What is soul? I'm sure Elvis could tell us about it, and James Brown too, and many, many more could tell us about soul. Their tunes sure hit MY soul button.

There's soul food, and it's good. Hot cornbread with a bit of butter, collared greens with some bacon fat or, better yet, ham hocks cooked inside the pot and then removed just before serving it up.

There's David Soul, a somewhat good actor whom I remember first from "Here Come The Brides" well before Starsky and Hutch. A somewhat decent singer who did a soulful rendition of "Black Bean Soup" as the B-side to his romantic ballad "Don't Give Up On Us, Baby", which was probably written for the ex he allegedly beat up.

Yeah, there's a lot of soul going on. Lots of souls worth saving, and lots of souls NOT worth saving.

But....who am I to judge which souls are worth saving? Who am I, little ole' I, to decide whether or not David Soul truly beat his wife, or Baretta truly murdered his, or Robert Wagner or even O.J. Simpson, even?

Was I there? Do I have proof? No. Neither do any of us, for the most part.

But we sit in judgment of others, all day, every day, making decisions based on our own base and usually uninformed beliefs. Guilty before proven innocent. String him up, make him suffer! Man should not love man, we say. Government should not intervene in our healthcare, we say. Money is the end all and be all, next to God In Whom We Trust, we say.

Got proof? Got soul? Ever hold a dying pet, or human, in your arms and hear their last breath and wish to ANYTHING, ANYTHING, that you could give them their next one, and their next one, and their next one after that? Sure, there's CPR, but if it doesn't work, what then?

You have to let it go. No choice in the matter. Case closed.

What can you give to them who die, not knowing where they go? What can you take with you when you go, not knowing what you'll need?

The mark made here on Earth, that you leave behind, is the only thing that will matter in the end. And in the end, even that won't matter, when all matter is gone.

But it's the closest thing I can think of to a legacy.

What we do here on this planet, while each of us lives, may not be witnessed or recalled by all, but some thing some time that we do might make a difference, and if that's all we've got, then we should maybe try to make a difference while we can.