Ride for the Brand

     Hello all.  I want to apologize in the beginning because this is going to be a long post.  If you're up for it and actually get to the end, hopefully there's something in here to help you or someone you care about if they're having a hard time.      This time of year is kind of a difficult one at times.  It's also a very busy time for us.  Before I get to the reasons behind the challenges, let me give you some background:      So for the first 25 years of my life there was someone that I had the privilege of knowing.  Even though that might seem like a long time, I really was only close with this person for maybe the first 12 years of that 25.  We were best friends.  We would play in the sandbox together, with LEGOs, sports, and whatever other things were around.  Even if they weren't play things we'd play with them.      I remember playing outside and pretending to be this or that.  I remember terrorizing babysitters with him, getting into trouble, mess

To start off, I know this isn't a well-written article, none of these are, but thank you for giving me a small audience to speak to and for your patience in my ramblings.     Well, after taking a short sabbatical, I figured it was time to get back on.  Hopefully everyone had a good Christmas and New Year.  I know we did.      I've been thinking about some things and one of the things that always enters my mind is common decency.  Nowadays that seems to be an oxymoron because decency seems to be anything but common.  As recent as 20-30 years ago society had a code.  That code said that if something was defamatory, degrading, or just plain rude then you avoided those topics.  If something was private, it was private.  With the advent of social media there's been an influx of, in my opinion, could be called moral degradation.      Back then when someone had an embarrassing moment, it was limited to the people that witnessed it and the few people they blabbed it to.  While s