Just a chime....or??

[Jerry Oz]

None of us does. As for me, what's too painful to remember, I simply choose to forget. So it's the laughter that I will remember...

<Oops.> I did that one already, didn't I?

[westgrandboulevard]

Yes, you did. And I still think Gladys Knight told it best for you, than did Barbra Streisand....

[Jerry Oz]

I'm a huge fan of the Manhattans and Gerald Alston did a version that will always be my favorite. A beautiful song that can be interpreted well by many wonderful people.

[westgrandboulevard]

I wish I'd written it. The income stream must have more closely resembled a tsunami.

[Jerry Oz]

RIP Marvin Hamlisch. A storied career that left many great songs and art least one true masterpiece.

[westgrandboulevard]

One masterpiece is one more than almost everyone else will leave, when the time comes...

[Jerry Oz]

It'd be nice to believe that we all did at least one great thing in our lives.

[westgrandboulevard]

Living a decent life, and making it a little better for our contemporaries, is as much as most of us will accomplish..and that's certainly enough. But yes, something notable would add real distinction...

[Jerry Oz]

Better or worse. You can impact people in several ways that might be considered "great". Eli Whitney created the cotton gin and made cotton a sustainable crop for the American South. Many people in the South were grateful and thought of Eli as an economy-saving genius. The slaves in the American South? Not so much positive thought.

[westgrandboulevard]

True. Depends on whether you can use something, or not. It could be a blessing, or a curse.

[Jerry Oz]

Hitler's role in history is as a villain. Had Germany won the war, it's possible that he'd be generally viewed differently, at least in Germany. Just as Stalin and Mao are the stars of their respective nations' history books. Of course, the things that we feel make living in Western society wonderful also paint our nations as galvanizing points of emphasis for extremists in the East.

[westgrandboulevard]

The world has become smaller and people travel more. I do find myself feeling perhaps insular, but also wondering if sometimes we might generally be better off if more of us kept to our own countries, and respected the customs of other countries, even if we didn't agree with them. Now everyone and everything becomes so 'involved'.....although, of course, the USA has always been the biggest peacemaker in the world [[but, as you say, many would disagree with that......)

[Jerry Oz]

I can foresee a day when the Western nations are united in a manner like the EU, with shared defense, economy, and [[to an extent) government. Then the wall will go up and it will be much harder for people to travel to and fro. That'll happen soon after the first use of a nuke by terrorists. The world has become too small and folks are looking over their neighbors' fences and forming judgments about what they see. Sometimes it's best to have space.

[westgrandboulevard]

If ever there were to be a concerted effort to destroy and disable our electricity pylons, or our internet service, we are in real trouble....

[Jerry Oz]

It's been shown that electrical plants can be shut down remotely [[physically destroyed, actually). I don't think power companies want to fit the bill to prevent it and governments are busy wasting their money elsewhere.

[westgrandboulevard]

It just proves that we all have destructive thoughts, if we're thinking about what terrorists may be thinking...

[Jerry Oz]

You have to do that these days. The terrorists are only limited by their lack of imagination. With so many "freedoms" in our society, anyone can buy a gun and attack a crowded downtown street. They'll learn. And then we will too.

[westgrandboulevard]

They're as clever as we are, sometimes more so, and can have the upper hand for a while.

In our minds, we represent good, they represent bad. We have always to stay ahead....

[Jerry Oz]

If we had the mindset of the worst of them [[and which they think of us), we could use the strongest of our weapons to obliterate their bases of operation. It would kill tens of thousands, so "the Great Satan" has curious patience with its enemies. Somehow, this point escapes many of them. Perhaps they are afraid that the devil is whispering into their ears under the guise of God.

[westgrandboulevard]

What people will do in the name of their God.....

[Jerry Oz]

I'm not one to talk... I encourage everybody to seek his own salvation. But at least understand the basis for that belief. To twist religion the way that many do is unfathomable. I wonder why anyone can believe in a god of hatred.

[westgrandboulevard]

I could understand that but, in their eyes, to kill others and sometimes also themselves in a brutal fashion, is all done for a God of love. If both I and they wait long enough, we are going to die, anyway.....and then we will find out...so there should be no rush, and certainly not on their terms.

[Jerry Oz]

Yeah. And to 'convert' someone at gunpoint seems to be an odd concept. I wonder if crossing your fingers while pledging your new faith is something that your new fellowship would frown on?

[westgrandboulevard]

All of us currently alive were once born and,therefore, must one day die, simply as a rule of nature. Having a belief seems to have little if anything to do with that. That knowledge must be more sound than that of someone who also believes themself destined for divine supremacy. That said, yes, I would feel far more assured in the face of that if I also were holding a gun.....

[Jerry Oz]

Why are we afraid of death? It would seem that there's nothing really to fear other than not finding out who's going to win the game next week or who will be voted out on 'Big Brother'. I have a belief in afterlife but I have no strong desire to start it anytime soon. I neither want the gun not want to see its barrel pointed in my direction. It strikes me curious to think that the Game often ends for Player #1 right when he thinks there's a chance to win it.

[144man]

When my father died, there was a half-read book on his bedside table. It really upset me at the time that he never found out the ending.

[westgrandboulevard]

Knowing your humour, 144man, I can't be absolutely sure if you're being serious..but in case you are...

Perhaps your father wasn't reading it for the first time...? If it was a previously read, favourite book, which gave him repeated reassurance and pleasure [[for example, the way some people read The Bible a lot), he then passed away at peace.

That may not be the case, and you may very well be right, but it's just a thought....

[144man]

This time I was being serious. It was a library book, but as it was a Western the ending was probably predictable. Things uncompleted bother me. I often used to work late rather than leave a task unfinished.

[westgrandboulevard]

Like me, then. If some task turns into a long haul, and has to be tackled in sections, I start to worry that I will lose interest. Many things are best tackled and also completed in short bursts, if at all possible.

We're naturals for the Word Association thread...hovering, in case just one more comes in......except, tonight, I will make a change of habit.... so, g'night....!

[144man]

Yes, it's half past pumpkin-time, so g'night, wgb.

[Jerry Oz]

Hey! I'm just getting started!

[arr&bee]

Do-de-do-de...what the??didn't i just come through here??i'm following myself again and i always get lost...do-de-do-de.

[westgrandboulevard]

There's someone here, either on Bluetooth, or talking to himself....

[arr&bee]

You're right west,he just passed me...oh that was me never mind.

[Jerry Oz]

Yesterday upon the stair,
I met a man who wasn't there,
He wasn't there again today,
I wish, I wish he'd go away...

[arr&bee]

Hey jerry,you're good you might be the next..willum wurdsless lungfiller.

[Jerry Oz]

I'm just a poet and now, you know et. [[See how I did that? I'm just bad​, Bruh!)

[arr&bee]

Jerry,you da man.

[westgrandboulevard]

He makes a fortune writing verses for greetings cards.....

[Jerry Oz]

Actually, I rewrite them. Changing a word or two before selling them to another publisher is quicker and requires less imagination.

[westgrandboulevard]

I tend to buy the cards marked 'Blank for special messages', as that's a good description of my mind at the time of purchase.

[144man]

I'm not averse to that.

[westgrandboulevard]

You're on the right lines....

[144man]

I must confess I've been having serious difficulties with my iambic pentameters, but then don't we all?

[westgrandboulevard]

Oh, I KNOW! There seems to be no reason or rhyme to it all. I had to have a scan to check out mine.

[144man]

I didn't need a scan as I've already got a meter.

[westgrandboulevard]

OK, I'm reading you well.

[144man]

What's afoot?

[westgrandboulevard]

I just knew you'd say that. Give you an inch, and you'll take a yard.....

[Jerry Oz]

Question: When is a game not a game?

Answer: When it is afoot.