Sidetracked Charley

Elizabeth Swann - Pirate King A friend of mine who is trying to find her level of peace in a new and alien environment she chose wrote recently of closeting herself in her room with re-runs of Frazer, the television sitcom of the past. I bought a DVD set of the old Bonanza series. Good always trumped evil in the old west of Ben and his three boys; Hoss, Little Joe and Adam. I also recently re-watched the Pirates of the Caribbean trio of films. At Worlds End is by far my favorite for any number of reasons beginning with Johnny Depp and continuing on to Elizabeth Swann - Pirate King! But I particularly like one of the closing scenes where Becket, the evil commercially driven leader, tharns out and goes down with his shredded ship. I find a great deal of hope in that image and image my contractor as Becket. Which all leads to my conclusion that film and television are our modern myths. Chose the right mythical icons and they can give you hope and inner strength. Choose the wrong ones a...

As a child I was overly fond of stories with lessons or morals. My reading matter included Greek and Roman myths, the Tales of Uncle Remus (African/American folk tales compiled by Joel Chandler Harris) and the fables of Aesop. Of my favorites of Aesop fables was The Fox and the Grapes vied with The Ant and the Grasshopper for first place. I was seldom, when left alone, without one of these classic tales running through my head. I put my adults into various roles among my favorite moral tales. Dad was almost always Brer Rabbit. I quite frankly saw my mother as the ant and my father as the grasshopper. This parallel was clearly evident when we lived in the farm north of Kansas City which is probably now the main runway of the airport there. I frankly confess I always thought of myself as a grasshopper. Until recently that is. I have noticed the hideous snows of the last few years (and the touted pandemic) has made me into more of a grasshopper than I at times find comfortable. Or was a...