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Wednesday, June 29, 2016

DENNIS PATRICK: TIME FOR SOME GOOD OLD FASHIONED DIVERSION

Enough with the vexation and hassle of current events. Lighten up! Get a life -- and do it with humor.

Every now and then it is healthy to take a break from the incessant news coverage of campaigns, elections, tyrannical government bureaucrats and their stupid rules and regulations.

With little effort, I’ve settled into part of my summer reading. Few things in life engage me more than the simple act of reading. Fast or slow, for fun or profit, for information or recreation, reading is a consuming passion. I cannot conceive of a life without books.

In particular, books provide memorable experiences through reading for recreation. No labor involved here. Reading is a solitary act allowing a person to be alone with their thoughts. An imaginary character here, a twist of plot there, and pretty soon a person is transported into a more tranquil realm.

Many folks read for recreation and I am one of them. Thus, books become great companions for this recreational riffler seeking diversion. In an age of multiple distractions where TV, smart phones and the internet compete for attention, reading becomes the first casualty. Why not slow down to a leisurely pace? What better way to while away an idle hour or two in summer than by temporarily disconnecting from the real world?

Our world afflicts us everyday:

-- Executive disrespect for the law by imposing fiat law through Executive Orders

-- Porous ineffective borders with no control and suspended immigration laws

-- High taxes with no reform in sight

-- A shrinking defense in a dangerous world

-- Terrorism in America in the name of Allah

Dipping into “A Subtreasury of American Humor” edited in 1941 by E. B. White and K. S. White (husband and wife) is just the ticket for an 814-page excursion into diversion. This volume of very short vignettes, stories, scenes and sketches will likely produce a smile, snicker, chuckle or belly laugh.

In such a book one would certainly expect sections on nonsense and satire. These are included, of course. But, sections on parodies and burlesques; folklore and tall stories; and limericks and verse are integrated as well. However, who would expect a section on children – both for and against?

Contributors include some names I have never heard of such as Frank Colby, Ring Lardner, Alva Johnson and Bert Taylor. On the other hand some rather well-known writers include Ogden Nash, Mark Twain, S. J. Perelman, James Thurber and Clarence Day. Still others appear improbable in view of our conventional understanding of their personalities. Who knew such notables such as Bret Harte, Booth Tarkington, e. e. cummings and Edgar Allan Poe had a sense of humor?

No topic is too esoteric for the Whites and many are downright irreverent. For a chuckle or two try Ben Franklin’s “Three Love Letters” (translated from the French) or Orpheus Kerr’s “The Latest Improvements in Artillery.” Donald Stewart writes wittingly of “The Whiskey Rebellion” and James Thurber “If Grant Had Been Drinking at Appomattox.”

As the British surrendered to the American Army at Yorktown in 1781 their band played “The World Turned Upside Down.” It would seem our world today has been turned upside down.

Crusty elites, both Republican and Democrat, rig the political system to protect their political careers while controlling Americans with overregulation. When all is said and done, unless Americans wake up, they potentially face a continuation of the last eight years in the four years ahead.

Why not leave this topsy-turvy world behind for a little while. It isn’t going anywhere. It will be there when we get back.

Occasionally the better part of wisdom is to withdraw for a time with a bit of humorous diversion. Truly, laughter is the best medicine.

 

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at P. O. Box 337, Stanley, ND 58784 or (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

 

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