Ezra's Essays

THOSE GOLDEN YEARS | Meditations – Chapter Four

There are many Americans who are cliché driven. When a person sneezes, they say “God bless you.” Tardiness is treated as “Better late than never.” Young daughters are told as they meet their dates, “Get home early” or “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” Women are involved in monstrous untruths when they say, “Oh, I…

February 22, 2017
SECOND CHANCES | Meditations – Chapter Three

For nearly 63 years, this old broken-down soldier has thought that he and five other GI’s, could have acted more graciously in not accepting an offer by a gentleman to pay for a breakfast we ate in a civilian restaurant. Once the offer was either not accepted or if you will, rejected, there were no…

February 14, 2017
SADDAM’S UNDERWEAR | Meditations – Chapter Two

Readers are warned that this essay is concerned about men’s under shorts and briefs. It would be a great disappointment to this old essay writer to have my readers expecting a display rivaling a Victoria’s Secret catalogue. This is a work of utmost modesty. It could be delivered profitably by some Protestant preachers who appear…

February 14, 2017
A TOUCH OF ELEGANCE | Meditations

Calendars don’t mislead or obfuscate. They mark the inexorable passage of time. That was the burden of the message exchange recently with Shirley Morganstein, a great speech therapist who set me to writing essays nearly eight years ago. In my case, essay writing has made those years pass most pleasantly. While essay writing has occupied…

February 14, 2017
CATS – AS′ – STROPHE

In a recent essay, you were introduced to Shamrock, a wayward cat who came to live with us. In the first day or so, Shamrock designated certain chairs as his exclusive property. His domain included the porch, the basement and the garage. With all of his kingly attributes, it was inevitable that he would be…

February 14, 2017
FRITZ, JAEGER, MENCKEN AND HERSH

If someone were to ask me who ranks first among all American journalists and authors since we gained our independence 229 years ago, my answer would be prompt and unequivocal. Clearly, it is Henry Louis Mencken who edited the Baltimore Sunpapers as well as “The Smart Set” and “The American Mercury” magazines. For 60 years,…

February 14, 2017
DUBIOUS AND DECEITFUL THOUGHTS THAT PASS AS TRUTH

Stretching the truth may well be a common failing among run-of-the-mill mortals as most of us are. When an auto salesman goes to work on a prospect, he says the engine moves the car from zero to sixty in record time while it burns almost no fuel at all. He may say that when there…

February 13, 2017
IT’S NO BIG DEAL

For better or worse, it is my belief, or conviction, that in times past, folk singers were the essayists of the day. There was a time when universal literacy was only a dream among educators. For example, when my ancestors left Ireland during the Famine which started in 1845, they were farmers who did not…

February 13, 2017
P’ING AND M’ING | Meditations – Chapter Five, Verses 1 to Obadiah

The readers of these essays are known to be upstanding, honest, far-sighted, and are generally free from all sin, original or otherwise. There may be one or two who have sin-sick-souls, but they have other offsetting characteristics such as being kind to animals and being gracious to grandparents to make up for all other deficiencies.…

February 12, 2017
CLEAR THINKING

The Commander in Chief/Chief Executive of these United States claims that he has discerned that Social Security is proceeding to a state he calls “flat bust.” If he were talking about female physiognomy, that would be one thing. But Mr. Chief of Everything is saying that the Social Security Trust Fund will be bankrupt in…

February 12, 2017