Everyone knows about that book by Mitch Albom about five people who you meet in Heaven. They seem like an odd bunch of characters, but then you realize they all played a part in the main characters development and each, I assume, has something to do with why he gets to heaven. I haven't read it because I perceived the title to have little I could relate with. While I don't believe in an after-life for various reason, such as intelligence, not believing in the make believe, and frankly, not believing in a higher power, unless of course you're talking about Manny Ramirez, I do believe it's a cool topic. So here it goes.
So who played a part in my downward spiral into Lucifer's molten abyss? Listen, I'd rather hang with a crazy horned fucker who tempted the first people the big guy created than to sit on a cloud with a bunch of people who spent their days praying and kneeling before statues and pedophiles. Did I say that? Doesn't matter, my name's in the book and that's the way it goes. Listen, rock stars, movie stars and rappers seem to be having quite a bit of fun and politicians, priests and all around good guys, seem pretty much pissed on these days. Yeah, I know, politicians don't deserve to be on the good side, but my republican friends are always quoting them, so they think they are. Let's get back to my list, shall we.
My parents would have to be my first inspiration. Taught me to think for myself, didn't place me in a preconceived vacuum of church or temple. They gave me a good education and provided me the opportunity to be surrounded with bright youngsters like myself and told me to decide for myself who I am and what I believe. They left the washing to my body, my clothes and dishes. They left my brain out of it. I came to the realization that anyone who looks at things objectively won't live their life following what other's have told them to believe, no matter how great the cloud, the enlightenment or the 70 virgins are. But hey, who could turn down 70 virgins? Not Roman Polanski, that's for sure. Now I'm not saying I'm gonna meet them there, but I wouldn't be surprised to see them for a bit.
I think the second group of people I'll see is the guys I hung out with when I was 13-15. A bunch of kids, mostly older than me. We hung out and while they smoked blunts, I drank 40oz bottles of Old English 800, Ballentine ale, and occasionally wine coolers (when the ladies were around). They were the ones that convinced me that a dorky white kid could change the way he dressed and be accepted by all the kids in the projects. I played ball, carried a radio, drank beers. It was a good time. It was a time when I was special. No other white kid had this pass. It was the early 80's and to a group of black and Spanish kids from the hood, I was, Larry Bird. Some of the happiest times of my life.
The next person is Joe Strummer. Despite getting into rap music for a long time during my teen years, I always loved The Clash. The whole idea of giving the middle finger to the establishment is very exciting when you're a kid. From songs like White Riot to Death or Glory to my favorite Straight to Hell, their songs always seemed so rebellious. They were the sound and the look of a different time in my life. Or maybe not. I'm still going against the grain. Joe Strummer passed away about over five years ago and I remember the sadness. If there is a place for people to go, I'll be looking for him.
If there's a heaven and hell, George Carlin is enjoying the sauna right about now. He's not my favorite comedian, but he projected so many of my feelings as a young adult. He basically told people to just put down their guard, stop believing everything your told or taught and to look around and see what is going on and most importantly, THINK! If you do this, you realize how fucked up we really are. Not just us, but everyone. He did a great sketch on the saying "God Bless America," http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuOBf-39t64. It's absolutely brilliant. Those who can't let go of their religious beliefs for two minutes won't realize how brilliant this sketch is. Those who can; we can carpool down the fire and brimstone highway when I die.
The final person is actually two people. Bill O'Reilly & Glenn Beck. I hate a lot of people. A hell of a lot of people. None more than these two schmucks. I think we as humans are inherently bad people, because we have greed in our hearts. There is not one of us that doesn't want more than the next. Maybe it's money, maybe it's belongings, maybe it's spirituality. Maybe it's the simplest of all greed, where one believes their god is better than others and are willing to kill over it. Mr.'s O'Reilly and Beck have daily TV shows that tell us what is going on in the world and then tell us how to think about it. They have a nice little disclaimer saying their shows are opinion based, but they run on a news network. They repeat the network's name tons of time, which contains the word news and they use this very skillfully. Now I'll admit, they are much more fun to watch than their competitors on the various more liberal shows, but these two men are pure evil, for one reason only. They don't tell the truth. Anyone with an extra ten minutes of time and the Internet can go online and refute nearly everything they state as fact (not their opinions - they are entitled to those). It's absolutely incredible in this day and age that millions of viewers are willing to suck down whatever these two morons shove down their gullets. I'd like to think when I get to hell they will be waiting. Nothing would give me more pleasure than to kick both their scrawny little asses. I'd add Rush Limbaugh to this list, but rumor has it, he runs the place!
So who played a part in my downward spiral into Lucifer's molten abyss? Listen, I'd rather hang with a crazy horned fucker who tempted the first people the big guy created than to sit on a cloud with a bunch of people who spent their days praying and kneeling before statues and pedophiles. Did I say that? Doesn't matter, my name's in the book and that's the way it goes. Listen, rock stars, movie stars and rappers seem to be having quite a bit of fun and politicians, priests and all around good guys, seem pretty much pissed on these days. Yeah, I know, politicians don't deserve to be on the good side, but my republican friends are always quoting them, so they think they are. Let's get back to my list, shall we.
My parents would have to be my first inspiration. Taught me to think for myself, didn't place me in a preconceived vacuum of church or temple. They gave me a good education and provided me the opportunity to be surrounded with bright youngsters like myself and told me to decide for myself who I am and what I believe. They left the washing to my body, my clothes and dishes. They left my brain out of it. I came to the realization that anyone who looks at things objectively won't live their life following what other's have told them to believe, no matter how great the cloud, the enlightenment or the 70 virgins are. But hey, who could turn down 70 virgins? Not Roman Polanski, that's for sure. Now I'm not saying I'm gonna meet them there, but I wouldn't be surprised to see them for a bit.
I think the second group of people I'll see is the guys I hung out with when I was 13-15. A bunch of kids, mostly older than me. We hung out and while they smoked blunts, I drank 40oz bottles of Old English 800, Ballentine ale, and occasionally wine coolers (when the ladies were around). They were the ones that convinced me that a dorky white kid could change the way he dressed and be accepted by all the kids in the projects. I played ball, carried a radio, drank beers. It was a good time. It was a time when I was special. No other white kid had this pass. It was the early 80's and to a group of black and Spanish kids from the hood, I was, Larry Bird. Some of the happiest times of my life.
The next person is Joe Strummer. Despite getting into rap music for a long time during my teen years, I always loved The Clash. The whole idea of giving the middle finger to the establishment is very exciting when you're a kid. From songs like White Riot to Death or Glory to my favorite Straight to Hell, their songs always seemed so rebellious. They were the sound and the look of a different time in my life. Or maybe not. I'm still going against the grain. Joe Strummer passed away about over five years ago and I remember the sadness. If there is a place for people to go, I'll be looking for him.
If there's a heaven and hell, George Carlin is enjoying the sauna right about now. He's not my favorite comedian, but he projected so many of my feelings as a young adult. He basically told people to just put down their guard, stop believing everything your told or taught and to look around and see what is going on and most importantly, THINK! If you do this, you realize how fucked up we really are. Not just us, but everyone. He did a great sketch on the saying "God Bless America," http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuOBf-39t64. It's absolutely brilliant. Those who can't let go of their religious beliefs for two minutes won't realize how brilliant this sketch is. Those who can; we can carpool down the fire and brimstone highway when I die.
The final person is actually two people. Bill O'Reilly & Glenn Beck. I hate a lot of people. A hell of a lot of people. None more than these two schmucks. I think we as humans are inherently bad people, because we have greed in our hearts. There is not one of us that doesn't want more than the next. Maybe it's money, maybe it's belongings, maybe it's spirituality. Maybe it's the simplest of all greed, where one believes their god is better than others and are willing to kill over it. Mr.'s O'Reilly and Beck have daily TV shows that tell us what is going on in the world and then tell us how to think about it. They have a nice little disclaimer saying their shows are opinion based, but they run on a news network. They repeat the network's name tons of time, which contains the word news and they use this very skillfully. Now I'll admit, they are much more fun to watch than their competitors on the various more liberal shows, but these two men are pure evil, for one reason only. They don't tell the truth. Anyone with an extra ten minutes of time and the Internet can go online and refute nearly everything they state as fact (not their opinions - they are entitled to those). It's absolutely incredible in this day and age that millions of viewers are willing to suck down whatever these two morons shove down their gullets. I'd like to think when I get to hell they will be waiting. Nothing would give me more pleasure than to kick both their scrawny little asses. I'd add Rush Limbaugh to this list, but rumor has it, he runs the place!
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