The Reddy Cab Company

The Reddy Cab Company
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Thursday, November 23, 2023

Being Thankful

 

I love Christmas, but seriously, can we not be in such a hurry to skip past the most important holiday of the year? Now, more than ever, we need a time of Thanksgiving. A time to turn our focus away from the barrage of the daily news of doom and gloom. A time to count our blessings.

I don’t know about you, but I am so tired of hearing about how awful the past few years have been. Even the memes aren’t funny anymore. I’m just tired of the negativity. In reality, it’s just another year on good old planet Earth (which is not our true home!) So, let’s stop spending all our time thinking about the bad news, and instead, start turning our thoughts to the more positive things around us. I love the way Paul says it in the book of Philippians - Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (4:8 NIV)

Several years ago, along the very same lines, I shared the following message for Thanksgiving. Still sounds pretty relevant to me!

It’s hard to believe that Thanksgiving is here already! Or will be this week anyway. Such a wonderful time of year! The cooler weather, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year. Just a string of big events that come one after another in rapid succession. No wonder people get so stressed.

So, how do we deal with all this extra anxiety? I suggest we try and focus on the positives in our lives and not the negative. In 1 Thessalonians 5:18a (NIV), Paul says “give thanks in all circumstances.” What a great statement! Like most people, there are times when I find it easy to be thankful. But like most people, there are also many times when I find it extremely difficult to be thankful. Or to be more honest, I forget to be thankful.

Thanksgiving is a good time to be conscious and conscientious about recognizing our blessings. (A little off the subject, but as much as I love contemporary Christian music, I often long for the old hymns like Count Your Blessings.) This month alone, I could easily rattle off a list of my trials and troubles, some of those circumstances that make me want to scream and complain. And when I get bogged down in worrying about my problems, I do forget to be thankful.

So, let me focus on the good and not the bad for now. I am thankful for family and friends. I am thankful for my health. I am thankful for a long and somewhat successful career. I am thankful to live in a free country. And I am thankful for a God who watches over me and mine.

I won’t bore you with a long list of family and friends, but I will say that I am truly thankful most for the people in my life. Many of them have passed, but I still treasure their memories and value the lessons they imparted and the legacies they left behind. I am thankful for my wife and children and I pray that I can always be a good husband and father. For the many friends, former colleagues, and others, I have probably not said enough how much I appreciate the love and support and encouragement! If you want to reduce your stress over the next few months, enjoy the people around you. Time invested in people is rarely wasted.

I’ll be honest and say that I wish I had the body of my twenty-year-old self! Lord knows I don’t want to be twenty again, but I often miss the energy and vitality of that age. Nevertheless, I am thankful for the generally good health I enjoy. I often jokingly say that I wish I had taken better care of myself when I was younger, but honestly, many people my age are much less fortunate when it comes to health issues. I’m no spring chicken, but I’ll gladly accept the aches and pains that come with my age. And I will do my best to stay in shape in the years ahead.

One of the joys of Facebook (there are some to go along with all the frustrations!) is the ability to connect with former students! I am thankful for the years spent with young students and athletes whom I will never forget. I thank God for allowing me to be a teacher, coach and principal and I pray that my impact on the lives of my students was positive. There are few pleasures in life greater than watching your kids grow up and become successful, even if they aren’t really your kids! I am so incredibly proud of the fine adults you have become, even though you will forever be teens in my mind! If not younger!

If you are a frequent reader, you know I have fairly strong political views. Despite the recent election ugliness, and the ongoing negativity of the mainstream media, I am proud of my country and thankful to live in a free society. Obviously, we live in an imperfect world, but when you consider the living conditions in much of the world, we should be thankful to live in the USA. I am.

Finally, and most importantly, I thank God for all the many blessings in my life. Everything above I credit to a good God who loves His people and watches over us. I am thankful for a Heavenly Father who not only promises an eternity with Him, but also provides for us while we await that final blessing!

So, whatever your circumstances today, count your many blessings and give thanks!

Friday, November 10, 2023

 

Today is Veteran’s Day, a federal holiday observed annually to honor U.S. military veterans. For a more complete look at the history and significance of the holiday, check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veterans_Day.

My father was a veteran. He served in WWII and although he seldom talked about it, I know he was proud of his military service. I thought I would share a poem from my collection https://books2read.com/randomthoughts that I wrote in his honor.

War Story

          

My father served in World War 2,
But he never talked about it.
I find that very strange even now.
He was quite the storyteller,
And he loved to entertain
And repeat the tales he told
To all who’d listen.
But in all the years that passed,
I never heard one story
About the war.

So, today, take a moment to think about the men and women from your family (and all the other families as well) who answered the call to serve their country. Whether in times of war and conflict or times of peace, it is a sacrifice all too often unacknowledged and underappreciated.

Friday, April 14, 2023

The Truth about Dylan Mulvaney

This may be an unpopular opinion in some circles, but here goes. The truth about Dylan Mulvaney is that he is a man. Plain and simple. And not a particularly interesting one, in the view of many of us. He’s an adult, in terms of age anyway, so he can dress or act however he chooses, and surgically alter himself any way he likes, but the truth is he is not a woman. He can prance around doing his ugly caricature of a woman (which should highly offend actual women everywhere), but he is nothing more than a poor imitation of the real thing.

Honestly, to believe in this farce requires the strange and bizarre mindset promoted by the Liberal Left. The entire transgenderism movement is based on denying the reality of God, while accepting the reality of Frankenstein. According to the Left, God either doesn’t exist or he is prone to mistakes making all these humans with bodies and brains that don’t match. (You know, that mental illness we used to call gender dysphoria, until we were taught by the Liberals that gender is nothing more than a social construct. In other words, meaningless) And creating a woman? Nothing to it. Turn the surgeons loose and they will make you a woman out of spare parts.

So who is Dylan Mulvaney? According to Dylan Mulvaney - Wikipedia, he is an American actress, comedian, and TikTok personality. Frequently, he is simply referred to as a transgender influencer with 10 million followers on TikTok. I don’t know if I believe that or not. (What I usually call famous for being famous - Like the Kardashians)

Do 10 million people actually “follow” Dylan Mulvaney on social media platforms? I seriously doubt it. I mean I can believe the number, but not that there are 10 million people who love or support this person, or care in the least what he thinks, or ever even visit his website. I do believe that tons of Liberals “follow” all kinds of people so that they can “virtue signal” that they are wonderful, loving, and tolerant individuals. (Unless we’re talking about Christians, or conservatives, or white people, or any of the groups they “hate” with a passion and see no reason to tolerate in the least.)

And do we really believe these so-called “influencers” have any real influence on anybody? Do his followers care what products he pushes? Are they running out to buy Bud Light or switching brands of alcohol because of his endorsement? I doubt it. And how many women are flocking to Nike to buy sports bras just because they look so good on Dylan? Gag!

Anyway, I guess I’ve probably offended enough people today already, so I’ll stop. Hopefully, he will soon fade away like the many talentless celebrities that we are forced to endure these days. Let me know what you think and have a great day!

Saturday, April 1, 2023

Liberals and Democrats Have No Shame

Well, it’s finally happened. We’ve become a third world country. We’ve become one of those banana republics where political rivals are pursued, criminalized, and hounded by their own government, while those in power smirk and laugh. That’s what the Liberals and Democrats are doing. They think it is funny and they’re celebrating while our once great democracy falls.

Meanwhile, they act as if their side has never made a questionable move. The current regime gets a free pass. The mainstream media brush aside inconvenient facts and pretend that we won’t notice, while the press secretary lies to us on a daily basis. (The laptop is fake and the border is secure.) The same is true of previous administrations. The Obama fans love to proclaim that his administration was completely free of any and all scandals. Of course, they are ignoring a ton of things that happened during his time in the oval office, including his vice president and secretary of state both taking huge amounts of money from foreign powers. (And his attempts to influence the 2016 election A Writer's Life: Obamagate – Watergate on Steroids (rdperryauthor.blogspot.com)

Anyway, back to the subject at hand. I believe Donald Trump was an excellent president. Judge him by his record, not his personality or his sometimes admittedly ill-advised comments/social media. Now, he is just a regular citizen (and future candidate.) Did he commit actual crimes? I don’t know. But do I believe the attempts to prosecute him for the huge variety of charges levelled against him in the past year are about as valid as the two attempts to impeach him while he was in office. In either case, the motivation was (and is) political.

And do we really want to go down that path? Do we really want to see our elected officials dedicating time and resources to political witch hunts such as this? All the while ignoring the ongoing scandals of the present administration?

I suppose the answer is obvious. The Trump obsessed Liberals are more concerned with taking out the 2024 opposition than they are with the real possibility that our President may be compromised by foreign powers. Or that he is mentally unfit for the office in the first place.

Meanwhile, I still wish that Trump would step aside and allow others to lead the party. (A Writer's Life: Why Trump Shouldn’t Run for President in 2024 (rdperryauthor.blogspot.com) Regardless of what happens in New York, the attacks against Trump will continue, and his opponents will never stop until they no longer view him as a political threat. In my opinion, it’s time to move forward, and our country needs to find some leadership (on both sides of the aisle) before it’s too late to correct our current course.

Saturday, February 18, 2023

Reflections on the GOAT


 Now that LeBron James has become the all-time leading scorer in NBA history, his supporters have once again begun to loudly proclaim him to be the Greatest Of All Time. I’ve written on this topic before (A Writer's Life: The Greatest of All Time (rdperryauthor.blogspot.com)) and I am still not convinced. If you’ve read some of my earlier posts, you also know that I am not a fan of LeBron James for many reasons. (A Writer's Life: How LeBron James Ruined the NBA - Update (rdperryauthor.blogspot.com))

Let me say up front that I believe LBJ is an incredible athlete and his accomplishments are beyond amazing. However, I see a clear distinction between Longevity records and the GOAT debate. Every sport has at least one superb athlete who played at a high level for a very long time and racked up tons of statistical achievements. That particular player (in most sports) is rarely considered the GOAT, because most fans recognize that Longevity (nor stats) alone does not necessarily equate with greatness.

To put it another way, if the scoring record now makes LBJ the Greatest, then why was Kareem not considered the GOAT while he was the leader? Perhaps because most fans understand that there is more to basketball than just scoring. And by the way, if we’re going to celebrate Longevity records, let’s not be so picky. Where was the big game-stopping celebration when LBJ became the all-time leader in turnovers in NBA history? (And he has a huge ever-increasing margin over the second place guy!) Or what about missed field goals. Or missed free throws. He is the leader among active players already in both of those categories. Reality check, if LBJ continues playing long enough, he will eventually be the leader in every statistic the NBA tracks. Good and bad.

So, if we can’t base our decision on just stats or rings or awards or whatever, what do we use? How about a combination of all these things and what some call the eye test. Here’s my take. Kind of like the old playground days. If you lined up every NBA player who had ever played at his absolute prime and drafted a team, who would you pick? I guarantee you, in my opinion, if Michael Jordan and LeBron James are both available, when it comes my time to choose, I select MJ, no question, no hesitation, no doubt. (And honestly, if MJ is gone and LBJ is still standing on the line? There are many guys I would pick before I considered choosing him. Okay, really honest this time. I would never pick LBJ for my team!)

Why not? I think he is a poor team player. Here are my reasons. If I was going to be the coach, he would eventually get me fired. A teammate? Sooner or later, he would try and get me traded for someone else. The team owner? How long would I have him, before he decided to become a free agent and leave for what he considered a better situation? And in the meantime, how many times would he embarrass me by flopping, whining, or begging for the refs to help him out? Or happily celebrating one of his individual achievements while our team was losing the game? All things considered? Not someone I would want on my team.

How about another test? If you were the coach, and you had MJ and LBJ both on your team, down a basket with only seconds to play, who do you want taking the last shot? I know which play I’m drawing up. LBJ can set a screen or pick up an assist to pad his stats, but I want MJ taking the clutch shot. Again, no question, no hesitation, no doubt.

Anyway, LeBron is a great player. Seriously. But all things considered, I really don’t believe he is the greatest NBA player of all time. I just don’t. And records and stats aside, there are current players that are just as good (or better) in my opinion. Will they have a career that matches LBJ? Most probably won’t come close, but again, there’s more to the game than just longevity.

Friday, February 3, 2023

The Real Problem With Identity Politics

As a white male, I’m almost afraid to even comment on the subject of racism. Popular culture (at least from the left) says that I am privileged, inherently biased, and just basically a horrible human being. Therefore, I have no real understanding of the issue (or what it’s like to be a minority) and no right to have (or express) an opinion. So at the risk of being cancelled, here goes!

The following is completely my own opinion, for what it’s worth.

At its core, or essence, racism basically comes down to the belief that skin color makes people different – superior, inferior, or whatever.

Without the existence of this warped belief system, every individual would only be judged by their own individual merits (or lack thereof). Or to quote Martin Luther King, Jr. they would “not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

Today’s Liberals, in their quest for “anti-racism,” are creating a world that is exactly the opposite. Their constant, non-stop, never-ending message is – notice skin color, base every decision on skin color, assign every thought, or word, or action, or motive to skin color. Nothing that is said, or done is ever considered (or reported) without first identifying the race of the persons involved. Everything is about race. Every! Single! Solitary! Thing! Listen to the mainstream media if you doubt me.

And what message does that send? That race matters. It matters a lot. It matters most. That’s why they have to point it out first and foremost. And that’s the wrong message.

Do we have a problem with racism in America? Of course, we do. And as long as we are being told on a daily basis that the color of our skin is what defines us above all else, we always will.

 

Sunday, January 1, 2023

How to Start the New Year Right


 I’ve often wondered why so many people obsess over the start of the New Year and make such a huge production of listing some random set of resolutions that rather quickly fall by the wayside. Don’t get me wrong. As a former coach, I believe in setting goals and stating them aloud or writing them down is an important step, but why New Year’s Resolutions? Why wait till the beginning of another year to start doing the things that will improve our lives or make us better, or at least happier people?

I suppose there is a certain logic behind the idea. New year, new start, that kind of thing. Not that there is ever a wrong time to begin making positive steps at self-improvement. I’ve heard that the most often cited resolution made for New Year’s is to lose weight. For many of us this is a worthy goal, especially after we have routinely overeaten at both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Other people resolve to do a better job of sticking to their budget. Again, a worthy goal after we have so recently overspent on food and gifts and travel. Whatever tops your particular set of resolutions, allow me to offer one suggestion. Resolve to let go of the past year and all its baggage.

In my first novel, The What If Project, the main character, Jack, is convinced that his entire life has been affected, in a negative way, by one specific past event. In his mind, every bad thing that has ever happened to him can be traced back to this one moment in time. He truly believes that the only way to fix his present state is to somehow change his past. As the author, I can sum up the theme of the book in one word – regret. And don’t we all have regrets about our past decisions? Things we wish we could go back and do differently?

So, this year, let’s all resolve to stop letting our past get in the way of our present. And our future. Let’s make the conscious decision to look forward and start the year off right by giving ourselves an honest and a fresh new year unclouded by our past mistakes. Let’s wipe away the regrets and stop dwelling on the things we can’t change, but instead focus on the ones we can. Last year is gone. Let’s make this next one a truly fantastic new year!