#138 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Wednesday September 8)
Good morning!
There is a joke about people debating about when life begins. It goes something like this:
The Rabbi says that a fetus is deemed a viable human being after living for 30 days after birth.
The Scientist suggests that, no, it is when the fetus is able to live outside the body without artificial means.
The Priest disagrees and says that life begins upon conception.
The three of them turn to the Jewish mother, who proclaims that a fetus is not really grown up until 40 years of age…
All jokes have a little bit of truth. This one has perhaps more than most but not simply as intended. Surely, it is amusing that, to our mothers we never are fully grown and no longer in need of their advice (whether it is requested or not). But a deeper truth is embedded in this joke. We are all never really fully developed. That’s the beauty of this adventure in which we are all engaged. We are all evolving and not fully formed. The day that we believe we are fully formed—that we know all the answers—is the day we have failed in our inexorable journey from birth to death. To think one is done learning, unwilling to listen to the ideas of others, lacking in intellectual plasticity, lacking in inquisitiveness, is the day we either are too old to care or marching on the capitol on a January day.
MAYBE THERE’S AN ANSWER TO THE MEANING OF LIFE AND MAYBE NOT
There are those who believe that science and technology will lead us eventually to unravel the greatest mysteries of the universe. I don’t think so, nor do I think it necessary or desirable. We are on a mission of discovery—of the world and ourselves—that will never be fully sated.
If every family has a patron saint or a family crest, then ours would be the image of Sisyphus, rolling his stone up the hill. In Greek mythology, that is the punishment of poor Sisyphus. The more he pushes—the higher he gets up that hill—the more the stone rolls back and he begins his journey toward the top again. Some see the lifelong purpose of pushing that stone as a curse. I see it as a blessing. To have a purpose, not necessarily an achievable ultimate goal, is in fact how life is. We push that stone, perhaps gaining insight and wisdom along the way—seeking but never reaching perfection.
So, is the Jewish mother right that life begins at 40? I’m not sure one ever is fully mature, and that’s okay! We all are works in progress. We all in the end are pushing the stone up the hill. What is at the top of the hill, if anything, is not nearly as important as the act of living and striving.
IN OTHER NEWS—THE WNBA MAKES GREAT STRIDES
Buried amidst other news in the past week, Kelly Loeffler was ignominiously pushed by the WNBA to sell her franchise, the Atlanta Dream. This unfit senator ran a campaign of racial dog whistling and was, as a result, defeated by a Black minister. The ultimate irony is that one of the Black players on the team, Renee Montgomery, is one of the members of the ownership group purchasing the team. Loeffler, we should remember, was a frequent critic of Black lives mattering. Sometimes justice works in strange ways and people get their just desserts!
ANOTHER RIDICULOUS ATTEMPT TO RILE THE TROOPS AND CREATE FALSE EQUIVALENCY
Proving that one can bypass a national tragedy and go straight to cheap partisan politics, a number of Republicans have called upon President Biden’s resignation or impeachment. While I have been quite vocal over the terrible manner in which the exit from Afghanistan was executed, we all know that bad decisions and disastrous attacks on the United States are hardly the grounds for impeachment. But what these calls accomplish is quite clever:
The unpopular, ill-defined and, ultimately failed effort in Afghanistan, which has been executed under the administrations of four presidents is being laid at the feet of Biden. Much of that blame is his, but there is plenty to share with his three predecessors.
These partisans ignore any period of grieving and no interest in avoiding controversy pending completion of the mission. They go straight for partisan advantage by throwing red meat at their base. They know full well that there is little ground for removal from office but they will mislead their minions to believe that this “should have” occurred.
They create a false equivalency between the calls for Biden’s removal and the calls for Trump’s removal. In the coming election cycles they will characterize the impeachment of Trump as nothing more than partisan politics, as this is. And wait for the calls that “no one died because of the Ukraine call but look what Biden’s incompetence wrought.” This is a clever and nuanced attempt to minimize Trump’s anti-democratic attacks on our institutions.
Have a great day,
Glenn
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