Category: *Having My Say

On Just About Everything

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A Lot Of Noise Goin On…

RJ Walters

I don’t know why I seem to be so fixated on sounds lately let alone poultry stuff.  My daily and weekly posts here are RJsCorner are now named after sounds (cackle and squawk) that chickens make. I need to get to the underlying reason for this. :)  I lost my hearing thirty years ago, and since then my brain has forgotten what many sounds sound like.  Sadly one of those areas is musical instruments.  I used to play the guitar, not terribly well but to my own satisfaction, and I really enjoyed that pleasure. Now when I see a musical instrument … Continue reading A Lot Of Noise Goin On…

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Skeptical

RJ Walters

Skeptical is one of my favorite words, I have been using it more and more in the last year or so. Just do a search for that word here on RJsCorner, and you will probably find a couple dozen posts using it.  I think most of you know the meaning of the word but just to be sure I will present it here. I guess my “Question Everything” stand is the source of my fascination for this word. I am skeptical about most things, but one thing I am perpetually skeptical about is what comes out of the mouth of the … Continue reading Skeptical

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For Some, The World Is Very Small Place

RJ Walters

I am a person who almost demands constant change. Doing the same thing over and over again is very boring to me. Maybe I am different from most in that regard?  I recently saw a TV show where an old person proudly proclaimed that he still lives in the house he was born in. My first thought was that he certainly lives in a tiny world. To never venture outside what may be comfortable to you is to stagnate as far as I am concerned. I can’t imagine remaining in one place for my whole life! I know in my … Continue reading For Some, The World Is Very Small Place

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I Am Old…

RJ Walters

Ok, I will admit it for at least the argument of this post, I am old.  I don’t mean to get morbid but I am likely in the last decade of my life.  Being old, besides all the aches and pains, is kind of freeing. We just don’t care as much about what people think of us than we used to. Our image is pretty much set in stone at this point in our lives so making a fool of ourselves now it not a big thing. One of the things at the new RJsCorner I plan on doing pretty … Continue reading I Am Old…

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To My High School Friends – I’m Coming Out Of The Closet

RJ Walters

I got to say immediately that no I am not declaring that I am gay. Instead, I am openly declaring here and on my personal Facebook page that I am a liberal/progressive in my social and political leanings.  Many of my high school friends are likely pretty hardcore conservatives who watch Fox News on a 24/7 and most likely voted for the #CO3 (current Oval Office occupant). I have avoided putting my blog posts on Facebook because I didn’t want to make any of you uncomfortable. Each of my daily posts here at RJsCorner will now proudly rest on my personal Facebook page. If any … Continue reading To My High School Friends – I’m Coming Out Of The Closet

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Free Range Cackles

RJ Walters

I want to finish up on the preliminaries of the new format here on RJsCorner. As I told you a few posts ago cackles are about laying eggs. I want to assure you that the eggs I lay are free-range. My thoughts that are generated into posts weren’t pinned up in some dark place before or after they were laid.  They come fresh out of my mind onto virtual paper. But like all children,   my posts must be nurtured and fed to be worthy of your purview. So they sit around in my chicken coop (better known as the Draft … Continue reading Free Range Cackles

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Will Rogers – About Religious Beliefs

RJ Walters

A regular part of RJsCorner is going to be looking at Will Rogers quotes and seeing how they apply in today’s world. So, this is the first of many in that area. Even  80 years ago it seems that there were more than a few who thought religions did more damage than they helped. I think what Will was saying is that “Bible thumpers,” and whatever they are called in the other religions, are the most intolerant of differences of faith.  They are just convinced that they are the only one who has got it right. This is what gets … Continue reading Will Rogers – About Religious Beliefs

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Will Rogers – My Hero

RJ Walters

For this morning’s cackle, I want to talk about Will Rogers. He is the reason I started RJsCorner 8 years ago. I have been reading him since I was a kid. For all you people that don’t know anything about what happened before 1980, I want to give you a little snort of Will and his words. Will was born way back in 1879 in Indian territory now known as Oklahoma. His roots were in the Cherokee nation. He started out in Vaudeville doing rope tricks in the Ziegfeld Follies but became world famous for his writing and his radio … Continue reading Will Rogers – My Hero

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My Kind Of Generation…

RJ Walters

I gotta admit that I was a hippie during the 1960s. Maybe not to the degree that I wanted but still a hippie. I had to work a full-time job, had college classes and the studying that goes with it, so that didn’t allow much time for anything else. But at least I was a hippie at heart. It’s good to hear that the students in the most recent school shooting are becoming avid activists for gun control and the rest of the kids in the nation are now joining them. Before long you might even be seeing campus demonstrations. Who knows. I see the kids in Great Britain are getting into it to support them. I have heard talk that one of … Continue reading My Kind Of Generation…

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Why are the posts now called cackles??

RJ Walters

Welcome to the new and improved RJsCorner. Before I get into anything serious, you may think it’s kinda strange for me to now call my daily posts “Morning Cackles”?  I got a reason for my madness. First off, for you city folks,  a cackle is a short and abrupt sound that hens make after they lay eggs.  My morning posts going forward will be short (250 words or less) and to the point. Paying respect to my poultry friends is one of the reasons for the name of my posts. But I gotta admit that the main reason is that the … Continue reading Why are the posts now called cackles??

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It’s Time For A New Chapter @ RJsCorner…

RJ Walters

I have decided it’s time for a new chapter here at RJsCorner.  It’s time to shake things up. I am putting out too much gloom and doom lately. Who wants more of that in their lives? I want to make my posts a regular part of your daily life. To do that they need to be more concise so you can read them in under two minutes (one minute if you are a fast reader :) ). My decision to move InSearchOfAmerica photos and most corresponding stories to Flickr albums also affected this change. At an even more basic level, I need to … Continue reading It’s Time For A New Chapter @ RJsCorner…

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Hard History

RJ Walters

I came across the story below and it amazed me that less than 8% of students in the cited survey knew that the Civil War was fought to preserve slavery. Here is a little bit about that: Just a third of students correctly identified the law that officially ended slavery, the 13th Amendment, and fewer than half knew of the Middle Passage. Most alarming, though, were the results to this question: Which was the reason the South seceded from the Union? a. To preserve states’ rights b. To preserve slavery c. To protest taxes on imported goods d. To avoid … Continue reading Hard History

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Imagining Their Stories…

RJ Walters

Because I am deaf I have a game I play quite often when I am around people, especially those I don’t know.  In my early years of deafness before closed-captioned TV was widely available is when this thing started. Since there was no sound to what I was seeing I made up my own storyline. It would have been interesting to discover how closely my story matched up with the writer’s version but of course, I never was able to discover that. Getting slightly off the subject for just a little while, I never used to think that I was a … Continue reading Imagining Their Stories…

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Creativity

RJ Walters

I am finally convinced that I am a pretty creative person as my mind constantly wanders into unimagined areas of thought. In my retirement years, I have done a pretty good job of cultivating my creative processes.  But I am always looking for ways to unleash my creativity to new areas and levels. When I ran across this article from the New York Times it gave me a different way to think about creativity. We all have fantasies or, if you prefer, ideas. I will give them a different word: “Seeds.” These seeds are the germ-line of books, short stories, songs, the … Continue reading Creativity

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Faking Religion

RJ Walters

At one time or another everyone who is true to their thoughts doubt religious beliefs. I found it surprising to see that even Mother Theresa doubted on a regular basis that God even existed.  The more I studied religious documents including the Bible the more doubt I had as to the beliefs of the variety of religion that I was then a member of. …according to a recent study in the journal, Society and Mental Health, individuals who consider leaving a faith, but do not, tend to experience more depression than those who decide to leave… There are good reasons to not … Continue reading Faking Religion

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It’s Important To Take A Stand.

RJ Walters

I am a fiscal conservative. That makes me a man without a party. The one steady thing I admired about the Republican party, at least until recently, was that they didn’t like debt. “If you were against President Obama’s deficits, and now you’re for the Republican deficits, isn’t that the very definition of hypocrisy?” Senator Rand Paul said as he held up passage of the budget bill for a few hours — perhaps until he realized that the definition fit him, too, since he had voted for the tax cuts that will blow up the deficit. Source: The Republicans Have Become … Continue reading It’s Important To Take A Stand.

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Religion And Global Conflict

RJ Walters

It is becoming more and more recognized that religious beliefs are and have most likely always been one of the primary sources of conflict in this world. Here are some words about the underlying reasons for this: “Religion often becomes the master variable,” Harris says. “It provides a unique reward structure. If you believe that the thoughts you harbor in this life and the doctrines you adhere to spell the difference between an eternity spent in fire or one spent on the right hand of God, that raises the stakes beyond any other reward structure on earth.” Tribal tendencies are natural … Continue reading Religion And Global Conflict

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About Wisdom…

RJ Walters

Wisdom has been on my mind lately. But before I get started on this topic I need to distinguish between two types of perceived wisdom,  gut wisdom and learned wisdom. Gut Wisdom — Gut wisdom is that feeling you get when you think you instinctively know something. It’s what your gut tells you is the truth. I know the current Oval Office occupant says he is REALLY SMART but I think his self-conceived wisdom is just his biases toward the issue at hand. He may be gut wise but he is definitely not learned wise. I have to include my … Continue reading About Wisdom…

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Never Alone…

RJ Walters

I have let it be known before that I am a mall walker.  Every Friday I walk up to three miles at the local mall. It is good and safe exercise for this 70+-year-old deaf guy. :)  One of the things I do pretty regularly during these mall walks is to take unofficial surveys.  Sometimes I count the number of women wearing heels higher than 1 inch (around 2%). This time I chose to count the number of kids younger than thirty who are walking the mall clinging their cell phones. I’m not talking about them having them in their … Continue reading Never Alone…

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One Day At A Time…

RJ Walters

The title of this post has multiple meanings. It was once a TV show about a single Indianapolis mother who was raising two teenage girls. It was a comedy but also showed some of the serious sides of parenthood. It is also a theme associated with  Alcoholic’s Anonymous. That is you work through each day at a time to stay sober.  But, I want to take the phrase and apply it to our retirement years, and maybe even the time outside those years. I am a dreamer.  That is a good thing, but it also can be a bad thing. I am … Continue reading One Day At A Time…

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Still Committed To Each Other… But…

RJ Walters

I want to start out this post with something I said here at RJsCorner about seven years ago: I must admit that I am probably more adventurous than many seniors.  I enjoy constant stimulation. I enjoy planning and doing things that I have never done before. To sit around the house day after day is very boring to me. My senior years certainly give me an opportunity to do some adventurous things. Unfortunately, like many other seniors I imagine, I am married to a spouse who doesn’t share my sense of adventure. She is much more inclined to spend her … Continue reading Still Committed To Each Other… But…

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Collections/Obsessions

RJ Walters

The TV show American Pickers is basically about obsessions.  Most of the episodes are about a couple of Le Claire Iowa men going to “pick” people’s collections.  Many have thousands of square feet of barns, outbuildings, and old houses stuffed with things they have purchased throughout their lives. They dig things out from massive piles and ask if it is for sale? More often than not the answer is “no, I don’t want to sell that”. The item is likely something that they threw into a barn 30 years ago and hasn’t seen the light of day since then! So, why does it … Continue reading Collections/Obsessions

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Nantucket…

RJ Walters

  I made an “executive” decision a while back to use Flickr as the residence of my future InsearchOfAmerica photo arrays. Just added a new photo album there. If you ever wondered what the island of Nantucket looks like click here. We were there in 1999. We knew that would be our last year living on the east coast so Yvonne insisted we go to Nantucket so she could buy a lightship basket to add to her collection. The island is not as famous as Martha’s Vineyard but still had its share of multimillionaire’s summer cottages and thousands of small shops. The … Continue reading Nantucket…

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And Then There Is The Son…

RJ Walters

Simply stated, I don’t believe in aristocracy. I don’t believe that knowledge or wisdom is necessarily inherited. So, when one generation wants to pass massive wealth or power to the next generation I bristle. The example below is one of the tragic consequences of this practice. While evangelical leader Franklin Graham has been a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump, his father Rev. Billy Graham publicly warned against the prospect of religious figures becoming too attached to a political stance. via FACT CHECK: Did Billy Graham Warn Against Mixing Religion and Politics? I mourn the passing of Billy Graham this … Continue reading And Then There Is The Son…

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Christian Nationalism

RJ Walters

Sadly, one of the things I believe the church has become very good at is to take some particular words from the bible and twist them around to more conform to their way of thinking. That is what today’s post is going to be about. Sometimes small alterations make a great deal of difference. For instance, we have about 90 percent of the same genes as cats and more than 98 percent of the same genes as chimpanzees. But those little differences matter a lot. This is also true when it comes to faith. I have been doing some reading in A Church … Continue reading Christian Nationalism

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Flirting in the Workplace..

RJ Walters

One of my daily reads is from my friends over at The Drabble. They welcome anyone to submit their words but it must be 100 words or less.  It is very creative how so many can pack so much in so few words.  Here is an example from a recent post: By Alex ColvinIn In an age of reconsidering appropriate behavior at the workplace, how does one flirt at work? Well, I’ve got it down to a science. 1. Flirt. 2. Profusely apologize. 3. Run away as fast as you possibly can. It’ll go something like this: “Well, hello Nancy … Continue reading Flirting in the Workplace..

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Saving Jesus

RJ Walters

This post is about some insightful words from a book entitled Saving Jesus from the Church: How to Stop Worshiping Christ and Start Following Jesus by Robin R. Meyers. This book solidified my belief that the words of Jesus have been losing focus in the church. Here are the words for today. Strangely, we have come to a moment in human history when the message of the Sermon on the Mount could indeed save us, but it can no longer be heard above the din of dueling doctrines. Consider this: there is not a single word in that sermon about what … Continue reading Saving Jesus

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Being Prepared…

RJ Walters

Even though I was never a Boy Scout, I am a person who tries to be prepared for the challenges I will be facing. If I want to discuss a controversial topic I try to study both sides to see where my feelings might reside. “Think For Yourself” is one of my primary mantras in my life. I simply don’t let others tell me what to think. But then again, maybe that is one of the reasons I was never a Boy Scout (ha). Then I see the current Oval Office occupant who is totally unprepared for the many challenges he faces.  I know he never dreamed he would actually occupy that prime real estate, he was just having fun dissing people. Maybe that is an excuse for being … Continue reading Being Prepared…