You know how you just accept something without really thinking? You just say it or think it without paying any attention to the meaning. Take Labor Day for instance. What’s it for and why, for God’s sake is the last holiday of summer named for work? If you are like me, you never think about it at all. You just enjoy your barbeque and the long weekend and go back to work. Well today for some reason I stopped to think about it. What does Labor Day celebrate anyway?
Celebrating the American worker.
It never made much sense to me as a kid that Labor Day was a holiday. It was crazy but when you are a kid you spend most of your time incorporating all the crazy things that adults into your world view. We call that growing up. There is so much crazy making required in growing up that there isn’t any time to waste thinking about those things. Back then Labor Day seemed to have the purpose of marking the end of Summer Vacation and the beginning of the school year. Today even that meaning is gone now that school starts in August. diminishing Labor Day to merely another break in the endless tedium of school.
Let’s check with Wikipedia.
Labor Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September, that celebrates the economic and social contributions of workers. It was first nationally recognized in 1894 to placate unionists following the Pullman Strike. With the decline in union membership, the holiday is generally viewed as a time for barbeques and the end of summer vacations.[1]
Placating unionists and celebrating the economic and social contributions of workers, eh. I always thought it was for everyone. It sure seemed that way to me as a kid. Back then everyone I knew, at least the adult men had a job. These days even in the current Obama recovery its starting to seem like a full time job isn’t the American dream what with Obamacare punishing companies with outrageous healthcare costs for full time employees. Employers can’t afford full time employees in these progressive times. Jobs have disappeared. Food stamps are up. Workers, these days have become a distinct minority.Continue reading »
Unbelievable as it seems, not everyone is cut out for cantankerosity. Conformity is seductive at any stage of life. The risks of taking the road less traveled and leaving the herd behind can seem too overwhelming. The temptation to settle for boring conformity always beckons at the first sign of trouble. Only the willful and pigheaded will persevere and move forward.
Relase your inner Walter Mitty
If you are in that majority, you have two choices. You can rationalize or you can surrender. The Cantankerous Old Coots accept you either way. We don’t criticize. We don’t blame. We don’t demean. We merely observe. Going along makes the world go round. It keeps the trains running on time. It pays the bills. We understand. That is why we created Lessons for Sanctimonious Old Sheep. Go ahead and Embrace the Conformity.
If you are a committed go-alonger then the Cantankerous Old Coots say ‘More power to you’ and :Good Luck’ because you probably won’t be happy spending much time here. If, however, within you there is just a glimmer of cantankerous wannabeism, we say ‘Stick around’. Let you inner Walter Mitty indulge fantasies of cantankerosity while you live a life of deadly conformity. Let your fantasies run wild. Imagine yourself in cantankerous full form from time to time. Who knows? One day it might just break loose. Indulge those fantasies by reading the Cantankerous Old Coots Lessons.
Back in the day, when Justin and I created Cantankerous Old Coots we were naive. I won’t speak for Justin but, for sure, I was naive. I misjudged our audience. I thought that everyone aspired to be a cantankerous old coot. All they needed was inspiration and a little nudge to move on from their bland, complacency to outright rebellion against conventional go-alongism. Now, nearly four years later it is apparent that go-alongism isn’t so easily dismissed. We have readers aplenty but along the way, only one hardy soul embraced our mission and neither Justin nor I would dare to claim that Bob was inspired by the content at COC. Bob is an original piece of work and an inspiration to Cantankerous Old Coots everywhere, even though lifestyle change has limited his contributions lately. Life moves. Even Justin the mastermind behind COC has turned his attention elsewhere leaving me to hold down the fort. So, in the absence of leadership from the top, I’m stepping into the void to attempt a bit of refocus.
Is it time to throw in the towel? Given the number of years COC has been blazing a trail of non-conformity, you might conclude that everything new has been said. How much creativity can one Coot stir up? Maybe it’s time to retire? That’s what bland conventionalists would say but Cantankerous Old Coots aren’t bland conventionalists. Conventional Old Coots see an opportunity and are prepared to seize it.Continue reading »
“There is another Coot” my wife announced as we merged onto the surface street near our home this week. We were returning from our semi-monthly visit to the big box warehouse store. I was distracted trying to figure our what was new in the ongoing construction of the overpass and was startled by impatient honking from the car behind.. In the mirror I saw an old, bald guy in a Toyota scowling at me. I waved at him (all five fingers carefully extended) and sped on to the the next stop light.
“That is no Cantankerous Old Coot,” I told her. “That is an Angry Old Fart.”
Today’s lesson my be the most important of all. Being a Coot is not just letting it all hang out. There is an art and finesse to being a Coot that may not be obvious to the beginner. This is an important because you may be confused so far. Coots are not hostile or angry. They aren’t mean or malicious. They aren’t evil and vindictive. Those are the characteristics of Angry Old Farts. Coots are blunt and direct. They don’t suffer fools. They don’t hide their feelings and down deep, sometimes so deep that you might miss it, they like people, annoying as people can be. Coots are optimists, confident that even the biggest fools can be redeemed once they are shown the error of their ways. If you have missed this subtlety then pay close attention to today’s lesson.
This is where the whole effort becomes difficult. Not everyone has what it takes to be a Cantankerous Old Coot. It takes finesse and good judgment to know where the line between a Cantankerous Old Coot and an Angry Old Fart lies. Once you push past that line, there is no return because when you are tagged as an Angry Old Fart, all your actions will be seen as mean and angry no matter what you might intend. This is especially important for Coots in training because you don’t want your early mistakes to condemn you to live as an AOF. If it happens to you, you pretty much have to relocate to another state and start all over if you don’t want to live the rest of your life as an AOF.
Far better as you are learning your craft that you underplay your role, even at the risk of being perceived as a wimp. As you perfect your skills and hone the phrases you use, you can gradually work your way into the sweet spot that is the essence of Cantankerous Old Coots. The essence of this weeks lesson is to go easy; test the ground and evaluate the responses.
Many people, maybe even my scowling friend in the Toyota may have aimed for the perfection of a Cantankerous Old Coot only to fall into the realm of Angry Old Farts and once there discover that there is no way back. Don’t let that happen to you. Aim high but move slowly to develop your skills, Don’t let impatience or poor judgment make you an Angry Old Fart by mistake.
/ˈvɪttriəəl/ [vi-tree-uhl] noun, verb, -oled, -ol·ing or ( especially British ) -olled, -ol·ling.
–noun
1. Chemistry . any of certain metallic sulfates of glassy appearance, as copper sulfate or blue vitriol, iron sulfate or green vitriol, zinc sulfate or white vitriol, etc.
2. oil of vitriol; sulfuric acid.
3. something highly caustic or severe in effect, as criticism.
Got Vitriol?
I’ve been seeing a lot about vitriol lately. I always liked the word. I think I first stumbled upon it in high school. In those days I was always seeking words that would make me appear sophisticated- not such a difficult feat in my hick town. Lately I’ve been hearing the word so often that I seem to be fixated on vitriol.
What’s the fuss?
If you look at the meaning :Vitriol – acidic, caustic, it doesn’t seem so bad. Why all the fuss? What is so bad about vitriol? Here is this Coot’s take. I say that vitriol has gotten a bad rap. Vitriol is something to value and encourage because vitriol is the mother’s milk of American politics.
It’s really about growing up!
There has been a lot of hot air dissing vitriol lately. And that’s all it is, just hot air! It is all BS because vitriol is merely a highfalutin word for insults. Those vitriol-dissing pussies are moaning and whining about somebody calling them names. Where did these mama’s boys and girls grow up? In their mama’s apron pocket? Didn’t they ever go to school wearing that embarrassing shirt from Aunt Agnes? Did they somehow miss facing the peer review of their classmates? Didn’t they learn to deal with it and move on? Didn’t they grow up? Apparently not!
America raises wimps.
OK, I get it. The wimps that are complaining about vitriol grew up in the new America- the one where everybody has a God given right to feel good about themselves and bullying is illegal. Back in the frontier days when I grew up, you had to be tough. There weren’t any laws saying that you had to feel good about yourself or else somebody would pay. The nanny state was still a dream in those days. If you wanted to feel good about yourself, it was all up to you to make it happen. Even your mamma couldn’t do it for you. And if she was worth her salt, she wouldn’t think of it.
We used to take it- and give it back
In those old days there was a system. You gave back what you received. You learned that sobbing and whimpering didn’t get you much.
Sobbing and whimpering only convinced your tormentors that they were right – and all the bystanders as well.
If you wanted to survive in those primitive days, you honed your verbal skills, you toughened your fists and you turned everything right back on your tormentors. And then you felt good about yourself!
Today, self reliance is considered mean.
These days, the only thing worse than being a bully is fighting back. Win or lose, the nanny state frowns on any uncivil discourse or worse physical abuse. Victim or bully are equally punished in our modern enlightened America.
It all started in the schools where education has long been abandoned in favor of self-esteem no matter how little you actually deserve it. Now that the products of this coddling are entering adult life, they can’t believe that perfect little bubble of self worship doesn’t protect them now they they have left the education system. Since they never developed defensive skills either physical or verbal, they are reduced to blubbering inanities and demanding that the nanny state protect them in the real world just like it did in school. What can I say? Those sniveling, whining cowards are dedicated to destroying what is left of the American way. All in the name of ending vitriol. Well, I say bullshit! @##& too.
So I say ‘Up with vitriol!’
I say a little vitriol is good for the soul; keeps a man on his toes both verbally and physically; and oils the skids of a diverse, dynamic, creative country- like we used to have here in the USA. Vitriol is the mothers milk of a vibrant democracy and democracy is no place for wimps. They belong somewhere else- maybe back in the USSR with John Lennon. Take a good look at anybody you see disparaging vitriol and you will see an enemy of democracy and free speech. It doesn’t matter whether they are red or blue, R or D. They are nothing but wimps and wimps are determined to destroy this country, its traditions and freedom just so that they can feel good about themselves. Don’t let them get away with it!
Click the link below if you are still vitriol impaired
So let your fangs out and savor vitriol. Enjoy its caustic tang when you are the recipient and then spew it right back. Remember what your mother told you (This is an exception to Coots Lesson One). Names can never hurt you. The only thing that can hurt you is making it illegal to insult someone. Don’t laugh., We are almost there.
