At this season of the year I like to show my warm and fuzzy side, so when you may be considering beer can jewelry for that “special someone” in your life I’m reminded there is no accounting for the things that might strike us as funny. A few years ago I came up with a business idea for Macabre Toys, Inc. Among the offerings along with the usual things like small plastic frogs that would ooze dreadful smelling “stuff” when squeezed and its eyes would pop out and dangle while a three-inch tongue with bug attached would dart out of its mouth, ideal for little boys to give little girls, were home embalming kits; one for beginners like the precocious child with scientific curiosity who could start practicing on their pet goldfish or hamster. These kits progressed in age-specific categories to the “Mother-in-law Special,” all with the usual disclaimers about checking with local health agencies in your area before purchase.

Actually, my sense of humor was inherited from my maternal grandfather. Grandad had a marvelous sense of humor and was given to practical jokes, but none that would put anyone at risk of harm. But there is the matter of my being born in Weedpatch and knowing Kern County so very well over decades of time. If you call Weedpatch your birthplace and know Bakersfield is the butt of so many jokes you had better develop a good sense of humor about such things; Weedpatch and Btown are not for the thin-skinned.

There is no denying Kern County in general and Bakersfield in particular has some very specific problems that have developed over many years. Kern County is quite unique in several ways, not all of them good by any means. And while I applaud the many attempts to bring culture and the arts to Kern County, world-class air pollution, clogged and deteriorating roadways and the clash of so many illegal aliens demanding cheap housing and a panoply of social services and Spanish be spoken does not bode well. And I can’t make anything funny out of the problems those of us living in Kern County are facing.

“The Lords of Bakersfield” is not going away, and the extremes of poverty, the great disparity between rich and poor here in Kern County is not going away. If our governor releases over 20,000 criminals early, many of them are coming back to Kern County. And while I believe marijuana should be legalized, while I believe most things like being arrested for “drug paraphernalia” are bogus, take up unnecessary time on the part of the police and courts there is no denying such people often steal to support their drug habits. So what’s to do? The gangs and drug wars, killings and home invasions are not going away, but every indication is that they will only get worse. And a top news item for the year is the motto “In God We Trust.” How’s that for a bit of irony? But you can hardly blame those touting that motto looking for some help from God since it sure doesn’t look like there is much hope of it coming from any other source.

Recently someone complimented me on my memory. I replied when you write books you had better remember what you wrote twenty years ago or you were bound to contradict yourself. This has nothing to do with changing my mind, which I have done many times; and I’m grateful I continue to be able to change my mind in many instances. But when it comes to matters of right and wrong, there are some things about which I need some strong proof before changing my mind about them.

Many years ago I read an interview with a Broadway producer and director who said he only needed to have someone speak two lines before deciding whether they would have a part in one of his plays: “I love you,” and “I believe in God.” As simplistic as that sounds we appreciate those who speak such lines in sincerity, but they work well enough for a gifted actor and they work well enough for a gifted con. The problem is distinguishing between those that are sincere or only actors or cons. At that, while a Broadway producer and director only needs an actor who can sound sincere while playing a part, in real life many a person may be sincere in their beliefs but sincerely wrong.

While I place no credence in the words of politicians, their having earned the condemnation “As hollow as a politician’s promises,” there are many people that have deeply held and sincere beliefs in both religion and politics. But sincerity by itself is not enough; eventually there must be facts to support such sincerity. I have been sincerely wrong enough times to appreciate that conclusion.

The scene in “Frankenstein” where the peasants are approaching the castle with lighted torches seeking vengeance against the monster and his creator certainly was not intended to be funny; but we laugh wherever that scene is repeated in films like “Love at First Bite” and “Young Frankenstein.” The doctor in the original film was sincerely mad, but mad nevertheless. I look at what is happening in Kern County, at our federal government, at the “actors” on stage pandering for the Oval Office and cannot but see the hoards of peasants with lighted torches resulting from such madness, and there is no humor in that vision.

“The Mummy” with Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz is one of my favorite films. There is a scene where the mob is marching while chanting “Imhotep” and I think of so many Muslims held prisoner to the fairytales of Islam for example. But a chanting mob may be composed of one’s own neighbors and friends as Harper Lee pointed out. I just wonder what it is going to take before such a chanting mob will be seen in Kern County or marching on Washington? I’ve had the unfortunate experience of seeing what such a mob is capable of. But I’ve also experienced how easily such a mob can begin with a charismatic leader, Jonestown and other examples coming readily to mind. Factor in enough of superstitions and fears, the circumstances Dickens warned about concerning ignorance and want and you have a very inflammatory situation.

But ignorance and want are increasing worldwide and the schools of America are failing to educate children, which is bound to result in increasing ignorance and want here in our nation not just in those poorer nations. I admit I’m very pessimistic about America changing direction, that we are going to have a leadership able to deliver us from declining into various mobs, each chanting their versions of “Imhotep” demanding others join them or else. And there is simply nothing funny about this. So long as those two demons of ignorance and want continue to plague humankind how can it ever be funny? A sense of humor is one thing; whistling through the graveyard is something else.