My Shout: An homage to Rooney

Have you ever noticed there’s no pearl on the pearly gates? I mean, for years we are taught about the pearly gates, and how elaborate they are. When you finally reach them, though, you see they are simply gates which one passes through.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately; how we are often told that things are better than they actually are, and why is that

Why can’t someone simply tell us that things are just okay or average, or that they’ll do in a pinch??Why does everyone need to make things seem like they’re the best things since sliced bread.

I’m happy to have reached the gates of heaven.?I’ve had a life filled with both the good and the bad, and it has most certainly been full. I began my career as a journalist during World War II, and have seen my fair share of life’s coming and goings. I don’t need things sugar coated for me. I’ve seen enough to realize that I’m happier when things are as they actually are, rather than feeling the need to be made to appear better.

My life was a long one. I had friends and even made a few enemies along the way, but that's what builds character. I’ve been allowed to be a bit of an old codger on more than one occasion, but that too is okay. What’s the point of participating in the world if we can’t pick a few holes in it from time to time.

Back to those gates.

Gates let us into places, but they are also there to keep us out. Fortunately for me, when my time came, I was one of the ones let in.

Perhaps it’s because I was a man who tried to make sense of things. I asked a lot of questions, and looked for a lot of different answers. If I ever offended anyone about anything, my intention was never deliberate. It’s just that a lot of what we see every day just doesn’t sense. Sort of like those gates, I guess.

I’m happy to have been let through them. I didn’t need to be told they were better than they actually are. when St.?peter asked me to step on through, I jumped at the chance, and would have regardless of their condition.

In a way I guess I’m sad. Life will definitely be different up here, and I’ll miss the day to day imperfections back on Earth. They say it’s perfect here, and I worry that I won’t be able to fit in if I don’t have something to think about that perplexes me.

I hope all the people back on Earth still take stock in what goes on around them. I hope they demand truths whenever they can’t find one. I hope they remember that their right, as people, is to get to the bottom of things, and to speak up if the world seems at all unclear.

Farewell Earth, and all of the mishaps that make you as beautiful as you are. Keep up with the changes that come your way, and remember, always, that this old codger will be keeping an eye on you.

Charlotte Guedry is Editor of the Gonzales Weekly Citizen. She can be reached by emailing editor@weeklycitizen.com. You can read more of her stories by following her on Twitter by going to @WeeklyCitizen.