It was pure bull shit.

I make some people around me nervous. In part, because I write about what’s around me. About the people. About the events. My experiences. And I suppose that my presence robs them of some of their privacy. Because they never know for certain what I may write about. And I may portray everything in ways that others don’t see. We may share the same event and same experience and get totally different realities out of it. Often I don’t see life the same way as others. Because my focus is different. I make no apologies about that. I used to read books that told me what to think and what to see. But that was nowhere close to what I was thinking and seeing. For instance, I was brought up as a Christian and I was told that a Christian was supposed to believe certain things. A credo. But I didn’t buy into all that stuff. I began to think for myself. And I didn’t fear being wrong. With not going by the book. I was told that America was always right. And that America never lost a war. And that war was good and necessary. That the American way was always the right way, the best way, in matters political, economic and social. Bit by bit I learned that much of what I learned was pure bull shit. –Jim Broede