do I bet on?

1. I bet that people are self-involved, and you get along a whole lot better when you know it.

2. I bet there’s more evil in a private meeting of a political party than there ever is in twenty demons congregating over the fires of hell.

3. I bet the things that have sustained us–faith, hope and love–will continue to work, even when some cynics consider them outdated.

4. And I bet that I will reap what I sow.

These are my sure bets.

I have found that when I understand them to be true … I always end up with an excellent payout.

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Belie

Belie: (v) to fail to give a true notion or impression of something.Dictionary B

I have been accused of being either crazy or a glutton for punishment because I watch the political debates.

I, myself, am not political.

But I think it would be total foolishness to live in this day and age and wish for a different time, or else pretend, through self-righteousness, that I am above the fray. The Republicans and Democrats are my brothers and sisters whether they embarrass me or not.

On this particular evening of viewing, there was a lot of noise, banging and viciousness. I know it is popular to criticize these politicians who aspire to be the President of the United States, for their attacks and ferocity.

But I must tell you–they are not the culprits. In many ways, they are the victims.

Because as the debate ended and the camera swirled across the audience, it fell for a moment on the countenance of the moderator–the newsman–the journalist who had been in charge of the affair.

There was a tiny smirk on his face.

It angered me.

The smirk was not a smile of success, but rather, belied an agenda by a news organization to sensationalize an activity in order to gain ratings, with no real concern about the toll it was taking on the gentleness of the American people.

It was rotten.

And for that brief moment, I felt sorry for those gentlemen running for the Oval Office. They are being used. The American public is being refused a chance for a kinder way.

It belies us to believe that any goodness can come out of those who make the most profit off of reporting the evil.

 

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Bandy

Bandy: (v) to pass from one to another or back and forth; give and take; to bandy wordsDictionary B

An optimist may feel ordained by the angels to bring hope to any given situation, but becomes ineffective because being in the presence of a pessimist causes him or her to be depressed.

This leaves the realist sitting on the sidelines, shaking his or her head over the foolishness of both extremes.

Thus we have the standoff on Earth which promotes more self-righteousness than progress.

  • Optimists believe they are good.
  • Pessimists contend that evil is too strong.
  • And realists are ignored because they don’t offer any tools on how to tear down the wall.

It has come time in our season on Earth to begin to bandy about ideas which are enriching to the human heart, without trying to turn our emotions into mere marshmallow cream.

What do I desire to be bandied about in the general populace?

  1. Human beings are neither good nor evil. They ascend from dust to become earth, to hopefully reach for the stars.
  2. Forgiveness is not resolution. It is the perfect way to ignore stupidity while you’re waiting for karma to expose it.
  3. Men and women are not different. As long as we insist they are, we will treat one better than the other.
  4. We are not bound by or to our culture. Rather, we are blessed with customs which are endearing but also commanded by life to find similarities with all our brothers and sisters.
  5. And finally, revenge doesn’t work because it has no end. Sooner or later someone has to scream to the surrounding chaos, “What the hell? Let’s move on.” The sooner we do this, the lower the death toll.

These are just a few ideas I present which are not optimistic, pessimistic or realistic.

I would venture to call them humanistic.

 

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