Is everything okay?

Strolling the bay trail I chanced upon this sign.

I like what it says. Kinda has a comforting vibe. But is it true?

I think it depends on your situation. If you’re a working stiff with rent to pay or a fat mortgage to pay every god damned month and you’re looking at prices going up while your income stays flat like freshly flattened roadkill maybe everything is not okay. Of course, I’m not talking everybody. I’m just talking the working stiffs. How many working stiffs we got in this country? As of August 2026, approximately 162.75 million people work jobs. That’s a lot of working stiffs. A lot of people looking at prices going up and up and up and up while their incomes stay flat, flat, flat as a flattened racoon….

That’s a lot of pissed off people.

On the other hand…you might be one of those working stiffs, like me for instance, with a part time job and with almost zero bills to pay. If that’s the case, maybe everything is okay.

Yeah. Everything is okay if you live in a cave.

Or maybe everything is okay if you live in a shack you built on Walden Pond.

Good old Henry David Thoreau. He lived on practically nothing. He was the original Minimalist. Plus he was a Transcendentalist.

Transcendentalism is a 19th-century philosophical and literary movement that emphasizes the innate goodness of people, self-reliance, and the discovery of deep truths through intuition rather than logic

I’m a minimalist myself. I live on this boat…

Yeah, I’m a minimalist.

I’m not a Transcendentalist, however. I do not believe in the innate goodness of people.

Just for the record: I know a little bit about Transcendentalism because I spent 9 years in college, mainly to avoid joining the real world. I didn’t like the cruel real world. The main reason I didn’t like the real world? You had to make a living. Eventually I did join the real world and made a living selling shit most people really didn’t need. If only I’d had ambition. I coulda been a working stiff from the get go. Shit. I coulda been like one of those Tech Bros so chummy with Trump… I’m talking the Tech Billionaires that joined the Trump Train. That’s right, they kowtowed to Trump, a pretend-billionaire who finally became an actual billionaire thanks to all the poor saps who voted him into the White House. Yeah. Here’s to all you Trumpy voters. You voted him into office cuz he told you he’d bring down the price of everything only to ignore all of you and instead go on a Grift spree to the tune of 5 or 6 Billion which is still growing. He’s still making Bank. And wha’d you get for your vote?

You got 8 dollar Diesel.

You got the price of everything going up like rocket ships to the moon. You got an endless war. You got nothing he promised. You got the opposite. In short, you got screwed. He screwed you along with all the people like me who didn’t vote for him. But now suddenly…now that you’re screwed…you feel real bad you voted for him.

You’re crying while he’s laughing.

Trumpy’s thinking to himself, fuck you if you can’t take a joke…

Well…now I’m thinking about it, maybe everything is not exactly okay

Like I said, I’m not a Transcendentalists…I do not believe in the innate goodness of people.

I believe in the gullibility of people. The ability of people to be conned by some bloated gas bag with a bullshit back story. It’s kind of sad really when I think about it. How so many gullible people are willing to put their trust in this man…this man with the soul of a gator. I hate to defame gators! A man who would step over your body to reach the exit of a burning house. “What the hell are you doing on the floor!” A man who lies with every word he utters. Even the “the’s” and the “and’s” are lies! A man who is both evil and stupid. It’s funny how I used to think you needed a few smarts to be evil! A man who’s basically Un-American. Is it the American way to kiss the ass of a Dictator? I don’t think so….

Look how Trump touches the evil little bastard! I mean, it’s creepy…

Shame! Shame! Shame on you, Trumpy!

Yeah…gullible people voted Trump into office. That’s the only way I can figure it. They were gullible. They trusted Trumpy. They thought they were doing the right thing. In short, they believed they were doing good.

Wow!

Wha’d I just say?

Maybe the Transcendentalists were right all along! Could it be that innate goodness and gullibility are somehow linked? Is being gullible the same as being good? Shit. I gotta check this out with my artificial expert:

Goodness and gullibility are not inherently linked, though they are frequently confused in social contexts. While goodness refers to a person’s moral character, empathy, and desire to do well by others, gullibility is a vulnerability in social intelligence characterized by a failure to critically evaluate information, often leading to manipulation.

Yeah…that sounds about right.

Howling Coyotes

I awake to Coyotes howling in the night. These clever beasts trot down out of the hills and announce themselves to the landlubbers as if they expect to be welcomed into the community with open arms.

But that’s not why they howl. Coyotes howl at night primarily to communicate with their family groups, defend their territory, and reconnect after hunting. Coyotes couldn’t care less about Human Beings. They care about the rib bones Human Beings toss in garbage cans. The ribs and bones and hunks of meat and other tasty morsels…they care about the leftovers. They’d rather find food than kill some poor jackrabbit. Catching a Jackrabbit is hard work. Do I believe this? What do I really know about Coyotes? Only that they’re smart as dogs. Maybe smarter. Are they better than dogs? Coyotes need to kill to get by in the wild cruel world. Dogs simply depend on Human Beings. All of what I’m saying may or may not be true. But this much I know for a fact to be true: Dogs are better than Human Beings.

The best I can say about people? They’re gullible. They voted for Donald J. Trump.