Tag Archives: flash in the pan

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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Blip

Blip: (n) a flashing point of light on a radar screen

Dictionary B

“Listen, man, you’re not even a blip on the radar screen.”

I’ve heard these words several times in my life, from people who wanted to make money off of me by promoting my works, or folks who wanted to limit the value of my mission by insisting it was ineffective.

People don’t want to be nasty–jealousy just makes them that way. Matter of fact, you can get rid of an awful lot of “nasty” in your life if you just decide not to be jealous.

No, I’m not a blip on the radar screen.

  • I’ve never received a phone call from CNN asking for an interview.
  • The Tonight Show has eluded me.
  • I have not appeared on any bestseller lists.
  • I am not being vetted for any national position.
  • The awards I’ve received have been scrawled on paper instead of presented as gold statues.

But since I’m not a blip on the screen, I can do the hell whatever I want. No one is concerned, because they think my meager attempts are meaningless.

Meanwhile, one after one, day after day, minute by minute, I encounter fellow-human beings and try, for the brief seconds I am with them, to make them glad they are alive and encourage them to be more hopeful about their prospects.

I write blogs which are read by unseen strangers who happen to stumble upon me accidentally. Yet, stumbling upon me, I try to make sure they are delighted by tripping my way.

Fame in America is a revolving door.

The powers that be will never actually let you inside the building. It’s reserved for old money, old clients, old stars, old politicians and old ideas. So as soon as you think you’re entering, they will find dirt and grime to smear all over your character and revolve you right out the exit.

What you want to do is be a flash in the pan–a moment when people see light and wonder if there is the possibility of more up ahead.

 

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Aaron

by J. R. Practix

dictionary with letter A

1. Aaron: (in the Bible) brother of Moses and the traditional founder of the Jewish priesthood

2. Aaron: Hank (1934- ) U.S. baseball player, full name Henry Louis Aaron. He set the all-time career record for home runs (755) and runs batted in (2,297). Baseball Hall of Fame (1982)

What do these two guys have in common?

People don’t have to have things in common. It’s kind of fun if they do, though.

My understanding is that Aaron from the Bible had a really long beard. Hank Aaron didn’t. A beard might get in the way of hitting home runs.

Speaking of that, maybe there’s a tie-in. Hank hit home runs and Aaron from the Bible was always dealing with people who wanted to run home to Egypt. Matter of fact, Aaron was so weak that he built a Golden Calf for people to worship. That’s when his brother, Moses, came down, took the Ten Commandments and tried to knock the Golden Calf out of the park.

You see? Another connection to baseball.

Must have been tough to be Aaron–the Bible one. Because his brother stuttered or had some sort of speech impediment, he was selected to do all the talking in front of the Pharoah. That had to be tough. Moses whispered in his ear and told him a plague of frogs was going to be sent to the Egyptian people, but HE was stuck with saying it out loud. Tough room, huh?

Hank Aaron had the most home runs for a career. That’s pretty impressive. That’s no flash in the pan. That’s not like hitting seventy in one year. That’s like doing it year after year. So maybe the similarity between these two guys is how different they were.

Bible Aaron did fine when things were great and the pitches thrown his way came right across the plate. Hank, on the other hand, hit ’em out of the stadium regularly, no matter who was pitching.

I guess what we can learn from this is … absolutely nothing, which is often the end result of object lessons. A teacher will work very hard to make a point, which totally escapes the grasp of the student. The teacher becomes more emphatic and the student pretends to understand–to escape getting in trouble.

Peaceful co-confusion.