Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Breakfast in Bed
Well, the Devil has stepped aside for a while and Alex, my little Angel, is back. After allowing me to sleep in past 9:00 this morning, he treated me to breakfast in bed! Yes, he actually made toast and slathered it with jelly all by himself. Then he brought it to me in bed and we ate it while he let me watch my morning news instead of his cartoons! What a difference a few days make. After a while, we got up and put on some music. Alex recognized the CD as the Blues Brothers and proceeded to dance a jig that would have made Joliet Jake himself proud. And I was mighty proud, too. I suggested that for Halloween this year we should dress up as Jake and Elwood and he said, "You betcha!" I guess having a clone can be pretty cool afterall.
Sunday, July 10, 2005
So You Wish You Were Retired?
I may not have a paying job, but rumors of my care-free unemployment have been greatly exaggerated. It may seem that my beautiful wife works two jobs while I just sit on the couch watching soaps and eating bon-bons all day, but nothing could be further from the truth. How many of you have had to make a living raising a Naughton Boy? Walk a mile in my shoes and you may no longer envy my "retirement". Its true, I enjoy not having to be a part of the rat race anymore. However, I would venture to guess that the past week has been the stress equivalent of two years of pressure-packed work in the "real world". In just two days this past week, my four year old Spawn of Satan fed our fish a year's worth of food in one feeding, played with and talked to a dead bunny like it was his favorite toy, and pissed in not one but both of our dogs' water bowls. (I guess you could say he loves animals to death!) Not stressful enough for you? Try dealing with a virtual clone of yourself full- time! Come on, you remember the Hell you put your parents through.
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Photo Contest Winner!
After careful review of the hundreds of entries in the Summer of Travis Photo Contest, I have selected a winning submission. The winning photo captures the essence of summer fun while reminding us all of a simpler, care free time in our own lives. It is, of course, the picture that I posted while announcing this contest of my prodigal son lounging the day away in his kiddie pool. Surely you didn't think you could improve upon perfection did you? For my efforts, I award myself the can of Refreshing SPF-30 Spam. Better luck next time!
Saturday, July 02, 2005
Two Cats Fishin'
This is a picture Paul submitted for the Summer Fun Photo Contest showing the keeper that he and I caught in my neighbor's pond.
Friday, July 01, 2005
More Than an Excuse to Blow Stuff Up
Why do we use the most significant day in the history of the western world as an excuse to BBQ, drink beer, and set off explosives? Could we be missing the point? The Revolutionary Patriot and 2nd President John Adams wrote that he hoped people would reverently celebrate Independence Day with parades, fireworks, and other activities from one end of the Nation to the other. He hoped that the tradition would continue as long as the country continued. We still love our fireworks and parades today, but it seems that few of us stop to ponder the reason we do these things on the Fourth of July.
Tyranny is the enemy of all who cherish freedom. Liberty is the enemy of tyrants. Colonists in early America were controlled and oppressed by the British Empire as were many other people around the world. Thousands of brave Colonists rose up against the Empire and paid with their lives to win Freedom for their countrymen. To preserve this Freedom, millions since then have given all to keep America standing as a worldwide model of Democracy and Liberty. How would our Revolutionary War heros react to the mentality that plagues many Americans these days? Namely, many citizens of this country have become ignorant, apathetic, and narrow-minded.
Ignorance is the root of most problems that eat away at the American fabric. Many young people don't know when the Declaration of Independence was written. Many more don't know why. This ignorance of the history of this country and the sacrifices its heroes have made has led to an epidemic of apathy. It seems that very few people care to learn about the history of this great country and its citizens. Consequently, most Americans don't vote because they say they don't care or it doesn't matter who wins. Thousands of Americans died during the Revolutionary War because of who was in power (King George III) and what he did with that power. They wanted to form a country where the citizens had the right to elect their leaders. Men killed and died for that right. And most Americans today take that right for granted. More troubling is the trend toward narrow-mindedness that the citizens of this land have slipped into. America was founded as a place of tolerance. A place where different ideas were not only tolerated, but encouraged. The melting pot that this country was blended ideas, religions, ethincities, and values into the unique image of America that much of the world envied. Today, people tend to think that theirs is the only opinion that counts, that their religion is "right", that their values are "American Values", and that their political beliefs are the correct ones. People in this country are beginning to view the rest of the world in this narrow-minded way as well. Declaring that "If you're not with us, then you're against us" is a dangerous line of thought. Wishing the world were more like us leads to making the world more like us, which seems a lot like the British Empire 's way of controlling the world during the 1700's. When this mentality prevails, Freedom everywhere suffers.
We have become a country where the definition of the American Dream has changed from a dream of Freedom and better opportunites for our children to a dream of owning more than our neighbor and making him and the rest of the world resent it. Where there is greed and resentment there is strife and conflict. Fading is the memory of a time when Americans looked out for one another in order to make the country stronger. I wonder what John Adams would think of the America of today. On one hand, it is still the greatest country on Earth where the majority of its citizens are good people who merely want what's best for their children. But we must be diligent to prevent it from becoming that which he and the other Heroes of the Revolution fought against- a nation where dissenting opinion is repressed, where people with different beliefs are oppressed, where leaders are born into power, and where Liberty is but a dream. I hope that the Fourth of July means more to Americans than it seems. I fear that as long as we can afford our BBQ's, beer, and fireworks, the real meaning of this holiday will be lost in the ignorance, apathy, and narrow-mindedness that have diminished the sacrifices of our Nation's Heroes who afforded us these luxuries.
Happy Independence Day Everyone,
Travis "Blogger/Patriot" Naughton
Tyranny is the enemy of all who cherish freedom. Liberty is the enemy of tyrants. Colonists in early America were controlled and oppressed by the British Empire as were many other people around the world. Thousands of brave Colonists rose up against the Empire and paid with their lives to win Freedom for their countrymen. To preserve this Freedom, millions since then have given all to keep America standing as a worldwide model of Democracy and Liberty. How would our Revolutionary War heros react to the mentality that plagues many Americans these days? Namely, many citizens of this country have become ignorant, apathetic, and narrow-minded.
Ignorance is the root of most problems that eat away at the American fabric. Many young people don't know when the Declaration of Independence was written. Many more don't know why. This ignorance of the history of this country and the sacrifices its heroes have made has led to an epidemic of apathy. It seems that very few people care to learn about the history of this great country and its citizens. Consequently, most Americans don't vote because they say they don't care or it doesn't matter who wins. Thousands of Americans died during the Revolutionary War because of who was in power (King George III) and what he did with that power. They wanted to form a country where the citizens had the right to elect their leaders. Men killed and died for that right. And most Americans today take that right for granted. More troubling is the trend toward narrow-mindedness that the citizens of this land have slipped into. America was founded as a place of tolerance. A place where different ideas were not only tolerated, but encouraged. The melting pot that this country was blended ideas, religions, ethincities, and values into the unique image of America that much of the world envied. Today, people tend to think that theirs is the only opinion that counts, that their religion is "right", that their values are "American Values", and that their political beliefs are the correct ones. People in this country are beginning to view the rest of the world in this narrow-minded way as well. Declaring that "If you're not with us, then you're against us" is a dangerous line of thought. Wishing the world were more like us leads to making the world more like us, which seems a lot like the British Empire 's way of controlling the world during the 1700's. When this mentality prevails, Freedom everywhere suffers.
We have become a country where the definition of the American Dream has changed from a dream of Freedom and better opportunites for our children to a dream of owning more than our neighbor and making him and the rest of the world resent it. Where there is greed and resentment there is strife and conflict. Fading is the memory of a time when Americans looked out for one another in order to make the country stronger. I wonder what John Adams would think of the America of today. On one hand, it is still the greatest country on Earth where the majority of its citizens are good people who merely want what's best for their children. But we must be diligent to prevent it from becoming that which he and the other Heroes of the Revolution fought against- a nation where dissenting opinion is repressed, where people with different beliefs are oppressed, where leaders are born into power, and where Liberty is but a dream. I hope that the Fourth of July means more to Americans than it seems. I fear that as long as we can afford our BBQ's, beer, and fireworks, the real meaning of this holiday will be lost in the ignorance, apathy, and narrow-mindedness that have diminished the sacrifices of our Nation's Heroes who afforded us these luxuries.
Happy Independence Day Everyone,
Travis "Blogger/Patriot" Naughton
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