Papa Pat Tiny Devotionals

(this was written as a Weekly Writing Challenge (Week #44) on hitrecord.org. The story had to contain the following three elements: Tinder profile; barbershop; jug of milk.) The Assignment You never forget the first thing you did to make money. Gordon applied the polish to his boot with a rag, and worked it into the leather. Forty nine years, he thought. I've been shining shoes for forty nine years. He was in the eighth grade when he took the job in the barber shop. 10 minutes of instruction from Buddy, the lead barber, and then he was on his own. He took home four dollars and fifty cents that first day: nine shines and no tips. That was good money for a 13 year old kid in 1966. The most important thing he learned wasn't about shoe polish; it was “never tell a customer this is your first day on the job.” Buddy told him, “If I was to tell a customer this was my first day cutting hair, he'd get up out of the chair and walk away.” Gordon hadn't thought of it like that then...

I wanted to ride my motorcycle to campus so I could register for classes as a senior citizen. It took me a half-day to get the bike in running order, but I got that done. I wanted to make a statement: old, but still truckin' along. And I made it there, in time for late registration. However, I did NOT get registered for classes as a geriatric student at Kennesaw State University for the fall semester. There were two obstacles left for me to overcome, and I only was able to accomplish one of them. That particular obstacle was a stupid, stupid, stupid obstacle. (The first time I wrote that sentence, I only used two 'stupids,' but added a third upon re-write. That's the very, very nice thing about using a monitor and keyboard to write; those of you who go back to the age of long hand writing and typewriters will appreciate that.) It was in place due to a ruling by the Board of Regents that students had to demonstrate 'Lawful Presence.' That sounds easy enough. I w...

This isn't a book review; it really is about the death penalty and the sentence of 'life without the possibility of parole' (LWOP). I'm writing this, KNOWING that some of my dearest friends are going to think I've betrayed them, and some people I despise are going to think I've joined their camp on other issues as well. Sorry about that, y'all; I'm just not solidly in any political camp. When I was a very young (and stupid and ignorant) man, I proclaimed myself to be a liberal; as I grew older, I became more conservative; in the past ten years or so, I find I'm often inclined to the libertarian perspective. For those who want to look at some of the foundation for my decision, I'll provide some links, but I'm not going to stick references everywhere in the text, unless I cite a particularly significant point. Almost all of those are going to come in one section of this post, and if you are hooked, will provide you with further reading. So: let...