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Monkey Found Me

By Cliff Springs

I have always been a “dog” person.  In most ways on most days dogs are everything we human beings should be—excited to see our loved ones; always up for fun and play; forgiving; and great for just hanging out and being with our friends.  When I was about 9 or 10, we owned a cat for about 2 months, but our dog wasn’t a big fan and neither were my parents.  We found a neighbor who wanted the cat and never looked back.

I never had much interest in cats after that.  I’m an animal lover in general, so petting a neighbor’s cat and walking away was fine.  I just never had any real bonding experience with a cat—and frankly, their attitudes often reminded me too much of women.  Dogs were for guys.  Cats were for gals.

In the fall of 1998, Monkey found me.

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How to Live a Meaningful Life

By Cliff Springs

Fifteen minutes of fame.  Or shame.  It doesn’t seem to matter which anymore.  Our society’s constant worship of celebrities and fascination with the freak du jour has fueled the seemingly insatiable need to get noticed—to be “somebody”.  Never mind that the “somebody” you may be is a laughingstock, a pervert, a criminal, a blowhard, or an idiot.  Just be “somebody”.

Two recent examples demonstrate the depths to which those in need of attention will stoop:  namely the “balloon boy” family and the White House party crashers.  For me, I find it interesting that these two sets of absurd fame-seekers perpetrated their fiascos the same year that my 90-year-old grandmother passed away.  More on her in a moment.

Richard Heene and his wife—the Colorado family who fed the lecherous media the juicy hoax of a runaway experimental balloon with their young son supposedly trapped inside— (more)

God or Government? A Man-Made Deity

By Cliff Springs

God or government?  It’s a question that I think we as a nation must ask ourselves as we stand at the crossroads of decisions that will have historic impacts on the very nature of our country for a generation or more. 

Although I admittedly lean toward less government, I don’t hate government—I just believe that it functions most efficiently and effectively in a smaller form.  Lately, however, with the struggling economy and high unemployment it has become clear to me that many of our citizens view government (perhaps subconsciously) with reverence usually reserved for our Creator.  Not as a holy entity and not as a source of salvation, but certainly as the all-powerful provider here on this earth.

Consider the cultural shift over our nation’s two-hundred-thirty-three years of existence.  When this great country was founded, the majority of our founding fathers were (more)


Don’t Screw Up Your Life, Part 1

By Cliff Springs

I read a very interesting statistic a few weeks ago.  In Bernard Goldberg’s book “Crazies to the Left of Me, Wimps to the Right”, he quotes a pretty startling statistic:  if you 1) graduate high school, 2) don’t have kids until you’re married, and 3) don’t get married until you’re 20 then you have only an 8% chance of living in poverty.

Before I go any farther,  I must first declare that I am extremely hesitant to believe statistics that aren’t easily verifiable, and I will readily acknowledge that I haven’t made any real effort to validate that statistic.  But because it ties so perfectly into a belief system that has (more)

Is Praying a Crime?

By Cliff Springs

I just received an email from one of my dear friends from college.  Her father-in-law, Frank Lay, is principal at Pace High School in Pensacola, Florida.  My friend informed me that Lay and his athletic director, Robert Freeman, are facing criminal charges for saying a prayer before a meal to dedicate the completion of a new field house for the school. 

Make sure you caught that—CRIMINAL charges for saying a prayer.  A possible fine, jail time, or both.

This is not one of those stories passed around on the internet without names attached written about (more)

Eat the Elephant, Part II: Inches Apart, Separated by Miles

By Cliff Springs

As I mentioned in a previous article, I did not vote for President Obama—but I do have hope that his election will present an opportunity for race relations in this country to finally clear some long-standing hurdles. If you haven’t read Part I yet, please take a moment to do so. In an effort to provoke some meaningful dialogue, I am committed to being as transparent and honest as possible through the course of these conversations.

The following thoughts are actually the initial impetus behind DangWrite. I was so troubled by a conversation I (more)

Dang TV

Simpsons Quote of the Day

“Aren’t we forgeting the true meaning of Christmas? You know, the birth of Santa.” — Bart Simpson