Theo Wilson

Theo Wilson is a poet and a YouTube activist who wondered about the people posting racist comments on his videos, and where they were getting their facts. So he adopted a pseudonym and joined their conversation. If y'all google his name there's plenty of information available and he gave an excellent Ted Talk that everyone should listen to, and then relisten to it with an open heart. When Uncle Bubba heard it he was struck by many things but one thing in particular, however, he'll share that in a moment. First here are some poignant excerpts from an interview Mr. Wilson did with Ted Talks. These excerpts will give you a glimpse into the caliber of person and the deep thinker that Mr. Wilson is.

"WILSON: When I went undercover, I found a lovely plethora of characters, luminaries like Milo Yiannopoulos, Richard Spencer, and David Duke. All of these guys were thought leaders in their own right, but over time, the alt-right movement ended up using their information to fuel their momentum. And I'm going to tell you what else led to the momentum of the alt-right - the left-wing's wholesale demonization of everything white and male.

One thing kept screaming at me through the subtext of those arguments, and that was, why should I be hated for who I cannot help but be? Now, was a black man in America, that resonated with me. I've spent so much time defending myself against attempts to demonize me and make me apologize for who I am, trying to portray me as something that I'm not, some kind of thug or gangster or menace to society. Unexpected compassion - wow. Never in a billion years did I think that I could have some kind of compassion for people who hated my guts.

WILSON: And let me be clear about the difference between compassion and sympathy. Compassion is my spiritual duty as a human being, but that's different than - well, a lot of people interpret that compassion as a sympathy. I don't have sympathy for them. You see, compassion figures out how you got to where you are. Sympathy is having compassion for where they ended up.

And that's a very, very key distinction that has to be made. I get how somebody could be born on that side of the divide and end up where they are. But I also get that we all have brains, and we can do our own bit of education, and we can figure out exactly what data points that we're missing. And why don't you care to do it? That was a question that I had.

WILSON: The most important thing that I think that we could get from this is that there is unhealed trauma on every side of the racial divide. There's trauma, man. And a lot of people talk about the trauma that black folks have, the post-traumatic slavery syndrome. But then there's also a trauma that white folks experienced, and that experience comes from the fact - and I made a video about this, about how slavery wounded white people.

You don't get to be a part of a force that did that much damage to other peoples without somehow having damage done to yourself at some level. Every time somebody saw somebody lynched, even if they were white, that was damage. If you witness a murder, that's therapy for life, right? One murder - right?

So what does it say when the whole culture gets a lynch mob out and goes hanging folks? You think little Billy, the first time he sees a black man burning from a tree, ain't going experience some kind of trauma? That's going to show up some kind of place, right? That - all of that has a cost. The great tragedy of racism is that we are all human, is that we all lose a piece of our humanity." (http://kuow.org/post/theo-ej-wilson-what-happens-when-black-man-goes-undercover-alt-right)

His statement about trauma on both sides is the thing that hit Bubbie like a hammer between the eyes. It was an epiphany! Thank you, Theo. Though the topic was racism, Bubbie suddenly realized that we all have PTSD in every area of our lives. To back up for a moment, to Uncle Bubba PTSD was something that happened to war veterans and victims of horrific accidents and such. But suddenly he realized that it is, in fact, a condition stemming from any event that an individual is unable to reconcile in their mind; its torturous, toxic thoughts. We all have these that layer upon layer all ingrown like the rings of a tree.

What's at the heart of your tree?

They can begin in childhood and depend on one's personality, environment, resilience and coping skills in avoiding more damage that life dishes out.  And life doesn't slow down to let us recuperate and fix things to make them right, at least within our own minds. Sometimes we are weighed down by one event when we're clobbered by another; bad things happen in 3s as Granny used to say. Bubbie supposes that this is why psychologists were invented, to help us work through these trauma, PTSD things before they became too full of themselves but that's a thought for another day; for now he wants to say that though we've all been damaged in some way, everything can heal and if y'all don't pick at the scab too much, that scar may not be deep. In Bubbie's view, look inside yourself and see if y'all can find those scabbed over wounds, the ones that haven't healed, have some compassion for your heart and find a way to get them healed; Jesus is a good place to start.

Old Hogs

Uncle Bubba really likes his hog. It doesn't matter if he's just sitting on the porch admiring her resting in the sunshine or sitting on her back as she takes him on a ride. Recently he watched a YouTube video about Harley Davidson's biggest challenge in the future and that's the fact that their core demographic of customers are aging and will eventually fade away, and the young bucks just aren't into motorcycles as much as playing video games. The video also postulated that the younger generations are more inclined to buy crotch rockets because they're faster and cheaper. It's a hard argument to contradict. Harley's are expensive. Sportbikes are fun. But for a while now Uncle Bubba has been tired of the Harley Davidson paradigm. Short of their sportier bikes targeted at younger riders, most of their cruisers are just getting too many comfort features that in Bubbie's view take away from the ride and add to the cost. It wasn't until he thought about the info that the video presented that he realized that all these comforts do go hand in hand with older riders. Aside from Bubbie, there's not a lot of old dudes that want to ride stripped down bikes of their youth. They want low vibration motors, 6-speed transmissions, soft comfy seats, farings loaded with radios and stereo speakers, GPS, LED lights, heated grips, and on and on. These new bikes are practically 2 wheeled cars! That just ain't Bubbie taste. He likes to feel the bike as it rumbles under him and he likes to listen to the motor and the wind and the sounds of nature and the environment. He doesn't want to be distracted from the ride with a radio or GPS, clock or cell phone. He wants to be connected in spirit to the band of Wild Ones that came before him. Easy Rider and Born To Be Wild. All the brothers and sisters that rode not to show off their style and make a fashion statement but because a bike was their primary choice of transportation due to their rebel hearts. It wasn't about comfort it was about freedom. Uncle Bubba likes the idea of being in that pedigree. He reckons that every rider likes that idea and feels similarly but in Bubbie's view, it's a lot easier to connect the dots without the radio distracting him.

Ain't That The Way?

Uncle Bubba had a cow that was about to calve, he just knew it because he had a busy couple days lined up. Yet he remained vigilant though it added to his busy schedule; he didn't mind. He rode by her daily on windshield inspection and noticed some telltale signs: a switching tail, kicking at her belly, turning in circles, and other signs of discomfort fall into this category too. Separation from the herd is another sign. No one likes to have a kid with all their friends watching, and cows are no exception.

On Sunday, Bubbie and Sweet Pea went to church and as they arrived home that afternoon they drove up to their homestead to see the cow lying in the field and without a doubt she was definitely in labor. Uncle Bubba dropped Sweet Pea off at the house and then punched the accelerator and darted across the field. As he approached the momma, the calf’s front legs and dark nose were out but it was obvious that momma was having some difficulty. Bubbie didn't hesitate and dove right in. As luck would have it, Sweet Pea had quickly changed her clothes and scampered across the field to witness the birth. Uncle Bubba called to her to hurry because he was going to need her help. He had been pulling at the calf's legs and asked Sweet Pea to take over while he worked on getting the shoulders and then hips out with the contractions. Within a few moments, the calf was born. Momma was exhausted.

She eventually got up with their encouragement and quickly found the calf and started licking it and making momma moo grunts to her. She licked the calf and licked and licked some more. She then found its umbilical cord and snipped it off just at the right length. It was very cool that she knew exactly what to do. Uncle Bubba and Sweet Pea stood and watched in awe and amazement at the miracle of birth and new life. It took a long time for the little girl to get up on those wobbly long stilts of hers, but when they left the barn to come in for supper, she was up and nursing.

It had been a long few days of waiting and wondering so now as they sat at the table reflecting upon the event they smiled contentedly at one another. Just that morning Bubbie had been out checking on the momma cow before the sun had shown its face and a pack of coyotes ran across the back fence line, no doubt awaiting the birth as well. In the dim dawn light, Uncle Bubba reached into the cab of his pickup truck and grabbed his .270. He braced it across the hood and touched off a round with his squinted eye peering through the crosshairs of the scope. The coyotes turned tail and scrambled and disappeared into the woods. In Bubbie's view, ain't that the way that it is? When a good thing is showing up in your life, if we don't guard against it something will come in and snatch it away. How many blessings do we miss because we failed to prepare?

Say What?

Uncle Bubba cranked on the steering wheel and pulled his pickup truck into the parking lot of the gin mill. He and his buddies just came off of a successful hog hunt and they were gathering at the watering hole for a refreshing beverage and recount the morning's events; this is how legends are born. Uncle Bubba walked into the darkness of the bar and squinted as his eyes adjusted to the change in light and he could feel cigarette smoke sting his sun weary eyes. He dimly recognized The Captain at the far end of the barroom and then the afternoon sunlight broke in and the rest of the crew bounded through the door. They bellied up to the bar and the tall tales started immediately. For the uninitiated, wild hogs have exploded in population across the US and they are wreaking havoc on America's farmlands. Wild boars are classified as pests because their diet of roots leads to them tearing up the ground, killing plants in the process and hastening erosion. Uncle Bubba's crew doesn't go out to just shoot them, rather they catch them using dogs and then pen them up and fatten them on grain before harvesting them. Back at the bar, they are laughing at the day's events and as usual most of the jokes are about Cousin Earl. It just seems to be that way and in Bubbie's opinion, it's because he brings it on himself.

Earl was bellyaching about how he strained his back when he tried to pick up one of the hogs to carry it out of the woods. The boys howled at that because it was one of the smallest caught. Then his wrist hurt from this and his neck ached from that: it's always something with Earl, he's a bit of a hypochondriac. Generally, the crew rolls their eyes when they see him coming and they aren't displeased to see him go, he can wear y'all out with his complaints. Uncle Bubba tries his best to hang in there with him because they've known one another since they was babies and he kinda pities him because he knows that hypochondria is a symptom of other things, mental and emotional what-have-yous. Wistfully, Bubbie hopes that Earl gets over whatever ails him before it's too late, after all, it wears on Bubbie as well; he, like us all, has his own issues and challenges of life to deal with. Bubbie would love to be standing at the bar laughing with his buddies with Earl on equal footing and not the brunt of every joke but that's just not the way life works.

Thankfully, Uncle Bubba and Sweet Pea have a different philosophy of life that not only helps them cope but makes for a pleasant and blessed existence. Wanna know their secret? Take good care to guard your heart and listen to what comes out your mouth. They believe that what goes into their eyes and ears winds up in their hearts. Is it sugar or vinegar? That's why they don't watch any news and only watch select TV shows. They aren't on Facebook and avoid social media in general. A clean heart leads to a clean mind and what is in one's heart is what come out of their mouth. Of course, they're only human so they have their hard times like anyone else, but by listening to what comes out of their mouth they can cut the negativity off before it festers and becomes a lifestyle. Uncle Bubba clarifies that it's more like thinking about what you're about to say just before you say it and is it a good thing or bad. Is it a complaint or does it enrich the conversation? It's a choice to say only favorable, just, and virtuous things. It's like this, you think and then you do. If your thinking is off then your communication through what you say and do is off, and vice versa. As scripture says, "As he thinks in his heart, so is he" (Proverbs 23:7). Bubbie admits that it's a learned skill and a practiced choice. He wasn't always this way, he came up from being just as rough a character as anyone but in Bubbie's view, having the choice of the way he was versus the way he is, is a no-brainer. Life today is way better, healthier, and happier.

What's Your Problem?

What's Your Problem? People. Uncle Bubba proposes a mind experiment that's easy to try. Picture your life without people. You are the only one that exists. Imagine that you wake up in the morning a fix yourself a nice breakfast, maybe a nice hot coffee to slowly wind up into your day. Then, without people, what does your day look like? What are your responsibilities? Remember, there is no one to interfere with your day, no one to throw a wrench in your plan. You're free to do, think, and say anything you want without judgment or concern for hurting some's feelings. Of course, this means that there is no one to gossip about, speak ill of, or worry about. You'll have to find new things to fill up the time spent on that and burn that energy in a people-less way. Bubbie reckons that it only leaves the basic necessities of acquiring food and having a decent shelter. Perhaps once they're secured your desire would be to add some luxuries to your life to enrich your life and make it more comfortable. You would do it only as you wish because there isn't anyone else's ideas, tastes, or needs to concern yourself with. There's no one to second guess you or question you: "Why'd you do that?" or "I don't care for that." What would your house look like? Where would you live? What would you do with your time? What would you surround yourself with? Would you venture out to explore?

Without people, there would be a lot less drama in your world. There would be less added responsibilities. There would be less conflict and your problems would drop by probably 90%. It's quite a realization when you think about it. But there are people and we have to live side by side with them. They will rub up against you and create some challenging situations that will not often be pleasant. People create problems. In Bubbie's view, living with people can be painful unless we choose to make good decisions and use learned skills that produce a good attitude and maturity. And in case you haven't thought about it, you're a real pain in someone else's butt too. Don't be a problem.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everybody! Uncle Bubba has a couple resolutions that he wants to put out on the table so that he's more likely to stick to them. The first is probably the more difficult of the two: to stop cursing. He came up in a time when cursing was thought to be a sign of being dim-witted, or as Bubbie's granny used to say, "Cussin' is a neon sign to a shallow mind." Folks reckoned that the use of four letter foul words was due to lack of sufficient vocabulary to express oneself. Well, Uncle Bubba has been disappointed in himself for how easily cuss words slip from his lips; his mouth gets ahead of his brain. It really struck him this Christmas season while shopping, you know, being around the general public in crowded stores, which is hard on a country boy. He was aghast at how often he heard the biggie, the mother of all curse words, the F-bomb being dropped by fellow shoppers. It's become such a casual thing! And it wasn't just lowlife types but middle-class and upper-class teenage girls as they huddled over one another's phones; even within families! It was disturbing and made Uncle Bubba sad when it should have been a joyful time anticipating the celebration of Jesus' birth. Jesus, the one who sacrificed his life to save Bubbie's life from sin, if not us all.

Uncle Bubba knows that it's as much a habit to cuss as anything so it will be a process of listening to what's rolling out of his mouth and the wherewithal to correct it until the habit is changed. It will take an effort but he's up for the challenge. Besides, it's also about his family; he'd want his granny to be proud and he aims to be a good example for his grandbabies.

The second resolution is challenging as well but he presumes will take much longer to engrain it into his lifestyle. As Bubbie put it, he's opting out of so much technology. We all talk about what a time waster it can be, especially folks in his age group when chirping about "lazy" gamers. But how is he any better? It just recently occurred to him that his friends that do nothing with or know very little about technology are busy. Either they don't care to know and are too busy to learn or too busy to learn and too busy to bother: it's the chicken and the egg scenario. Anyway, he realized that back in the day, he'd sit down and look through a magazine. At the end, he'd put the dang magazine down because he'd finished with it and he'd find something else to do. With browsing, there is no end! We spend hours lost in rabbit holes as daylight turns to dark. Well, Bubbie for one has had enough. He's ready for a change. He wants to get up and move, to take action on something, anything; he wants to be busy creating things. He mentioned that he knew that he was swimming against the current because society is moving towards more technology, but he really doesn't care. In Bubbie's view, ya gotta get the blood pumping. Ya gotta act on a resolution, participate in the process. Sure, things will have to be unraveled before being knitted back together but that's the fun of the challenge. I thanked him for his heartfelt New Years wishes and waved goodbye as I walked to my truck, and he yelled to me with a smile and a big wave, "No battle is won by marching backward so advance! And Happy New Year Y'all!"