Just Sayin

  Politics and the Olympics .               The Olympic games are upon us once again, this year in Beijing China, where the world’s best athletes come together to compete against themselves and each other. They come for personal fulfillment, national pride, and for a chance to compete against the world. These athletes train years for sometimes one shot at this competition. There will be enough disappointment, without inserting politics in to the mix.                             In the years past, nothing good has come out of mixing politics and the Olympics. It started with the snub of Jesse Owens by Hitler in 1936, because of race. Then escalated to the black- gloved fists of John Carlos and Tommy Smith in 1968, because of inequality. It reached a crescendo in 1972 with the murder of Israeli athletes by Arab terrorists because of po...

  Your Work On Earth Is Done. Your time has come to go, Time to rest on the mount, To reap the peace, you have sown, No more sins to count, No hurtin in the bone, Time to rest easy father, Your work on earth is done,   You earned the eternal peace, That you so faithfully sought, From a rowdy and arrogant clan, Who never heeded what you taught, With the back of your rough hand, Time to rest eternally dad, Your work on earth is done,   Your first born was a work in progress, Having heeded your word a bit late, Eventually he will be a better man, With a harder time and similar fate, Having crossed the line in the sand, You need the rest father, Your work here is done old man,   Your daughter is a raging success, And with her spouse will carry on, Your legacy of ambition and charity, After you have been here and gone, Remembering with growing clarity, The time has come to sleep late dad, You work with her here...

Twice Angry Sea A long time ago, In a desperate time, The brine was cheated, By an arrogant father, With fate and courage, Of it’s deadly due, Becoming an angry s ea,   The sinful father made a deal, And it did come to pass, Power and riches abound, Were a costly means, To a quick young end, His soul was a steal, For a the angry sea,   The son a better man, Without the sin of before, But not without his own, Has   had to pay for the sins, Of a fathers reckless and foolish past, Succumbing to a twice angry sea,           Devil’s Own Hand I took my first taste, When I was only nine, I grabbed it by the neck, Didn’t want any waste, Lying there in the sand, I soon learned  a lesson, That drinkin is, The devils own hand,   It took me on a ride, That wasn’t much fun, Straight to hell in a flash, Ending on the wrong side, Of a mother and a son, I didn’t really car...

    This Is Who I Am.          On the sad occasion of my beloved father’s passing, I have once again taken a look at myself. I no longer wonder what I have, or will become. I wonder will I measure up in the end? What will be the book on me? The more I am like my father, the more I am who I am.          Now on the backside of forty, I find myself in a little better position. I have a wife who loves me, a good job, and a future. I have commitments and responsibilities that I have not had before, these come with maturity, and age. I have lived long enough to grow old. The change in me is who I am.          All my father did his entire life was to take care of the ones he loved. He worked until he could literally, work no more. The working exacted a heavy toll on his body. He sacrificed a life made easy for himself to make life easier for everyone else. He gave hi...

  Bluejackets Melvin Marvin Thayer III           The telephone rang at the Point Marina Inn in Richmond California. It was the 4 am wake-up call, and it shook me awake. Settling back into my warm cocoon, I mumbled half asleep to the desk clerk and hung up the phone. As I lay in bed, I asked myself what the hell am I doing here? Then I remembered, my departure into manhood: The United States Navy. Apprehensively I sat up and thought about what lay ahead. What lay ahead, was adventure and the unknown. The adventure was fine, but the unknown scared the hell out of me.             My roommate, David Hill from Santa Cruz California, and I awoke. I stumbled into the shower first, as my bed was closest to the bathroom. As I let the water cascade down my tired body, the sleep slowly disappeared. After contemplating my day some more, I turned off the water and quickly dried.   The only clothes I had were from the day ...

  Goodbye Father Well father here I am a lost child once again with no direction. Now, I do not have you to show me the way, or to help me along. What will I do? I wasted so much time not listening. I regret the times that I was a problem, you did not deserve any of that. I could have been a better son. In the end, I owed you much more than I could repay. I had to do the things the way I did them. If I were as smart as I think I am, I would have listened to you once in a while. These are my regrets and they are not in dispute.  I would like to thank you for the things that you have given me over the years. I would like to thank you for the mental toughness to live life. For the driving vocation, and appreciation of all things cars and trucks. I would like to thank you for teaching me to think for myself, and to make my own decisions right or wrong. I would like to thank you for the wisdom concerning finances, and the honesty that goes with it. I would like to thank you for t...