I have
been asked a couple of times, why “For
What It’s Worth” as a blog title? So, I thought I might take a moment to
explain and also give a few insights into some of the symbology I use within
it.
First, every blog must have a title or name. It should be
something, catchy, memorable, and provide an idea of the content. Based on the
purpose of my blog, I wanted to share “my thoughts on current events and items
of interest to me”. I did not want anything like “My Two Cents” or any cute
variation, such as “.02” or “2¢” or even “$0.02”. Also, I did not want my name or
moniker to appear in the title, such as “Eddy’s Views On…” or “A Marine’s Take”.
I did consider for a while naming it “A Redneck Marine’s Guide To Life, Love, and Liberals”. I thought I might attract the wrong crowd so I decided against it.
After a bit of thinking, I remembered a phrase my Dad used
to say when he wanted to voice his opinion, normally in an unsolicited manner.
He would say, “If it means anything,” then add his comment. People tended to
listen when my Dad “added his .02”. At times, Dad must have felt like E. F.
Hutton. If you do not recognize the name, then you probably need to read my
blog so I can help fill your brain housing group with useful information. To
that end, E. F. Hutton was a brokerage powerhouse. Commercials and
advertisements had the phrase, “When E. F. Hutton talks, people listen”. In
other words—also an idea for a blog title—produce something that people will stop
what they are doing and “listen to what you have to say” or more literally, in
this case, read what I have to write.
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| "For What It's Worth" cover in 1967. |
While kicking around a few ideas, I was listening to a
Spotify station playing music from the 60s and 70s. I heard a song by Buffalo
Springfield, a Folk-Rock band. Buffalo Springfield had several well-known
musicians. Richie Furay, who went on to form the Country-Rock band Poco.
Stephen Stills and Neil Young would get together with David Crosby and Graham
Nash to form Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Jim Messina would later partner
with Kenny Loggins forming Loggins and Messina and Jim Fielder moved on to Blood,
Sweat, & Tears. Needless to say, there was a lot of talent in this group.
In the mid-60s they wrote and recorded a protest song that
was untitled. When Stills gave it to the band’s agent he said, “I have this
song here, for what it’s worth, if you want it”. Based on the phrasing of the
sentence, the agent believed the title to be “For What It’s Worth”. They cut it
as the A-side to a single. For those inquiring minds, the B-side was “Do I Have
to Come Right Out and Say It?”. However, the song title to the A-side song is
nowhere in the lyrics of the song. You might assume the protest song was about
the Vietnam War that was just getting in high gear in 1967. Well, you would be
wrong. While it is a protest song, it is not about war. If you want to learn
about this, do a little research. It won’t hurt.
When I heard the song, I recognized it and I immediately
knew this was my blog title. The band had something to say, “Hey what’s that
sound?” it got everyone’s attention. Like E. F. Hutton, people stopped and
listened. Having decided on my blog title, I was going to do something
different. Every individual post or entry I publish to my blog will have the
title of that post appearing somewhere in the text.
With the exception of “The World Is Black, The World is White” published on 24 AUG 13, the blog title For What It’s Worth, and the first letter in each post is purple. I
chose not to use any color in the aforementioned post because it is about race
relations between blacks and whites. The post is all black and white except
when referencing bloodshed and violence. Here I use red in an attempt to
illustrate we may have different skin colors, but we all bleed red. Back to the
reason for using purple.
Purple is my favorite color. It is the color of royalty.
However, that is not why I chose it. I have a wonderful, sweet friend whose
favorite poem is “When I Am An Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple” by Jenny Joseph.
She encouraged me to write years ago. She reminded me of my gift and that I
need to share it with the world. This is my homage to her; my way of
recognizing her impact on and importance in my life. To this person, PEAS.😉
Because of my health, my writing is sporadic. Trying to
think in a coherent manner when all you want to do is yell, makes it difficult
to capture your thoughts. This situation is compounded by the dulling effect of
pain meds. Regardless, I try to write something each week. Most of what I write
is never published; never read by anyone but me.
I write a lot of political posts or entries but have a fair
amount of military stories as well. I have tried to tag or label each published
post with pertinent identifiers to aid readers find a post or something to
read. Posts that are not political, historical, or about the military, are what
I call “Fun Zone”. These are posts, much like this one, that allow the reader
to escape reality for a moment and mentally check out. Maybe a ten-minute break
while having a cup of coffee. Fun Zone posts include, “Cheers!”, “Battle of Ed’s
Shed”, “Where Dreams Come True”, “LabCorp Comedy Club”, etc. Just use the drop-down list on the top left “All Labels”
If you have read this far, I hope by now you are interested
enough to read some of my other posts. If you like it, disagree with it, or
just have something to say, please let me know. Don’t be surprised if you come
across some EDDYoms (idioms). I have made several, such as NERDvana—a mental
or emotional state of Utopian bliss as a result of doing anything “nerdy”;
Palate Party—a tasty bite of food that is a “taste bud treat”; Premature
Exclamation—being in such a hurry to reply, you fail to fully compose your idea
before you speak or hit Send/Enter; Electronic Erection—sort of
self-explanatory, but any form of excitement brought about by electronic
gadgets. To clarify, it is far short of NERDvana.
Who knows, you might read something here and find yourself
in a conversation later in the day beginning with, For What It’s Worth…..
