Gone to the Moon

"Never go to bed angry.  Stay up and fight."  ~Phyllis Diller

These days it's hard to be proactive in a reactive world.

Last night I got caught up in the heat of the moment and I did the knee-jerk thing, threatening to make my journal private, and possibly drop AOL, when only a few months ago I promised to leave my journal public.  I don't like to eat my own words and I've had 24 hours to step back and sort my thoughts.  I'm staying.  It's gonna take a lot more than some unwanted ads hovering over my head to push me out the door.

This morning as I got ready for work, thinking about J-Land, a song began to play on the oldies radio station.  The song, 'Everyone's Gone to the Moon' struck a chord with me.  The words caused me to stop and listen.  It just seemed to fit into that point of time.  Ironically, forty years ago in November 1965, 'Everyone's Gone to the Moon' was in the top 20 of the music charts.

I once wrote that I keep this journal to connect...to one person...one person at a time.  I believe one person can make a difference in another persons life; I know this because I have done so, here at J-Land.  And the other person has thanked me on several occasions for being here, and for reaching out when she needed a friend.  That's pretty powerful stuff and it's what I'm all about.  If there was any chance that those ads would prevent her from reaching me, well now that would be an entirely different matter altogether.

I'm fed up about a lot ofthings, and truth be told there are many issues to get upset about: child abuse, domestic violence, substance abuse, hate crimes, poverty, homelessness; in the grand scheme of things AOL banner advertising ranks pretty low on my list of social priorities and injustices.  I'm not happy about it, I've said so and those are words etched in stone.

Just the other day I wrote about not allowing anger to push reason out of our heads and I could never live with myself if I allowed my anger to cause me to lose my perspective.  I must and I will honor my beliefs and my words...they are my truth.

As I grow older, I care less about what people think and more about what people do.  So, I'm not going to bed angry.  I'm gonna stay up and fight.


Everyone's Gone To The Moon
Johnathan King

(Words and Music by Kenneth King)

Streets full of people, all alone
Roads full of houses never home
Church full of singing out of tune
Everyone's gone to the moon

Eyes full of sorrow, never wet
Hands full of money, all in debt
Sun coming out in the middle of June
Everyone's gone to the moon

Long time ago
Life had begun
Everyone went to the sun

Hearts full of motors painted green
Mouths full of chocolate-covered cream
Arms that can only lift a spoon
Everyone's gone to the moon

Everyone's gone to the moon
Everyone's gone to the moon