How much will you pay for your share of America's great wealth?

How much will you pay for your share of America's great wealth?

fiction
Edward w Pritchard

As you know this author is more than lazy. Walk twenty miles for exercise would I, but for months at a time will he let the lawn grow long and the leaves pile high. Then, for hours and hours will I like a Hebrew slave in the scorching Sun mow, rake and plow by hand at said Daughter's ranch and then enjoy the exhaustion and write and write about it to my invisible audience.

It could be very tedious to those who once cared for myself, realize now do I, so heretofore am I sorry and contrite  to be sure. If over I had to redo would I be so different, industrious and steadfast in pursuit of the proper American bounty. Now that I understand the relationship between junk bond prices, penny stocks and rising interest rates I have no one to buy anything for, so though I read and understand the " Barron's and "Wall Street Journal" and CNBC expert financial guests small of fortune am I and little concerned will I be of same.

It has always been a conundrum to me; this price we pay for our share of America's great wealth. Once I spent long hours invisibly chained to a Poker table to " earn" respectable sums of winnings to purchase America's material bounty of lamps, jewelry and chaise lounges. Meanwhile for myself content was I with one used book on an obscure Roman Philosopher and a few minutes to browse said book in the lap of luxury created by the hard toil of others.

Below are a few things I wrote before on this subject as warning to others concerning the enticements of American materialism, cursed hard work, and reaping a proper harvest in life. More on this later as well under " part two of this same title, later in blog.

the duty of a poet

fiction
Edward w Pritchard


Endure infamy in silence,
reveal not personal information.
Smile at barbed innuendo and left handed compliments from intractable friends.
Look to nature for solace.
Keep revelation to weeping boughs,
bursting galaxies or remorseful suns.
The duty of a poet is to praise others
not to leak persona confessions.

my Ode to Duty/ Part 2

fiction
Edward w Pritchard


With crystal clarity I see what to do. It was right there in front of me all along.

Like a soldier slowly climbing out of his trench I lightly lift weapons and head across no man's land more curious for what happens next than concerned or afraid.

Ten million things interact and to proceed I plan to cut the Gordian knot at the center binding me to extinct paths and positions with my glistening dagger.

Watch me soar World. With forgotten wings I take to the sky. All clear below, gliding toward the future goes I.

end

Here is what I wrote before in part 1

my ode to duty

fiction
edward w pritchard

Duty you abandoned me and you were all that kept me going. I know I know I was supposed to forever chase you. Like a panting school boy with amorous plans. Forever pursuing. Never to reach the climax.

Duty whisper to me again, I will march toward your voice I promise. I am just a little lost, off the path. Dangle your enticements just to get me marching again.

the road less traveled by

fiction
Edward w Pritchard



Rushing, life unexamined, events intervening, thirsty, hungry and tired at eighteen I didn't pause at the fork of the road to consider implications of direction,

 and sauntered forward did I.

 Later;

sensing things amiss I carefully sorted dreams,

sitting alone

realized some things did I.

" road less traveled by" from Walt Whitman [public domain]

play the cards as dealt and be grateful with the pot as won

fiction
Edward w Pritchard

it's Sunday morning and time for a sermon:



So many people of action are always trying to trade up, never grateful or satisfied with what they have. A yearning exists in some folks to have more, look around for better and to be never satisfied. It can be an admirable trait to yearn for better or it can get people in silent trouble.

A good wife who prepares the supper and buys birthday presents for the grand children is not enough for some Men. The wife is not supposed to get older and is shunned if she has gained fifteen pounds over the last decade.

Likewise a wife neglects the fact that her husband who falls asleep on the couch every night at eight thirty snoring has never once hit her in twenty years of marriage. He has a few other good points as well besides not striking her but she is silently dis-satisfied never the less.

It's an American malady to not be satisfied with the cards God has dealt us.

Look at it this way: in so many more ways things could be a lot, lot worse for you. Married folks, accept your partner as they are. Your situation could be so much worse. Wives, your husband could strike you with his open hand occasionally and husbands your wife could change from the sweet girl you courted into a woman who talks too loud.

The marriage vows said for richer or poorer, for better or worse; Imagine for a moment how much worse off you would be now if your spouse had Alzheimer's disease today and you had to care for them. That would be much worse than having a husband who snores or a wife who talks a little too loud at times.

Is Hawkeye's Father the retired Doctor still living alone up in Maine?

fiction
Edward w Pritchard


Is Hawkeye's Father the retired Doctor still living alone up in Maine? If so I hope his son Hawkeye Pierce the character from MASH goes home to Crabapple Cove and visits him regularly.

Older people living alone have to strain their extrovert-ism to make new friends and it's hard for anyone to develop new interests after a certain age. Being alone can be hard and any little thing can get to be overwhelming. Sometimes it's seems like no one has your back.

Hawkeye could ask one of the neighbors there in Maine to borrow a small row boat and he and his Dad could go fishing. While out in the boat Hawkeye could clap his hands over his ears when his Dad asks him "when are you going to find a nice girl and get married" for the third time. Then the two Doctors could talk about serious things a bit like innovations coming in the treatment of hypertension or the senior Doctor Pierce's own health issues. Lastly when they were laughing because the fish weren't biting and the boat was leaking Hawk could tell his Dad something he remembered about his Mom.

After fishing the two pals could stop at the diner and have home fries and poached eggs like they did when Hawk was kid. At the diner both Doc's could flirt with the same waitress for fun and try to outdo each other with the tip.

After they got back to the house Hawkeye could go up the ladder and fix the birdhouse his Mom had put in the tree a long time ago before she passed on.
end
.
Note-MASH characters and setting created by Richard Hooker in "Mash; A novel about three army Doctors" adapted for television by Larry Gelbart.