Then & Now

There is nothing remotely familiar between then and now.  It’s not just politics, if only.  No, it’s life in general.  It would be so expected of me to point to our political scene as the reason for my disenchantment as there is no end to the daily diatribe of dictum.  My sweetie tells me that I need to stop perusing the internet as it only makes me melancholy and I ultimately end up with a case of the collywobbles.  Then again, a shot of whiskey can do that on an empty stomach, which would be better, as I have no control over the News.


So, you are probably wondering, where have I been?  There you all were, receiving these daily doses of diction and all of a sudden…….phwet!  Where have the months gone?  My goodness, how time flies when the country is in such peril.  We are into our 3rd year of the pandemic scourge of the century and still stifled with the other pandemic as the Trumpublicans are still being, well, Trumpublicans.  There seems to be no escape except for when I lose myself in my own mind, not to be confused with losing my mind.  I find that my mind is my escape clause.  I wander in and out of that comfort zone since I am existing in the here and now, but it seems much more pleasant back in, the then.  I ponder over those days of black and white, right and wrong, straight and narrow, tried and true, you know, back in the pre-muddled days.  Back then, life was a whole lot of less confusing, something we could use more of these days. 


I am worried about me, plus others, but like the Airline’s emergency instructions state: “Help yourself before assisting others.”  Outside of fantasizing about lounging around on a Caribbean Island in the middle of a frozen Minnesota winter, I had never thought of actually making that permanent.  Nowadays, however, I’m not so sure.  I fear the dystopian direction the country is staggering into.  If I feel uncomfortable now, what is it going to be like down the road?  Since I do not have the affordability to move to a Caribbean Island, I move in and out of the island of my mind instead.  I think of those days of long ago when and where the political climate in this country was in name only with Democrats, Independents and Republicans.  Today, it has become way more fractured.  We still have the Democrats & Independents, but have splintered into 27 factions of Republicans with some of these factions hell bent on retribution.


My earliest memories of our national political scene were photos of the Eisenhower years and the following Kennedy Administration.  There is something that I had seen quite a bit of back in those years that seems to be missing somewhat today and that something is smiles.  Smiles on the faces of political leaders as they meet and greet each other.  Handshakes all around and the good ol’ slap on the back.  You don’t even need to go back that far.  Ronald Reagan was a master of a back slapper and like Kennedy, some of his moments at the podium were a hoot.  Their political differences made them comrades in arms to better serve the populace..  


Our picture of democracy that the world now sees us has gone from bi-partisonship to closed ranks, from serving we the people, to self-serving we the powerful, from the symbol of Lady Liberty in New York City Harbor to the January 6th Insurrection.  What happened to, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore.  Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”  Sigh!  Stay tuned…..!


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