I’m in the deep south. Mi double S deeeeeeeep. You either slow down or look foolish down here. Taking a nap on a hammock brings credibility…wrap around porch kinda credibility. I’m used to this style of living, btw. Where empathy buys you a place at the table but don’t expect it to be returned (but then again, empathists(sic) know that their wisdom is seldom reciprocated).

I’m in their world this week and I’m glad for it. Ima (Popkin thankyou) drink it up like moonshine and dew drops. Ima keep lettin’ my little girl feed sliced apples to the horses across the street. Ima slowin’ down and gonna listen to wiser generations than mine own speak. We move so fast these days. So fast that we skip past the meant punchlines. We listen long enough to think we we get the gist and then we corrupt the speaker’s message with our personal experiences.

Return to the uncorruptible. Do not take the pop challange of the coca cola commercial. Ronald McDonald is not a true clown. Stop reading now if this “don’t make” sense. Cake is not a lie. Joan of Arc died for it.

But pop culture will tell you otherwise.

It will tell you that 1-2 great stanzas and a power chord will sooth it all it out. If you believe that then I’ve got some pharma grade farm land to sell you….one procedure and we’ll remove your emotional tonsils and you’ll no longer be autistic.

I challenge: Stay autistic. Recognize the retardness in everyone and only then will conformity = the absurd. Little ones low in years + TRUE selfless parents (please God let me be a selfless parent) know this: LOVE UNCONDITIONALLY. Teach unlearnedness. It ain’t about the dollars but it *is* about the Benjamins …and the Nathans….and the Lauras. It’s people that count (and the relationships we build with them).

My 4 yo sleeping on her great grandaddy’s lap might very well be my life’s pinnacle achievement and I’m at peace with that. I worked hard for that moment. I drove 500 miles. I played make believe. I ran her around the yard till her cheeks flushed and she felt fevered. I told pawpaw (grand dad) my ulterior motive. Ima soak up him soaking it up. I hope one day to double my age so that I can bask in the same kind of radiation my little daughter now blesses her great grand pappy with. It all comes back to this: love.

That’s it/my random thought for this late night: empathy. Conservative or liberal. You can’t aruge with this one universal truth. We either strike out to find something in common with one another or we. just. strike out.