Well, here it is… the tail end of February.  And on this date, we celebrated the births of two incredible authors.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) and John Steinbeck (February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968).  Both men were amazing in their own right.  Or their own write.

Steinbeck was best know for his novels…. “The Grapes of Wrath” (Nobel Prize) and “Of Mice and Men”.   Longfellow was popular in his day…  more for his poetry than anything.  He wrote numerous classics, including “Voices of the Night” and “Ballads and Other Poetry”… and of course “The Song of Hiawatha”….

So…. on their birthdays…. I summoned them both for a brief interview.

PK:  Hi Guys.  Thanks for joining me this evening.  Well… truthfully… I am a little down.  There is so much bad news in the world.  Afghanistan has gone crazy.  School shootings.  Threats of war.  Mothers injecting daughters with heroine.  What do you make of all of this madness?

JS:  Man is the only kind of varmint sets his own trap, baits it, then steps in it.

HWL:  If we could read the secret history of our enemies we should find in each man’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.

PK:  Well…. looky at you two smarty pants.  Both… so…. so…. cryptic and enigmatic.  Alrighty.  So.  I shouldn’t be too down on the world right now… all that is going wrong …. and all the bad things that people are doing?

JS:  One can find so many pains when the rain is falling.

HWL:  The best thing one can do when it’s raining is to let it rain.

PK:  In that case…. I’m getting a dang umbrella.

So, then…. do you have advice for us?  In perhaps…. making this world a better place?

JS:  No man really knows about other human beings. The best he can do is to suppose that they are like himself.

HWL:  Perseverance is a great element of success. If you only knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody.

PK:  Great advice. Both.  So… maybe we should switch it up to something lighter?  I’ve heard that you are both afraid of the dark.  Is this true?

HWL: The nearer the dawn the darker the night.

JS:  Sure as shit… I am afraid of the dark.  Leave the lights on when I sleep.  And I have footie pajamas now.  That has helped.  They are light blue.

PK:  Well, thanks for your honesty there John.  I think.    Okay… how about the Oscars on Sunday night?  What’d you think?

JS:  The Tree of Life sucks.  War Horse should have won best film.  I like a good war movie.

HWL:  Uh….. Angelina Jolie looked like an imbecile with her leg jutted out all night.  Was her knee hot, or something?  What was the problem?

PK:  Well… I agree.  The Tree of Life was not my favorite.  And old Angelina… well….  maybe she was trying to get people’s minds off the fact that her husband was in The Tree of Life.  Well……hey guys……..  this has been more fun than a barrel of pickles.

Any parting words of wisdom for us?  You know…. about life.

JS:  No two journeys are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find that after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us.

HWL:  It takes less time to do a thing right, than it does to explain why you did it wrong.

PK:  Got it.  Do the next right thing.

Happy Birthday Boys.