Then I look at you
And the world’s alright with me
Just one look at you

35 years ago we got married.

35 years and a few days, we went over to our Church to meet with our Pastor for pre-marital counseling AND to meet with the church organist to go over the music.

Our Pastor was a no show so our Organist went over the music and then offered us some pre-marital advice for free.

“Be nice to each other,” was all he said.

And never were more true words about being in a marriage ever spoken.

What he didn’t say was how hard that would be somedays.

Watching us from afar through facebook and social media, one may not realize that they are seeing the best of us, the stuff we wants folks to see about us.

But we have bad moments.

We have bad days.

We have bad weeks.

We have … well, you get the picture.

But we are still here.

When I started this essay I went searching for a quote that I wanted to use to illustrate our marriage.

It was a quote from the movie Apocalypse Now where Martin Sheen asks the Navy Chief if he wants to know where they are going and the Chief replies with something like, “One look at you and I know it’s going to be hot …”

My thought was to use that to point out that my wife had fair warning of what she was getting into by marrying me.

I searched, “One look at you” and The Google brought back the song Lovely Day by Bill Withers from back when I was in high school.

I read the lyrics and I said to myself that fits, that works, that is how I feel, in fact, that is how we feel.

We might not make it through the day feeling that way but we start out that way.

And that’s pretty good.

After 35 years, that’s not bad.

And tomorrow?

I can tell you, it is gonna be ….

Love you Leslie!.

Here are the Lyrics (BTW one on the comments on this song posted on You Tube says that “Rumour has it he’s up in heaven still holding that note!”

When I wake up in the morning, love
And the sunlight hurts my eyes
And something without warning, love
Bears heavy on my mind

Then I look at you
And the world’s alright with me
Just one look at you
And I know it’s gonna be

When the day that lies ahead of me
Seems impossible to face
When someone else instead of me
Always seems to know the way

When the day that lies ahead of me
Seems impossible to face
And when someone else instead of me
Always seems to know the way

The world’s alright with me
Just one look at you
And I know it’s gonna be
A lovely day

share that this matters
today as it mattered three
centuries ago

“Unfortunately there are elements of our nation that have taken a stand that history and culture are not important, this should not be taught, should not be introduced; that this is irrelevant. And so the work that we do now is even more steadfast because we have to really share with the nation and the world that this matters today as it mattered three centuries ago.”

Michael Allen, a Gullah Geechee co-founder of the annual Sweetgrass Festival quoted in the article, ‘It speaks of heritage’: South Carolina sweetgrass festival preserves Gullah Geechee culture” by Adira R. Wakjer in the Guardian.

The festival, held in Mount Pleasant, a suburb of Charleston and home to 14 Gullah Geechee communities, aims to promote and preserve the tradition of sweetgrass weaving, a centuries-long tradition started by enslaved people in the region and passed down to future generations.

set of ideas
centered on human rights and
personal freedoms

Adapted from the opinion piece, The World That Awaits the Next President by Bret Stephens in The New York Times, August 6, 2024 where Mr. Stephens asks the next President, whoever it might be …

If necessary, are you willing to use force to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons or China from subjugating Taiwan — two events that may well take place on your watch? Will you use the threat of an arms embargo to compel Israel or Ukraine to agree to cease-fire deals they do not want? Are you prepared to increase military spending to Cold War levels to contend with great-power competitors and new asymmetric threats, such as from the Houthis?

Above all, do you believe that maintaining our global primacy is worth the price in effort, treasure and sometimes blood?

If the answer to that last question is “no” — an answer that has the virtues of honesty, modesty and frugality — then you can mostly ignore the previous questions. You can also comfort yourself with the fantasy that the world will leave us alone in exchange for us leaving it alone.

The world doesn’t work that way. Unlike, say, New Zealand, we are not a pleasant and remote country under the implicit protection of a benign ally: Nobody will protect us if we do not protect ourselves. We have globe-spanning territorial, maritime and commercial interests that require us to police the global commons against bad actors, from China in the South China Sea to Iran in the Strait of Hormuz to Russia in the cyber domain. We stand for a set of ideas, centered on human rights and personal liberties, that invariably attract the violent attention of despots and fanatics.

It is only an opinion piece but I guess it is an opinion that finds traction with me.

You can comfort yourself with the fantasy that the world will leave us alone in exchange for us leaving it alone.

The world doesn’t work that way.

Unlike, say, New Zealand, we are not a pleasant and remote country under the implicit protection of a benign ally: Nobody will protect us if we do not protect ourselves.

We have globe-spanning territorial, maritime and commercial interests that require us to police the global commons against bad actors, from China in the South China Sea to Iran in the Strait of Hormuz to Russia in the cyber domain.

We stand for a set of ideas, centered on human rights and personal liberties, that invariably attract the violent attention of despots and fanatics.

Once more, We stand for a set of ideas.

Back in January, of 1941, a year that would end with the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt laid down what became known as the Four Freedoms saying that,  “we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.”

And what were those four freedoms?

To quote FDR:

The first is freedom of speech and expression–everywhere in the world.

The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way–everywhere in the world.

The third is freedom from want–which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants-everywhere in the world.

The fourth is freedom from fear–which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor–anywhere in the world.

And where do these freedoms apply?

Everywhere, anywhere in the world.

No wonder these ideas invariably attract the violent attention of despots and fanatics.