CHANGE

IS ALL CHANGE REALLY GOOD? Today is December 31, 2011. A year about to end and a new year about to begin. Does the tick of a clock, the one that changes the clock from 11:59 p.m. December 31 to 00:00 a.m. January 1, 2012, really make a difference. Does that one second really change any thing. The night is still dark. The sun will still rise in the East in a few hours. The Flora and Fauna have no clue that a year has changed. Only us humans make a big deal out of it. Many drink the bubbly and trundle off to home, or to jail, as the case may be. Some will start a new relationship, and others will end one. Most of us, though, regardless of what we do tonight, will just simple carry on, living our lives to the best of our ability. Some of us will make new years resolutions, some of which will actually be kept. Most will not. be kept, that is. Some, like me, will not make new years resolutions, but try to make course adjustments and improvements throughout the year. Is that a good thing. Do I need to change? Should I make a new years resolution, and write it down, thus to judge my progress, or lack there of, in a year, when 2013 is ushered in? Comments please. When it comes down to it, though, will any thing really change, just because of a tick of the clock. Will I become thin and rich? will the government become thin and rich? My becoming thin and rich is more likely. And the thin part is within reach. Rich, probably not so much. So, yes, change is good, if it is for the better. But if it is for the worse, then it is not a good thing. So, perhaps all change is not good. As we enter this new year, we can hope that the economy will change, for the better. We can hope that the medical research people will find better ways to help those who are ill so they can change for the better. We can hope that we as individuals will change our bad habits for good ones. But whatever happens, I wish EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU WHO MAY READ MY WARBLING S, A HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR. MAY 2012 BRING YOU MANY OF THE BLESSINGS THAT YOU HAVE COMING TO YOU. AND THAT'S THE VIEW FROM THE DITCH BANK.

EVERY ONE NEEDS WHAT??

ARE YOU WITH EVERY ONE? A few days ago, MLWFAE and I were watching the QVC shopping channel. They were selling something that "Every one" just had to have. Get one now, before they become available to the public in February. I don't even remember just what it was. But I didn't need one. The item prior to that one was a little tablet of some kind that "Every one" had to get. Why? Well, cause your kids could watch movies on it and not be bored when you traveled. I guess here I need to apologize to my kids, cause I would not have bought one when they were growing up, even had they been available. When we traveled, they could read, but we tried to encourage them to look at the country side. Some of it was more pretty than others, but it was all intriguing. As my wife and I now travel, we still find the country side intriguing, even though we have seen some of it hundreds of times. Still, even as it remains the same, it changes. There are so many electronic items available now, that it is hard to keep up with what they are and what they do, that it makes the mind boggle. In my old mind, emphasis on old, there is nothing better on a snowy winter day, than to settle down by the fire, wood, of course, a hot chocolate and a good book. Maybe play games. No, not on the TV or the phone or the whatever is out there now. But real games, with cards and game boards and game pieces. And interacting as a family. Now that is what "every one" needs. And That Is The View From The Ditch Bank.

ADDICTION

ARE YOU AN ADDICT? What, exactly is an addict? A young man ( in his early 40's) so a young man to me, recently went to work for the construction company where I now work. He had been working for the mine that I retired from nearly 3 years ago. Didn't like the politics and the bickering that was going on, he said. So he quit. Nearly a month ago, he was picked, along with some others, to take a random drug test. He failed. I later learned that was the same reason he no longer works for the mine. He is addicted to cocaine. So, other than drug addictions, what else is there? Alcohol, Tobacco, Tea, Coffee, illegal drugs other than Cocaine, Heroin, marijuana, Meth, and the list goes on and on. With new things popping up almost daily. But what of things that aren't illegal. Or even bad for you, necessarily? Back to my opening question. Are you addicted to any thing? Think about it. Many people exercise. daily, even. But what of the person that has to exercise. Who goes to the gym or runs along the road or at a track. And has to do it every day. Or they go into withdrawals, just like a drug user trying to quit. Is this person an addict? Not all people that run or exercise are addicts, but there are those who are addicted and have to do it. What of people who have food problems. Eating to much and becoming fat. ( ok, ok, I won't look in the mirror. ) Or those who eat then purge. Are they addicts? They need help, but what they do is not illegal. So, any ideas on addiction. do you feel that you are addicted to any thing. I really just scratched the surface of addiction's, cause I didn't want to get into the addiction's themselves, but to just start us thinking on what addiction actually is. And That's The View From The Ditch Bank.

ARE YOU A CRIMINAL

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE A CRIMINAL? To borrow a line or two from a Robert W. Service poem; "I'm not as wise as those lawyer guys, but strictly between us two"
I can tell you my version of a criminal. The word is a derivative of the word crime. You commit a crime, thus you are a criminal. That's it in a nutshell. A simple solution from a simple mind. So, what if you break a law, but don't commit a crime? What, you can do that? Well, it may be splitting hairs, Uh no, it is actually not splitting hairs, it is just simple facts. Just the facts Mam, just the facts. So, how do you break the law with out committing a crime? Well, traffic laws come to mind. You can drive faster than the posted speed limit, run a stop light or sign, failure to yield, etc. You can get a ticket and pay a fine, even lose your license to drive, but you are not a criminal. You committed no crime. But you did break the law. An acquaintance recently stated that you can drive 10 miles per hour over the speed limit with out getting a ticket. Why? Cause the cops have to give you that lee way. No they don't. They may do so, but they don't have to. If the speed limit is 60 MPH, they can ticket you for 61. They won't, but they could. Cause that's the law. So, if you break the law through traffic violations, why then aren't you a criminal? Comments please, cause, well refer to lines of the poem by Robert Service and that explains why I just don't know. But we should all obey the law. We agree to do so if we are citizens receiving citizenship after coming here from another country. We tacitly agree to obey the law by just being born here. So we should obey the law. ALL Laws. If we don't like them, work to change them, but until they are changed, obey them. And That's the View From The Ditch Bank.
P.S. I can already hear the pain of the toes I just stepped on.