Fred Rogers had it right. He wanted to be friends with everyone, if even for an hour a day. He kept his personal opinions to himself and focused on the positive. Fred would have made a terrible politician. He was the kind father that every kid wanted and every adult wished for. Mr. Rogers would have walked on broken glass before intentionally hurting anyone’s feelings. Not so much with the rest of us knuckle-dragging neanderthals.
If you read my blog, you know that I like to poke fun at both political parties. I am an equal opportunity abuser; no one is over-looked. My dislike for each camp is about even, so it’s easy to throw each under my bus and back over them a few times. Nothing is more satisfying than imagining the screams of a crooked-scum sucking-lying-thieving politician as they are squished into asphalt pancakes.
Maybe two days ago, I discovered that I may have lost a few friendships over my past satirical post. Was it something I said? Probably not, but more like something I wrote. These posts were not offensive, at least not to me, but meant to be informative and jovial; light-hearted little digs covered in glitter and dancing unicorns. I didn’t know these friends were liberal in their thinking. Politics are rarely mentioned when we are together, but it’s possible that after a few bourbons, my inside voice became my outside voice, and a wayward word or two slipped out, and there you have it; friendship canceled—no return calls or text, no email addressing the possible offending reference, only non-confrontational silence.
I feel bad about these misunderstandings, but not too bad. Friendships can be strong and unwavering, and I have a few of those, or they can be as casual as a tank top and flip-flops, and I have some of those too.
When I turned ten years of age, my late father shared a pearl of wisdom with me. Speaking from experience, he said,” there are two things you should never discuss with family or friends; religion and politics.” A wise man he was. Having forgotten his advice over the years, I have paid the price many times over; and it appears I continue to do so.
Happy Thanksgiving to all.
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Notes From The Cactus Patch 
French ships come and go.
Beware the Jolly Roger.
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If I recall my history correctly, it was the French that helped save out butts back in the revolutionary war. Ben Franklin was a genius.
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Well, they must not know you very well. Liberals seem to have think skins sometimes and can’t stand a dissenting opinion. Keep telling it, anyway.
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Herb, I have lost more than a few friendships along the way. Words do matter, but sometimes, I can’t keep my mouth shut.
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Love the “asphalt pancake” description. I’m sorry you lost a few friends while bourbonized. 🙂
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Oh that would all be more kind, and less eager to take offense. I enjoy your posts from the day I first found them and binge read till my eyes hurt. My sides hurt too from the belly laughs. We may not always be on the same page, you and I, but we are surely in the same book.
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Thank you, Bob. Yeah, us birds of different color feathers, see things the same way, but we might eat a different seed at times. Great comment.
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That is unfortunate. I stay away from political talk; there’s no happy ending in those conversations. There are a lot of outspoken people here on WP. I ignore their posts and move on. If we want to maintain friendships, that what we have to do.
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Part of life on the blog-sphere, Nancy. Everybody doesn’t love us.
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By the way, do you know what they call a guy who’s undergone quintuple bypass surgery? Overachiever.
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That’s the same analogy my heart doctor hinted a few days ago. I may be okay for now, but that doesn’t mean I might fall on my face a piece of dead wood anytime. I love the guy, ad he is so to the point.
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I follow your father’s advice as much as possible – both in my everyday life and online. Most often, I just read political posts and choose not to comment on them.
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I followed his advice for many years. My problem is I watched and read too much news. The problem with having a blog is sometimes it’s too easy to comment on things that bother you instead of letting it go. I stopped commenting on politics and writing about them, only a few now and then, when it becomes so absurd it makes me question WTH are people thinking and doing, and when is God going to end all of this?
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Agreed. I read about politics but don’t comment on social media posts.
Anyway, I was reading a Southwestern novel a few weeks ago and it mentioned a drink called navajo tea, so I set about trying to see if I might find me some to taste around my neighborhood. Nothing doing, so I looked a little wider and found a spice store that looked promising. I checked out their website and it looked pretty good. Looking a little further, I saw two “about” tabs. One was about the company and the other was about one of the two political parties, with the contents basically saying that this particular party was essentially the spawn of Satan and they would rather not do business with anyone who had that particular leaning. So, I marked that one off my list with this conclusion: Navajo tea and politics don’t mix.
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I must say, this is a first: Navajo tea and politics not mixing. My granddaughter made us Chi-tea, and Yikes! That stuff is great. I would think the tea you mention would be made from native plant leaves. My late late grandmother used to make tea out of some plant growing in the woods behind their farm house, she was a Cherokee medicine woman, so it may have been similar. I’ve ran into a few sites like that, and one restaurant in Fort Worth stating on a sign taped to their door, so I went elsewhere. Thanks for checking in. Keep in touch.
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I have spent a lot of time reading and listening to people wax on politic. Most of them are simply not worth the effort to respond, at least not for me.
Please understand. I get the feeling you and I are diametrically opposed politically. But, Phil, you write some funny stuff and that’s what I’m looking for.
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As far as being opposed, it’s probably not as much as you think. I’m an equal opportunity accuser and abuser, and throw all from both parties under the bus, and then back over them a few times. As far as politics goes, I am middle of the road, and try to see the bad and good in both camps, although there ain’t much good these days in either one. I toned down my opinions a while back; Momo was afraid I would be attacked, and besides, it wasn’t fun anymore. However, I do like to look for the ridiculous and funny side of it all. Glad you enjoy my writing and get a smile from it.
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