Guess what? It’s time to Share Your World! Want to play along? See Melanie for the rules, badges, and questions. And now, here are this week’s questions…

In your opinion, does patriotism require the belief that one’s country is the greatest on earth? That great philosopher and incredible bluesman Muddy Waters once opined “You cain’t be the best, you can only be a good’un.” I think it requires that you believe your country is a good’un. Which I do.

Why is patriotism considered by some to be the highest of virtues? What is so important about love of country? Shouldn’t we be more concerned about humankind, or the planet as a whole, rather than a single country? It boils down to one thing: home. And, you know what? I’m going to leave it there, mostly because I’ve been fighting with this question all afternoon, but also because I think you know what I mean. (Ain’t I a stinker?)

What is the relationship between decisions and consequences? Decisions are conclusions or judgments reached after considerations or deliberations. Consequences is half a city in New Mexico.

Melanie, you knew I’d say that, didn’t you?

What is social justice? A myth.

What’s one body part you wouldn’t mind losing? My right leg: it’s the one left lame by my stroke and the one that has lymphedema in it. I’d replace it with a wooden leg.

See you in the funny papers!

Share Your World time again! Check with Melanie to see the rules and this week’s questions.

What’s something you really resent paying for? This will take a minute to explain: When you work through the Health Insurance Marketplace (as I do for Mary’s health insurance), they calculate a “premium tax credit” based on income and tell you how much you qualify for. So, if we select a plan that has a monthly premium of $1000 and the monthly tax credit is $800, I pay $200 a month for Mary’s insurance. That’s all well and good until tax time, when they tell me, “oh, you have to return some of that tax credit” and I end up having to fork over a couple thousand dollars because they came up with this generous estimate that was too generous. I wish they could just get the tax credit right so I didn’t have to do that.

What was the most unsettling film you’ve seen? Angels With Dirty Faces with James Cagney, Pat O’Brien, Humphrey Bogart, and The Dead End Kids. It’s a standard “two kids grow up together, one becomes a gangster, the other a priest” movie. At the end, the priest (O’Brien) asks the gangster (Cagney), who’s been sentenced to the electric chair, to act frightened when they walk him into the death chamber, because the local kids have made him out to be a hero. Cagney is his typical cocky self as they’re leading him off, then when he gets in and sees the chair he starts struggling and fighting and yelling “no, I don’t wanna die!” It left me hanging: did he jut put on an act, or was he really scared?

Do you judge people? Of course. Everyone does that; it’s a lizard brain thing. But I keep it to myself.

Finish this sentence: “Back in my day, we. . .”? …”said ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ and always washed our hands.” All I can think of is Dana Carvey on Saturday Night Live with his “Grumpy Old Man” routine. Three videos ahead, sometimes unsuitable for younger or more sensitive viewers.

Please feel free to share an uplifting photo, thought or meme to show your own gratitude. “Any day spent above ground is a good one.” (Anthony Robbins)

See you in the funny papers!

Time once again for another edition of Share Your World! You know the deal: Melanie, who has all the rules over at her place, asks some questions, to which I (and the other participants) give our answers. And awayyyyyyy we go!

Do you have a favorite kind of tree? No, but I have a few favorite trees: the willow oak outside my office window, the magnolia in front of the house, the sugar maple that used to live on the front lawn when I lived at home, and the elm that used to be outside our front window in Chicago. A friend of mine (now tragically deceased) once said that he liked looking out the window at it.

What bridges are you happy you burned? With my long-time employer. Long story I don’t want to get into.

Would you sacrifice yourself (die) for a stranger? No.

How have your priorities changed since the C-19 virus took over? They haven’t. Before, they were God, Family, Self; now, they’re God, Family, Self. I haven’t allowed the C-19 virus to rearrange my priorities.

See you in the funny papers!

Hey kids, what time is it?

It’s… Share… Your… World Time!
It’s Share Your World Time!
It’s Share Your World Time…

Sorry, I was channeling my inner Buffalo Bob…

Melanie has the questions and rules over at her blog, in case you’d like to play along. Here are this week’s questions…

What can you break even if you don’t touch it? Wind.

What’s the most useful thing you own? Probably my phone, because I can’t think of anything else.

What’s The Silliest Reason You’ve Ever Gotten Into A Fight With Someone Over? I got in an argument with my brother over how to spell Burt Hooton’s last name. He said it ended in -en, I said it was -on. I won.

If You Were A Snake, How Long Would You Want To Be? About a foot, or 30 centimeters, or 0.0015 city blocks. Any longer, you’re just showing off.

Gratitude and/or uplifting? I had a good dental appointment today, and got out of the house for a couple of hours because we stopped at Chick-Fil-A for lunch.

See you in the funny papers!

It’s that time again! Melanie, who has the rules at her site, asks a bunch of questions and I answer them. Here’s this week’s bunch, but first a warning: I’m in a very fractious mood today.

Do guns protect people or kill people? Or both? Neither. They’re inanimate objects.

Is it more important to be respected or liked? I prefer to be liked, and I think respect is a big part of being liked.

Is having a big ego a negative or positive trait? Whether or not someone has a big ego is a matter of opinion. Most people who would say that someone has a big ego would probably consider it a bad thing. In fact, they’d probably use the term “big ego” as a negative, kind of like “ugly as a mud fence” or “smells like urine.”

Depending on your point of view, is death a new beginning? Someone (might have been me) said that it’s possible that the light you walk into at the end of life is the light you first see when you’re born. If that’s the case, then yes. If not, then I have no idea.

See you in the funny papers!