About that Puppet

They used to say that the best thing about the Internet is that nobody knows you're a dog. In view of this aphorism I feel the need to clarify a few things about the title of this post. First off, I am not in New Mexico. Secondly, I am not a puppeteer. Third, and this one is debatable, I am not young, or at least as young as I used to be. I'm thirty-seven, which to me feels pretty old. I can remember my father being thirty-seven and boy did he seem old when he was that age.

So, why am I posting to a blog called 'The Young New Mexican Puppeteer'?

Good Question, I'm glad you asked. The title of this blog is lifted from a 1972 song of the same name sung by Welsh crooner Tom Jones. Feel free to give it a listen. The song is about a young man in New Mexico who is concerned with the way that his community is living. The prevalence of unhappiness and worry in his community spurs this young man to action, so he gathers some string and wood and carves up a number of puppets including ones representing Abe Lincoln, Marting Luther King Jr., Mark Twain and Jesus. Using these puppets he stages little shows in the community to encourage people to find peace and joy in their lives and wins the hearts and minds of the community helping them to improve their lot.

The song wasn't a big hit in the USA when it was released, only making it to #80 on the charts here, but in the United Kingdom it peaked at number six and subsequently made its way onto a Tom Jones hits compilation and finally into my hands. When I first heard the song I thought it was a fantastic message of peace and love. It provides encouragement to people who see injustice and seek to right it, and I find that to be very inspirational.

When I look around at the community that I live in I find myself concerned about who we are living. People seem to be more aggressive towards each other and I can not think of a single person I know who is not worried about the many pressing issues that we all face; rising gas prices, rising food prices, inadequate health care, corruption in our government and police departments and a list of other points so long that it would stretch this page down the the floor and out the door. The state of our country is much like the town near Albuquerque; people have frowns of worry on their faces and I want to make things better.

Now, I'm not going to gather string and wood because frankly, playing with puppets doesn't interest me all that much, but I do feel the call to action. The need to do something, even if it is only to share my thoughts on current events, is greater now than it has been before in the course of my life. This country needs a new direction away from fear and worry. So please consider this blog to be my virtual string and wood and together we will try to find life's open path.

Initially my idea for this blog's content is to cover my personal life, my thoughts on politics of the day, the occasional review of a movie, book or album and photos that I take. As this blog grows I am sure that other sections will crop up but for now I'm going to try to keep my focus on life, politics, photos and review. I think that will make for a pretty interesting blog.