My worries at present are like snow flurries. They drop into view in my conscious mind; I evaluate them to decide how likely they are to actually happen, and then I let them fall to the ground, where they usually disappear.
As a “due diligence” type of person, I take precautions when it comes to making major decisions or taking decisive actions. Although I usually arrive at decisions and evaluations intuitively (without knowing how I know what feels safe and right in a given circumstance), I make sure after the flash of intuition to evaluate the decision a little more before settling on it long term.
So, for example, my flurry of worries recently has been on three topics:
Tax Return Audit
The Possibility of Plagiarism
DeForest Kelley’s Clothing Auction
TAX RETURN AUDIT
My worry, “What if I get audited?” could well manifest, since I’m a small business owner and right now, the IRS goes after small businesses and steers clear of big businesses and rich people because auditig them is a years long process and they’re understaffed, overworked and presently protected from the more onerous task by politicians who fight funding the agency to go after the huge scoflaws.
My response here is, “If I get audited, it will be a huge PITA probably but, in the end, the federal government is FAR more likely to owe me more, than the other way around.” That’s because I am not a tax evader (I actually believe in taxes, although if wishes were fishes, much less of what I pay would go to defense and subsidies to megarich corporations and more would go to citizens who genuinely need some assistance via encreased social safety net policies) and I keep exemplary records. I also don’t claim every last picayune deduction that I could as a freelance writer and business owner because I want a “safety net” built right in so that IF I’m ever audited, the result of the audit will put a smile on my face instead of a frown. I consider my taxes a recognition and thank you to the powers-that-be that allow me to work and do business in the United States. I simply don’t dislike paying taxes. I wish I were a gazillionaire so I could pay more. (And no, I wouldn’t go looking for legal loopholes and illicit offshore havens to escape paying my fair share, even then!)
THE POSSIBILITY OF PLAGIARISM
When it comes to the possibility of plagiarism whenever I write something based on source materials, it’s pretty much just a paranoia thing, because any time I use other sources, I run every word I write through copyscape premium to make darned sure that what I’ve written is unique in every way possible. That said, some “facts” cannot be altered. For example, The New York Times is the New York Times. I can’t rename it Big Apple News. And Saint Francis is the patron saint of animals and two other categories of human occupations. There is no other way to say that than to say it. I can’t call him the Patron Saint of Critters and Sojourners because the Catholic Church doesn’t call him that. His title under “Patron Saint” includes the beings to which he has been canonized as a saint.
DeFOREST KELLEY AUCTION
And on the DeForest Kelley clothing auction, I’m preparing myself to be ostrasized or vilified for “capitalizing on a friendship” or some other nonsense.
Nearly every time De and Carolyn gave me stuff, they said, “This should be worth something someday!” I told them then that I’d probably never part with the items, and when I said that, De said very seriously (what I would characterize as “adamantly” for De!), “But if you ever need to, or just decide to, you do it!”
(“Yes, sir. Of course, sir.” Salute!
That’s how I felt, based on the way he said it!)
I think the Kelleys may have felt (wrongly, of course) that they owed me something for my dedication to them, to De’s career, and for helping them for what turned out to be almost a full year, all told, including the seven months I stayed with Carolyn after De passed away. (Across the years, I wrote several articles about De for publication as a freelance writer and contributed tons of stuff to his fan club, and did other stuff that you can read about in my book, if you haven’t already. ALL of it with great delight and enthusiasm, because I wanted to give back for the many times they had been there for me. De launched my writing career in 1969, they encouraged me to move to and work in Hollywood, put De in a good word for me at the studios, and on and on and on! YOU know, it you’ve read my book!
I don’t think armchair critics realize how much comments like that hurt (or maybe they do; sadly, some people actually enjoy inflicting pain). To be accused of doing anything I do for De’s legacy (or ever did for it, or him, or them) or to benefit his fans (in the case of this auction) with a mercenary mindset is ludicrous, but it still stings because I think perhaps the accusers actually believe it. That’s what hurts. I can take the insults impersonally when they’re just intended to injure, but if the accuser actually believes what they’re saying, that’s what hurts; not the accusation itself, because I know the accusation isn’t true, so I can discount it as the lie it is.
Everything I ever did for the Kelleys, I did out of love. And I am offering this auction out of love, because I am not going to live forever and I want his clothes to go to fans who will cherish them as long as they live and not to opportunitists who will simply turn around and hawk them for higher prices in the near future.
So yes, I have minimum bids in mind for De’s clothes, but we didn’t list minimum bids because, frankly, we don’t know what they’re worth to a dyed-in-the-wool Kelley fan. So we’re going to let the fans decide. If the bids don’t meet or exceed what we believe they should go for, I will retain them and find some other way to re-home the ones that don’t reach my idea of a minimum bid for them. A number of De Kelley fans have helped me extend his legacy and are on extremely limited incomes, so I can re-home some of the items with them just for the cost of shipping.
(My thought process re this auction is similar to, “Never offer free kittens and puppies. Those who will take you up on the offer may use them for purposes you would NOT endorse; e.g., using kittens and puppies in satanic animal sacrifices, to train pitbulls for dogfighting, and for other sadistic reasons.” In the case of Kelley clothing and other items, profiteers would jump at “free clothes”.)
DeFOREST KELLEY’S FAVORITE ANIMAL CHARITIES
And just so you know, I want to go on record and pledge right now that I will be donating a significant portion of what I get from the DeForestKelleyCollection.com auction to the North Shore Animal League and The Shambala Preserve in memory of De and Carolyn. They supported both of these animal organizations while they were alive and I plan to continue to donate to them in their names/memory/honor.
