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NSTG [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2024-03-04  

My kids sometimes describe my approach to life as "No shits to give."

I need to qualify that. There are things I care deeply about—the future of our world first and foremost: Will we have a functioning democracy by this time a year from now? Will we have a habitable surface of our planet in a decade? What can I, as an individual, as a member of my community, as a voter, as a person with a voice do? Those are where I devote my care. It’s not that I have no shits to give, its just that I save them for the things I think matter.

What I don’t give a shit about is what others think of me. I really can’t bring myself to care if someone looks askance when I’m doing my best to do the right thing, or if I’m just being my own silly self.

Example: I had for a few years a '93 Mercedes 300CE Convertible, big metallic beige 4-seat luxury convertible--heated leather seats, automatic top, premium stereo, etc. Glorious beast. I sold it a few years ago because it started spending more time in the garage with the hood up than on the road with the top down. Oh how I miss it!

In the summer, worried about sun exposure, i'd drive top-down wearing a floppy job-site sun-hat made by some power-tool manufacturer. Think of Col. Blake's fishing hat but bright blue with a wider brim.

In the winter I'd drive it top-down wearing leather gloves, a bright puffy yellow, green, blue, and red ski jacket, and a rainbow ski hat. With the top down, windows up, rear wind deflector in place, heated seats on, and climate control turned up to 72, it was comfortable in temperatures down to about 15°F.

One fine winter's day driving to work with the top down, a light snow started falling, It was too light to bother putting the top up—even when I slowed down or stopped, I wasn’t really getting much snow inside the car. I was listening to the local jazz station (KUVO--a really good station!). Charles Mingus' "Goodbye Porkpie Hat" had come on as I pulled up to a stoplight, and I was bopping along to the music and drumming openhanded on the steering wheel. A jeepfull of college students pulled up next to me, and I heard peals of laughter. I was apparently the funniest thing they'e ever seen.

I honestly couldn't give a shit. I was in my glory. I just saluted and drove away when the light turned green.

NSTG, baby! It's the only way to live!



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