Baby Boomer Talk & other stuff

I finally got to see the much anticipated new CBS-TV show, God Friended Me starring Brandon Michael Hall.  This is the same young man who, last season, was the star of a short-lived sitcom on ABC called The Mayor.

This show kind of reminds me of the Touched by an Angel series (1994-2003) that was popular among members of my baby boomer generation, as well as my parents generation.

In God Friended Me, Hall plays a character named Miles Finer, who is an outspoken atheist living in New York City.  He declares himself to be the Millennial Prophet and uses his radio podcast as a platform to challenge God's existence.  He is constantly reminding his audience there is no God and that's OK.  Then all of a sudden he starts receiving friend requests on Facebook from someone identifying themselves as “God.” 

Miles initially deletes the requests thinking someone is playing a joke on him or as the young folks like to say, "he is being catfished."  But “God” is persistent, and Miles …

This morning I decided to go to the Duke Wall for my 1.6 mile walk before my doctor's appointment later today.  I hadn't been to the Wall or to the gym in over a week so I wasn't quite sure how much walking I'd do before I started gasping for air.  Since I am a heart failure patient, I know what the difficulty in breathing feels like----especially during exercise.

TODAY WAS A GOOD DAY!  I experienced very little shortness of breath and surprised myself at how well I was walking.  But about five minutes into the walk it started pouring down raining.  At that point, I had to make a decision:  "Do I turn around and go back to my vehicle to go home (or to the gym) or do I just keep it moving?"  I decided to keep walking.  After all, it was only rain.  It wasn't like I was walking in a hurricane!

That brings me to this point:  If you start something, you should always do your best to finish it.  You'll either be successful at the end or (if you fail) you&…

Recently my pre-teen grandson (Jarod) asked me if I thought he was "too black."  Of course, this inquiring mind wanted to know what would make him ask me such a question  since we weren't having any real conversation.  But as I dug a little deeper, I learned that a young lady at his summer camp told him she thought he was too black to talk to her.  I then asked, "Was she light-skinned?"  His response, "Yes."

So here were are in the 21st century STILL dealing with that age old issue of light skin versus dark skin.  I dealt with that issue as a child more than 50 years ago and now, it appears, my grandson has been confronted with it by a girl who has been convinced that her light skin makes her better and she refuses to associate with anyone as dark as my grandson.  In that moment, I knew exactly what that pain of rejection felt like but in an effort to empower him to think positively about himself at ALL times I told him the girl probably wasn't v…

While I was out this morning, I ran into a few women, around my age, who were rather well dressed.  One had on a beautiful necklace with matching earrings; another had The Tammy Faye Baker look (face caked with make-up) and another had on a nice pantsuit.  I spoke to each one as I passed them individually but then I thought to myself, "Where the hell do they think they are?!"  WE'RE EXERCISING, for God's sake!

Yes, while I was out doing my morning walk/run around the Duke Wall (1.6 miles in distance), I noticed these other "mature" women out doing, what I thought, was the same thing.  But based on the way they were dressed, perhaps they were just taking a morning stroll.  Now that would make total sense if we were in a park setting----but the Duke Wall is a gravel, rugged, sandy track and when the maintenance crew is in the area working you're sure to get some of that dirt blown on your face and body.

I do know there are older women who won't dare ste…

The other day my 11-year-old grandson and I were talking about a variety of things and the subject of prayer came up.  I asked him if he thought he would make the Shrine Bowl (a football game where the best players in his age group from NC are selected to compete against the best players from SC).

His response:  "Not really because I knew I was competing against kids all over the state.  I thought I was good but maybe not better than some other players."

I asked him if he prayed about it.  He said he did.  I then asked him if he prayed everyday until he found out if he made the team.  He said, "No, I just prayed once to ask God to let me make the shrine bowl team."

I asked him why he only prayed once.  His response:  "Because that's all it takes.  God heard me the first time."

Now I have to tell you I was totally floored by his response!  They say out of the mouths of babes......

And then what did he do until he got the official word?  He continued t…

Little did Hillary Clinton know that when she called some Trump supporters a "basket of deplorables" during the 2016 presidential campaign she would be opening up a Pandora's box that has now emboldened those people to embrace themselves as Trump's adorable deplorables. Now if you look up the word deplorable, it means:  shockingly bad in quality...along with disgraceful, shameful, wretched, atrocious.  I'm not sure why anyone in their right mind would want to think of themselves in that manner but perhaps it's because they don't really understand what the word means or they simply don't care because they see Donald Trump as their champion, their savior, so to speak.  These are the people who live in FEAR.

There's a new study out that says white people who fear democracy may benefit marginalized people (like Blacks, Hispanics and other immigrants) would rather give up democracy to keep their white privilege.  This study connects white American int…