Cracked 5 … July 4th, 2020

Jonathots Daily Blog

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Cracked 5

Ways to Have an Acceptable Covid-19 July 4th Celebration

1. Set fire to all your clothing that has been exposed to the virus and stand around the bonfire singing, “This Is My Country.”

 

2. Sparklers in the back yard—six feet apart.

 

3. Eat. Yes, eating is still legal.

 

4. Avoid watching “Independence Day,” since it’s an attack by an alien presence.

 

5. Walk to the corner and back, and upon returning cleanse yourself with a garden hose. Perhaps you could make it a family “hose-down.”

 

G-Poppers … December 2nd, 2016

 Jonathots Daily Blog

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Jon close up

G-Pop was wondering what it would have been like if Facebook had been around for the birth of Jesus.

What would have grabbed the attention of the average Facebook reader in Judea?

Let’s look at the classic elements of the story:

  • Rejoice
  • Glad tidings of great joy
  • A Savior is born
  • Prince of Peace
  • Listen to the angels
  • Can you see the star?

These would more than likely have been deemed boring, averaging seven likes, zero comments and no reposts.

Even if someone had inserted the statement, “a baby was born in a manger,” the single repeating comment would have been, “Come on, Joseph. Get a job.”

Facebook demands drama.

Facebook seeks attention.

Facebook feeds off frenzy.

Facebook is selfish.

No, for the Christmas story to have worked on Facebook, one would need to hand-select the elements, and twist them a bit to make them of interest to the market:

“Pregnant teen and her boyfriend snub traditional marriage”

“Bonnie-and-Clyde-style crazy kids hold shepherds hostage in stable”

“Foreigners, astrologers, wanted for questioning by authorities for smuggling in unknown drugs”

“Lights in the sky! Could it be aliens?”

“And here is a picture of my ‘fur son,’ Jehoshaphat, the cat, as he rubs up against a little immigrant boy in the barn. Isn’t he cute? I mean the cat.”

G-Pop contends that we have become a society of “I’s” who include a few “we’s” if they agree with “us.”

To get likes, shares and comments, the entry has to be insipid enough to have universal appeal to those who find most of the universe unappealing.

But there will be a persistent few who insist on planting the notion of salvation, joy, humanity, brotherly love and peace on Earth.

And who knows?

Maybe in two thousand years, if that is done, they might call us Wise Men.

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Dear Man/Dear Woman: A Noteworthy Conversation … January 30th, 2016

 Jonathots Daily Blog

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Dear Man Dear Woman

Dear Woman: A couple of days ago I read an article in a magazine…

 

Dear Man: You’re just trying to impress me with the fact that you can read.

 

Dear Woman: Actually, I’m trying to impress you with the fact that I read something and retained enough to have a discussion. Anyway, in this article it said that men and women should appreciate their differences because it grants each of them a “unique perspective.”

 

Dear Man: A unique perspective?

 

Dear Woman: Yeah, that’s what I geared in on too. What does that mean?

 

Dear Man: That means I have a way of looking at things that’s different from you, and you would garner great insight by listening to my feelings on the issue.

 

Dear Woman: Do you think that’s true?

 

Dear Man: I was taught it was true. Matter of fact, I grew up believing that relationships were 50-50. Somewhere along the line, that got pooh-poohed, and now we believe that it’s gotta be 100% and 100%. It’s the me plus me equals us.

 

Dear Woman: We don’t believe that. It’s a war with an unsettling truce. Men pretend that women are smarter while still retaining the power.

 

Dear Man: Well, how do they do that?

 

Dear Woman: By telling you that you have a “unique perspective” which they value hearing and enjoy ignoring.

 

Dear Man: So what you’re saying is that telling someone they have a unique perspective is not a positive?

 

Dear Woman: Absolutely not. It’s never positive. Saying that someone has a unique perspective is only two argument points away from the classic, “We’ll just have to agree to disagree.”

 

Dear Man: So you believe that’s why we have so many stalemates in discussions between men and women?

 

Dear Woman: Yes. Every idea has a genesis and an exodus.

 

Dear Man: Explain.

 

Dear Woman: That wasn’t very clear, was it? What I’m saying is that the word “unique” is a genesis, but as the word “unique” goes through the human experience, it changes to other words. And by the time it evolves, our emotions interpret it in a much different way.

 

Dear Man: So you’re saying that “unique” doesn’t really mean “unique” to us?

 

Dear Woman: Exactly. “Unique” is translated in our brain as “different.” And different is not something we enjoy. It’s something we tolerate. And we always tell people they need more tolerance.

 

Dear Man: So how do you build a relationship on tolerance?

 

Dear Woman: You can’t. You kind of end up faking it.

 

Dear Man: So let me try my hand at it. After “unique” becomes “different” in our heads, “different” can quickly become “alien.” In other words, people from Mexico have different customs than we do, so therefore we view them as aliens.

 

Dear Woman: Very well said. And of course, once something is alien, we stick it in Outer Space. It’s not really allowed past our borders, is it?

 

Dear Man: So if I convince myself that your feelings are unique and therefore different, which makes them alien, it’s very easy for me to turn a deaf ear and view them as intrusive.

 

Dear Woman: Yeah. I’m an intruder on your girl power.

 

Dear Man: And I’m an intruder on your macho.

 

Dear Woman: So we end up tolerating each other to get what we want.

 

Dear Man: And when we don’t want it so much any more, we decide to get rid of the intruder.

 

Dear Woman: So as long as we look at each other as unique, instead of finding common ground, we will focus on the differences, become alien to one another and eventually, in a bit of disgust, consider each other intrusive.

 

Dear Man: It’s kind of funny. Because if either one of us found ourselves stuck in the jungle, we would quickly learn to adapt–find our inner monkey–instead of insisting that the monkeys have a “unique perspective.”

 

Dear Woman: You should never consider yourself a monkey.

 

Dear Man: You know what I’m saying. To survive, we find commonality. To fail, we focus on differences. That’s just life.

 

Dear Woman: Except when it comes to men and women, right? Then we think we’re so damn clever by highlighting the uniqueness.

 

Dear Man: So you don’t think I have any uniqueness?

 

Dear Woman: Yes, I do. But it has nothing to do with you being a woman. It has to do with your experience. Your faith. Your charity. Your hope. Your sense of humor. That’s what makes you fresh to me.

 

Dear Man: So how did it get all screwed up?

 

Dear Woman: I guess the way it always gets screwed up. One night, one member of the sexes didn’t want to listen to the other one, so he or she decided that the other gender was unique, and therefore incomprehensible.

 

Dear Man: So I am going to give you a blessing. You are not unique. You are not different. You are not alien to me. And you are not an intruder. It’s my job to figure out how the culture screwed us up … and how we can get back to the Garden.

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Jesonian: There Is Truth … November 22nd, 2015

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christian symbols color

It was during the trial that Pilate asked Jesus if he was a king. After all, to some degree, the flaming uncontrollable human ego yearns for kingship over something.

Jesus said he had “come to bear witness of the truth.”

A cynical, jaded Pilate responded, “What is truth?”

And may I say, ever since then, it has been the mission of pseudo-intellectualism to establish the precept that truth is both illusive and expansive. In other words, “there’s your truth and there’s my truth.”

Therefore, the human race has done little to progress itself beyond the wheel and the microwave oven.

I’m here to tell you today that there is truth. If you find my discoveries to be worthy, you should take that list and go see if you can find these elements of truth in the Christian faith, the Muslim faith, Judaism, Hindu, the Republican platform, the Democratic platform, or even the mission statement of your local government.

Here is the truth I believe to be constant:

1. You and I are part of eight billion tourists with a temporary visa, on a planet where we are aliens.

2. Nothing is thought, dreamed or acted out in a vacuum. All my actions affect you and all yours intervene in mine.

3. Thinking ahead and learning from what has been discovered is the definition of Earth Logic.

4. Maintaining respect for nature and honor for our fellow-travelers determines our fate in the process of natural selection.

Four simple points on which the entire foundation of Earth-life is dependent.

If we think we own anything, we become wicked landlords.

If we think we can be ourselves without respecting the wishes of others, we become terrorists.

If we contend that life is built on destiny rather than our free-will choice to plan, we cripple ourselves in the march of progress.

And if we think the earth will allow us to continue to be arrogant, unfeeling and unaware of our surroundings without stepping in to eliminate us, we are total fools.

I can’t always find these four truths in the religious system–but I can go to the Sermon on the Mount from Jesus and find all four.

This is why I believe in the Jesonian–the heart of Jesus.

And it is why the truth does make us free. 

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Participate … June 17, 2013

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“Indifferent” literally means “not different.” It is a decision to be cool and uncaring about something that comes along, because it fails to conform to the present mold of the general pursuits of the populace. Yet all of us know that “different” things are necessary to our survival–to keep us from skidding off the road because we have fallen asleep at the wheel.

What we consider to be “different” today amazes me. For instance, church takes a terrible rap for being either an old folks home or an outpost of condemnation. We should never give up on the church–but we should never stop improving it.

Politics, on the other hand, has proven to be of little effect in our lives, and is often a stumbling block to human progress. But we spend inordinate amounts of time jockeying for our party or fussing about the details of some sort of party issue.

We tout that our children are the treasure-house of the nation, even as our schools teeter on the brink of bankruptcy and our teachers struggle with depleting budgets to handle increasing class loads.

When should we participate? When is it important to jump in with both feet and be among them that are counted? And when is it better to stand back and let the clowns of the parade pass by, waiting for the real talent at the rear?

As I stood before the amazing people of Vincennes, Indiana, I realized that this was a major question which they would have to answer–whether they were just starting kindergarten or reaping the benefits of their IRA.

Where do I put my energies? Where do I participate? Where do I let my two cents be invested by offering the additional penny of my thoughts?

Here are three guidelines for me. Yours may be different and equally as powerful. My guidelines consist of three questions, which allow us to determine what to chase and what to ignore.

1. What are we doing with God? If all we are doing is worshipping God, we are wasting His creative potential. If we’re trying to find ways to ignore God in deference to more intellectual pursuits, we are not tapping the greatest intelligence. God is valuable if you’re able to bring His spirit to earth.

2. And speaking of the earth, what are we doing with it? Stop taking a political position on matters of Mother Earth just because your particular party has decided, for the time being, to either be overwrought on an issue or under-concerned. Here’s the truth: Mother Earth is one of the easier things to understand. She complains and lets you know exactly where there is need. Just pay attention. What we do with the earth is important, because “the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.”

3. What are we going to do with humans? I continue to tout the six-word philosophy of “NoOne is better than anyone else.” Why? Because every other approach to humanity breeds some form of nasty, unusable prejudice. What we decide to do with the human race is essential for ensuring that the earth is full of sensitivity and God is being revered as the Father of us all.

What I watched yesterday at the St. John’s church was an evolution. Because the people did not know us, there was a certain amount of carefulness upon our arrival. Honestly, I don’t mind a bit of carefulness as long as it does not degrade  into suspicion. If people will just give each other a chance to bring forth their gifts and share their talents, and THEN evaluaate the exerience, we will be just fine. We don’t have to be leaping around hugging each other in order to leave the door open to tenderness. But by the same token, to express suspicion or animosity just because we are dealing with someone who is not a part of our inner circle is to create a barrier which is insurmountable.

Where do I participate?

  • Is God being honored without being turned into a religious monster? I will be there and bring a bag of ice.
  • Is the earth being studied so we can gain wisdom on how to better handle our planet and the lives of the people around us? Mark me down as an RSVP.
  • And finally, are humans being given a chance to establish the fruit of their labors without being judged by the color of their skin or dismissed because they are aliens? I will donate to such a cause.

The next seven years will tell us much about the future of mankind. Basically, it will boil down to whether really wise people are able to become “diferent” enough from the society around them to include God, earth and humanity.

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