Half Fast Living @gaillardiapress.com

Fewer and fewer people stand up for what’s right. They’re the worst phonies. They flatter each other and gossip about everyone else.

These bullshooters are bilious bags of bullshot. They’re big-mouthed bullies who berate others with their bitching and bragging.

We shouldn’t stand for it when they target poor, defenseless folks. We should shut the filthy liars up with the unadulterated truth.

But pusillanimous pricks are everywhere when the public values popularity and power more than peace and unpretentiousness.

I trust in the basic goodness of humanity. I’m not a scared little bird. I don’t fly off and hide when bad people resort to violence in order to cause division, distrust and fear.

Yes, they often seem to get away with their evil doing; and their victims often feel as if the whole world is either looking the other way or keeping its collective eyes shut.

But they who live by violence, do die, maybe not by violence, but with blood on their hands. And the iSoul is all about laws of order, action and reaction, kismet and karma.

Arrogant jerks who trick the poor out of their money should get caught in those same schemes. These greedy devils care only about getting rich and then showing off that wealth. They don’t care about the common good; and they don’t believe in a higher power by any name, no matter what they say.

Prideful people like this certainly don’t care about a concept like the iSoul – a wholly universal spirit – because nothing greater than them exists in their minds. All they value is money. That’s their God. On the surface, they appear successful, and they scoff at anyone who stands up to them.

These bullies don’t consider anyone else’s well-being; and they can’t imagine ever getting what they themselves truly deserve. They curse and lie and say hurtful things to folks who can’t defend themselves. Much of what these shameless rogues say is divisive and obscene on one level or another.

These beasts prey on innocent, helpless people, pouncing on them like actual predators. As so-called “fishers of men,” they reel the poor in like fish caught in a net, then crush them on the boat deck and sweep their broken bodies overboard as waste – hook, line and sinker. Do they get away with it?

I hope that all good people rise up as one someday and make the oppressors of the world pay for the bad things they do. Truth and goodness should always win out over lies and evil. The poor and the helpless should know the comfort of justice served, not the terror of continued victimization.

This world consists of three kinds of people: the good, the bad, and the uncaring, who lie between the other two.

Here’s how things should work: The good should succeed in life and be remembered because they do what’s right;

In the end, the bad should fail and be forgotten, snagged by their own snares and tripped up by their own traps;

And the uncaring — bless their ambivalent hearts — should relinquish the grace usually reserved for idiots and drunks.

But that isn’t how things actually work. The good must outlast the bad. And the uncaring must wake up and pick a side.

The iSoul is good — and bad — all the time, as we’re all part of this wholly universal spirit.

From birth, we’re taught to fear higher powers and to ask for favor or strength in trying times.

But when I look out into the starry sky, I see us as flecks of dander on the shoulders of the night;

And I wonder how we’ve survived so long on this ball of earth spinning in the darkness and light.

We are the masters of this tiny world and all that’s in it — animal, vegetable, and mineral;

We have the power to nurture or ignore, to plant or eradicate, to build up or tear down.

We take all these choices lightly at the risk of littering up our own little corner of the cosmos.

It often seems as though people are out to get me and that they want to tear me apart.

Now, if I ever hurt an innocent person, I truly should pay the price and take what’s coming.

If folks are mad at me for good reason, I need to be punished and treated like a scoundrel.

I’m honest enough to say I’m not above the law and that I don’t merit special treatment.

That’s the true test of integrity — if a person abides by the same rules as everyone else.

Bad people have many weapons to use in trapping good people — deceit, in particular.

But liars dig their own graves and make those pits deeper and deeper with each lie they tell.

I’m happy when everyone — including me — gets exactly what we deserve on this earth.

I don’t enjoy making people mad, because I’m a nobody and not as tough as I used to be, neither physically nor mentally. That worries me. I need help.

I want my health and strength back so that I can be a good role model for others, not just another statistic. Whoever said “dead men tell no tales” was right.

I’m tired of being in pain and crying my eyes out all night. That just gives the fools around me more reason to be smug and to feel better about themselves.

I wish they’d just leave me alone, because they can’t and won’t help me. What l need comes from all that’s good in the universe, from the iSoul itself.

Anyone who disagrees with me about that should be ashamed. They are the ones who should be worried, not me. How long will this madness go on?

Sometimes, usually in the morning, I can’t keep my thoughts to myself. This isn’t whining. Just listen to me.

I’ve already said that the flow of time is disrupted by bad people — those who purposely do wrong, or are evil, foolish, immoral, untruthful, deceitful or hurtful.

I’ve also said I try to be a good person. I know my place in the universe: I’m lucky to be alive, because life is fragile. And I’ve seen what happens to people who talk big and take life for granted.

You know, bad people deserve to die because of all the trouble they cause others. Yes, good people die, too, but they should be rewarded before then with safe and joyous lives.

No, I’m not whining. I want there to be fairness as well as order in the cosmos.

Forgive me if I ever get fed up and just want to go outside and scream.

I lose patience when certain bad people put me down with stupid lies.

Still, I know that being good is rewarded, and doing that is right for me.

Many people feel the same way. I just need to look harder and find them.

After all, I’d rather be true to myself than be rich and famous at all costs.

That’s what lets me sleep well at night, and what gives me satisfaction.

A lot of people worry me these days. Many of them work against me. And many pity me and say I’m cursed with bad luck.

But I try to do what’s right and have a positive attitude. When I’m down, I focus on good things in my life. That always helps.

At day’s end, I go to bed and try to get a good night’s sleep. When I wake up the next morning, I’m ready for another day.

Turning the other cheek is harder than busting someone’s chops. But the key to the iSoul — the universal spirit — is harmony, not discord.