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Written by: Rex M. Rogers

Published: 22 December 2020

My draft naughty and nice list for recent months:

Naughty

• Lockdown Governors, Mayors.
• Woke academics, journalists, gov’t bureaucrats, corporate social activists.
• Corrupt politicians. 
• Bad police.
• Anyone suppressing the First Amendment. 
• Big Social Media censors.
• Biased Fourth Estate claiming objectivity. 

Nice

• Good Wife.
• Healthcare workers.
• Good police.
• Effective NGOs and Nonprofits.
• Faith, Family, Freedom. 
• Christian Liberty.

© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2020    

*This blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers.    

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Written by: Rex M. Rogers

Published: 20 December 2020

1-Why do people wear masks while driving or golfing alone?

2-How is it t-shirts go into the wash rightside out but emerge inside out?

3-Why do people watch gory horror movies?

4-How did we get to a point when Broadway Joe Namath would be hocking Medicare?

5-How is it that educated, trained actors regularly say “Calvary,” ie. Golgotha the place of the cross, when they mean “cavalry,” ie. troops?

7-When will the now jaded practice mercifully end of running with pro football teammates to the nearest end zone camera to execute choreographed, juvenile celebrations after accomplishing something players are highly paid to do?

8-How can we escape stores incessantly playing Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmastime,” a vacuous piece with nothing to offer but repetition? 

© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2020    

*This blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers.    

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Written by: Rex M. Rogers

Published: 22 November 2011

“Oh no” moments come to us all, I think, or at least they come to me. They’re the times when something happens that’s anything but what you wished would happen. It’s a moment when things could have gone better but alas did not and you’re left with nothing but “Oh no.”

Here’re a few:

--It’s the weekend. Ah, finally, relax, read, sports, do nothing. But the furnace won’t kick on, the house is turning into an icebox, and it’s the weekend. Remember? Oh yes. Oh no.

--You make a special trip into the store, what store? It doesn’t matter, the store. And you want a certain item. What item? Doesn’t matter, an item. Finally, you’re there, but the item’s not there. Oh no.

--Big week planned, trip maybe, cool goings on. Wake up ready to go. Nope, wake up with a sore throat feeling like you’re coming down with a cold, achy. Oh no.

--You’re speaking, have worked on a great PowerPoint, all set up, ready for show. But the local projector won’t work and the local projector operator doesn’t know how to fix it, nor do you. Oh no.

--You’re running late, jump into your rental car, and drive a few miles when the distinctive odor of smoke hits you. You don’t have time to return your smoke-tainted “No Smoking” car, so you drive it for the next few days and you’re clothes soon smell like a smokestack. Oh no.

--You arrive at church ready to focus on worship, look down, and spot a spot on your shirt that in the light of day you can’t imagine how you missed dressing in the half-dark earlier. Oh no.

--You get to the airport 20 minutes from home and an hour before your flight, only to discover you’ve forgotten your sport coat, or worse, your passport. Oh no.

--You walk out of the airport late at night after a long flight and all you want is to get to the port hotel the sooner the better for the night’s layover. As you cross the street to the shuttle stop the bus you need to catch drives by. In it’s 30+ minute loop you missed its airport stop by seconds. Oh no.

--You can’t wait to finally get a chance to relax and eat. You stopped on the way to the hotel for your fav sandwich meal, get to the hotel and check in, settle into your room, and now it’s finally time to enjoy. You bite into your sandwich, your fav remember, only to discover the bread’s hard, an ingredient’s missing, or for some reason it all “tastes funny.” Oh no.

--You get in this road lane, or Customs or store line, rather than that lane/line because this lane/line is moving faster. Only when you get in this lane/line that lane/line starts moving faster. You see your chance and move to the other lane/line out of your lane/line so now you’re in a better position in a new lane/line. But the vehicles ahead slow to a stop or the Customs agent in this line suddenly decides to talk chattily with each traveler or the store clerk determines now is when he needs to rush off somewhere else. You are stuck forever in your lane/line. Oh no.

© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2011

*This blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact Rex or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com or follow him at www.twitter.com/RexMRogers.

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Written by: Rex M. Rogers

Published: 03 March 2011

I wonder if Adam laughed before Eve came along? Or more likely, I’m guessing she might have been the first with a big laugh when Adam created “It’s a guy thing,” showing off for the lady. Whatever.

Really, what would we do without laughter? Or more broadly, what would we do without humor, light-hearted entertainment, or comic relief? I’m not sure I’d want to live in a world or a human race where humor and therefore laughter didn’t exist.

I was and I am an avid newspaper reader. For years I started at the back of the paper and read my way forward, which is to say I started with the comics and moved on through sports and entertainment to business to hard news. I went from the light to the heavy stuff.

Why, I don’t know, but a few years ago I inexplicably switched. I suddenly felt compelled to start with front-page heavy-duty material and move through opinion columns to business to sports and entertainment. And now, I always save the comics for last.

I guess this happened because it feels good to wrap a session reading about the problems endemic to the human predicament with a little time spent with "Peanuts." I like them all, but my all time fav "Peanuts" characters are Lucy’s little brother Linus and Charlie’s little sister Sally. Linus is the intellectual, the young one who quotes Shakespeare and the Bible and spouts history and trivia. Then there’s Sally.

Sally’s the one who keeps coming up with a “New Philosophy.” Hilarious. With credit to Charles M. Schulz, here’re two:

Sally: “I have a new philosophy, ‘Life goes on.’”

Charlie: “Good for you.”

Sally: “So what’s on TV?”

Charlie: “Not much.”

Sally: “Life goes on.”

Sally: “I now have three philosophies: ‘Life goes on,’ ‘Who cares?’ and ‘How should I know?’”

Sally: “Pretty profound, huh?”

Charlie: “Maybe a little too profound.”

Sally: “Who cares? How should I know? Life goes on.”

One of my habits is to tear or cut out comic strips I think are funny and share them with Sarah. We do this pretty regularly and it’s always fun. Some comics have a way of presenting life poignantly. Some strike a chord because they talk about experiences with which you relate. Some, like "Garfield," grab a faithful readership because Garfield thinks, says, and does things that we sometimes wish we could get away with. They’re all amusingly enjoyable. Good comedy in television and the cinema can be the same.

Laugher is good for you. Innumerable empirical studies have demonstrated as much. But Solomon knew this long ago. He said, “A happy heart makes the face cheerful” and “A cheerful heart is good medicine,” (Proverbs 15:23a, 17:22a). Later Solomon said, “There is a time for everything…a time to weep and a time to laugh,” (Ecclesiastes 3:1a, 4).

So in the midst of inevitable challenge and adversity...in the face of life's turmoil, trouble, and turbulence, do yourself a favor. Find things in life worth laughing about. LOL.

© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2011

*This blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact Rex or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com or follow him at www.twitter.com/RexMRogers.

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Written by: Rex M. Rogers

Published: 10 February 2011

It’s Thursday evening. What better time to consider what we could live without? Here’s my list in no particular order:

--Beer commercials.

--Reality television programs.

--Abercrombie and Fitch.

--MSNBC.

--Cauliflower.

--Taxes.

--Wars and rumors of wars.

--Airline ticket change fees.

--Rap music.

--“It’s a perfect storm.”

--Tattoos.

--Lists.

© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2011

*This blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact Rex or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com or follow him at www.twitter.com/RexMRogers.