I visited a chiropractor for the first time this week.

It appears that people find me the most humorous when I am in pain!

Part of the treatment consisted of electrical stimulation of my back.

The electric current felt different from anything that I had experienced before.

When I commented on this to the technician performing the treatment. Her response was that some people describe it as feeling like “Fairies dancing” on their back.

I said it was more like “leprechaun clogging”. She cracked up laughing, and told everyone in the office. I didn’t think it was that funny.

But, if you see a commercial for a chiropractor where leprechauns are “River Dancing” on someone’s back. Well, you’ll know where the idea came from.

All the political news lately reminds me of a quote by Benjamin Franklin.

“Anyone who loves the law and sausage, should never watch either being made.”

Several years ago, I went to Columbus (the state capital of Ohio) and watched the legislature debate and pass laws.

That taught me to NEVER under any circumstance, watch sausage being made!

Thus, I still enjoy sausage. However, my wife and son became vegetarians!

I read about a recent study. Individuals were asked to participate in a taste test. They were given samples of wine and asked to describe the flavor, aroma, etc.

The samples were from a $5.00 bottle of wine, a $50.00 bottle, and a $500.00 bottle.

The participants gave distinctly different descriptions of all three wines. They also universally prefer the $50.00 wine over the $5.00 wine, and the $500.00 wine over the $50.00 wine.

The kicker is, ALL THE SAMPLES WERE THE SAME WINE!

All the participants believed that if the wine was more expensive, it had to be better.

This attitude applies to other areas of life.

I know a couple of entertainers who got the idea that if they gave some free shows. Then, it would get their name out in the public, and bring them more business.

They did resorts and charity events.

The result was a tidal wave of requests…for more free shows. Not one single paying gig resulted from their doing free shows.

The public believed that if a show was free, the entertainers could NOT possibly be worth hiring!

However, the people who paid to see these performers, thought they were fantastic.

Other performers report the same effect.

In the entertainers case, the free shows lowered their perceived value, instead of showcasing how great they are.

How many times a day do you assign a value to something for all of the wrong reasons?

Once upon a time, Americans made their living by manufacturing products. That means they Made Things that other people would buy.

Now everything is made in a third world country, by people who are one step away from being slave labor. But most people don’t care as long as they can get their stuff cheap.

Of course, all the Americans who held highly skilled, high paying, manufacturing jobs, had to find other work!

Most of these high skill people ended up doing low skill, lower paying service jobs. The people who once made valuable things, now provide a “service” to other people. Salesman, yard care, bus driver, etc.

Although these are honest jobs. They do not require the skill, or pay as well as a manufacturing job such as a tool and die maker!

As a result, the skill level, and paycheck of the average worker has fallen through the bottom. This means the quality and quantity of the work done also has fallen.

For example: We have a office supply store in our town which is part of a well known national chain. We refuse to do business with them if it is physically possible. Why? Because their employees are a waste of oxygen!

When we phone the store to see if they have an item in stock, the answer is always no. Once as a test, we went into the store, stood in front of the product display, and saw they had plenty of that item in stock. We then called the store from our cellphone, and were told “Nope, we don’t have that”.

We did this test the day after we had gone into the store looking for a particular item. We asked the clerk where the item was located. He informed us that if we wanted an item, we would have to look it up on the stores website, and give him the product number.

Then, he would look it up on the store computer and see if they had it. He could not be bothered to know what his store carried or where the product might be located.

I assumed that I was dealing with one lazy idiot. It turned out that every clerk in the store had the same attitude!

The company could have closed every store, fired every clerk, and sold on-line from a warehouse, and provided better customer service than that!

What is the point of this rant? We all saw how the economy fell when we changed from a manufacturing based society to a service based society.

What happens to a service based economy when everyone stops providing service?

A neighbor asked me what I did over the Memorial Day weekend. He talked about our local parade, and the people who came out to see it.

I didn’t get to see it. I worked.

Later, after I got off duty. I got together with some of my family. As we stood around the grill, we talked.

Of the five of us there, three were vets (Army, Navy, and Air Force). Two others of the family were not there. They were wearing a different uniform. They are police officers in another part of the state.

Their job means that no matter what the holiday, it is just another work day. It is said that the military is a family, and that is true. But today got me thinking about how much of our military is actually made up of families!

What makes some families, generation after generation, in peace and in war, don a uniform, and the responsibility it entails. It sure is not for the pay or benefits. The respect? I doubt that. This time around we honor our troops. The previous war, our troops were spit on.

But, no matter how they are treated, they still step up to the line! They still shoulder the burden. They still go into harms way. Is it DNA or just a family value? And why do they serve and others don’t? I really don’t know the answer. But, I will think on it some more.

I hope others will think about it too.

Darwin’s theory is best described as survival of the fittest.

The strong overpower the weak. The smart outwit the stupid. The fast outrun the slow. Etc, etc. On paper this appears to make perfect sense.

Unfortunately, in real life, this does not apply to people!

On your next commute to work, take a good look at the drivers around you.
You will have some individuals who totally focus on the task at hand, obey the traffic laws, and are polite and courteous.

You will also have other drivers who appear to not know they are operating a motor vehicle. How they stay on the road is a mystery! Their social behavior is such that if they were not shielded by a wall of steel and glass traveling at sixty miles an hour, kind, gentle, little old ladies would punch them in the chops for being assholes!

These are the people who cut you off, tailgate, make right hand turns from the left lane, peel rubber to pull out in front of you and then poke along at ten miles a hour below the speed limit.

In short, they are the ones who cause accidents, and make life miserable for the rest of us. Darwin would say that these people would by their stupidity kill themselves in auto accidents, thus leaving only safe and courteous drivers.

In the real world, these people tend to come out unscathed. While the innocent people around them are hurt and killed.

Unfortunately, this appears to apply to all areas of our lives. Not just driving.

I have spent most of my life in careers where a small mistake can result in someone being hurt or killed. Most of us work exceedingly hard to prevent those mistakes from happening. When we do have an “Opps Moment” and somehow manage to dodge the bullet, we thank God for having mercy on us and keeping us safe!

I know so-called “professionals” who are a disaster waiting to happen. And when something does happen. It is everyone’s else’s fault. If you try to point out what they are doing their response ranges from: “Chill out, you take things way too seriously”, to “Mind your own damn business! I know exactly what I am doing and I don’t need any advice from anyone else”!

If they simply needed a little instruction, that would be one thing. The problem is, they do know the proper procedure, the proper protocol, and what the rules are.

They simply don’t give a damn!

They are simply too lazy to take two seconds and do it the safe way. Or, they have the attitude that rules only apply to other people. Not to them. They are too smart, or too cool to follow someone else’s rules! And they do not care who gets hurt or killed, just as long as they are not inconvenienced!

So,the next time you are out and about. Take a look around. How many people are just trying to survive and get along. And how many assholes are there who simply exist to make everyone else miserable.

I believe that there are way too many of these assholes walking around for Darwin’s theory to be correct.

By the way, if you never see these kind of assholes. You are either very blessed, or you need to take a good long look in the mirror!

It has been almost a week since the world failed to end. The prophet proclaiming the end, now states that he is “Bewildered”, and does not understand why everyone is still here. But, we need not worry. He has a second fall back date for the end!

I can understand how “one” individual can believe they know the will of God, and a future event, by crunching numbers on a calculator. What “Bewilders” me is the fact that thousands of people believed him! These people sold their homes and cars, gave away the money, quit their jobs, and left their families.

If you want to know what God is planning, just read his instruction manual (the bible). It tells us all that we “need” to know. First: No one knows the date or hour of the Lord’s return, not even the angels in heaven. Second: We are made a little lower than the angels.

So, if the angels don’t know the date. Then some lesser creature with a calculator is NOT going to figure it out.

Do I believe the Lord will return one day. Absolutely! Do I roll my eyes and grind my teeth when ever I hear one of these prophets proclaim nonsense. You have no idea. What I know beyond a shadow of a doubt.

God wants us to live our lives each and every day as if it were our last! Whether our last day is due to the Lord returning, or our stepping in front of a bus.

Whether our last day is today, or fifty years from now. If you live that way, when the end occurs, it does not matter the date. As our Lord said: Love the Lord thy God with all you heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your body. And, love your neighbor as yourself.

If you do this, everything else will fall into place.