Politics:
“I’m not a crook,” Nixon said resignedly.

Medicine:
“I need an injection,” Tom pleaded in vain.

The Environment:
“Save the whales,” spouted Tom.

.           .           .

They were corny:
“Parsley, sage, rosemary,” said Tom timelessly.

They were catchy:
“My oar is broken,” said Tom robustly.

Sometimes risque:
“We did it twice last night,” she relayed.

Occasionally obscure:
“I dropped the toothpaste,” signaled Tom, crestfallen.

Always clever, to be sure:
“That’s the last time I’ll stick my arm in a lion’s mouth,”
the lion-tamer said off-handedly.

And sometimes, just downright brilliant:
“Whenever I put on my scuba gear, I get pins and needles,” said Tom divertingly.

Or even MORE brilliant:
“I’m going to end it all,” Sue sighed.

It was worth the time to simply bring them back into momentary focus for your (and of course, my) enjoyment. My final word to you all regarding this shelved-too-early art form?

“Elvis is dead,” said Tom expressly.

LET THE SWIFTING BEGIN.

There’s more. Those not thrilled with the landlocked approach are constructing – at a secret, hidden location, mind you – arks for the purpose of sailing away into the sunset when life on the land mass becomes unbearable. Yes, I did say ARKS.  Being a claustrophobe, I much prefer the latter alternative. Like it matters. Last time I checked, I wasn’t on any paranoid billionaire’s short list. Surprise me.

This wasn’t really what I wanted to talk about. This discussion, which amounted mostly to Bobbi talking and me nodding my head (carefully), led to me revealing my long held theory regarding the popularity of western movies among Baby Boomers and Before-Baby Boomers. I love Westerns. Far more than I did as a kid, even. I have noticed that this is, in fact, a widely held preference among my peers, contemporaries, and that small remnant of my family that still walks this earth. Male or female. Well-off or not-so. Intellectual or not-so.  We all love Westerns. You know why?

Clarity.

Clint Eastwood, like John Wayne before him, and like every tough guy that ever sat a celluloid saddle, knows what his options are. The issues are clear, the outcome straightforward. And although even Westerns of late have managed to blur the contrast between the black hats and the white hats, we can still depend on the average Oater to provide a welcome measure of that which has eluded us in real life of late.

Yup. Clarity. And let’s not forget rugged individualism. NOTE: I’m reminded here of a line that a dear departed friend of mine used to throw out at an occasional poker game or all-night RISK tournament: “There were no masses in Dodge City.”

Clarity. Rugged Individualism. A dash of simplicity.  And a little less awareness of what is going on in the world EVERY SECOND OF EVERY MINUTE OF EVERY DAY.

And before some of you jump on that one, I am a big fan of awareness. I just think that a little less would do a lot of us some serious good. I do appreciate the fact that clarity and individualism and simplicity and escape from the sometimes deafening soundtrack of our lives are still is available to us – if only just in the stories we prefer to snuggle up with.

That’s it. That’s all. Happy Trails.

He made me think. He encouraged me (an admittedly lapsed child of the sixties) to continue questioning authority and to question in general. He pushed my buttons and by doing so got me to take a hard look at exactly what I believe and why I believe it. He was never really nice about it, but he made me admire him. He made me laugh, too. He made me want to be better, and smarter, and more genuine. He was, in fact, one of the truly great thinkers of our age and we need a lot more like him to push and snark us out of our comfort (coma) zones. Because we are getting all too comfortable with things we should not be comfortable with – hypocrisy, mendacity and mediocrity…to name a few.

I miss him already.

“The best thing for being sad is to learn something.  That is the only thing that never fails.  You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds.  There is only one thing for it then – to learn.  Learn why the world wags and what wags it.  That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting.”

- T.H.White

Pick up a newspaper. Listen to five minutes (or less) of televised news. Consider our endangered environment. Just ask someone (anyone) how they’re doing today. It ain’t all roses and chuckles out there.

No shortage of advice on what to do about it either. But there are some simple ways to battle the malaise. See above.

Accompanying the learning of something? Exploration. Discovery. Challenge. Growth. Involvement. Pick one or all of these options and you’re snapping out of it already. Suggestions? Of course, I do.

Teach. Personally, I find that teaching a client how starting a blog or a newsletter can establish and differentiate them as a thought leader in this “Everybody’s an expert or at least claim to be” business arena is the height of learning — on a number of levels. It’s been said that you don’t reallyknow something until you can teach it (or explain it clearly) to someone else.

Read… while you’re on the elliptical or the treadmill or the stationary bike. And choose somethingdifferent. If you usually (or exclusively) read non-fiction, try fiction this time around. (Yes, reality purists, you can learn something from fiction.) Just do it. Just read. I’m not a snob about literacy (or the lack thereof), but encountering individuals who wear their lack of reading experience like a badge of honor truly saddens me.

Take a class.

Take a train ride to anywhere. (Well, almost anywhere. Some places really don’t need going to. Your call.)

ON THE BUSINESS END:

Audit your competition’s web site.

Take a web term or concept that you have no clue about and make it your business to define it and master it and apply it for your purposes.

Brave the opposite – go to a site or source that represents an area you don’t typically travel in, e.g. if you’re an accountant, go to a psychic network site. If you’re an artist, visit an insurance brokerage site. Mathematician? Play Scrabble online. Use Monty Python as your cue…”And Now For Something Completely Different.” Perspective can be a wondrous thing. Cultivate your  “renaissance man” instincts.

Challenge yourself to discover something. Explore something. Learn something. Appreciate the way another individual at the opposite of the spectrum speaks to their clientele, their prospective clientele and gets the word out to the world at large…and always, always, always, take away what you can use to further your entrepreneurial efforts and/or improve your life.

You’ll feel better.

Creativity. Clarity. Connection. To make your business work, you’ve got to make a critical connection – with your clients, your employees, your potential end-user. You need to communicate – clearly, creatively and compellingly – the distinctive aspects and advantages of your particular product or service.

The Simmons Group is a marketing communications firm that specializes in crafting compelling content, brand strategies and collateral –web sites to white papers, articles to ads, media kits to media networks — that engage and impact your target audience. In short, we help you tell your story, sell your product, grow your business…and we back our efforts with the resources, skills and savvy born of more than 50 years of cumulative experience in all things creative.

“There will be time, there will be time

To prepare a face to meet the faces  that you meet;

There will be time to murder and create,

And time for all the works and days of hands

That lift and drop a question on your plate;

Time for you and time for me,

And  time yet for a hundred indecisions,

And for a hundred visions and  revisions,

Before the taking of a toast and tea.”

Some of you will recognize this as an excerpt from “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot. Some of you won’t — and that’s OK…really. No poetry snob, me.

I simply wanted to throw it out there as a kind of end-of-the-year conversation spark…because we all find ourselves at one time or another — frequently at year’s end — questioning whether or not we’re running out of time. Seems there’s never enough of it. And if you’re a late bloomer to this dream actualization thing like I am — having phoned in more years than I’d care to admit to while immersed in what I whimsically refer to as a corporate coma — you might frequently pose the question “Do I have enough time to pull it off?”

In a short span of time, I’ve started my own business; seen it succeed; made it grow; written a book (and almost completed another); opened up more doors to my talents and potential than I ever thought possible. But I can never shake the notion that I’m still catching up…that I’m doing now what I should have done decades ago…that I’m never going to have as much time as I need to dare and develop all those things dreamed of in my newly enlightened state.

Sound like someone you might know?

It’s been a difficult, trying, challenging  year for all of us. A dream squasher of a year in many respects, and many of us are questioning ourselves and doubting ourselves and thinking maybe it’s best that we back off a little and hold on to what we’ve got. Can’t argue with counting your blessings. But that doesn’t mean you ignore the options and opportunities and new dreams available out there, either.

“Do I dare disturb the universe?”

In a minute there is time

For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.”

The answer is yes. Disturb the universe. Remember how you got here and make a promise to move forward. Dare to keep challenging and questioning and achieving. There’s time for it all.

“When you’re a child, the world is full of shiny things — arrowheads and anthills, tiny skulls and frogs eggs, gopher holes and bottle caps, snakeskins, and polliwogs and strange, cool artifacts that came from outer space (maybe). You can’t grab them, touch them, taste them fast enough. Wonder is part of your daily routine.

As you grow older, you realize the true power of shiny things. The power to distract and deflect and seduce. The power to empower transcendence. The power to rob you of yourself. The power to elicit joy and madness, hope and despair, rage and resolution.”

Experience the power. CREEK SONGS (and Other Seductions), by Scot A. Simmons. New from Being Point Press.

 That’s what separates us genetically from a creature that is as happy in the trees as he is on land, whose upper body strength is more than five times that of a man, and whose powerful jaws could take your hand off with a single bite. A creature that came before us and still shares our world. A creature we traditionally relegate to circus tents, jungle movies, zoos, and, yes, “research” labs.

The creature that is the titular subject of the novel Mr. Coleman by Scot A. Simmons – a chimpanzee.