Moderately Miserable is Hard Work

Most people who interact with me on a day to day basis are familiar with my canned response when they query "How are you doing?" Ninety-nine percent of the time, I answer, "I'm maintaining my normal state of moderately miserable."

It happened just Monday night at the gym. I entered the facility with a woman, who is little more than a casual acquaintance that I met four or five years ago. She noted that it had "been awhile" and asked me how I was doing. Upon my response, she said, "I would expect nothing less."

For some reason, that kind of stung! An eye-roll, a snicker, or a giggle are the only appropriate responses to my sarcasm. Didn't she get the memo? After all, I'm just throwing out shtick here. Right? Surely, she understands that my sarcasm is just a "front" I throw out for shock value.

Or, IS IT?

Recently, I have been reflecting on the role I have purposely and intentionally taken on as the "grumpy old man." The CURMUDGEON! When first called that term on FB, I actually told myself it was a compliment. I had become Red from "That 70's Show." Minus the beer, I had become my TV hero, Red. I was a malcontent and I was surrounded by dumba***s and I liked it!

The problem with the shtick, however, is that, over time, it seemingly becomes REALITY! And I am only now realizing that "maintaining a state of moderately miserable" is hard work.

Well, actually, it's really not THAT hard! A daily dose of the news channels help. And it doesn't matter which one. Left or right! Those arrogant blowhards on Fox News anger me just as bad as that bitter, miserable chick on MSNBC. And I've actually blogged about that! Deep down, I know they are just doing their jobs. Their job is to produce OUTRAGE. That fact was discussed in this very same forum some time ago. I shouldn't fault them for simply trying to draw a paycheck.

The news channels, however, pale in comparison to this silly device I hold in my hand several hours a day. I am only just now realizing the power this thing lords over me. I fell for it. Hook, line, and sinker! Without even realizing how subtly it happened, I was following some of the meanest people in this county on the Twitter. And I wasn't just reading their tweets. I was reading ALL the responses. Some of these threads go on for days. And I couldn't miss a single one!

I don't know if there is any hope for me or not. Maybe I am just a curmudgeon and maybe I just need to own it. But I have taken baby steps in trying to lessen the severity of it all.

I unfollowed all those pundits on the Twitter. Even though I agree with 99% of what they say, I cannot participate in that vitriol. I've unfriended a good friend on the Facebook. I genuinely like and care for the guy. But he has NO filter! And he posts egregiously inappropriate GIFS and comments on my Timeline. It makes my blood boil. And I just can't afford to let that discourage me. And I am off the news channels. After all, I already know what they are going to say anyway. Their respective points of view haven't changed in years.

I'm not certain as to why the change of heart. My natural inclination is to stay in the problem. It's warm and squishy there and over time becomes normal and comfortable.

But I do know this. My energy is waning in my older years. And I just feel tired. I am tired of Harvey Weinstein. I am tired of the NFL. I am deeply saddened by the Vegas shootings. But I am tired of that, as well. And I am tired of the OUTRAGE!

I am just gonna have to leave that for those of you who are better equipped to handle it.

God Is A Gentleman

I really do not want to post this one! But, if I truly want to get some relief, I have no choice. My Shrink died last year. Not that it really matters. I had not spoken to him in over a decade, anyway.

 If I said "Yesterday was a bad day," my statement could be number one on the Greatest Understatements in History list. I could not turn off the television. Watched way too much coverage of the horrible carnage in Las Vegas. And just sunk, deeper and deeper into the abyss.

My mind went into sermon mode. "Sermon mode" is code for you atheists and agnostics to probably just tune out. It's okay. This silly post is not gonna change your mind. And that's okay, too! CTT covered that a while back. As we have progressed to a society of Truth Creators, as opposed to Truth Seekers, you have created your own truth. I will not stand in the way of your creating your own truth and living it out with all the unaided zeal that you can muster.

Romans 1:22---"Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools."

Romans 1:25---"They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator...."

Romans 1:28-32---"Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, He gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although, they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of of those who practice them."

AND THAT'S JUST THE CHRISTIANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes. I said it. Apparently, no one else is going to! I have a NEWSFLASH for Christians. Pagans are always gonna be pagans. They are going to practice all the above things in spades! They are good at it. They improve on it. They delight in it! The fact that we have joined them, with seemingly no misgivings, is the dilemma!

In Hollywood, and on campuses across the Nation, they pity us and despise us. They pity us for believing in such silly superstitions. They despise us for judging them when, for the most part, we act the same way.

I am convinced that God is not disappointed in pagans. They are pagans. He understands that way better than we give Him credit.

His disappointment is no doubt in us. Our secret sin. Our desire to look just like everyone else. To do what they do. Watch what they watch. Play like they play. Our inability to shine some Light into a very dark place and be the Salt we were called to be. Our desire to "worship and serve created things."

"Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools."

We have allowed God to be dis-invited and for the most part, not get ANY mention anymore. And if God is anything, He is a gentleman. And He has honored our wishes.