“Every single day,” said the man on the radio

“Every single day,” said the man on the radio. He was talking about the wetlands of Louisiana. “Every single day more and more….” They are disappearing. We are warned. We are given notice. “One day, you’ve waited too long…” Dire consequences. We have tampered with nature. Tampered hardly describes it.

We are not aborigines – those far-ranging black people of Australia. “Aboriginal” is from the Latin. “Ab” means from and “origine” means beginning, like the English word “orginate.”
But we are not from the beginning – not that beginning. Our beginning is the Bible which begins, “In the beginning,” but it might just as well be “from the beginning.” It’s a matter of belief.

Aeclectic Tarot Forum. The Aeclectic Tarot Forum is an Internet study and chat room for devotees of the Tarot. The cards describe the archetypes of our culture. I own the Rider-Waite deck, the most common one. There are, you will find out, hundred of Tarot decks. The address of the Aeclectic Tarot Forum is tarotforum.net . Most of the Tarot people are women, it is an international crowd. I chat with folks from the Netherlands, England, Chile, Sweden, New Zealand, Australia and Canada – mainly English speakers.

Oops – now I’m hearing about global warming on the radio. We’re all going to die. “The conditions were ripe for more intense hurricanes,” said the scientist describing the apocalypse. The radio keeps interrupting – sorry.

Back to the Tarot. Why do I spend so much time hanging out with women on the Tarot chat room? Probably because I’m single – no wife, no girl friend, almost had a girl friend, but not quite. Lonely.

Nevermind. I would like to be influenced by the style of Herb Caen. He was a nice man. He reminds me of my father. I am not a nice man – I have too much anger, resentment, bitterness, spite, contempt and what else? I am just not that nice.

Now, the average journalist is far more of an asshole than I will ever be. They are completely aggressive and intrusive. I’m not mean enough to be a good journalist, and I’m not nice enough to be a warm-hearted journalist like Herb Caen. Even worse, I’m sentimental. I cannot erase this quality. Herb Caen is sentimental, when he writes his love for San Francisco, but in a measured way – you never feel like you just ate too much whipped cream and chocolate fudge.

But I am hopeless. I wrote a column for the Wilson County News which was titled “America is My Home.” That kind of thing just won’t fly out here on the West Coast, but it’s my nature and that means it’s the TRUTH. I don’t use that word, but now I want to use it. TRUTH. TRUTH. TRUTH. I want the Truth. I serve the Truth. I love the Truth.

Maybe the Australian Aborigines have the Truth. Here’s the details on the book, which is good, especially the photos, taken around one hundreds years ago in black and white when they -- the aborigines, the natives, the savages -- were still in the wild. The book is called Voices of the First Day, by Robert Lawlor.

I am not a native. I am not a local, except it be America, the entire country.