Musings From The Fringe

This is something I wrote on 9-11-14, after listening to Glenn Beck (or any talk radio) for the first time in a good while. The things he talked about really lit a fire under me, which is something that Glenn is very good at doing, in a good way. I'm posting this pretty much as is, unplugged and acoustic, without my typical production of pictures and formatting. So here it is, the raw brain feed!

Update: 8-20-15 I am adding one relevant picture to the post, only for the purpose of pinning this entry to Pinterest. 

On this day of remembrance of 9-11, I decided to turn on some talk radio and listen to some retrospective on that tragic day, and also, to hear what's been going on in the world since I last paid attention. 

I tuned out back in the end of May, partly because my cell signal has been atrocious, but mostly because I needed a break from the world. It's easy to see how the low-information voter crowd is able to do it!  If I thought this was what the whole world was like, I'd probably vote for Obama too lol. 

Since May, we decided to take a little adventure with our lives, pack up the house and live in our 31 ft. camper. We were picked to be a camper host couple at a state park in the area back in the end of April of this year. We actually had other, more ambitious plans involving a Wild West road trip and our camper, but they have been put on indefinite hold due to a family crisis that happened this spring. Without going into any of the messy, personal details, it's the kind of crisis that had the potential to tear our family to shreds. Personally, it's taken a heavy toll on me; mentally, physically, and spiritually.  Because of this, my summer has been spent camping (living) at Caesar Creek, letting my goatee grow long (my daughter Shelby said that she wanted it to get as long as Dumbledore's lol), working on a scrapbook of my Dad's letters that he wrote during his military service, while stateside and in Vietnam, spending time with Tracey and my stepson Mark, and with Shelby. I've watched two of my friends move to Texas, spent some time with other friends, and have, more or less, dealt with life in the slow lane for a change.  

So, other than the occasional news story on Facebook, or Tracey letting me know about something in particular, I've not been privy to any of the latest "end of the world as we know it" happenings. My radio dial had been switched to fuzzy static for the foreseeable future. ISIS, Ferguson, the encroaching socialist police state here in America were, more or less, blips on the edge of my radar--until today.  

HOLYCRAPTHEWORLDISONFIRE!!!

Should I have expected anything different?  Nah, probably not; though I can't help but think that we are on the precipice of something...Earth-shattering. At least Earth-bendy, anyway. Normally, teetering on the edge of anything like a precipice of this nature is a cause for concern. When you have radical Islamists and the rest of the Middle East, Russia, N. Korea, and China at the bottom of that cliff, it's especially perilous.  Of course, with our none-too-capable, out-of-control government drunk at the helm of our beloved USA, it's quite a horrifying scenario that we have before us. 

Do I go back to sleep, knowing what's in front of us? Surely, it's tempting. Ignorance has been sweet, sweet bliss for the past 3+ months. A powerful drug with a nasty withdrawal period, I'm sure. But as with any drug, it comes with a price.  Although I've gotten comfortable with the basics in life, I feel like I've gone dead inside; It's not unlike being on life support, if I could imagine that. My church attendance has been pitiful, for a number of reasons. The biggest reason being that I feel like I'm a million miles away from God. My motivation has plummeted and I just truly haven't cared about anything beyond my family in the past 6 months, and my wife would possibly question that statement, as well. I've almost been hoping the world would end, honestly. A "zombie apocalypse" just seems easier to deal with than what I've had on my plate. Well, having said that, If I don't get out of this trap, I'll probably die in it. 

It's time. Time to chew my arm off to release my body from the snare. I've decided to get back in the game, stop hitting the snooze button on the alarm clock of life, and rejoin the living. 

 I don't know what that means as far as writing more. This is the first thing I've written since March, at least for the blog. And I haven't written much else of substance otherwise. Maybe it'll be time to start again. First, though, I'll just soak up the news, get back up to speed on the world events, and ponder for a bit before I launch myself back into the fray. Thanks for reading and God bless.