A complete list of who is great

It's really hard to compile a list of who all is great, because it seems like every day, you're reminded of someone who is, or someone new who is pops up on your radar. Like, I totally forgot about the cast of "WKRP in Cincinnati" for a while, and they're all great. So in April, if I'd tried to make a list of who is great, though I probably would have remembered Howard Hesseman, because he's in "Clue," and probably Tim Reid, because he was on "That 70s Show," I might have forgotten some others. In brief, an incomplete list.

Also, until the other day, I didn't know about the show "Clean House," so I wouldn't have been able to put the cast of that on a list of who is great. So while there are people who you'll remember, like Anderson Cooper or Mark McKinney or Rick Moranis or Bruce Dern or whoever, there will be names that just escape you. Like just now, I remembered Dave Barry. Dave Barry! How the hell did that get away from me?! Also, Michael Hedges. That guy was awesome! Rhea Perlman... Christopher Cross... Marc Chagall....

You see what I'm saying? You don't hear from people for a while, and they always pop up in your brain with a ton of frequency. So it's a difficult list to make. And... there's no accounting for taste.

That's great. It's starts with an earthquake...

First I want to start by saying that I am feeling FANTASTIC. No joke. I could actually not be better right now. So despite the fatalistic tone of my title, I am happy to announce that I am in a great mood and have been for at least a week. I am on vacation, done with my summer class in statistics (in which I earned myself a big, giant A, thanks very much!) and am therefore OFFICIALLY enrolled at Roberts Wesleyan College come this fall in the Masters of Social Work program. Also, in one month and three days, I will be completing my final shift in at Kinney HealthDirect and shortly thereafter moving to Rochester. I ditched PCs for Mac and it's made my life better.

In the vein, however, of my fatalistic title, is this: Jesse Helms is dead (not that I'm too worked up) and Rev. Billy Graham wrote some blah blah about, essentially, what a great guy he was. Far be it from me to criticize the words of a guy who has made his living being a man of God, and I know a whole lot more people care what Billy Graham has to say than what I have to say, but Jesse Helms was not a great guy. Maybe he was wicked nice to his wife, kids and grandkids (doubt it) but he was also a bigot and homophobe. How you treat your family is great and everything, but true character is judged by how you interact with strangers and what you do when you're NOT posing for a photo op, there, chuckles. Okay? In my estimation, it's even got little to do with whether you believe in God and which version you believe in if you do. There's a simple guideline that pops up in virtually every single society and form of spirituality: do not treat people like crap. Period. This includes the waitstaff, the maid, people who are a different color than you, people who are a different orientation than you, even people who you just don't like. You treat everyone with AT LEAST courtesy. AT LEAST. Not because you expect a reward. Because it's the correct thing to do. Period. 

And frankly, I would love to hear from Andy Cooper on this one, but he's too busy working on stuff that actually matters, like what's going down in Zimbabwe.