Category: Current Events

Thank You, 39

For years I’ve considered getting the White House Historical Association Christmas ornament. There is a new one each year, but last Christmas was the first time I put up my tree since 2013, so it wasn’t on my radar. A former employer sends them to a few people on their board as an annual gift, and I remember seeing the 2017 ornament honoring Franklin Delano Roosevelt and thinking “if I ever put up a tree again.”

Well, this year’s ornament honors Jimmy Carter, a President whose administration was plagued by things like double-digit inflation and the hostage crisis in Iran. (I once met a Marine who was one of those hostages, but that’s an entry for another day.) In fact, Carter’s sole term as President was pretty rough, and he left office with a 34% approval rating after Ronald Reagan clobbered him in the 1980 election. Even my father, a New Deal Democrat, voted for Reagan because the country was in such a malaise from all the problems at the time.

So why start collecting these ornaments with Carter’s? Well, he’s probably the best former President this country has ever had. He has compassion and grace, and he was active in promoting good causes, doing volunteer work, and advocating for peace for as long as his health allowed. I have tremendous respect for him and admire all he did and tried to do on the right side of history, such as the Camp David Accords, and the way he championed human rights, civil rights, and the environment. I think Carter’s presidency was really just a kind of awful rehearsal for the bigger, bolder advocacy he was able to do more freely after leaving the White House. His life has been one of service, starting with attending the U.S. Naval Academy and subsequent seven years in the Navy, and I believe that if his health allowed, he’d still be out there trying to save the world.

Carter is now 100 years old and has been in hospice for two years, and I wish him nothing but peace and joy for however long he is with us. He is the first President to live to see his White House Christmas ornament unveiled, and I hope he likes it.

A Christmas ornament in the shape of an anchor, to honor former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.

My Song of the Year

Long day, even though I had most of the afternoon off after the office holiday party. Good food, nice conversations.

Spent a couple of hours reading through the hundreds of comments on the Threads version of what I posted here yesterday. I had to split it into two posts, and between both of them it got more than 16,000 likes and 900 comments, although many of those comments are also Threaders talking to each other. I’m kind of overwhelmed, but in the very best of ways because 99.95% of it is supportive, the conversations are thoughtful and fruitful with ideas and sharing of experiences, and it restored my faith in humanity. I really think that the only way the United States is going to get through the next four years is if we all work locally, individually, in our communities, to help one another. I have a few ideas about that, but really, it just comes down to setting aside the consumerist behaviors we’ve all gotten accustomed to and putting the money toward our communities. This has the bonus of hitting some of these billionaires where it hurts: Their wallets.

It’s going to happen by default, anyway, because once Creamsicle Caligula gets in there and destroys the economy, the middle class isn’t going to be able to afford much other than food and shelter, if that. Remember the last time that happened? Marie Antoinette lost her head.

And so I give you my Song of the Year: “Mea Culpa (Ah! Ça ira!),” as performed by Gojira at the Paris Olympics.

Without all the applause:

“Ah Ça Ira” is a song from the French Revolution. It’s basically about hanging aristocrats from lamp posts.

As for the .05% of comments that weren’t productive, they were about how Elon Musk owes the world nothing, it’s not his fault a woman is homeless, blah, blah, blah, bronyism, blah. I hid, muted, restricted, and blocked them. First, that’s not the point. The point is people who have the power to change the world for the better and don’t are lousy human beings. Second, don’t derail the narrative on my account with your worship of false kings. If you’re going to fall to your knees in submission to the personification of greed, do it on your own page.

Going to see the state trees tomorrow. It will be cold but fun! And no aristocrats allowed.

One Cold Night in December

Tonight on my way home, I saw a woman crying against a building.

“Are you okay?”

“No. It’s another night out here in the cold. I’m sick of it.”

And here’s where I failed.

I should have stayed with her.

Instead I went home. I called two shelters. One was full. The other had a mat and a blanket and was willing to let her sleep on the floor.

I grabbed a bag, threw in an apple, orange, packet of salmon, wrapped take-out fork, a bar of soap, a packet of tissues, and some paper towels. Realized I had no bottled water.

I ran back out.

Ran around the neighborhood.

I failed. She was gone.

Today Elon Musk passed the $400 billion mark.

A broken red Christmas ornament.