Forgive the length... I'm verbose, what can I say?

I just got back from a buddy's funeral. I hadn't seen him in a while, but I wanted to be there to support his family, especially his sister whom I'm in a show with nowadays.

Sad as his passing was, I didn't expect the service to hit me nearly as hard as it did.

Jason was in RING OF FIRE on Broadway and several of his cast mates came down. They did some pick'in and grin'in some of those awesome old gospel tunes we all love. Amazing musicians and singers, it was gorgeous. And suddenly, the waterworks started for me. Now, I'm not a cryer.  I don't say that to pretend to be tough, in fact it's something I don't like about myself. Hell, a good cry now and then is awesome, frankly. But I hadn't cried since my Dad's funeral four years ago.

Suddenly I saw his parents, both in their nineties... SO feeble, so pitiful... they just lost their boy, clearly devastated and BAM, I freakin' lost it. I was embarrassed, frankly. I kept thinking, what the hell is wrong with you?!?!?! I also realized my teeth were clenched, my shoulders were (and had been) tight as a rock with stress lately... it felt like a ton of bricks. It was RIDICULOUS!

And I realized... this ain't just about Jason, or his parents... or his sister. This is a culmination of a lot of things I've absorbed lately. SO much effing bad news; the school bus in Chattanooga, those freaking devastating videos people are sharing of the children of Alepo, our beautiful mountains are on fire, many of my friends are very scared about the next four years, our nation's standing in the world today... Bama's still Bama. ;-)

Additionally, the animosity, the division, the verbal provocation (which yours truly is very guilty of) we pretend is "debate"... that stuff doesn't evaporate after you hit the post button.   It's like another sheet of paper on an already large heavy pile. It has an impact on the doer, probably moreso, actually, than on the receiver. It can sometimes leave a real stank. And while many of us have very different viewpoints and things that are important to us, the instant "dismissal" or roll of the eyes to the other man's concern serves no one, even the eye roller. What HAS to be acknowledged is that the weight of the concerns many of my colleagues feel is likely just as heavy as those for our political/philosophical adversary. Y'all on the right have expressed that for eight years now. It's hard to see the legitimacy sometimes, as is for you for our fears & concerns, but that doesn't make any of us less genuine in what is basically driving us all to our echo chambers and corners.

Okay, so I'll try to wrap this up. I've respected this message board for a long time, and the main reason is, most of you folks, unlike other political forums, you've got a high level of educated & intelligent contributors here. Yeah, it gets snarky (guilty as charged, apologies UFNY, I admit it) but overall, you're all some damn good, highly intelligent folk and I appreciate ya. We all have the same love for our country and kids, we all care... and sometimes winning a stupid online debate is likely just about the lamest brass ring we could possibly put such emphasis on. So, that's it. I'm gonna try to induce my own 12 step program to stop literally searching for my next outrage, many of us need that... try to spend less time on the interwebs (facebook is GONE), run the dogs, do a jigsaw puzzle with my girl, give West World a try... and try to follow Aaron Burr's advice to Mr. Hamilton, "Talk less, smile more". I suggest lots of us do the same.

You're goods folks, every damn one of yuz!  Sorry for the length and have an AWESOME Thanksgiving.

yer pal,

VOLveeta