The White Trashing of America

Bubbie has noticed a disturbing trend that has been slowly eroding the American society; the white trashing of America. He is not one to throw stones but he does know what he stands for; he puts women on a pedestal, loves and feels a responsibility to children, and honors the manly hierarchy. He fondly remembers having to take a freshman English class in summer school due to some marginal behavioral issues. The teacher was a big gruff authoritarian and at first the young Bubbie thought he found delight in torturing the maligned summer students, but remembers a statement that the behemoth bellowed one afternoon. He doesn’t recall the context of the lesson or the wording leading up to it, but he remembers the teacher saying emphatically, “No one owes you nothing but basic human respect!” And of course that’s what we owe others. That is what makes a healthy civilized society.

There was a time when the rube was a running joke. It was Junior Samples, Gomer Pile. It was a joke and everybody knew it. It’s the premise behind Hee Haw and the Blue Collar Comedy tour. But anymore it seems that Jeff Foxworthy and Larry the Cable Guy have become heroes instead of humorists and everyone else is a tattooed, beer drinkin’ badass (Yea, even the women). You can’t go anywhere anymore without being interrupted by tobacco chewing Nextel conversations, the F-bombings are rampant and aren’t we continually rudely cut off or tail gated in traffic by an oversized pickup with a Bush/Cheney bumper sticker. I can’t stand in line at the department store without out a thick necked, beer bellied, fishin’ shirt wearing oaf glancing fiercely at me as if he wants to spit a little beechnut in my eye. Never a smile or friendly hello; always a look up and down and a turning away of one’s oversized head. No one seems to know that you should politely hold a door open, or step aside and yield if a person approaches with their arms full. Have you noticed few people say “excuse me” anymore; I often get brushed by as though I don’t exist.

Is this our fate America? We can’t even be nice our respectful to one another anymore? Can’t I be an individual with my own thoughts and style? If you don’t get the joke because you’ve become it; it just not funny. I challenge you to pay attention to the state of our country and her volatile position in the world. We need to pull together and raise our standards to be the best country in the world. White trash is not chic, it’s trash, so let’s dispose of it and move ahead to a superior civilization. It starts within each of us.

It's never too late to change

Bubbie is recovering from a bout with pneumonia brought on by exhaustion. He slept the day away and was woken by Sweet Pea late in the afternoon to go to the doctor’s office. He laid there momentarily looking up into Sweet Pea’s beautiful green eyes and in a striking moment of clarity he realized that if this were the last day of his life, this would be the one thing he would regret; not taking enough time to look into these beautiful green eyes. All of the things that we think are important and need to be done really don’t amount to a hill of beans; it is the little things that we do for one another that matters most.

On the way home I passed a church that had a clever statement posted on their sign which read, “Spoil your spouse, not your children.” How many of us would have a better life by heeding that advice.

A Rube's View of World War 3

This is Bubbie’s view of a sad and serious matter in the world. It’s been 23 days since Hezbollah started lobbing missiles into Israel and I have not heard one so-called expert say that the biggest reason fundamentalist Muslim terror groups feel that that can do what hay want, when they want because we do not have the means to back our allies. The only thing that unites these terrorists and drives their actions is to kill Americans and Israelis. Unfortunately we are mired down in the war we started in Iraq and now, we can’t come to the aid of one of the few countries that is our friend. I only hope that someone in our government recognizes this and makes the necessary adjustments before violence spreads around the world.