Posts by dwallace:
Happy James Earl Ray Day Everybody!
Yesterday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day. A “friend” of mine on Facebook wrote, “Happy James Earl Ray Day everybody!”
To which I responded with, “They say, ‘Ignorance is bliss,’ and if that’s true, you must be one of the most blissful guys on the planet.”
Well the gloves came off with that comment and we went straight to texting each other.
He basically asked me, “What’s your problem?”
I said, “I just wrote what I felt at the time. There is so much history there. And there’s a certain connotation behind what you wrote, that I felt I needed to say that.”
We went back and forth a few times, but I know I hurt his feelings calling him out in public, so I apologized for that. But here’s the thing, this person is very close to me and his comment hurt me on so many levels that I know his twenty three year old mind didn’t understand.
To me, it seemed that he was celebrating the assassination of the most celebrated civil rights leader in American history—instead of celebrating his life and work. I know for him it was just a joke. But it wasn’t funny to me.
I remember being about twelve or thirteen years old the first time I heard someone say to me, “Ignorance is bliss.” But I thought it was a compliment.
I remember being about fifteen or sixteen the next time I heard the phrase and I told the person, “I know when people say that it’s not really a compliment. But I don’t know why unless you tell me.”
I don’t really remember what the particular situation was about. But what I do remember is once the person explained it to me, my perspective changed and I had a paradigm shift. Once you see someone else’s point of view and it resonates deep within you, and you see why your original thoughts were wrong, you can’t go back to believing in what you did before.
I know I didn’t explain myself this well while we were texting back and forth. But I hope he gets the message now. And I hope he has a paradigm shift of his own.
Feel free to comment: Have you ever had to call someone you really cared about out in public? Or have you ever had a paradigm shift of your own that you’d like to share?
How Can I Focus
How can I focus one thing when I have so much I want to do? What makes it really hard is I have even more stuff that I don’t want to do, but have to. Right now I’m working a full-time job as law enforcement trainer. I also have three websites that I’m messing around […]
Happy New Year 2012
As I’ve gotten older, I have started to realize that maybe my elders are on to something. Some of the sayings that they say are starting to make sense now. For instance, my Grandma has always said, “Don’t do anything on the first of the year that you don’t want to do all year long.” […]
My Buddy George
George Carlin was one of the most influential comedians of the 20th century. Looking back on it, he is one of the first “blue” comedians that I remember watching and thinking, This guy gets it. His outlook on life has influenced me and my writing tremendously. In this clip, Carlin discusses God, the planet, and […]
Not On the Shopping List
–Looking for parking and almost getting hit by a silver Chevy Tahoe that’s backing out and looking the wrong direction down a one-way lane –Grabbing a cart that’s stuck together and pinching the fleshy-part in between my thumb and forefinger –Pushing the cart with a wobbly wheel behind a black-lady with a thin white sundress […]
Tenants and Toliets
It’s been almost one month since I’ve written anything on my blog. It’s hard to feel creative when there has been so much going on. I’ll give you a brief recap. My mom took me, my wife and my two year old daughter to Disney World for a week. That trip was followed by another […]
5 Minutes Late
There’s a moment at 6:12 a.m. when I hear my little two year old girl start to cry, that I want to run like a startled deer down the stairs and escape to the forest that is my garage. The reason behind this fight or flight response is because I’m usually running two or three […]
Piece Published
Hello, I just wanted to let you know that I got a new piece published in the Journal of Micro-literature. Interested? Then click here.
Doubt
Doubt creeps in questioning my choices in life, and love, leaving cracks in my foundation crumbling my sanity. It dwells on the past trying to implant regret darkness and a quick death. Then my ray of sunshine whispers otherwise, blows away the resentment, leaving a stronger more determined man.
I’m Going to Disneyland!!! (or World)
Have you ever come back from vacation and wish you could turn right back around and leave your old life behind? You get out of your car from the airport and reality smacks you square in the face when you check the overflowing mailbox and it’s filled with bills. Then later, you know you’ll have […]