Day: April 21, 2018

Song Lyric Sunday — He’s My Brother

Fandango15 Comments

The theme Helen Vahdati picked out for this week’s Song Lyric Sunday is “brother/sister.” The song I chose for this theme is the Hollies’ “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother.”

Written by Bobby Scott and Bob Russell and originally recorded by Kelly Gordon in 1969, the song became a worldwide hit for The Hollies that same year. It reached number 3 in the U.K. and number 7 in the U.S.

The song’s title came from the motto for Boys Town, a community formed in 1917 by a Catholic priest named Father Edward Flanagan. Located in Omaha, Nebraska, it was a place where troubled or homeless boys could come for help. In 1941, Father Flanagan was looking at a magazine called The Messenger when he came across a drawing of a boy carrying a younger boy on his back, with the caption, “He ain’t heavy Mr., he’s my brother.” Father Flanagan thought the image and phrase captured the spirit of Boys Town, so he got permission and commissioned a statue of the drawing with the inscription, “He ain’t heavy Father, he’s my brother.” The statue and phrase became the logo for Boys Town. 

Here are the lyrics to the song.

The road is long
With many a winding turn
That leads us to who knows where
Who knows where
But I’m strong
Strong enough to carry him
He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother

So on we go
His welfare is of my concern
No burden is he to bear
We’ll get there

For I know
He would not encumber me
He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother

If I’m laden at all
Then I’m laden with sadness
That everyone’s heart
Isn’t filled with the gladness
Of love for one another

It’s a long, long road
From which there is no return
While we’re on the way to there
Why not share

And the load
Doesn’t weigh me down at all
He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother

He’s my brother
He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother

Blue Crab Feast

Fandango24 Comments

FC5D1272-515B-4C0D-8F54-94FCC690591DIf you’ve ever lived anywhere near the Chesapeake Bay, you may have experienced the local delicacy of blue crabs. Oh yum!

The best way to eat these delicious crustaceans is to spread brown paper or newspaper pages across your table, offer each diner a simple, metal nutcracker and pick, and a wooden crab mallet.

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You should also make sure that a roll of paper towels, as well as a pitcher (or two) of beer and paper cups, are within reach. Be sure to advise your guests to remove their rings and watches, and to roll up their sleeves.

And then dump a pile of freshly steamed and seasoned (preferably with Old Bay Seasoning) blue crabs on the table and have your crab feast.

E8A312A1-83BE-4596-8E14-DFC551592DA2It doesn’t get any better than this.

Written for today’s one-word prompt, “mallet.”

S is for Solipsism

Fandango11 Comments

Now I don’t know if this is breaking the rules in this year’s A to Z Challenge, but I’m going to do it nonetheless. Back in September I wrote a post titled “When I Die, You Will Cease to Exist.” The post was all about Solipsism, which is a philosophy that espouses the view or theory that the self is all that can be known to exist.

But rather than go through that whole discussion again, here is what I had to say back then about today’s S-word.

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“Beyond Solipsism” ©2010 Casey Kotas “Beyond Solipsism”

I am not a solipsist.

I am not a what? What the hell is a solipsist?

According to the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, solipsism is a doctrine that says, in principle, my existence is only that which I experience — physical objects, other people, events, and processes — anything that would commonly be regarded as a constituent of the space and time in which I coexist with others and is necessarily construed by me as part of the content of my consciousness.

For the solipsist, it is not merely the case that he believes that his or her thoughts, experiences, and emotions are the only thoughts, experiences, and emotions. Rather, the solipsist can attach no meaning to the supposition that there could be thoughts, experiences, and emotions other than his or her own.

Another interesting way of looking at solipsism is the way the Urban Dictionary, of all places, defines it:

Solipsism is the belief that the person holding the belief is the only real thing in the universe. All other persons and things are merely ornaments or impediments to his or her happiness.

Solipsism versus Nihilism

Just to be clear, solipsism is not the same as nihilism. The solipsist believes that his or her own life has meaning and value, whereas the nihilist believes that life itself, including his or her own, has no intrinsic meaning or value. It’s the belief that a single human, or even the entire human species, is insignificant, without purpose, and unlikely to change in the totality of existence.

Now that I’ve cleared that up, let’s get back to solipsism.

René Descartes proved his existence by saying “cogito, ergo, sum,” or “I think, therefore I am.” The solipsist prefers “cogito, ergo, omnia sum,” or “I think, therefore, I am everything!”

Based upon these definitions and descriptions of solipsism, I again say that I am not a solipsist. But I may be close.

I don’t deny the existence of anything else in the universe outside of myself, or claim it to be non-existent or not real except in my own mind. I know that each and every one of you who may be reading this post exists. You are real. You have your own minds, your own lives, and your own very real experiences.

I know that the couch that I’m sitting on, the iPhone that I’m typing on, the screen I’m looking at, and the WordPress app on which this post is being published all exist. You and these items are not just figments of my imagination, not mere ornaments or impediments, not constructs of my mind.

That said, if I don’t exist, neither do you. If I don’t exist, nothing exists.

Wait. What?

Okay, let me put it another way. If I didn’t exist, nothing would exist — for me. So everything that exists for me is dependent upon my existence.

From my perspective, when I die, when I cease to exist, you will all cease to exist. This couch, my iPhone, and WordPress app will no longer exist — for me. My wife, my kids, my pets, my home, my city, my country, this planet will no longer exist — for me — because I will no longer exist.

Yes, you and everything else and everyone else will continue to exist to and for each other. The sun will continue to rise and set every day. The tides will continue to ebb and flow. People will continue to go about their business.

There will continue to be strife and violence across the globe. Hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, and forest fires will not cease. Congress will continue to be totally dysfunctional, Vladimir Putin will continue to be a total douchebag, Trump will continue to be an asshole, and people will continue to argue about whether or not God exists.

But not for me. Because I will not exist. So for me, nothing will exist.

Therefore, everything that exists is dependent upon my existence. For me. From my perspective.

Does that make me a solipsist?

Or just a little narcissistic?

SoCS — Broken Spokes

Fandango6 Comments

A3B8ED00-955C-4CE4-A24C-985D07B4E7BB“Why are you so damn angry?” Chris asked his bicycle mechanic.

“For crissake, Chris. I just spoke to you about this on Thursday, didn’t I?” Ari answered. “I told you that you needed to check out all the spokes on your wheels before taking that trail ride.”

“Well, why didn’t you inspect them when I was here on Thursday?” Chris asked.

“Oh come on, Chris,” Ari said. “I did offer to do that, but I couldn’t do it immediately. I told you I’d get to it first thing Friday morning, but you said you couldn’t leave your bike with me and then you never showed up at all on Friday.”

“Can you fix it, Ari?” Chris asked.

“Seriously? Look at your wheel rim, dude. It’s totally mangled and there’s barely a single unbroken spoke,” Ari said. “I’m going to have to order a new wheel.”

“That really sucks,” Chris said.

“Yeah, it does, dude,” Ari said. “A new alloy wheel will run about sixty bucks. Plus another 15 to 20 to tighten the spokes and true the wheel.”

“Holy shit. Is that the best you can do?” Chris asked.

Ari shook his head. “If you’d only listened when we spoke on Thursday, I would have tightened and tune your spokes in both wheels for free first thing Friday morning.”

Ari felt kinda bad for Chris, even though he knew it was Chris’ fault. “Look, dude, when I get the new wheel in, I’ll give you a call and teach you how to tighten your spokes and true your wheel.”

“Thanks, Ari,” Chris said. “You’re a good man.”

“Fine, dude,” Ari said. “But just try listening to me next time, okay?”

Written for this week’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt from Linda G. Hill. The challenge is to use the word “spoke” somewhere, in some form, in your post.