Pine Nuts: Scraps of thought found on a circus floor

The greatest clown that ever lived, Emmett Kelly, used to sweep circles of light around the circus floor with his broom. Watching him would make a foreclosed person smile.

So it is with Emmett in mind that I sweep up some scraps of thought from a file I labeled “Current” some 30 years ago.

The file has grown from a few thoughts to 80 pages of reflections that I have found too overwhelming to examine until now — my Emmett Kelly day.

So please indulge me here as there is no rhyme or reason to the order in which these random thoughts appear…

• The only honest person in America today might be Carolina Panthers defensive end, Greg Hardy, “I’m a really really ugly person, and I have a bad attitude.”

• Librarians have been referred to as the disappearing gas attendants of the mind.

• Announcement: The glass ceiling is now closing for men and women.

• We’re talking today at each other instead of with each other — at our loss.

• “I figure that unless you are in the business of politics, covering it or columnizing about it, politics should take up maybe a tenth corner of a good citizen’s mind. The rest should be philosophy, friendship, romance, family, culture and fun.” — David Brooks

• “It’s a great country but you can’t live in it for nothing.” — Will Rogers

• I’m not much on poetry, but I do enjoy the society of a compassionate poet. I’m not much on religion but I do take pleasure in the company of a religious person of good will. I’m not much on politics, but I do savor the association of a congenial politician; I just can’t find one.

• I believe in God — all of them that inspire kindness.

• “You don’t pay much attention to what other people tell you when a guy’s good in the feathers.” —Eva Gardner

• “Burning in Hell — The Comedy”

• There is IQ, and then there is EQ (emotional quotient) the ability to read other people and understand how you are coming across.

• Weather forecast? Partly cloudy with a chance of oblivion…

• “I am a man of fixed and unbending principles, the first of which is to be flexible at all times.” — Everett Dirksen

• “The good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain, is floating in mid-air, until it is secured for all of us and incorporated into our common life.” — Jane Addams

A faint heart never filled a flush. Thank you, Emmett, for giving me heart to examine the “Current” file.

Learn more about McAvoy Layne at www.ghostoftwain.com.