Don's Tuesday Column

THE WAY I SEE IT by Don Polson         Red Bluff Daily News 4/22/2025

        Honeymoon Rodeo; The Devil Inside

It was in September of 1985 that we departed the Peter Strauss Ranch in the Santa Monica Mountains, where our wedding took place, and headed into a honeymoon that held adventures and reflective bliss, as it should be. While saving that for a future column, a couple of vignettes share a “rodeo theme” with our Red Bluff Roundup.

A “dude ranch” was our destination with its equine and outdoors emphasis; such outfits are found throughout the west from Texas to states bordering Canada. The Highland Ranch near Mendocino did not disappoint. I mentioned that my horsemanship was lacking; the trail ride did not prove otherwise.

It seemed that my horse displayed a tendency to “buck” as if it objected to my mere presence on its back. An annoyance, to be sure, it posed no serious physical threat; the horse’s name, “Rambo,” was curious.

A rodeo advertisement drew us into the town of Philo, for a far more modest event than our town entertains. The mystery of Rambo’s rambunctiousness dawned on me watching the cowboys ride their bucking broncos. The cowboys dug their heels into the horses haunches, inducing the cowboy/horse conflict. I sheepishly told Barbara: “I think that’s what I was doing to poor Rambo,” as my bent knees placed my boot heels in just the right (er, wrong) place to add an unintended thrill to my trail ride.

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A reminder: tickets for the upcoming Republican Red, White, and Blue Dinner can be reserved and/or purchased at https://givebutter.com/TehamaGOP . It’s being held at the Red Bluff Community Center this year, on June 7 at 5 PM; more details at the web site.

As part of the “Make California Golden Again” theme, the guest speaker is Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco. He is affiliated with the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association and is candidate for governor of California in 2026. The highlight of our local political year, it raises funds for scholarships, and local and state causes.

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It may seem counter-intuitive to include the titles of songs focused on “the devil” for the post-Easter column. However, “Devil Inside” by Inxs, and “Sympathy for The Devil” by The Rolling Stones, both have something to say about our collective human condition—which includes healing, forgiveness, and redemption.

Our all-too-human tendency is to fall prey to the baser parts of our nature; we consequently feel some sense of shame when we, well, “blow it” in thought, word or deed. We cast blame upon others for our decisions and actions—or “the devil made me do it.”

Inxs: “Here comes the woman, with the look in her eye...Words as weapons, sharper than knives...Here comes the man, with the look in his eye; Fed on nothing, but full of pride. Devil inside, the devil inside, Every single one of us, the devil inside.”

Rolling Stones: “Please allow me to introduce myself, I’m a man of wealth and taste; I’ve been around for a long, long year, Stole many a man’s soul and faith. I was ‘round when Jesus Christ had his moment of doubt and pain. Made damn sure that Pilate washed his hands and sealed his fate…”

It’s been said that “the devil,” AKA Lucifer or Satan, was given reign over this mortal world by God. The author of “Rules for Radicals,” Saul Alinsky, gave the devil his due: “Lest we forget at least an over the shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology and history...the very first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that at least won his own kingdom—Lucifer”

Any devout Christian can testify to the victory of Jesus’ death on the cross, His resurrection and ascension. His triumph over the evils of this world, and the personal failings we know of in our own souls but can never remove from our own history or record. Hence, the only assured path to the salvation and perfection of our mortal souls, which allows our entry into the Grace of God’s Kingdom of Heaven—is through Jesus Christ, whose love and cleansing forgiveness can literally wash our sins away. Amen.

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One part of Jesus’ tribulations is the choice given by Pilate to the throngs calling for Jesus’ crucifixion: “Whom do you want me to release for you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” It is recorded that they called for the release of the robber, the murderer Barabbas.

Relevantly, many on the left are calling for the return, to American soil, of the adjudicated MS-13 gang member, and alleged criminal and human trafficker, Abrego Garcia. Some news coverage even cut away from the recitation of Garcia’s long “rap sheet” and back story, lest their viewers think any less of a wife-beater (her written accusations) whose usefulness is crucial to their anti-Trump narrative.