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2009
Soap Box Archives Simplicity The world of today is a pressure cooker and if you look at only the bad news you may as well get yourself a one-way ticket to the nut house. We are so inundated with acts of violence, a failing economy, the weak housing market, out of control government spending and all the rest that, if we don't just put down the newspaper and turn off the TV once in a while we could become permanently depressed. I use this column to air my opinions and the things that are on my mind and being someone who deeply cares about the future of our children and our nation, I write a lot about the things that I feel have an adverse effect on them. But I've decided that I'm going to dwell on the positive parts of my life for a while. For instance: Hazel's flowers are the prettiest I ever remember them. We've had a wet spring in Tennessee and the multicolored rose bushes and the white hydrangeas and yellow Stella day lilies against the background of the lush hardwood trees and the green grass is just about breathtaking. We keep a special type of bird feeder and little yellow finches flit around the backyard and sing in the red maple tree just off the side porch. The grass is ankle high and my cows and horses look fat and prosperous and the yearling colts, separated from their mothers, frolic around the big pen at the bottom of the hill, showing off for each other and the world. Sometimes I see a brilliantly colored hummingbird about the size of a bumble bee hovering like a tiny helicopter over the flowering bushes and a red tail hawk sails lazily on the balmy afternoon currents surveying his kingdom from way up there. Sometimes at night we sit on the upstairs porch and look out across the valley at the fireflies and listen to the night critters and if a full moon happens to be shining, it's all bright and silver looking. The bullfrogs at the big pond at the bottom of the hill add a bass voice to the soprano of the katydids and the baritone of the tree frogs. It seems that the older I get the more I enjoy spending time with my son, the more I enjoy tickling babies and hearing that innocent, totally unpretentious cackle, the more I like walking outside with a cup of tea while the sun is coming up. I love to listen to the rain on our tin roof and marvel at the awesome lightshow of a late night thunderstorm. There is so much around us to appreciate and many times we refuse to take the time to look and listen. But the fact remains that regardless of what the President and Congress do, no matter what war is going on or what the stock market is doing, God is still in His Heaven and His Earth is still a beautiful place. What do you think? Pray for our troops, and for our country God Bless America Charlie Daniels
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