Ryan Osentowski – Page 12 – The Conservative Blind Guy

The Whopper

I was kind of running on empty this morning due to the beer I drank last night… And then I ate a Whopper.

I’m not gonna lie. The Whopper is probably my favorite fast food burger out there. The Big Mac is vastly overrated. Who wants an extra slice of bread in there!? Wendy’s Baconator is pretty damn good, but it sits in your gut like a lead brick for three days after you surround it. I do enjoy the Super Sonic burger, but until self-driving cars become a reality, I don’t get there very much. Hardy’s (Carl’s Jr. on the left coast) and Jack in the Box were both forgettable when I had them.

So, that leaves us with the Whopper. I put it in my mouth and am treated to a veritable starburst of taste sensations. The chewy sesame seed bun, the smooth, warm melted cheese, the crunch of lettuce, tangy pickles and brisk onions, the sweet, juicy tomato, the flame-broiled meat patty, and finally… The cool chaser of ketchup and mayo.

Who needs Jesus Christ when you can have a Whopper? In fact, at my funeral, don’t worry about my Sunday best. Just place a Whopper under my head and send the coffin downward. Be happy in the knowledge that I am in that great big drive-through in the sky, ordering a Whopper to go while some big-boned beauty is offering to lick the ketchup off my chin. Instead of the blind man in the bleachers, think of the big blind daddy in the Porshe.

Of course, with my luck, my spirit will go the same direction as my coffin. I’ll be in hell, where I’m in an Uber driven by a guy named Ahmed, who clearly has better things to do with his time. If we’re lucky enough to find the Burger King, the speaker will have a short, the lady taking my order won’t speak English, the cook will be a stoner who fixes it on a stale bun and forgets the extra cheese and the mayo, and Ahmed will drive away before I can check the bag to make sure they remembered the fries, which are better at McDonald’s anyway but I wanted them.

DAMN IT!!! I’m getting in a bad mood again thinking about this scenario. But I just burped and tasted that Whopper again. I feel better. Aahhhhh!!!

Put This On Your Cake and Frost It!

This article was originally posted on my Facebook page two years ago. I think it is worthy of preservation.

So yeah…gay marriage.

Almost a week ago, the Supreme Court made it’s decision. I knew it was coming and warned my fellow conservatives to prepare themselves. I’m not a know-it-all. It wasn’t hard to read the political tea leaves. Justice Kennedy and Ted Olson validated my thinking that we have reached a place in our culture where emotionalism holds sway over sound logic in the realm of public policy. Still, there is no point in debating the merits (or lack there of) of the legality of gay marriage, so we’re not going to do it here.

Let’s turn then to the religious side of it. I think it’s important that we do so, for the church will serve as the final battleground for this issue. Those who preach tolerance of the homosexual lifestyle while simultaneously castegating Christians who respectfully express descent will eventually be coming after them in the courts as well. Given recent trends, there’s no reason to think they won’t be successful in suppressing the Christian view of traditional marriage.

I’ve heard three arguments from Christians who support same-sex marriage that I feel deserve a response:

1. This is best summed up by an acquaintance on Twitter. Last Friday she tweeted, “Love is love is love.”

This is the most ridiculous argument I’ve ever heard, Yet, it is the most emotionally persuasive propegated by the media, gay activists and by opportunistic politicians; many of whom held the opposing view until it became politically convenient to shift with the social wind (Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, etc.)

Love is love is love? Really? Implicit in this circular argument is the notion that God is the essence of perfect love. God loves everyone, no matter who they are or what they do. Therefore, God either approves of their actions, or will at least forgive them regardless of their intent. This chooses to ignore the many portions of scripture that illustrate that God is also angry and just. Rather than site passage after passage that bolsters this argument, I will merely ask a question for my post modernist Christian followers. Please site for me any passage in which God encourages his children to sin.

That leads me to:

2. “I have no right to judge gay marriage, because everyone sins.”

Yes, we are all sinners living in a fallen world. Yes, gay people deserve our prayer, compassion, respect and love. Yes, God is the ultimate judge. That said, can any of you post modern Christians name a sin that is socially celebrated? When someone commits adultery, do we throw him/her a public party complete with photographer, cake and fancy clothing? Do we celebrate and encourage murderers, thieves, rapests, etc?

Marco Rubio was recently asked if he would attend a gay wedding. His answer (paraphrased) was, “Yes, just as I would attend the second wedding of a friend who had previously been divorced.” This is a spurious argument. When you attend someone’s second or eighth wedding, you are not celebrating the fact that they are divorced. You are celebrating their new marriage in the hopes that it will not also end in divorce.

One of the central tennants of Christianity is that of forgiveness. This was recently reinforced by relatives of the victims of the massacre at Emanuel Church in Charleston, when they rose in court and publicly forgave the shooter. This was an incredible act! What do you think would happen if Christians said to gay people, “We forgive you, rather than, “God condemns all gay people to hell.”

3. “God created animals. Animals engage in homosexual behavior. So…”

This is also a laughable argument. God gave humans dominion over the Earth. Animals kill indiscriminately. They poop and pee wherever they wish. Animals engage in sex without gaining the consent of their partner or partners. They take food without asking permission. Do I really need to go on?

Look, I understand that it feels good not to be considered a narrow-minded bigot. It feels good to be loved and accepted by other people. Human love is much more tangible and gratifying than the long term love of an unseen God. Many of you post modern Christians are comfortable with your choice to embrace gay marriage and that’s fine. Ultimately, it’s between you and God. Just understand that the same forces that offered you this choice will ask you to choose again down the road. How good will it feel if you’re choice is the wrong one?

“Fuck the Po-Lice!”

Here comes another book recommendation. “The Force,” by Don Winslow. Let me say right off the bat that this is one of the best books I’ve ever read. It’s right up there with “Lonesome Dove,” “The Caine Mutiny,” “Presumed Innocent,” and “The Godfather.”

Denny Malone is a New York City cop. But he is not New York’s finest. He is corrupt and North Manhattan is his kingdom. He is not the stereotypical cop of crime fiction. He sports sleeve tattoos, loves gangsta rap, has an estranged wife and a black mistress on the side and he has a bad habit of popping Dexedrine before he goes on duty.

Malone busts his share of perps, but he also steals drugs, cash and guns from other criminals to further his own interests, along with those of his partners on an elite task force designed to combat street crime. In the book’s opening scene, Malone executes a notorious drug dealer for reasons that will eventually become clear.

Does he get away with it? Faugh! Read the book. Let’s just say that Denny will soon find that his agenda comes into conflict with those of the mafia, a ghetto drug lord, a Dominican hitman, the FBI, city politicians and, most important of all, his fellow cops.

This book is not merely a pot-boiler crime thriller. The characters are fully realized human beings, all driven by human frailties. Current events such as police shootings and the Black Lives Matter movement serve as an authentic backdrop to the plot and motivations of the characters. But most of all, this book is an honest, unvarnished look into the culture of the police force, for both good and bad. Though politics does play a role in the novel, I don’t detect an overt pro or anti-cop bias on the part of the author.

Yes, my blind friends, the book is available on audible, which means you can go ahead and pirate it like I know you’re gonna do. It is not on BARD and probably won’t be for a while, since the book was published only two weeks ago. Apparently, it is also available on Bookshare.

I Got the Conch!

Today, our college campuses are being overrun by tyranny. It’s not tyranny of the majority, which is a favorite cliché of the left. It’s tyranny of those operating outside the boundaries of conventional authority. Radical leftists (mostly students) who feel empowered by recent socio/political shifts to take the law into their own hands and trample the rights of others in the name of social justice.

We will save the debate of the erroneous concept of social justice for another time. Sufficed to say, those students have chosen to overstep their conventional boundaries as young people on a quest for knowledge and transform themselves into radical activists in pursuit of their own view of the truth. These students are happy to resort to extreme ends to achieve their goals. Said ends include the heckler’s veto; yelling down a controversial speaker until they are no longer able to continue their speech, social media bullying campaigns against unpopular figures that include profanity-laced epithets, threats of violence to squelch a speaking engagement and even violence itself.

Said incidents include, but are not limited to:

• At California State, a conservative student group invited Ben Shapiro to be a guest speaker on February 25, 2016. Students Emailed the president of the college and complained that they felt “uncomfortable” and “unsafe” at the notion of Shapiro’s speech. One student even compared the event to an undercover KKK rally. The president subsequently canceled Shapiro’s speech, but he showed up and spoke anyway. Those hoping to attend the speech were barred by angry protesters who formed human chains in an attempt to prevent people from entering the building. After the speech, students refused to let the president leave until he explained himself and demanded that he be fired.
Note: I listen to Ben Shapiro’s podcast almost daily and he is about as far from the KKK as you can get.

• In 2015, a lecturer at Yale resigned after she was harassed by students after suggesting that Halloween costumes deemed offensive or insensitive by some minority groups should not be censored. When her husband, a Sociology professor at Yale, came to her defense, he was also harassed and took an indefinite break. You can find a video on YouTube of an angry student mob confronting a Yale administrator and shouting him down.

• In March, 2017, students at Middlebury protested conservative Charles Murray’s speech on campus. He was forced to give his presentation via video feed from a private room. When he tried to leave under the escort of a liberal professor, they were set upon by an angry mob composed of students and professional agitators. They were barely able to make it to a car when the professor received whiplash and a concussion from violent assaults. Even when they tried to drive away, the mob held the car back until a path could be cleared by security guards. As of this date, the students who were identified as participants in the violence were given only reprimands.

• In 2017, Berkeley canceled a speech by Milo Yiannopoulos, after the campus erupted in violent riots that resulted in the destruction of property, including a Starbucks. Two months later, a speech by Ann Coulter was also canceled after threats of violence.

• Last week, a professor at Evergreen college in Washington was forced to leave campus and teach his class in a public park after police told him he was unsafe. This after he protested a student movement to compel all white people to leave campus for a day. As of this date, Evergreen’s administration has taken no action to resolve the situation.

I’m not including the recent student walk-out during Vice-President Pence’s commencement speech at Notre Dame in this list of transgressions, as there was no suppression of free speech during that event. It was a childish and churlish display, but it was only a display.

Why is this happening?

You will hear all sorts of explanations from the afore-mentioned social justice warriors waging a righteous battle against bigotry and inequity to the positive power of angry young people trying to change the world for the better. They are all crap.

Nothing feels better to a person in their late teens/early 20’s than a belly full of power. When spineless school administrators and sympathetic faculty demonstrate to them that they can yell, scream and break stuff in the name of a righteous cause without consequences, they will take the ball and run with it.

Another component is the scholastic environment itself. Since the 1960’s, college campuses have been ground zero for the cultural revolution. It started with sit-ins, love-ins, riots and all-around bad behavior in the name of condemning the general crime of social injustice, as well as the specific crime of the Vietnam War. Many of those students misbehaved without consequences. Many of those same students got older, but never grew up. They realized that they had won major victories in society, so they became professors and decided to seed the next generation of social justice warriors.

Yet another component are those spineless administrators, along with morally tepid politicians, who merely turn a blind eye to the problem. When violence and intimidation does erupt, they choose to sweep the larger problems under the rug in the hopes that they will go away.

So, what are the solutions for the budding problem of Orwellian totalitarianism in our institutions of supposed higher learning?

Another favored (and erroneous) cliché of the left is, “Violence never solves anything.” Sadly, the cupcake crowd didn’t get the memo. Therefore, hard lines must be drawn. Administrators must set them at the point of violence, harassment or intimidation of anyone living or visiting a college campus. No exceptions can be made on the basis of age, class, race, sexual orientation, etc.

If the passive and cowardly administrative class refuses to insure that the constitutional rights of every single person on college campuses, whether student, faculty or guest, will not be protected, then they should be called in front of their state legislative bodies, or Congress, to explain why they should continue to receive government funding? Nothing gets a bureaucrat’s attention quite like threatening his/her pocketbook.

Until the government steps in to take a closer look at this matter, the power of the lawsuit will have to reign supreme. To that end, I encourage everyone who cares about this issue to check out the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE.) I have just given them a donation and hope others will as well. For some time, they have been on the front lines of the encroaching suppression of free speech and the free exchange of ideas on American college campuses.

Folks, these incidents of suppression of free speech are but the tip of the iceberg of the problems on today’s college campuses. I haven’t even mentioned the so-called “free speech zones,” or speech codes, or safe spaces, or the curriculums themselves, or the treatment of male students accused of rape. I am not embellishing when I say that this is a deep-rooted problem in our country today.

A school teacher I know (a Democrat), said that our colleges are no longer places where critical thinking is a priority. I wholeheartedly concur. I have a niece and nephew who just graduated from high school a couple of weeks ago and I am not optimistic about their continuing education. Yes, they are white and, by the standards of higher academia, they come from privilege. Does that mean they should not be granted the same constitutional safeguards guaranteed to everyone? Do they lose all freedom when entering the university bubble? If so, it’s time to resist!

Whitewash

I was discussing the notion of white privilege with several coworkers yesterday.

One of them, who hails from Ecuador, is convinced that she faces a tide of constant discrimination in the U.S. because she is a Latina with dark skin. I chafed at the notion that white privilege is a universal concept, when another coworker jumped in.

“Yes, white privilege does exist. Societies tend to discriminate based on the lightness of one’s skin. Other cultures and countries even do it.”

I agree with this. I do think that a preference for lightness of skin is an unfortunate flaw of the species, but it’s not indigenous to white society.

I continued the discussion with yet another coworker this morning, balking at the notion of universal white privilege.

“Ryan!” he said. “You have white privilege. Accept it.”

I countered that, when people see me, they don’t see my white skin. The first thing they see is my white cane. He seemed less than convinced.

This presumption (that I encounter on my job daily) reminds me of a conversation I had with another blind woman several years ago. She grew up in the Boston ghetto (her term, not mine.) She was a white girl of Irish ancestry who was a minority amongst blacks and Hispanics. She faced a double whammy because she was also disabled.

When she was attending college, a professor told her class to write an essay explaining how white privilege had impacted their lives. She Emailed her prof and challenged her thinking, claiming that she had not benefitted from white privilege because she’d been a double minority in her neighborhood and school.

The professor’s reply was classic condescending leftist. “Sorry, Milissa. Even though you’re disabled, you still benefit from privilege.”

This lady had no inkling of Milissa’s background, yet she presumed to categorize and dismiss her out of hand.

I’m using Milissa’s name because I don’t think she’d care, by the way.

But what of this notion of privilege. My Ecuadorian coworker is probably the wealthiest person on staff where I work. She loves to wallow in her status as a victim, but she and her family live in a damn fine home. I’ve been there. What if said coworker walked into a Wendy’s restaurant, dressed in her typical upper middle class fashion, and stood in line next to a white homeless man? Would he benefit from white privilege in his treatment by the restaurant staff then?

Hell no!

If you want to talk about class privilege, I’ll listen. It’s another unfortunate flaw in the human condition that exists in every society and culture. But spare me the idea that every person with white skin gets a leg up in life.

Very Funny, Scotty! Now Beam Down My Clothes!

Here is a post that appeared on my Facebook page three years ago today. Yes, I’m a Trek nerd; at least, I used to be.

The FB Star Trek poll question of the day is, “Which character would make the best U.S. President?”

Here’s my answer, plus a few bonuses:

James T. Kirk as president. He never met a skirt he didn’t like, but that’s not really a disqualification anymore. Besides, he’s tough, honest and knows how to quote the Constitution.

Janeway as Vice-President. Because the VP can be useless and get away with it. Plus, she’s the only female with whom Kirk can be trusted.

Data as Secretary of Treasury. He’d solve our debt crisis in a matter of days.

Picard as Secretary of State. The French make good diplomats, but he and Kirk could outthink Putin together. More important, Picard could probably have the Israelis and Palestinians singing and holding hands within a year’s time.

Worf as Secretary of Defense, for obvious reasons. Kirk will need that Klingon bastard if Picard fails.

Spock as Attorney General. Does anyone doubt that he would apply the law logically, but with just the right measure of compassion? And he’s the best one to have Kirk’s back when all of those sexual harassment lawsuits start rolling in.

Beverley Crusher as Secretary of Health and Human Services. I love Bones, but he’d make a lousy politician.

Sisko as National Security Advisor since he’s got a lot of war experience.

Sulu as the outspoken gay lobbyist whom everyone pays lip service to when he’s in the room, but then express their annoyance with when he leaves. Captain Archer can be Sulu’s poster boy for the inevitable repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

Odo as both the Speaker of the House and Senate Majority Leader, representing both parties. He’s the consummate politician who can change his shape to fit the moment.

Deanna Troi as the only journalist who can get an interview with President Kirk.

Riker as the leader of a group of anti government extremists who stage a coup against Kirk. Riker’s surface reasons are government over-reach, but he’s really motivated by jealousy over the Troi interview. In his words, “An interview doesn’t take four hours, and why were the cameras turned off after 20 minutes!”

Wesley Crusher as Edward Snowden’s successor. Picard will fake tears when Kirk has him executed for treason, but will celebrate privately with a bottle of, “The old.”

Jadzia Dax as the spokesperson for the mentally ill. Her tagline is, “Sometimes, I feel like there’s someone else living inside me.”

Updated additions:
Pavel Chekov as Secretary of Transportation. Of course we’re going to use the Walter Koenig version from the prime timeline… Because we’re sensitive to Anton Yelchin’s memory. Not to mention the fact that Putin won’t be as tempted by an American imitating a Russian, rather than the genuine article.

Chakotay as the leader of a radical environmentalist group who attempt to sabotage the Dakota Access Pipeline. The cast from those ridiculous reboot movies as his ragtag followers who eventually die of exposure after an outdoor 4/20 celebration. Chakotay dies with the words, “The science is settled,” on his lips. When Spock sees a YouTube video of this, he laughs for the first time.

The Borg Queen as a professor of women’s studies at the University of California at Berkeley. Seven of Nine as a professor injured in a riot during a speech by Secretary Worf, who disperses the riot single-handed.

Geordi as the man who invents a self-driving car that actually works.

Q as an omniscient being who plays a cruel joke on America by causing two airliners to collide over a quiet neighborhood in Albuquerque.

Enjoy Your Meal

Folks, I want to thank all of the anonymous, well-intentioned people who have paid for my meals at restaurants over the years. I know you were just trying to “pay it forward.”

But it’s not necessary.

There are many people in this world who could use a free meal. College kids who are working on a degree. Post grads who are struggling to pay back their student loans. Service men and women who want to save that extra bit of cash for their families. Cops, teachers, nurses and others who keep our community vibrant. Single parents who put food in the mouths of their kids before feeding themselves. The list goes on and on.

Just because I’m blind doesn’t mean that I need your charity. I work for a living and have been doing so for almost three years now. If you could see a photo of me, you’d be well aware that I ain’t starvin’.

Many blind people like myself are gainfully employed and should be the ones who are paying it forward. Some are trying to find work and have not succeeded. Others choose not to work. Yet, how strange that most blind people I know seem to be able to afford those shiny toys that they don’t really need, regardless of their income levels.

Nah, folks. If you want to buy a meal for a stranger, do it for someone who truly needs and deserves it. But, if you really have a compulsory need to spend money on me, send me a box of cigars.

A Bold, Fresh Piece of… Somethin’

Bill O’Reilly is history and I have no sympathy. He made his bed and now he’s gonna have to lie in it.

Fox News announced today that they are cutting ties with the king of cable news punditry after a series of high profile sexual harassment suit settlements came to light. In the wake of Roger Ailes’ departure, this doesn’t surprise me. O’Reilly settled his first major lawsuit in 2004 and common sense should’ve told him to curb his appetite. Yet, sexual predators are strangers to common sense. Just ask Bill Clinton.

A large plank in O’Reilly’s platform was the upholding of family values. This is illustrated in his book, “The O’Reilly Factor,” in which he urges his readers to control their impulses, lest the reverse should occur. He purported to serve as a warning messenger, but as it turned out, he was speaking from experience.

In fairness, I was a fan of O’Reilly throughout the Bush years. I found his traditional spin to be refreshing, even if he often stepped on those who disagreed with him (particularly women) a little too harshly for my liking. I did admire his push to make Jessica’s Law, which would force judges to hand out strict mandatory minimum sentences to those who were convicted child molesters, a reality in all 50 states. I also agreed with his views on immigration, pot legalization, foreign policy and religious liberty.

Yet, as the years wore on, his skin seemed to grow thinner, particularly after Obama was elected. In 2010, O’Reilly appeared on The View and engaged in a debate with the hosts that resulted in Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar angrily storming off stage. View viewers saw it once, but the audience of the Factor got to see it over and over and over again, as O’Reilly paraded guests on to analyze the walk-out from every angle.

At his best, O’Reilly was a patriot who championed America and traditional values. At his worst, he was a flagrant self-promoter and a bully who’s catch phrase, “No spin,” was merely code for O’Reilly spin. If you doubt it, just YouTube any of his interviews with Donald Trump.

So, O’Reilly is gone and the jury is out as to whether or not his brand image will recover. In the meantime, lefties across the board are cheering and raising a jar to his apparent demise. If you secular-progressives will pardon me for pissing on your parade, I have a question. Who did you vote for last November. Was it the woman who enabled another sexual predator to operate at the highest levels of power for decades?

Sure, O’Reilly’s downfall serves as another nail in the coffin of social conservatism. In the wake of Trump, we’ve earned it and we’re going to have to live with it. But while you’re dialing up your hypocrite meters, let us not forget that the party that champions feminism, and that claims that every woman who accuses a man of sexual assault has the right to be believed, is the party of Bill Clinton, Anthony Weiner and the late Ted Kennedy.

Hypocrisy runs both ways and human weakness is non-partisan.

The Big Mushroom

Lets see a show of hands. Would you guys rather read/hear me talk about Syria, or Gorsuch?

Hands up high! Get’em up there! Keep’em up!

And the winner is… Syria!

Sorry to say it, but my FB page is not a Democracy. It’s a dictatorship. A benevolent dictatorship to be sure, but a dictatorship none the less. So, it’s Gorsuch.

Politics is nothing more than gamesmanship. You Mr. Smith Goes to Washington types may wring your hands at this fact, but there it is. We don’t play for points on a scoreboard or for cash on the table. We play for power.

Okay, so sometimes, money under the table achieves the same ends, but never mind.

Anyway, he who controls the board, makes the rules, or breaks them if he/she so chooses. Last November, the GOP won the White House, thereby giving us control of all three chambers of the legislative body in D.C. Many leftist conspiracy nutjobs think the American people were doing Putin’s bidding, but it looks as if we just gave Vlad 60 big party poppers that spell, “Kiss my ugly American ass!” There goes that theory.

Now, I know that leftist narrative number one was, “Republicans stole Garland’s seat!” I know that liberals will have no truck with logic, but I’ll try to spell it out anyway. You can’t steal something that never belonged to the other party. No, McConnell never gave Garland a hearing, but he wasn’t entitled to one. I feel absolutely no guilt over this fact because I have zero doubt that, if the situation had been reversed, Democrats would’ve played the exact same game. Senator Biden told me so in 1992.

So, the GOP invoked the Reid Rule. In other words, we nuked the Dems and while we bask in the glow of the great big mushroom cloud over Capitol Hill and wait for the tables to turn so the Dems can forget their outrage and do it to us, I will celebrate the fact that Scalia’s seat has finally been filled, thereby restoring the court to a healthy balance. This is a good thing, but good is a mere byproduct of the game.

I know many of you slacktivists will switch to leftie narrative number two; “Gorsuch is an illegitimate judge! Resist! Resist!” You’ll get up a big, righteous, progressive stiffie and the media will lather up their hands with a palm full of lotion and jerk you to fruition. Isn’t it interesting that, when the Tea Party were the ones engaging in resistance, the media put on a steel wool glove before administering their handjob? Oh well.

Yes, Mom, I know you’re reading this. I know I’m being uncouth and tactless, but I also know you’re laughing inside even as you grimace. It’s like that time I took one of Dad’s barbecue ribs and pretended to shave with it. You acted mad, but I could tell you were grinning behind the anger.

My final thought is this. If only McConnell and Schumer would’ve just cracked a Pepsi together, all of this could’ve been avoided. What about Trump and Putin? Putin seems like a Mountain Dew kind of guy.

Never mind. I don’t think it would be wise for The Donald to accept any drinks offered by Putin for a long, long time.

Remembrance of a Branded Man

Merle Haggard passed away one year ago today. This is what I wrote as a memorial to him on my Facebook page:

“I never been nobody’s idol,
but at least I’ve got a title.
And I take a lot of pride in what I am.”

RIP, Merle Haggard.

He was that rare breed of country music performer who was completely authentic, because he lived the life that was in his lyrics. When he sang about prison, he was credible because he’d done time. When he sang about poverty, you believed him because he grew up during the Great Depression. When he excoriated the anti-war crowd, he was persuasive because he was a patriot, in spite of running afoul of the system.

He did not sugar-coat the heartaches and the failures that are so common to the journey of life; as do the country singers of today. He pulled them out from under his bed and revealed them to us, and we all listened together with earnest intensity. We laughed, we loved, we wept and we hoped for something better, because we realized that we were listening to a great teacher who himself had been a tragic student in the school of human pain.

Thank you, Merle, for all you have given to the world of country music. You can go on now, brother, and sing me back home when you get there.