“Our opinions do not really blossom into fruition until we have expressed them to someone else.” These perceptive words are those of Samuel Langhorne Clemens—aka Mark Twain—the often-quoted and very famous 19th century humorist, novelist, and author of short-stories. Put another way, the message that Mr. Twain is attempting to convey with his clever insight is that, “A thought in one’s mind becomes a full-fledged opinion when it lights in the mind of another.” This little snippet of wisdom comes from the mind of Ronald Conrad Sickler—aka Butch Sickler—the never-ever-quoted and definitely-not-famous, 21st century wannabe poet and author, and normal, everyday guy.
One may assert that I am being extremely bold, or, at the very least disrespectful, to mention my own name in the same book as Mark Twain’s, much less on the same page and in the same paragraph. Furthermore, for me to offer up my own quotation that essentially paraphrases and attempts to explain that of the great Mark Twain? If that isn’t sacrilege, I don’t know what is! While I am certain that I could be burned at the stake for such an offense, please refrain from striking the match just yet. I, being but a tiny speck of dust on the sole of Mr. Twain’s shoe, would be beneath even that were I to attempt to compare myself to this timeless icon of great American literature.
That being said, however, I must point out that Mark Twain and I, and, for that matter, you, and every living person on earth, do have one thing in common: We all have personal thoughts and feelings about many things in life, some of which we feel stronger and more passionate about than others. Yes, for better or for worse, we all have opinions. Countless men and women—from Socrates, to Helen Keller, to Shakespeare, to Will Rogers, to President Kennedy, to Rosa Parks, to Chief Sitting Bull, to you and me,—have all expressed their opinions on occasion for anyone within earshot to hear.
The idea for this book actually occurred to me in October 2005 while I was involved in my Post-Cancer Psychotherapy treatment. The weekly counseling sessions were a follow-on to my battle with Advanced Head and Neck Cancer, the diagnosis of which I received in June 2004, despite my having lived an ultra-healthy lifestyle and never smoked or used tobacco.
When I began to write this book, I honestly had no preset agenda or preconceived “menu” of topics upon which I wanted to comment. As it turns out, I have simply let my overactive mind take me where it has wished to go. And, for almost four years, take me it has! On some occasions, if a particular sight or occurrence caught my attention during my daily travels, I would commit it to memory so that I could later jot it down before entering it into the book’s manuscript. Other times, if a particular idea or something of interest piqued or fascinated my mind—no matter where I was or what I was doing—I would quickly record my thoughts on sticky notes, checkbook deposit slips, a pad of paper on my nightstand, the palm of my hand, or anything else that happened to be handy. Although I have written this book for my own Post-Cancer therapeutic reasons, it is my hope that my efforts may be of some value or benefit to Readers and others in some small but meaningful way. While you are reading the manifestations of my innermost thoughts, perhaps you will find some of them to be informative and encouraging, while others may awaken and even rile your brain. Others still, may strike you as being funny or perhaps a tad ridiculous. In many of my quotations and comments about most of the topics, I have attempted to inject some form of humor, be it outright or of the lampooning, satirical variety. Still, in other quotations and commentary, the subjects about which I have written are too philosophical, too disappointing, too disgraceful, and too serious for any fun to be made of them……
Following is a small sampling of the hundreds of quotations, opinions, and comments that are contained within this book, all of which having been Copyrighted by the author:
“’Love’ is a most precious gift and one that can justifiably be ‘regifted’ to others.” - Butch Sickler
“The Stars and Stripes, a piece of cloth sewn with three basic colors, unfurled high on a pole against a bright, blue sky. Seemingly such a simple thing, yet over 200 years, thousands of lives and millions of dreams have gone into its making.” - Butch Sickler
“If you’re writing a book about your Cancer Experience and your editor gives you a ‘Drop-dead’ date, you may want to find a different Publisher.” – Butch Sickler
“Forgiveness is a very valuable commodity. It can be traded for Happiness, a New Life, Friendship, and Love, and all that it costs is a Change of Heart.” - Butch Sickler
“If one looks deep enough, they can find humor in almost anything. Please don’t tell my Proctologist.” Butch Sickler
“Let us never be deceived by the false notion that disagreement with the leader of a Democracy constitutes Disloyalty or lack of Patriotism. It is the indisputable right of the people to question and oppose their elected leader that distinguishes a Democracy from a Dictatorship.” - Butch Sickler
“If you happen to come down with a bad case of Kindness, don’t keep it to yourself. Try to infect as many people as possible.” - Butch Sickler
“’Diversity’ is a magnificent celebration of all people, each individual in their own Cultures, but all very similar in their Dreams.” - Butch Sickler
“If it’s true that we only use 5% of our total brain capacity, what happens to the other 80%?” - Butch Sickler
“To survive Cancer is to realize the severity of what could have happened and to appreciate the miracle that did.” - Butch Sickler
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