” I  feel embarrassed. ” 

I tell her after we leave the train, walking to school.

” Who are you embarrassed for? ” 

” All of us as a society… that on a train full of adults, men and women, not one of them will give up their seat for a 6 year old child. I am embarrassed that this is what we are.”

Staring into their phones, listening to whatever, head’s down, zero accountability…

Dennis Mantin 

Diogenes lived in a barrel and wouldn’t come out of the barrel until high noon; and when he would exit, he would light a torch and hold it over his head. This was all done so as to be seen in the best possible light… Hiding nothing!

Diogenes would hold the torch over his head and run around the market place saying…     ” I am looking for an honest man. ”          Or     ” I am looking for a man! “

Invariably someone approached and said        ” I am a man. ” Or ” I am an honest man. “

Diogenes would then deliver the ultimate put down: ” You are not a man. ” He would then continue on in and a!round the market place saying, ” I am looking for an honest man. “

Word of the mad man who lived in a barrel and looking for an honest man reached Alexander the Great, who had no world’s left to conquer that day and decided to visit Diogenes. 

As Alexander and his Generals on horseback surrounded the barrel;  it was not yet noon and Diogenes wouldn’t exit the barrel. 

I imagine the comments by drunken soldiers awaiting to see Diogenes.

” Do you think he’s in the middle of spring cleaning. “

” Maybe he’s entertaining guests.”

When he finally made an appearance, Diogenes looked up at Alexander who’s shadow fell on Diogenes and said, ” I am Alexander the Great… Ruler of the known world;  I am able to grant you whatever you wish.  What is your desire? “

Diogenes is reported to have answered…

” Could you please get out of my light. “

This is where the expression, being in the spotlight comes from and 15 minutes of fame. 

Alexander is reported to have died of alcoholism in his early 30’s. What would the man who ruled everything have to drink about? Not difficult to imagine…

Be careful what you wish for?

Dennis Mantin 

With so much information available at fingertips, I have glanced the ancients from Thales to Diogenes ( My personal favorite ) 

So much was lost in the library destruction at Alexandria, but a full copy of the Lucretius poem OF THE NATURE OF THINGS was found in the late 1400’s in a German monastery. This is considered by some to be the most important piece of writing ever written and is also regarded by Stephan Greenblatt in his Pulitzer prize-winning book THE SWERVE, with sparking the Renaissance. 

Just saying…

Dennis Mantin 

In the confusion of yesteryear I lingered perhaps too long in the sun and sand unafraid to move my feet past the sounds of the waves, while quietly measuring my fear…

Did I appear to be staring to long, ogling your beauty? I was starting past you, through you, between the past and this present. I was just too polite to ask you to move…

My apologies for the confusion. 

I am ready to return now.
Dennis Mantin 

I met someone who’s all of these and the truth is, she’s married and not to me.
I am smitten, but not in that desperate tragedy that’s prevalent in youth.
I am just grateful to know of her existence, like some mythical creature that no one else can say for certain that they know…
I know, and I will keep this secret and search the good search. For if there’s 1… there could be others?
Dennis Mantin


I say no sometimes, just to hear the sound it makes. 

• The saying goes… If you want to find out if sonsomeone is an alcoholic, just say no to them.

Today no was met with silence and acceptance…

Yes!!!

Dennis Mantin 

It might have been getting out alive and I don’t want to discount what I don’t know and really, don’t we know so very little. 

I used to think miraculous events were the norms in my youth before I was corrupted by unmiraculous fears cluttering my nirvana and shattering my illusions of specialness.

I have lived long enough now to see they were truly miracles and when my daughter says she wants to be a baby again… I understand, I get it, I actually remember the connection and I will do my best my sweet baby to keep you connected to miracle. 
Dennis Mantin 

It’s quiet now… Still. 

The drama has died, stirring only with the wind. I seem able to control my thoughts now, blocking out the unnecessary. 

The gifts of age!

I will be writing soon and then all hell will  break loose in the memory with it’s faults and demons. There I will embrace you and for now enjoy the Quiet!

Dennis Mantin 

There’s real pain and suffering and there are real victims.

However this epidemic of wailing and bemoaning their plights, by those that feed at the troughs of luxury, may not be criminal, however it is pathetic. 

Dennis Mantin 

Bob said, ” Time is the enemy. ”

Bob and Howard are nearing the end of their careers and I will miss them both, for their intelligence and wit and I realize the amount of time I spend driving and listening to their voices on the radio is also closing, for I am older too.

The voices of discontent in the coffee houses and Yoga studio’s talking about spiritual connectedness and distain for white males; while maintaining the an air of not being racist, has got me thinking about long walks by myself and lunches with my daughter, while maintaining my abstinence from coffee and Yoga. 

Dennis Mantin