The Road Of Life

Uncle Bubba was riding down the road in his ol' black pickup truck. The sun was shining brightly through the trees and as the shadows of leaves dappled across his windshield he should have had a sunny disposition but he was wrasslin' around something in his mind. You see, Bubbie has always thought of himself of as a live and let live kinda feller. He's always treated folks the way that he's wanted to be treated, which is one of his tenets of life. He, himself, wants to be left alone. He reckons that most folks feel this way. That doesn't mean that he doesn't enjoy the company of his family, or friends. But he doesn't like the idea of being approached by solicitors, busybodies, or bigger yet, being under the insidious watchful eye of "big brother". So he goes about his business and in doing so he tries to be a good neighbor. He looks after his property with care. He tires to balance his time so that he has the time to keep his lawn mown and his bushes trimmed, his garden weeded and his house neatly clean and painted. He knows that his yard is not the best in his neighborhood, but it's better than others; after all he's a working man and only has so much time and energy to spend on it. But as he drives down so many roads he sees the property of others that is not so well maintained. These good folks seem to have the means to afford it, yet year in and year out they just don't get much accomplished and it causes him to wonder. Ya reckon they're just lazy? One never knows what is going on in another person's life - not really - so he reckons that the majority of them must be just plain lazy save a few with some real problems. That idea just sits like a burr under Bubbie's saddle and there in lies his dilemma! For if he acts upon his annoyance then he is not the live and let live kinda feller that he likes to think that he is. Yet we all know that some folks won't move unless they have a fire lit under them and for some even a 2 alarm inferno won't make a difference. But Uncle Bubba does what he always does; he moves on and remembers that it's often better to let sleeping dogs lie lest someone comes around complaining about him. As he drove a little further and thought about his thoughts, pondered his perceptions and deliberated his duality, a song entered the back of his mind and wiggled it's way through until he was humming the tune to himself. It was Torn Between Two Lovers by Mary MacGregor.
"Torn between two lovers, feelin' like a fool, Lovin' both of you is breakin' all the rules..."

"Oh Lord," Bubbie thought, "I've really lost it now!"

This whole split in his thinking must be wearing on him more than he thought! And what the heck was up with those '70s songs anyhow? That young lady sounded downright happy singing that song! She was telling her feller that she loved him and wanted him to stay but had another lover! That just ain't right! There were all kinds of weird songs like that back in the '70's. There was that Angie Baby by that Helen Reddy about a girl that weren't right and she stayed in her bedroom living in a world of make-believe. Then the sneaky peeper neighbor boy snuck over and she made him vanish with her loud music or hid him somewhere; we'll never know. Then there was Michael Jackson's song Ben, a doggone love song to a rat. True, it was for a movie, but it took off to be a hit record and still strangely enough it was essentially a boy singing sweetly to another boy. That ain't right! The list can go on and on but why sustain the torture. For Uncle Bubba, he has lived long enough to know that over time it's not easy to keep an open mind; it's an exercise and with exercise comes strength. He understands that his live and let live ideal gets him by and suits his nature but he eventually has to stand up for things as well; he just tries to choose his battles carefully. In Bubbie's view, the road ahead is smooth and clear and its best that he just stay looking forward out of the windshield; there's plenty of livin' to do.