A week from today, I will turn 50. I’m not really having any sort of big crisis about it (yet), but it got me to thinking today about maybe taking a little time each day between now and then and writing down a few thoughts I’m pondering on as I approach the mid-century mark.
December 3, 2021
The Drink: Very Old Barton 86 proof.
It is inexpensive and still tasty…perfect to have on hand for mixing.
The Artist and The Song: Vincent Neal Emerson – Letters on the Marquee.
A friend of mine turned me on to VNE a while back when he made his way from Texas to play in Lexington. He referred to him as the “Tyler Childers of Texas”, and that was enough to get my attention. This song in particular contains what may be one of my favorite lines in a song ever:
“He’s yellin’ sing another David Allen Coe song, but I ain’t sang one yet”
Love it.
This is a bottle of Very Old Barton 86. You will typically find it hanging out on the bottom shelf in most liquor stores, and it can almost always be had for under $10.
If you were to come to my house and I were to offer you a drink…and if I were to pour you a glass of this bourbon without you seeing what I have poured…and if I brought your glass in and set it down in front of you…and if we sat there and talked and sipped our drinks together, you might not mistake it for any top shelf brands, but I very seriously doubt you’d turn your nose straight up at it.
On the other hand, if you were to SEE me pour this bottom shelf booze in your glass, you might be wondering why I held back the good stuff, and on your first sip, I suspect you might not find it so palatable.
I have some relatives who like to tell a story about me when I was a kid. As the story goes, I was over for a visit, and my aunt made us tuna fish sandwiches for lunch.
Now, they all knew that I hated (and still hate to this day) olives. Still, my aunt and her kids liked them, and so she added them to the tuna fish and served me up a sandwich for lunch.
The way the story goes, I ate the sandwich, loved it, and asked for some more, at which point they all got a kick out of it and thought it was funny that I had eaten tuna with olives in it and didn’t even notice.
The thing is, I DID notice that they were in there…it was just that it didn’t taste as bad to me as I might have THOUGHT it would have tasted had I known the olives were in there from the get go.
I bring this up because lately I have found myself thinking about what we know and what we don’t know and how it influences how we feel about something…or someone.
As any good human ort to do, if I open a door and there is someone coming in behind me, I will hold the door open behind me for them or just let them go on in ahead of me. Same goes for anyone who looks like they might have a little trouble getting the door open.
Likewise, I am sure that we have all let someone get in front of us in the grocery line…you know…the one that still has a human working in it…when we turn around and notice that the person behind us only has a couple of items and you have a full cart.
When you hold that door open or you let that person get in front of you in line, you do it because it is the kind thing to do. It is how most of us were raised. It is something that most of us have in common, despite any other differences we may have.
And when you open that door or let that person in front of you, you do so without any questions. You don’t ask them who they voted for…you don’t ask them what their feelings are on gun control or climate change. You do it because you are trying to be a good human and you are trying to help another human out when it looks like they could use a little help.
So I guess what I find myself pondering here lately, when it seems like we are more divided than we have ever been, is how do we find our way to where we ALWAYS treat each other like the person behind us in line? I mean, we do it almost every day without even thinking about it…but how do we carry that sprit beyond the door of the restaurant or the grocery line?
Most of us around here grew up in much the same way. There were exceptions, of course, but many of us shared very similar experiences. So how do we tap in to those common and shared experiences and use those bonds to bring us closer together?
How do we reach a point where we don’t totally dismiss something just because “our side” didn’t come up with it?
What is the catalyst that finally makes us realize that most of the “big ticket” items we argue over and disagree on are really “above our pay grade” and only serve as a distraction from the real issues we face in this region?
When do we finally realize that what we ALL have in common is that nothing really seems to improve for us, no matter WHICH party is in charge?
I obviously don’t have the answers to any of those questions, and I seriously doubt I will figure them out over the next 7 days. Hell, I haven’t figured them out over the past 50 years.
Still, what I do know is that we all have within us the ability to be kind to each other and treat each other with respect, regardless of what we agree or disagree on. We do it every day without even thinking about it…as long as we don’t know what’s in the glass.