July Is A Happening Month

Well, hasn't July started off with a big bang? Fireworks aside, the media has been going to town with all the voyeuristic thrills they lather up non-stop until you just can't take it any longer. Today I traveled back from the fantastic State of Louisiana following a grand visit with my favorite Cajuns.

The majority of my day consisted of going to the airport and waiting; checking in; waiting; going through security; waiting; walking across the tar mack to the prop jet; landing; waiting; boarding a REAL jet in Memphis; landing in Baltimore; waiting; driving home. Along the drive I stopped at a Best Buy to purchase a new phone as I had forgotten my favorite purple one at my daughter's. Sniff, sniff.

Even though I was relatively sheltered from the media in the aircraft, there was still coverage of St. MJ of the Glove. Televisions that usually broadcast the news from some MSNBC-Fox-feed, were universally showing the Staples Center memorial. It looked like Sear's television department broadcasting the same picture and sound track as I walked from the arrival to the departure gate.

In my car I plugged in my MP3 to continue studying French for my upcoming trip. While I was trying to link the player to my radio memorial service recaps were playing.

Once home, on my own television, I heard an announcer saying that this event will equal "Where were you when John Kennedy was killed." What the hell is going on with the world? Does anyone else find a flaw here? Following that, Sean "P. Diddy" Combs was somberly explaining how the world will never be the same. How right he is. Especially since all the while he ensured he was standing front and center to a huge Ciroc Vodka poster. Oddly, he is their spokesperson.

Is society so loosely bound that people need to grasp at times like this to find a community of like minded people? Are there that many lonely people looking for a sense of belonging, even to an event like this? For me, I must have a sufficient sense of belonging. If I hear the words "transcend" or "icon" one more time, I think I will either scream or start putting a quarter in a jar for each abuse.

I hope the sideshow is over or at least toning down and tapering off. Jacksonian tributes don't offend me when there is sincerity involved. However, these contrived P.T. Barnum media displays need to stop. For me it is in the same philosophical track where I feel the government doesn't need to legislate what happens in any woman's womb. The corollary being that artificially inseminating any womb with 8 embryos is just morally wrong.

There has to be some balance with all of this. Has anyone wondered who the biological father to MJ's children is and why he isn't stepping forward? Debbie Rowe isn't up for sainthood. Her maternal instincts rival that of a squashed grape. At least she is honest about it.

Have a wonderful next few weeks. Just call me Charles Kuralt as I'm on the road for a little. If I can, I'll post a few photos and you can guess Where's Scoopo?. Have fun. Be good to each other. Behave. Don't watch the telly. Read a book. Eat 5 fruits and vegetables a day. Call your Mother and Father. If they are no longer with us, say a prayer for them. Go to church. Help someone across the street, even if they don't want to go. When in doubt, chicken out. Take a daily vitamin. Keep working on those Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy. Oh, and everyone, please stay healthy. For your reference:

• To feed the hungry;
• To give drink to the thirsty;
• To clothe the naked;
• To harbour the harbourless;
• To visit the sick;
• To ransom the captive;
• To bury the dead.

The spiritual works of mercy are:

• To instruct the ignorant;
• To counsel the doubtful;
• To admonish sinners;
• To bear wrongs patiently;
• To forgive offences willingly;
• To comfort the afflicted;
• To pray for the living and the dead.