Taking a Fun Moment with the Colbert Questionert

by Ernie McCray

Just for fun, on a kickback lazy kind of day, I responded to the 15 questions Stephen Colbert, of the Late Show, likes to ask his guests.

Like what’s the best sandwich? And the answer to that, of course, is a BLT.

Exercise worth it? Yes-siree.

What number is Stephen thinking of? I have no guess because numbers are from zero to infinity.

Apples or oranges? I like both but I’m partial to fruit that sounds crunchy when I take a bite – generally.

And I like my water flat as opposed to sparkling, as that makes more sense to me.

Favorite smell? The smell of the Sonoran Desert before the summer monsoon rains.

Least favorite smell? A stinky body covered with cologne or perfume.

What’s one thing I own that I really should throw out? That would, no doubt, be a pair of Docker jeans that are clinging to life by a thread, causing me to live in dread that I’ll be walking somewhere with them on, and a strong breeze will come along and they’ll be gone with the wind.

But I’ll love those incredibly comfortable pants to their very end.

The scariest animal? I don’t know. A bear that was once within arms-reach of me as I laid in my sleeping bag in the open air in Yosemite – or the rattlesnake underneath my backpack that made me spring in the air like a human pogo stick one day – or the javelinas that engaged me in a staring contest when I was changing a tire in their territory on a road trip?

Favorite action movie? “3:10 to Yuma” the western, with Glenn Ford. Loved the tension, how the bad guy played psychological games with his captors who were just trying to get him to his trial for murder and robbery.

Have I ever asked someone for their autograph? Yes, I have, including Satchel Paige and Alan Ladd.

The most used app on my phone? The photo app, and I wish I had such a device to get a picture of those guys signing their names, making the day for a star-struck young boy.

Wow, one song to choose to listen to for the rest of my life. Let me see. Oh, there’s so many songs I’d like to hear but, to have to choose just one out of all those, my choice would have to be “Imagine,” because, like John Lennon, I’d like to see “all the people living life in peace,” and like him I also hope “I’m not the only one.”

What do I think happens when you die? From most dead people I’ve seen I think you’re pretty much dead and gone – except people like Lennon and other historic luminaries, the Abe Lincolns, the Muhammad Alis, the Einsteins and Rosa Parks, along with people, in all walks of life, who leave an impression, of some kind, on a community or the world at large and become long living memories.

And, with such thoughts in mind, my response to describing the rest of my life in 5 words comes down to seeing myself living my last days “refusing to live in anonymity” aka “seeking to be a memory.”

And I’ll go about it in the way I answered Stephen Colbert’s questions: in a spirit of fun.

In keeping with a beautiful day.

A little mental break from the world we live in today.