Out of the Wilderness

Being Nice or Being Kind

When we’re young we’re taught to “be nice.” Santa has his “nice” list. Politeness is often associated with someone having a nice personality. Somewhere along the way, though, I realized I don’t want to be nice. I want to be kind. I think nice is more circumstantial: being nice to people who are nice back, choosing to be nice on the outside to someone who’s mean, when you really want to rage against them. And then there’s being kind. Kindness is not as much circumstantial as it is a reflection of some other decision they made in spite of circumstances. Nice is just basically having good etiquette in whatever situation you’re in. Kindness is part of who you are.

So I try to decipher which quality I see in myself when I treat people well. Am I just being nice, or am I being kind?

But why? Why does being nice matter? Why should we care about being kind? Maybe it’s part of the nature of humans to have that ability to be kind, but why do we want to be good to others? I think it all leads back to a Creator. If there isn’t something out there bigger than ourselves, then we ought to only be looking out for ourselves. Why help someone get a leg up if it’s survival of the fittest? Why care about anyone? Why should we be kind? Well, I think it’s because God created us in His image, and He’s kind. We, I, should strive to let go of my lower self (selfishness, greed, etc) and reach for the higher self (the fruit of the Spirit type qualities).

Kindness is helping others to feel good, to be better off, and a byproduct is that we have a sense of satisfaction, a sense of purpose, being more on the selfless side of our generally selfish nature. It usually makes us feel good to be kind, whereas being nice can be very short-term. It might not even make us feel good to be nice. Kindness is a deep quality that isn’t usually affected by day-to-day events.

Just my 2 cents. I don’t want to be nice. I want to be kind.

-Out of the Wilderness

Biden Fire Away Pun Was Not Intended… Just Like His Entire Presidency

Biden’s “Fire Away!” comment to VP Harris wasn’t intended, and isn’t that always been the problem with him?

His entire presidency has been unintended, and it’s all been one big pun (no pun intended, RIP Big Pun). His fire comment reminded me of that time he had yet another blunder when Hawaii was burning. Actually he had a few, one about his precious Corvette, but this one was up there with the worst. Hawaii’s hot ground while the fires are still smoking.

January 20^th can’t come soon enough. But I’ll admit I’m going to miss all the gaffes from Biden and the run-on sentences from Kamala Harris. These are the days we’ll look back on and acknowledge how bad it was, but at the same time how amazing it was. So many memes. So little time. Indeed.

-Out of the Wilderness

The Freshpet Mafia Commercial – The Dog, the Actor, and More!

By now it shouldn’t surprise anyone that some people keep their dog food in the refrigerator. Oh goodness, forgive me… keep their Freshpet in the refrigerator. There was the red head, the basketball bros, and now things have taken a darker, more sinister turn. Badda bing badda boom, the mafia also keeps their Freshpet in the fridge.

The Kingpin. One might argue the kingpin of this mafia is the guy making decisions at the table. After all, the character is played by “Sopranos” actor Steve Schirripa. But behind every good guy, there’s a good boy. In this case it’s Junior, the King Charles Spaniel. Look how he commands respect from everyone at the table when the one mob guy comes in and mistakenly calls his food dog food. A fatal mistake.

Things are about to get ruff for that guy. He pawses, trying to understand why dog food is in the fridge, but soon he’ll embark on his journey to become fish food himself! Don’t mess with Junior.

What do you think about the commercial? Is it Freshpet’s best ad yet?

-Out of the Wilderness

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Close Calls, Clothes Call, and A Closed Call…

Close Calls. The first of college football’s last 3 days happened last night. Back and forth between Penn State and Notre Dame and it turned out that whoever scored last was going to be the winner. I’d label that a close call and Notre Dame squeaked out the win to move on. They’ll play the winner of tonight’s game which means they’re going to lose to Ohio State in 10 days.

Clothes Call. David Muir, host of newsy stuff on ABC got caught playing pin the tail on the donkey except he was the donkey and it wasn’t a tail they pinned on him. It was a fireman’s jacket and now David’s facing heat because of it. Heat… get it? I’ve seen this method used back when I worked in television but typically it’s something the host is aware of, to not show the cameras. Oopsy. David’s regular fitting clothes called and said they want some recognition here.

Closed Call. I guess that would be someone hanging up the phone, right? Closing the call. How many of you are getting spam calls, or spam texts? I get them more than I’d like throughout the week and the most common is people calling to find out if I’d like to sell my house in Tennessee. The thing is, I don’t have a house in Tennessee! Not as of 2021. These people need to get their facts straight, Jack! So every one of those phone calls end up as a quickly closed call.

How’s 2025 going for you so far? Any close calls, clothes calling your name, or closed calls?

-Out of the Wilderness

Ty Myers “Can’t Hold Me Down” and It’s Not A Puff Daddy Cover

This new song and video popped up on YouTube and I just knew it would be a cover of the Puff Daddy song “Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down.” Besides the double negative meaning that someone actually CAN hold me down, the Ty Myers song is less of a brag and more of a pleading request. And it’s super catchy. Also, it’s not a cover of the Puff Daddy song because… well, in today’s current music industry climate, no one and I mean no one is getting within 10 miles of Sean Combs.

Isn’t that a great song? Also, a music video can make or break a song. Without the right images to go along with the music an artist can really miss the mark. But Ty hits it out of the park with this one. Clips of Texas, a road trip out to Vegas and it’s not cluttered with concert footage like some artists love to do. The video compliments the song’s tough attitude but in a likable way. Plus, I mean, Texas is an awesome state. The geography is amazing and I’m often reminded of my camping trip out there, starting in Florida and up through the Gulf states, to the panhandle of Texas, through Oklahoma (where I saw Judah and the Lion in concert) and back down to Florida. There in Texas, one of my favorite state parks… Caprock Canyons.