The High Road

"With great power comes great responsibility." 
Spiderman's uncle in Spiderman

"I have no authority whatsoever."
Jeff Garrett in this blog...right now...this is the original quote...better print it out and hang onto it, it's a collector's item.

I started thinking about the effect this blog is having on the world around me.  Writing can be a powerful tool and I should be careful about how I wield that power.  And with the number of people that read my blog, the response that I am getting from various parts of the world, and accumulated power that has been given to me through this vehicle I do feel that responsibility.  I now realize that the (great power : responsibility) ratio is an important thing to consider.  When I look at all the factors involved, my best guess is that my responsibility rests comfortably in the "do whatever the heck you want to" range. 

With that sort of freedom it would be simple for me to fall from grace and begin to use this blog as a way to completely malign others with impunity.  I, Jeff Garrett, blogger, do hereby solemnly swear to take the high road.  There, I have said it.  I see myself as someone who could get away with things but will not.

I will not say that some "news" reporters have lost their minds simply because they chose to cover a story about Barbie and how, following the separation from Ken years ago, She and Ken have decided to "work things out."  I won't do it!  That sort of put down is best saved for someone who is much less mature than myself.

I will not comment about how drivers who absolutely refuse to turn on their turn signals until you are stuck at an impasse in the center of an intersection, cars waiting behind you, light turning from yellow to red, should be drawn and quartered.  I will withhold my thinking that they should furthermore have their licenses revoked, cars impounded, and be forced to stand at intersections holding a sign that says, "I do not have even a moderate amount of consideration for my fellow drivers."  I am not going to go there!  My blood pressure just won't take it.

I actually heard a super-model wannabe get criticized for her lack of judgement and poor choices only to hear her say, "People shouldn't judge a book by its cover."  It would be morally reprehensible of me to mention that this silly little twinkie was standing smack dab in the geographical center of judge-a-book-by-its-cover land by trying to be a model.  And by trying to be the "top" model, she was campaigning to be the queen!  That is not where I am going.  You cannot make me. 

It would be easy, and understandable, for me to mention that I happened across the semi-old movie, "The Quick and the Dead" on TV late last night.  It would be effortless of me to mention to a Ms. Sharon Stone that I was rooting for her to not be "the quick."  I could very easily discuss how I thought that someone was lucky that I hadn't paid good money to see this but I was going to contact a lawyer to explore the possibility of suing to get my two hours of life back.  Nay!  I say, Nay!  I will not become "that guy."

When I took a stand for good values and being a model citizen I had no idea how good it would make me feel.  It's very freeing!  Imagine all of the things that could have been said but have been mentally released from my grasp.  It will be much easier to write this blog now that I have a clearer vision of what I hope to accomplish.  I cannot imagine how people who dwell on the negative are able to live with themselves.  It is comforting to know that I have not joined that crowd.  It feels like I am being wrapped in a giant Snuggie that has come fresh out of the drier.  Because of my new direction and stand I will not mention that this backwards bathrobe and its inane commercials have been insulting the intelligence of the American people for years.  Feels good to let it go...unsaid.