This week, for the first time, I was in close proximity to a senior "Coffee Clutch". I expected to hear tales of times lost, and missed opportunity. Instead, the group leader spoke of the wisdom of legalizing marijuana and taxing it.
Personally, I can't stand smoke in my lungs. I prefer beer straight to the stomach, feeling bad the next day, and then perhaps, extra sleep for a cushion.
The salient statistic that has registered with me in the last two years is over six thousand Mexicans have died in drug wars. More collateral damage than our organized military campaigns. Fair is fair, choose your poison, if you're so willing, and pay the price. I have paid my fair share of the "alcohol tax", it's time to share all tax burdens of abuse.
When the question was posed, I was unprepared. My incomplete response stumbled out slowly. We are here on a daily basis, to finish an interminable task, and the end is not in sight.
Fifty years ago, Johnny Cash released a LP which quickly disappeared from the marketplace. A few of the songs resurfaced in altered forms, but none of them as rich as the original recordings.
Thanks to the magic of uTube, I was able to reconstruct this LP right down to the sequence of songs. All twelve songs are good, but check out the first of these blockbusters.
"Ten minutes of terror" Mike says as he slaps a mosquito on his arm. "I got that from Brian forecasting what death would be like. You remember that gravel voice as he dragged on a cigarette. Well, I kind of like that expression to describe when we 'hit the wall'.
Then we both broke out laughing when we recall his last day on the planet. He was engaged in a number of conversations with imaginary people and flashed Paul the thumbs up sign, accompanied with a huge smile, seconds before he died. Apparently, terror isn't always necessary.