I know nothing about Latvia

I know nothing about Latvia, but apparently, someone from Latvia looked at my blog.  Isn't that amazing?  I have had people from all over the world look at what I write.  I don't know if they land there accidentally, or if they actually want to read it or not.  I get readers from Spain, France, Russia, Germany, France -- and dozens of other countries, and every time I see a new country pop up I realize how little I know about the rest of the world.  It would be nice if those who could would write to me and send me pictures of their country and tell me about their families and their lives.  I would love it.  In fact, I'm asking those of you who read my blog for any reason just drop me an email and maybe a picture or two -- of your family, your historic sights -- anything.  I will never be able to travel the world, but I can visit it through those who already live there.  I'll even be the first to share.

I live in a small town of about 500 people.  It's called Arcadia.  No one knows much about the town but they do know about Johnson Shut Ins, just one of our geographical treasures.

People from all over the country come to Johnson Shut ins.

As far me, I'm married with one daughter who recently got married.  I am a bit biased but she is a princess as far as I am concerned.  Her husband's name is Sean.  He's all right too.

I would love to hear from anyone, anywhere -- inside or outside -- the United States.  If you'd like to share a bit of your world with me, you can email me at stevecrosswords@yahoo.com.

Code Blue

Though not quite dead, my blog is definitely on life support.  I don't want it to die out completely so I'm going to write.  My birthday is coming up, and I always spend some time reflecting and looking forward.  I know; we only have today -- this moment -- guaranteed, so we shouldn't be looking in the past or to the future.  We should be in the moment.  Well, in this moment, I've decided to reflect on the past and future.

I don't think a lot is going to change with me between now and my ultimate demise.  I'm going to be teaching the rest of my career.  I don't think there lurks a best-selling novel or several optioned screenplays in my creative future, but that doesn't mean I will quit trying.  In fact, I'm working on two projects right now.  When I get up some courage I'll post some excerpts.

By the way, Lancelot and the Tides of Time is still available for purchase at www.buckscountypublishing.com  It would help my royalty report if more copies were purchased.

So, let's come back from that little aside.

The most important thing I learned since last summer is that life is fragile.  My mother died the Saturday before Thanksgiving.  Three of my friends who are fellow teachers also had parents who died.  We don't know when our number is going to come up.  My mom died suddenly and unexpectedly.  I still haven't accepted it.

I think, as a result, of her death I have become more introverted and philosophical.  Music has also become very important to me.  I'm reminded of King Saul in the Old Testament who was tormented and could only be calmed by the music of David's harp.  I would go crazy if I didn't have music.  I'm almost like one of those hoarders when it comes to collecting songs.

Today, while my wife was putting in some hours at work, I did some writing.  In four hours or so, I completed about ten or eleven pages.  I wrote some on a screenplay and some on a new novel.  I don't know if either one will be any good at all but I am driven to create even if no one ever buys it.  That's the thing about writers.  If you can quit because you aren't making enough money at it, then you never really were one.

Tonight, I might do some more, or I might watch the Cardinals who are having a mediocre year.  I haven't watched them much because I teach a class that meets on Tuesday and Thursday evening.

Well, I'll work up some courage and do some more writing later.  I wish I could get more followers for my blog.

What's your label?

One of mine is WASP.  White Anglo-Saxon Protestant.  True, my ancestors were Scotch-Irish and English, but I think there's also some Cherokee in there somewhere.  I do go to the United Methodist Church, but I joined it 30 years ago when I married my wife who happened to be a Methodist.  Before I married her, I was pretty much a Heathen.  Don't get me wrong; I take my faith very seriously, but if I had married a Catholic, I probably would have been Catholic.  When I say that I'm Methodist, a lot of the Evangelical type churches think of me as being lukewarm.  I've even heard one evangelist type label the Methodists -- as I forgot exactly what the word was, but it had a similar connotation to anti-christ.  Catholics don't think what I believe is correct either.  All this comes just because I call myself a Methodist.  Hmm.  Not many people know me that well to make a judgement about my religious condition.

I said that I wasn't going to blog much anymore unless I had something worthwhile to say.  I feel like I have something worthwhile to say especially in this political season.  I wonder whatever happened to the label "American."

Some of the other labels I get are "teacher."  Now depending on who you are, you might think bad things about teachers -- stuff like they only work nine months out of the year, they have easy jobs, they are incompetent.  I am not even going to dignify that with an answer.  Other people might think of wise, influential, knowledgeable.  Unfortunately that is a label that does not apply to every teacher. Just like dedicated and patient friendly are labels that do not apply to every doctor.  I'm a teacher, but does teaching define Steve Cross.  Not completely.

Then there are labels like overweight.  I'm overweight.  I need to lose 40 pounds at least.  I know that.  Everyone who knows me knows that.  So far in my life I have not been able to do it.  So when someone sees an overweight person, words like glutton, lazy bum, freeloader, fast food junkie go through his/her head.  Immediate judgement.  Now, am I all those things that people think of.  Yes, No -- probably somewhere in between.  However, I am not going to waste space here making excuses.

I could give you a dozen other labels people think of when they think of me.  Middle aged, odd, quiet, creative, smart, mechanically disadvantaged -- bunches of them.  Do these define me?  No, not really.

People don't seem to realize that a label cannot capture a person.  Nor do they take the time to peel away the labels and actually get to know others.  I am not a combination of labels.  I am Steven Cross, and I cannot be easily categorized.  Neither can you.  A label is just a lazy attempt to quantify a person.

This leads me to my final point.  I have heard so many labels in this political season.  Moderate, liberal, conservative, left-wing, right-wing -- almost all of these labels are used to attack other people.  I wish people would just shut the eff up.  If you don't want to vote for Romney, don't.  If you don't want to vote for Obama, don't.  Just save your labeling for someone else.

And while you're at it, remember this.  "We are all Americans."  Red, yellow, black, white, hispanic, oriental, middle eastern, Native American -- Try to label America.  I dare you to.