We talked the other day about low bridge overhangs and how trucks that are too tall will slam into them. A longtime friend of mine replied and told me he hauls a camper trailer...and that I would be surprised at how many people try to drive something too big into an area too small.
Perhaps it's my rapidly advancing age, but I'm sad to say it's been a long time since anything surprised me. When a good ole boy Southern lawyer says in an open court in the United States of America that he doesn't want any black preachers in the courtroom, I was not surprised. He even said it without winking or laughing.
When an elderly lady who volunteers in her church in the city was killed in that church the other day, I was not surprised.
When a recently fired Baltimore county police officer abducted his children and went on the run with another officer, and all 4 of them wound up dead at his hands, I was not surprised.
Was I surprised when a man who has been arrested 19 times since 1999 drove into a crowd at a Christmas parade and committed mass mayhem with complete insouciance? Did hearing that he had just bailed out a few days before this, after running over his wife with that same vehicle, surprise me? It did not. No bail this time.
Was I surprised to see people who lack any sort of training, education, or credentials to make scientific assessment refuse a vaccine that could very well save their lives because they "don't know what's in it"? I was not. I didn't even ask them if they know what is in their hyper-caffeinated energy drink, their imitation pumpkin flavored lattes, their bologna, their marinara, their marihuana.
On the other hand: I see people participating in marathon races to raise money for childhood illnesses, shelters for people experiencing homelessness, abandoned animals any number of worthy causes.
I see young people with a spirit strong enough to push back on the negativity they face. In fact, what I really love is seeing that they just don't give a good dam* about what's bad. They have the instinct to ignore racism, classism, xenophobia, and ignorance, which is a sweet accomplishment.
I have to tell you, there is not a whole lot that's great about getting old, unless you think that having knees that sound like a bowl of Rice Krispies going up stairs is a plus. But when I think of those who would love to get up the stairs at all, or even be here at all, I don't complain.
And I think about the apocryphal legend attributed to hundreds of football coaches over the years. "Act like you've been there before!" when you reach the end zone. Being on the upper rungs of the ladder enables one to look down and remember the climb, and that adds perspective.
Those of us who were running around here in 1968 remember the doomsayers saying doomy things about how the world was coming to an end. Dr King assassinated. Bobby Kennedy the same, just two months later. Soviet tanks rolling into Czechoslovakia, and the fear that they would take America next. The police riot at the Democratic convention. The USS "Pueblo" captured by North Korean forces. The Tet offensive leading to the US losing the Viet Nam war.
All of these low points had some people planning for the worst. And that was 53 years ago, and we have seen 53,000 highs and lows in those years.
So cheer up! The holidays are here and we can hear Alvin sing about his harmonica and read good books and watch entertaining, uplifting movies, all in the comfort of our homes.
I believe I'll stay home with my loving wife and cats and enjoy my life and not worry about what I can't fix. That's what I believe.
* A good dam, as opposed to a bad dam, many of which will be repaired under the infrastructure bill.
2 comments:
Getting old
is like watching a train wreck
in slow motion
from inside the train.
But...
it's the only train I got.
Just wow… All very true.
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