BASED ON A TRUE STORY

(most of the time)

Merle did not give us a solution, only an observation and questions. Each of us is tasked with finding a solution.

A

series

by Bad Billy Laveau

future for us in May, 1982. But we did not listen back then. We plunged head on, like water over Niagara Falls in flood season.

We became progressive. Modern. Woke. And many other misleading terms. Our music became bloated with profanity. We lost moral bearing. Moral fiber no longer exists in the main stream. Self-importance is paramount. Demand for immediate reward robs our youth of the joys of dedication and long-term planning, work, and accomplishment. How many 16-year-olds can change oil and filter in a car?

How many 16-year-olds can make and bake a pecan pie?

Surely we can do that. A problem necessarily precedes a solution. We have plenty of problems, real and imaginary. It is time for solutions that really help.

Maybe Merle left it to John Anderson from whom I also reverently steal herein: Black Sheep.

Yeah, I drive me a big ol’ semi-truck.

I’m makin’ payments on a two-room shack.

My wife, she waits on tables

And at night she rubs my back.

And I tell her what my papa said to my mama

When he got off a highball train:

Wake me up early, be good to my dogs,

And teach my children to pray.

Sounds like a good man to me. Our nation would do well to copy John Anderson. Get a job. Work hard. Pay your bills. Provide for your family. Teach your children a moral life. We don’t seem to have enough of that these days.

A California store reports an incidence of shoplifting … every 10 minutes. Twenty national stores have left San Francisco in the past two years due to shoplifting. Think how morally defunct those people are. Somehow, I don’t think they grew up in the home John Anderson sang about.

Shaquille O’Neal told one of his kids: “You are not rich. I am rich.” His kids will be educated and self-sufficient. Shaq has hundreds of millions of dollars, but rears his kids to be real women and men. He is a good man. A good father. We need men more like Shaq.

Charles Bronson (and his wife, Jill Ireland who died prematurely with cancer) adopted 17 street kids of many races. They lived in a huge ranch style home. Each kid was supported as long as each had a job and stayed in school. Each could pursue any degree they wished. Charles paid the bills. Charles left each kid zero dollars in his will. He gave them something more important: he gave them tools for successful lives. It is likely each will accomplish much. We need more men like Bronson too.

People who are unhappy with their immediate situation in life sometimes take short cuts to “feeling better about themselves.” Drugs make them feel different. Temporarily at least. Drugs take no effort. No long term plans. Just “purchase and pop.” The results are gone in a flash, and then the user wants more … and then more. Eventually, the money supply runs out. The user sinks into immorality: a dealer or a thief or a sex worker to survive.

Notice I use the word “survive,” not “live.” There is a huge difference. Merle Haggard longed for the past when things were better and livable. John Anderson told us how to live the life Merle warned us about.

Bob Dylan wrote, “The times, they are a-changing.” He was dead on right. We get to choose our futures, but a bountiful future is not free nor is it simply handed to you. You must plan for, and work for, a better future. Afterall, our poets and singers told us yesterday what was to be if we fail to do our parts. Enjoy the beat and the music, but heed the words.