#637 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Tuesday April 18)
Good morning,
“I am an old man and have known a great many troubles in my life, many of which never happened.” –Mark Twain
WHAT, ME WORRY?
As I grow older, I still feel pretty young. While I forget things at times and may have a sore back from time to time, I’m still 35 on the inside. And my terrible, often sophomoric, jokes are conclusive proof.
I’ve worried my fair share along the way. Worry was a lost cause, generally over things beyond my control. Over time, I have adopted a stoic’s perspective on the world. I can do what I can do regarding things I can control. But so much is beyond my control. Getting upset when a flight is delayed serves no purpose. When you’re traveling, you just go with the flow—mechanical failure, weather issues, whatever. I don’t control them. Extend this to any number of other circumstances one encounters in life.
One can plan and plan; that’s fine, as far as it goes. But once the plan is in operation, we are at the mercy of events beyond our control.
When one views the world from the comfort of experience and perspective, the worries of the young (including of us when we were young) seem almost laughable. Where one goes to college or which job to take seem critically important at the time—yet I know legions of Ivy league graduates who did little with their promise and privilege, while Cal State Northridge graduate “lapped them.” But it gets even more granular and silly with “what should I wear,” or “what does that person think of me,” or “should I go to that concert,” when it really doesn’t matter. Resilience in the face of disappointment is a critical skill that is best learned early in life. There are enough disappointments knocking one around in life—one needs to “pick yourself up and start all over again.” The more consequential decisions are the choice of one’s mate, the people with whom one surrounds oneself, the contributions one chooses to make to the world, and making good, ethical decisions that often might be against one’s interest. I think it far more important how one lives than what one one does.
As I gain wisdom as I age gracefully, I am reminded of the prophetic words that ring true today more than when they were written by the young Bob Dylan in “My Back Pages” back in his 20s…
“I was so much older then. I’m younger than that now.”
ONE AMERICA
Everyone is mad with everyone else. It’s not enough to disagree. It’s warfare. Just listen to the words of Donald Trump and others who seek to divide us with their words and actions. Already, 34% of all Americans want to “divorce” the “other side.” Seriously—they want to separate the red and blue states. We just can’t seem to be able to talk to one other. The other side is not just wrong; they’re evil and they’re set to destroy the country. How did we get here?
BANK FAILURES ARE THE RESULT OF WOKE-ISM?
In an example of “everything bad that happens in the world fits my world view,” some Republicans have blamed the bank collapses in recent weeks to woke-ism in America. I’m wondering whether they include non-US. banks like Credit Suisse in that same analysis.
TRUMPISM IS NOT DEAD
A dear friend, a Republican, and avowed “non-Trumpian,” says he’s had enough of my rants about Trump. He thinks it’s time to give it up and talk about the problems with Biden. Well, I can’t give up pointing out the dangers presented by Mr. Trump, so long as he commands air time in right-wing media, still plays to packed houses, and represents the clear front-runner for the Republican nomination for president. He remains a great danger to our democracy, civility, safety, and sanity.
But, by the way, what exactly have been the great failures of the Biden administration that are “destroying America” (as claimed by his detractors)? It seems he gets credit for a lot of things and has perhaps failed in others (notably, the Afghanistan pull-out). One doesn’t have to agree with everything a president or other lawmaker does. One can agree with some policies while disagreeing with others. That’s how things used to work when we weren’t subjecting every candidate to multiple litmus tests of purity.
Have a great day,
Glenn
From the archives: