I Got It Honestly

Just for your information, I get a lot of emails about these blogs I write. I suppose many readers would rather send an email than make a public comment to be published here and I can certainly understand that. Sometimes the email I get explains the rest of the story about whatever or whoever I wrote about. Many times I already knew the rest of the story anyway. But the rest of the story may sometimes be something that may not cast the person I am writing about in the best light.

But sometimes the rest of the story is very funny. So I have been tempted to add an epilogue or two.

But as I’m sure you have noticed I try to cast the people and places I write about in the best light. There are definitely two sides to every coin. I choose to just show you the shiny side.

By the way, I got it honestly.

I have sat (or stood) through a whole lot of funerals in my life. If there is ever a place where only the shiny side of the coin is shown it would be at a funeral. I have witnessed a few exceptions but for the most part the minister chooses to talk about the positive things about the honored person of the hour. For instance, I don’t think I’ve ever heard a minister talk about the deceased’s past girlfriends or his mistress or that he routinely cheated on his income taxes or the fact that he loved to use profanity and enjoyed getting drunk and wouldn’t pay Jesus Christ. I always noticed that ministers mostly leave that stuff out.

It never mattered that everybody in the congregation knew all that stuff. It was just better left unsaid. And it is not difficult to think of a few nice things to say about any person.

The challenge I always had was when the minister went too far in his quest to say nice things. I’ve been to way too many funerals when people in the audience were looking at each other with puzzled looks during the funeral service and asking if they were at the right funeral. (There have been a few times when I thought I saw the dead man look up to see if he was at the right funeral). I have definitely heard a few preachers get carried away and stretch the truth a little bit. In fact I’ll just go ahead and say it. They lied like a rug in front of God and everybody. The problem with that was everybody there knew they were lying.

But they just preached them right straight into the pearly gates anyway.

But in spite of the preachers who got carried away, I did learn through the years that every person who ever lived brings something positive to the dance. And there are lessons to be learned from his or her life.

And that is exactly what I try to do here. With full knowledge that there are two sides to every coin and no person is close to perfect, I have chosen to just talk about the shiny side. Some things are just better left unsaid.

Like I said, I got in honestly.