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Good Morning Digital Neighbors! How about another week visiting the fun world of Oxymoronica? How about some morning quotes from the Friar and commentary with your morning or mid day beverages? YIPPIE SKIPPIE!!!🤣

Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them. - Paul Valery

Some things never change. Back in the 80's there were numerous complaints about lobbyist and special interest groups, you usually only heard about them during election season and when the media wanted to do a hit piece on a particular politician (90% of the time Republican and only 10% the inescapable Democratic scandal.) In our post-2020 world politicians seem even more disconnected from the populace. They are the Lords & Ladies and we the plebs need to be appreciative of what they do for us. "Fighting for you in Congress every day!" 💩🗣️

Since so much of the populace is too lazy or too self-involved to even vote, I can only hope that something like term limits and age limits might one day be put in place. I am not holding my breath. Too many in the States are happy with what they think is a caretaker system rather than being engaged in the life of the State themselves. The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men. - Plato That quote seems more true than it ever has in the past.

Every reform, however necessary, will by weak minds be carried to excess, that itself will need reforming. - Samuel Taylor Coleridge

I am a big fan of reform, personal, familial, relationally, communal and societal. The easiest to pursue is personal and relational in my humble estimation. Good friends are open to change and hopeful growth in their relationship with you. Friends that grow together often end up being the ones who are there for the long haul, sometimes for a lifetime. We are blessed if we find one or two of them on our pilgrimage. Ones that come along late in life are a real boon, you get to share with one another all the stories they weren't part of experiencing.

Familial & Societal are the most difficult areas to reform or renew. Often times the dynamics of families are set in stone and for those in comfort or authority there is no desire to question the norm or change the situation. The toxic breathers don't mind the emotional or mental pollution, and if you aren't one of them, reform or removal is often the only recourse if you don't want to face inevitable suffocation. Reforming family dynamics is a battle of love and frustration, if you really don't love them you will be greatly frustrated. EVEN if you do love, them, you may in the end have to go the route of removal for your own sanity. I hate to encourage people to walk from people they love, but if family dynamics are not open to question, discussion and possible change then they are more about control and compliance than love and respect.

Regarding societal change & reform, only fear and pain bring about rapid and often regrettable change. Please refer back to 2020 and two weeks to flatten your freedoms. I am not saying societal reform is impossible, but I have no idea how it is going to happen today short of some cataclysm that wakes everyone back up to the basics that once shaped life. Reform yourself & your friends and insulate yourself as much as possible from the madness of this current age without cocooning away form the world. It is hard to find the balance between closing your eyes to the mess which will lead to a terrifying moment of awakening and ingesting too much of the mess that you become mentally ill from its toxicity. Wisdom, patience and perspective seem to help me most days. Venturing on here and talking with people of good thought and open perspectives (some similar and others different from mine, but not hostile) seems to provide a good ballast for the rest of the gunk of politics and internet dramas. Well enough musings, Happy Monday ADD Irregulars and Vagabonds of the WSN!

Eastern Washington wheat fields (Came up in a search for August photography)

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Today marks the three hundred and thirtieth birthday of the Frenchman François-Marie Arouet, better known by his nom de plume, Voltaire (1694-1778).

Born into a bourgeois family during the reign of Louis XIV, the “Sun King” (r. 1643-1715), Voltaire suffered tragedy at a young age when his mother died. Never close with his father or brother, Voltaire exhibited a rebellious attitude toward authority from his youth. His brilliant mind was fostered in the care of the Society of Jesus, who introduced him to the joys of literature and theater. Despite his later criticisms against the Church, Voltaire, throughout his life, fondly recalled his dedicated Jesuit teachers.

Although he spent time as a civil servant in the French embassy to the Hague, Voltaire’s main love was writing—an endeavor where he excelled in various genres, including poetry, which led to his appointment as the royal court poet for King Louis XV. Widely recognized as one of the greatest French writers, and even hyperbolically referred to by ...

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2026 Teams Talk @ Padre's

Padre - Tom Miller invites you to a Coffee Talk, Speakeasies, Schmoozes, Tea Times, Afterhours and other gatherings.

https://teams.live.com/meet/93792382189049?p=DiBHsYfuECPgDrG7vO

2026 Coffee Talk with the ADD Irregulars
Thursday, January 1, 2026
6:00 AM - 8:00 AM (CST)
Occurs every day starting 1/1 until 12/31/2027

Coffee Talk - Daily beginning at 6:00 AM Central Time Zone - USA

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Afternoon Chats - Most Tuesday, Friday & Sundays 2:00 PM Central

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Garden of the Beloved - read by Lady Clare - Chapter 9
The Comforting of the Disciple

The Comforting of the Disciple

Now the Beloved often came into the Garden both because of the great joy He had in the Garden and because of the great love He bore the Lover and the Disciple.  Often He talked with the Lover, but the Disciple because he was not yet perfected in Love could neither hear nor see the Beloved, though he often felt a strange joy, he did not know why.  Therefore he was sorrowful, for it seemed to him that on account of his sins he would never find the Beloved.  So weeping he came to the Lover and said, “Sir, I know that I am a very sinful man and I much fear that though I search all my life yet on account of my sins I shall never find the Beloved.”

In reply the Lover smiled gently and said, “My son, when you first came into the Garden do you remember what sort of day it was?”

“Yes,” said the Disciple, “I remember it.  It was dark and gloomy as if no sunlight ever entered the Garden.”

“When you began to strip off your rich robes,” the Lover asked, “what happened to the day?”

“It seemed,” said the Disciple, “as if the sun had suddenly broken through the clouds and the whole Garden shone with glorious and celestial light:  such light as shines daily in the Garden.”

The Lover replied, “Know that the Beloved Himself is the light of the Garden, so that when you began searching for the Beloved even then you found Him, for how can any know the desire to search for the Beloved if He had not already without his knowing revealed Himself to him.”

So the Disciple was greatly comforted by knowing that although he could not see or hear Him he had already found the Beloved, and he labored the more joyously to do the service of the Beloved.

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Garden of the Beloved - Read by Lady Clare
Chapters 8 (Which I I forgot to post one for Independence Day Weekend!)
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Thoughts on Alan - Updated with Alan's e-mail address

Dear ADD Irregulars,

Alan has decided to step away from our community for a while. He may return, but right now he’s in a difficult chapter of life. This past year has been especially rough for him—depression, anxiety, unemployment, and some challenging family situations.

I spoke with him briefly on Telegram. He admitted to feeling worn down, and the recent football meme hit him at exactly the wrong moment and in the wrong state of mind. He didn’t sound like he was blaming Rich, but in his current vulnerability, he experienced the exchange as unnecessarily mean-spirited. I suspect the “whiny-cunt” line cut much deeper than it normally would have.

That’s the funny and frightening thing about emotions: on a good day, that back-and-forth between Alan and Rich would have been hilarious. On a bad day, it was simply too much. No one could have known beforehand.

In Alan’s own words: “I saw it at exactly the wrong moment and it just hit me as unnecessarily mean spirited which was something I just didn't expect and am really not in a place to cope with at the moment.”

This is the danger of this medium. We log on hoping for relief or distraction, and instead we sometimes encounter something that offends, outrages, or wounds us. I feel for Alan—I know from previous conversations that this has not been a good year for him.

Let this be a reminder to all of us: Do not venture onto the internet when you’re in a state of emotional vulnerability. It rarely goes the way we hope. Pressure always seeks an escape valve, and online spaces are full of sharp edges. It is far better to talk with a real person—call someone and hear a human voice with all its nuance—than to stare at static words on a screen that you can reread over and over, each time deepening the wound.

Praying for Alan and so sorry he is at this chapter in his life. I am guessing he might be open to any of us reaching out. I don't really know.  I know he is still on telegram, but not sure how esle to contact him.

Rich, if you read this I hope you chalk it under unfortunate shit happens. On most other days that post would have generated the funny back and forth that we have seen many times in the past.  I am sure Alan would be open to any conversation with you, that is an invitation never an expectation. 

[email protected]  For anyone who might want to contact Alan. 

 

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