Mental Health Matters - Who's gonna win the Presidential election?

Hello, my friends. Welcome to Mental Health Matters. As I've warned some of you, it might take me a minute or two to stop saying Suicide Prevention Saturday, but I will get there. The other thing you're going to notice today is I will probably take very long pauses while chatting today, simply for the fact that I'm attempting not to cough as much as my body wants to, hence see a scarf around my throat to keep my chest warm and all of that fun stuff. So happy November! It is November something second. I have to look at my computer even though I've been teaching all day. You would think I would know by now, but no. Um, so I just realized I have it up over on YouTube on the other side. Who's going to win the presidential election? We're not really going to talk about that. But considering it is the weekend before the presidential election actually occurs, I thought we should actually talk about what to do. I know a lot of people in the world are stressing right now, Americans and non-Americans. And next week, in theory, we shall have a new president-elect who will then be sworn in in January. And someone that you're voting for or you're rooting for right now may win, or the person you're rooting for may lose. And so tonight's episode is really about how to make the best of either of those situations. So DJ is here with me. Say hi, DJ.

Hi DJ, there you go.

I knew he would do that. So anyway, um, DJ's gonna watch the chat for me because I'm not sure how long this one is gonna be tonight because like I said, every so often I might be mid, um, mid-talking and I may just stop and throw DJ up and then DJ has to take over because the cough is kind of a pain in the neck. So I got some graphics for you all. Um, one of graphics. Yeah, we're gonna do the graphics first. Sorry, my poor little brain. DJ and I actually talked before show today, so we actually have a plan, and yet my brain is sort of working mostly, which, as far as I know, that's all of us all of the time. Um, some days are better than others, and I just want to make sure my phone is off. Um, and I'm finding out about my dog. All right, so number one rule about how to deal with who's going to win the presidential election: if your person wins, celebrate, but don't be a dick. If your person loses, you can be sad, but don't be a dick. That is the entire plan and the thought process I have, uh, with the amount of stress that we all have going through us wondering what the outcome of the election is going to be. We need to check in with ourselves. So because tensions are running high, people have very strong beliefs on lots of different, um, issues that are being brought up in this election cycle. But here's the thing, this is a great sort of stressor for us to be able to work through and understand how to deal with our emotions when it comes to life in general. Now, politics has gotten uglier and uglier the more I've paid attention to it, and I'm not entirely sure if it's always been this ugly or if this is something brand new. Either way, you and I don't have to be ugly around the way that things are. Hold please. And DJ, I know Crabby Turtle was in here earlier. Do we have other people that you should say hi to?

We do. Crabby Turtle, always the one to lead us off, isn't he? Glad to see him out there early on and just a few moments ago. Also in the room tonight, Sariafan93, thanks for showing up. We got Hillbilly Up out there, as is DM Foss. Been a minute, man, good to see you out there. Viejo is also out there in the crowd tonight, and this name that I don't think I've seen here at least before, Polar Snow Sea, has joined us, as has jh586, Jamie, the last one in the room saying howdy folks. Back to you, if you're— that is, you're not coughing still. Yeah, no, I'm good.

All right, um, so Crabby Turtle, thank you for sharing this link on G Web's, uh, cast, uh, about an hour or two ago. So that may or may not be where our new person comes from. Um, DM Foss, Mr. Foss, send me an email. I need to talk to you. I have ideas. I need your help. Since you are out there, I will ask directly because I keep meaning to send you an email, but I have not. So if you want to send me one, I would love that. So today I have a couple different things for you all. Number 1, no matter what happens, remember you got this. Whether your person wins or loses— wins or loses, yeah, that's the right words. Okay, um, keep believing in yourself. Now You got the headline of you got this. Now the next thing is things to ask yourself before you say something out loud, because as tensions may or may not run high, our goal is to make sure we keep ourselves as healthy and as happy as possible. So before you say something out loud, ask yourself the following questions. If you're going to say something out loud, is it going to make you feel better? So say, does this make me feel better? And sometimes, I'm not going to lie, saying snarky things makes us feel better, but it's only temporary. We're going to get into that a little bit later. Does this build me up? So after you've said something, does it make you a better person for saying it? Is it true? Well, we know there's lots of conversation out there about fake news, so really check in and find out if it is true or not before saying it out loud. Next is, is it kind? And we know before we say something whether it's our intention behind it is good or hurtful. And does it have a purpose? Is there a reason you have to share your thoughts with somebody? Because sometimes, I'm not gonna lie, my thoughts should totally stay in my head. I was actually at a gathering this week with some girlfriends, and she said something, and I immediately said something back, and I'm like, I felt like such an ass after I said the thing. And she's like, oh, not a big thing, girl, it's fine. But you You know, what is the purpose of saying what you need to say? And then once you've gotten through all of that, ask yourself, does it need to be said? Tonight we are going to— I'm going to read out of Don't Sweat the Small Stuff, and It's All Small Stuff by Richard Carlson, because Where is it? Ah, yes, 37. Choose being kind over being right. As I first introduced in strategy number 12, you are given many opportunities to choose between being kind and being right. You have chances to point out some to someone their mistakes, things they could or should have done differently. Ways they can improve. You have chances to correct people privately as well as in front of others. What all these opportunities amount to are chances to make someone else feel bad and yourself feel bad in the process. Remember that thing of, does this make me feel better? Without getting too psychoanalytical about it, the reason we are tempted to put others down, correct them, or show them how we're right and they are wrong is that our ego mistakenly believes that if we point out how someone else is wrong, we must be right, and therefore we feel better. In actuality, however, if you pay attention to the way you feel after you put someone down, you'll notice that you feel worse than before the put-down. Your heart, the compassionate part of you, knows that it's impossible to feel better at the expense of someone else. So that's from Don't Sweat the Small Stuff by Richard Carlson, and it's all small stuff. So for those of you who have ever played a game called Dungeons and Dragons, one of the things is it's a role-playing game, and in the game you get to choose your characters, and then you decide what are they made up of. You have good, you can have benevolent good, you can have evil, you can have pure evil, you can have a whole bunch of different varieties. Well, one day I'm playing with my friends and I was pure evil, and I have to say it's very freeing being pure evil because when you are pure evil, you don't ask any of the questions that we just talked about. Does it make me feel better? Does it build me up? Is it true? Is it kind? Does it need to be said? Or does it have a purpose? When we are playing pure evil in the game, I can totally screw people over and not care. So when we are correcting people, saying that they're wrong, making ourselves right, we have to look at what is the reason we are doing it. So I say, oh, it's really, really small and I apologize. I know there's no way DJ's reading this for save his life, but choose being kind over being right. And as a mom with children, uh, sometimes it's hard. We want to be right because it gives us validation, but we never want to have validation at the expense of someone else. So DJ, if there are any other things I should be paying attention to, I'm going to throw you on here for a second.

Right on. Well, first I wanted to go back up to when Jamie came in the room. He says, Brooke, it looks cold where you are. And yes, though it's probably not as warm as she might like, it's because she's suffering from that sore throat that does not seem to be in evidence yet, Brooke. So I don't think you're a faker, but I'm glad you're making it through the cast a little bit better than you thought you might. Then I'm going to bring to your screen something that came in from Sariafan93. Saria saying, politics can be a very hot topic, especially in the workplace. "Unless they are one of my work buddies, I keep my mouth shut." I can relate to that. This is a time of year where we hear a lot of conversations we really wish we hadn't been privy to parts of or didn't want to participate in at all, or had to just by the matter of where we had been standing in a line or perhaps even in a chat kind of thing, had to hear someone else have it out about their views or someone else's. And it seems there's far more disagreement than there is agreement about nearly anything during the season. And it is an even just about the fact that it's one of these election cycle years that have come through. But Maya does seem to sometimes bring out the worst in some of us, and I see far fewer of us being the best that we can be about some of these things. And so, as Sari says, it's, you know, hot topics like that can be divisions between people who normally would be, you know, comfortable officemates, or somebody that you would feel comfortable, you know, chiming in your two cents on who won the game or something like that. It's also the season for that. So, you know, maybe some of that frivolity, some of that distraction, some of those are a good thing. It's not a good thing if you're a Husker fan today. Congratulations to any UCLA fans out there. But there is some escape. Escape is necessary from all of this at some point. If we aren't all taking a break when we need it, not just in this season but in any other, to take stock of what's going on around us, to ask ourselves the kind of questions like, Should I be kind today because that's what I want to do, or because that's what I need to do in order to help everyone else around me have their best possible day? How's your best possible response to that, which is on your screen, Brooke Cheney?

All right. So what Jamie said about factually 100% right, but 100% wrong at the top of your voice. And it doesn't even need to be the top of your voice. It's kind of that question, does it need to be said? Does it have a purpose? Is it kind? Regardless of whether it's true or not. And that's why there isn't just a question to ask yourself before you say stuff. Now, I will say the one thing about this cough that makes me pause longer because I'm trying to not cough on you guys— not that I'm going to get you sick, but I don't want to cough in the mic— is that I have to pause swallow, and that gives me time to think. And one of the challenges we so often have when we're communicating is that we're listening to respond. We're not listening to hear and understand where someone is coming from. And this is where the importance of giving yourself grace— let's say your person doesn't win— give yourself grace, allow yourself to be disappointed, but don't go tear down whoever it is that won. Figure out a way that you can see the good and do your best to support other fellow Americans. Because funny thing, when I was reading the Don't Sweat the Small Stuff today, chapter 33, it says— words, I can use them, I swear. Praise and blame are all the same. So one of the most unavoidable life lessons is having to deal with the disapproval of others. Praise and blame are all the same is a fancy way of reminding yourself of the old cliché that you'll never be able to please all the people all the time. Even in a landslide election victory, This is in here. I'm not making it up, I swear. Um, here, let's see. Even in a landslide election victory in which a candidate secures 55% of the vote, he or she is left with 45% of the population that wishes someone else were winner. Pretty humbling, right? DJ and I were— this is not in here— DJ, we're talking about this. It's like we all have friends but not all of our friends like each other, but we are the commonality, right? So our— this is back to the book— our approval rating from family, friends, and people we work with— oh, hi Sarika— isn't likely to be much higher of the 45-55 percentage. The truth is everyone has their own set of ideas with which to evaluate life, and our ideas don't always match those of other people. For some reason, however, most of us struggle against this inevitable fact. We get angry, hurt, or otherwise frustrated when people react to our ideas, tell us no, or give us some other form of disapproval. The sooner we accept the inevitable dilemma of not being able to win the approval of everyone we meet,, the easier our lives will become. When you expect to be dished— it really says dished— dished out of your share of disapproval— dished out makes more sense— when you expect to be dished out your share of disapproval, instead of struggling against this fact, you'll develop a helpful perspective to assist you on your life journey. Rather than feeling rejected by disapproval, you can remind yourself here it is again, and that's okay. And you can learn to be pleasantly surprised, even grateful, when you receive the approval you are hoping for. So here we go. No matter who wins, they're winning by 5, 10 points, and that's considered a landslide. And the reality of it, if it's 45-55, there's still 45% of the country that wishes somebody else won. So no matter where you end up on that, winner or loser, don't think of yourself as a loser. Just think of it as part of life. So that is my idea on who's going to win the presidential election. You and I will win as long as we don't lose our cookies. If we win, the candidate we're supporting wins. We can celebrate, but also not diss the people that have lost, and vice versa. If we lose, just go on with life. We can do more. All of those things. So, um, all right, I see your star here, so I'm gonna throw that up there. All right, so it's possible for two people can be right but with differing opinions. So sort of yes and no, right? Um, it's actually one of those funny conversations I have with people all the time. Like, we look at my scarf. This is yellow, that stripe there, and this one is purple. And now one of the things I had the conversation about is you and I have decided that this is yellow, and that's what we've been told our whole lives. I have no idea if you and I are actually seeing the same color but we will always agree this is yellow regardless of what it actually looks like. I don't know if I'm explaining that well, DJ, but the idea that you can be right with differing opinions— I don't know, help me out, man. I'm a fumble master this evening.

No, you're doing fine. So I'm not going to try and tell you exactly what Foss is trying to say, but I'm kind of getting his drift, and so this is my take. Two people with diverging opinions can still be right about separate elements or about the overall thing itself without having to compromise by saying the one is right or one is wrong. If that's your yellow and that's my goldenrod, then we can both be right when— and but one of us can argue that the other one is wrong. No, it's goldenrod. No, it's yellow. There's no reason to go back and forth about what are differing shades of something. And so that's my take on it. He can elucidate for us if I've gotten it completely wrong out there, but I like that, you know, I start that for a reason because it's also something we need to remind ourselves of. And in addition to what he's suggesting there, I suggest that we aren't always going to be right. And of course, I'm a music guy, so I'm going to be thinking of things. Lyrics will pop into my head. One from Bob Marley, Get Up, Stand Up. He says, you can fool some people sometimes, but you can't fool all the people all the time. And at that point, he's, you know, trying to get people— he exhorts people to, um, and now you see the light, you got to stand up for your rights. So it kind of falls right into line with the things that we're saying tonight. And although that was about something completely different, I find that those words do ring true. Um, some other things that were occurring to me as the show has been going on are that, you know, and sort of what Sari was saying and a little bit of what Foss is saying there, not much really separates us in the day-to-day as people, as members of our families, our communities, as citizens, as walkers on the globe kind of thing. But in the hard times and on hot topics— and these seem to be both hard times and hot topic days— we seem to be miles apart on some things, or we seem irrevocably distant from people that we thought we understood or that we can no longer love or have respect for. Well, hold on, wait a minute. We're all citizens of the same human experiment regardless of where we are. And it's not— this is not the last year we're going to have issues like this. This is not going to be the worst year for most of us. It's going to be a part of—

yeah, now just these next 5 days, right?

It's not what you got.

It can be better or worse. It's a matter of how you deal with today and tomorrow and Tuesday and how that all goes, because we got to build this muscle and this muscle to make sure that we have compassion for those around us. Because it's— whether it's good or bad, the beauty of like Zen or the Buddhist mindset is it just is. And one of my friends taught me that, and I'm like, oof, that's really a hard brain wraparound to, uh, you know, get the idea that it just is. Because you can pick lots of topics where you're like, oh heck no, that is not a just— it is. Um, yeah, and I know you started this one, but I was going to click on it, but you were chatting at the time. Uh, Hillbilly, in a nutshell, half the US will be happy and the other half is going to be sad regardless of how it went. And here's the thing, if you are sad, that's okay. What we need to be is understanding of how to deal with that. I know that in the past we've seen some lashing out, bad behavior, all of those things. So those who are sad at the outcome of the presidential election if you are one of them and you need help, reach out and get help. Oh, you know, like with the banner thingy, right? Texting, talking, calling 211, 988, any of those things. And here's the important part about this: whether you are happy or sad of the outcome of the election, take care of yourself first. Get your headspace in a good place before interacting with other people. Remember to be mindful of the things that you say. You can think everything you want, but really go through those questions before you say them, because we can say something mean and we might be right, but it may not make me feel better. Or I can say something that makes me look good, but does it really build me up? Like I said, the true one lately has been a slippery slope of weirdness. There was a time when all we had to do is go to the encyclopedia and we were pretty confident the stuff in the encyclopedia was good. Is it kind? Now, when you ask that question, make sure you're asking yourself as well as, I mean, is it kind for you to say to yourself or out loud, as well to the person that you may be saying it? And what is the purpose? Does it have a purpose, or do you just need to get something off your chest? Now, if you need to call someone and just get something off your chest, I wholeheartedly support that. However, before you start the conversation, say, I'm not looking for a reaction. I just want to say these things out loud, and I need you to help me with that, because I know I need to do that from time to time. And then our final thing, the final question before you say it out loud is after you've asked those questions, does it need to be said? So, um, I don't know. Uh, there was another. Yeah. So G-Webs, I feel like it was a live show tonight. DM Foss would have the opportunity to fully explain. This is a live show. You mean a paneled show, I think. But you know, I know you're just saying, but yeah, someday we will do a panel show, I promise, uh, before the end of the year. How about that? We will plan a panel show to make everybody happy, or we'll, uh, we'll jump on, uh, we'll, we'll crash Hillbilly's Green Room or something before the next one, something along that, um, And then to add a little bit of humor, I feel like if folks can't get along through something like an election, how will we ever stick together once the robots from space take over the Earth and make us all work in gold mines? Well, I'm hoping that the robots are smarter than that and they know they're more efficient than us working in the gold mines. So, um, oh, so maybe, maybe not. As far as thinking that half of America will be mad come the election, I know 8 years ago I was pretty sure I went to bed assuming that Hillary Clinton was going to be our president when I woke up that morning, and I was totally surprised that that was not the case and that it was Trump. Last election, I don't know that I actually had that much of an opinion. This election, I'm trying to distance myself and be ready for either outcome because that's kind of the purpose of tonight is like no matter what the outcome, whether Harris wins or Trump wins, it's like I need to be ready for either option. And that's the kind of the idea around tonight is that the person you're supporting or the person you're not supporting, um, whoever wins, we need to be ready for that because people are scared right now. People are afraid. Both sides think that if this one wins, everything's going to hell in a handbasket, and then if this one wins, everything's going to hell in a handbasket and we've lost America. So if we've got a 45-55 split, which like they said, that's considered a landslide in a presidential election, What happens when we have the 48/52 split, right? So, and it's one of those things, there's gonna be an outcome one way or another, and either there's gonna be gnashing of teeth, or you and I can prepare to make peace with whatever the outcome is. And you and I are the only ones who have control over how we react to it. Um, I know DJ, uh, Oh, where is it? With the— in the Mental Health Matters, he was one of the first ones who commented and he's like, really? I can't get away from the election stuff. And, um, and it's just like, yeah, there it is. Thank you, DJ. Good job finding that. Um, are you kidding me? I can't seem to shake the election anywhere I go. And this is true, which is the only reason that I'm actually doing this one on this topic because everyone's talking about it. Most people are freaked out because again, no matter who you're supporting, you think if the other person wins, it's the end of America. And with that kind of rhetoric and that kind of belief being pushed on us from everywhere that we go, we have to come back to, all right, let me take a sip, a sip of warm tea. Soothe the throat, make myself feel a little bit better. Okay, what can I do to make myself feel better? What can I do to be prepared? Either or. Um, hi, I'm sorry, Mike, are you being ignored in the comments? We see this one. I don't know if DJ saw any of the other ones. Mr. DJ, did you see any of Mike White's comments yet or no?

No, I didn't. I'm gonna have to go back through and see how it is that I missed him. And I think he's been having trouble between his Mike White 2A Advocacy and his regular Mike White channel, and I've seen him using both now, but I did not see that comment.

Okay, well, I know usually it's G-Webs who's getting, you know, ignored. I mean, like, somehow YouTube gets rid of them. So, um, yeah, I think I missed something. Oh yeah, Ozzy. Ozzy was over on G-Web's chat earlier and he ordered— Jamie ordered the Taurus. Wait a second, Ozzy, I thought you ordered the Taurus. Anyway, sorry, that's another thing. Go visit Gun Web's 2A chat from this afternoon and you can learn more about the Taurus Magnum. So anyway, yeah, and it is a shame to see that both sides of the parts are so far apart. But here's the reality of it. I don't know. Oh no, you can't see it anymore. I put the water cooler there. For those of you who have done an Appleseed, um, one of the things they talk about is the Revolutionary War, or the thing they talk about is the Revolutionary War and how it started and how it sparked from one place and next and all of that sort of thing. But the reality of it is the Revolutionary War was less than 10% of the American people who wanted to break free of England. And I'm sorry if I've got the numbers wrong. Where is my teacher when I need them? But what happens is there's a— this is my left hand. I'm not sure. I think it's backwards for you guys, but there are people on the far left and then there are people on the far right. And that 1 or 2% are the people that you're hearing with the vitriol and the anger and the fear-mongering and all of that. The average American is somewhere between the far left and the far right. And the reason I just do this is because, like, literally I need to see the L. So my far left and my far right, and I don't think, um, that most of us are as far apart as we think we are. I think we have really loud people over here and we have really loud people over here, but the average American is mostly in here. We want the price of gas to come down because when the price of gas comes down, then the price of our groceries come down. When the prices of our groceries come down, We have less stress in our life. So I'm pretty sure that a majority of the people are in that area where it's like, we can only really take care of our day-to-day life. So, um, and I told you, I'm like, we're going to try to stay as neutral as possible in this conversation, but I really do think that that is it, is that we're not as far apart as the media would have us believe. So, um, yeah, we need to figure out how to legally keep the media's butt out of politics. But it's not the media's fault, it's that we want— well, we— when I say we, the general human population likes consuming drama. Because here's the thing, uh, I don't know if I've ever talked about Tony Robbins here before or not. I'm sure I have. But anyway, uh, one of the things I was exposed to when I was with Tony Robbins is some amazing people, and they actually took the time and the money and invested and created a good news station. So all it was was good news. It failed miserably. People love hearing about somebody else's problems because it allows them to realize someone else has it worse than them. And yet at the same time, we need that little glint of hope, but then hearing that so-and-so lost their daughter in a car crash, well, I didn't lose my kid today, so I'm not doing as bad as I thought. So unfortunately, our human nature consumes this stuff, and that's why the media is able to do it, because they can sell it. And, you know, I'm sure y'all have heard that if it bleeds, it leads kind of thing. So— oh my gosh, sorry. Yes, yes, it is. Dirty Laundry is also a good song, um, one of my favorites, and it does sum it up. For those of you who are too young to know Dirty Laundry, you need to go look it up. Oh, DJ, go find a link.

I will not do that for a Don Henley song. I'm sorry, that pushes me over the line. Brooke and Hillbilly, we are fundamentally agreeing about something, and it is an irrevocable change in our relationships from this day forward. I'm just kidding. But yeah, Kick 'Em With Her Up. I mean, the listeners can go and seek that song on their own. I'm kidding. But yeah, he's right. It's a, it's a good tune. And you know, you know, here we are, we're able to laugh and we're laughing about this, and things just aren't quite as serious as they might have been before the show began. So here we are, able to find the common ground. Music is one of those things that does bring us all together, and it's one of those things that is infinitely more positive than a lot of any— well, any of the politics I've been having to listen to lately. So, you know, knowing what to tune into and what to tune out on kind of deal. Viejo's got part of it, Foss has got part of it, Hillbilly's got part, G-Webs has got a really humorous part of that kind of thing. Everybody's contributing to that which is bringing us together on this evening, and we have found our common ground. So I'm glad to have been part of the show tonight. Is your, is your voice still with us?

I am, I am. I'm actually— I am doing better than I want— uh, it was because like I called you and we chatted and then I went to dinner with the kids. I was a mess. I couldn't, I couldn't stop coughing. So that's what I was afraid of when we started this up. But look, we've gone 35 minutes already, or 34 and a half, but whatever. Much longer than we normally go, but this is important topic, right?

Oh, this is an important quote for me to— sorry, go ahead and do that one and I'll get the next one.

Okay, so the world won't stop spinning regardless of who wins. And this is that whole thing of why You and I need to get our ducks in a row. And it was really funny because I was at the doctor yesterday and there was literally a woman who had ducks in a row, and one of the ladies looked at us like, oh look, someone really does have their ducks in a row. It was hysterical. So, um, all right, what were you gonna say, DJ?

Well, whether they're ducks in a row or mice in a line, here's another one from DM Foss on your screen saying, I believe most Americans want the same thing, they just don't agree on how to get there. I like it.

Yeah, I mean, I find that having spent as much time as I have at the Capitol, both in Hartford and in DC, what happens is we look at a thing, whatever it is, pick any topic you want. They're like, oh, let's do this to make this better. Unfortunately, Most of us don't take the time to learn more about that thing to find out what other things are supported by whatever that thing is we want to change. And when we change it, what the actual unintended consequences are. And this is where all of the knee-jerk responses to so many things. And I don't know, G-Webs knows this, but on Gun Websites channel, He has a video called the 2A Cake, and it talks about our Second Amendment rights and how it goes from we were given our Second Amendment and that was the whole cake, and then he goes through the timeline from beginning to now, or 2016 was when he edited it last, and just how that there was no change to our Second Amendment, then there was a change, and then like 30 or 40 years later there was another change, 34 years, another change. And then, you know, come 2010, '11, '12, now we have multiple changes a year. And that knee-jerk reaction of just changing stuff because they want to do something, uh, is where we get lost. It's like, doing something, okay. No, not okay. Let's do something that actually works. And I find that being in politics, the do something gets left over here and they've done something, no matter what it is, whatever. Like I said, pick anything you can think of, food service, hotels, business, you know, childcare, all of that. They do something without looking at how do we do something that's effective? How do we get rid of the stuff that's not working? How do we really make a difference? Because our politicians, have a horrendous job because they have 2 years for some seats, 4 years for other seats. And the 2-year term is what we have here in Connecticut for most of our elected officials. And it's just like they have 1 year to try to learn the job, then the second year they spend trying to get re-elected. And so when are they supposed to learn about the 8 to 1,200 new laws and regulations that they're trying to pass and figure out how to do all of this stuff. So our system is the best in the world, yet it could definitely use— Crabby put it out there. I guess you're not gonna talk to Crabby anymore either, DJ, are you?

Man, a crustacean crawled by and left that dirty laundry in the chat. I'm just, I'm beside myself. Maryland is off my must-visit I'm kidding, of course. Crabby coming in, the Mega Man with the wrench, drops the links when they are necessary. I love seeing that guy out there every week.

Oh, anyway, all right folks, now y'all have a very important show to get to. Uh, Mr. Hillbilly, who is currently laughing at DJ for not liking Dirty Laundry, along with me. Oh, the horror, the horror. But this is the beauty, and this is what DJ and I were talking about before, is you like all of your friends, not all of your friends like each other. Not that I think DJ and Hillbilly don't like each other right now, but as a thing, it's like I had my party— I've had multiple parties this year— but I had a party and I had some of my friends there, and two of my friends did not get along well at all. And it's just like, they like me, so I'm the common denominator, but they don't like each other. And this is true of our opinions, our belief systems, our how-to— oh wait, G webs is here. So, you know, 9mm versus.45,.22 versus.22 Magnum, that was part of the conversation earlier. So we all have our opinions on different things of what works and what does not, but here's the thing we have to remember: my normal and what is important to me is probably not your normal and what's important to you. So we can still like each other. We can— I love everybody, by the way, just so we're clear. Um, I love everyone. I don't have to like everything that you do or say or believe. I can do that. And there are people that seem to be intolerant of that kind of idea that we must agree in order to be friends. And it's just like, no one— no, I change my mind on the things that I like or I don't like. You know, we're talking about guns, right?. And, uh, where is that? The, uh, Taurus M44 Magnum, 6-inch. So some people love that gun, some people like, oh, that's a nice paperweight, depending on who you are. So we can have our own opinions and we can have all the same friends, but probably not. But anyway, I am blathering again. Oh, Vanessa Kitty, it's been so long, girl! How are you? Um, and hi, Gun Metal Guy. I haven't had DJ do a roll call in a while. But like I said, we're going long. Y'all need to go hang out and wait for Hillbilly to show up. And because at the top of this hour, whatever time zone you're in, he will be starting. So, or, you know, 10 or 15 minutes later, you know, but there's plenty of side chat conversation to go on. All right. So with that, Mr. DJ, your final words and roll call, and I'm going to mute myself and I'll be done.

I'll try to wrap it all up into one. Here it goes. So everybody, thanks for joining us tonight.

Night.

It's been a good conversation. I'm glad, Brooke, that you were in fine voice compared to what you thought might be the case. And then also that our ranks swelled tonight. We got 15 out there right now, some of whom are identifying themselves in the text chat and others that are just kind of back in the background listening. Glad to have everybody out there. Step up to your opportunities to shine through with your best self whenever you can. Don't give in to the easy fix or the quick word Sometimes those are words you wish you could reel back in. And as Brooke was saying, you know, consider what it is that you say and truly decide if it needs to be said. She also mentioned, choose being kind over being right. And that is especially hard to do. And when it comes to communication, this is a quote, a series of a quoted conversation that I like to include sometimes when it's germane. And I think it is this time. It's from Pulp Fiction. Mia Wallace is saying, do you listen or do you just wait to talk in a conversation? And Vince replies, I have to admit that I wait to talk, but I'm trying harder to listen. I think that's the, he says, the best that any of us can expect. Just give things your best effort, the best foot forward, the best word reserved or spoken. Make those decisions. And thanks for joining us again. We had Crabby Turtle out there. Sorry, a fan. 93 Hillbilly Up was in the room. So was DM Foss. Viejo checked in from California. Polar Snow C making an appearance. Mike and Pam Bellinger were out there. Mike White, the 2A Advocate, I see you out there, man. I finally did. Gun Websites, thanks for joining us. JH586 Jamie, thank you very much for being here tonight. Ozzy Orsbourn, the man with Pantone 12-0633— look it up— in his blood. And GMG USA, as well as Vanessa Kitty, rounded out our gathering for this evening. So everybody, if you're in crisis or you know someone who is, dial 988 or 1-800-273-TALK. If you don't want to talk, then you can text the word TALK to 741741 and get assistance there. Local help is always available. And remember, someone out there cares. Reach out.

Thanks, everybody.