11.20.2024 – if you’re not tired

if you’re not tired,
please do not write to tell me
… was rhetorical

Are you feeling tired? I’m going to take an educated guess that the answer is yes. I think I know maybe one person who isn’t tired. One of the most devastating moments of motherhood for me has been recovering from the trauma of a year of sleep deprivation only to discover that I am still tired, and I probably will be for the next 25 years, by which point I’ll be tired because I’ll be old.

From the article, Are you tired all the time? Me too – but I think I’ve worked out why by Moya Sarner. in the Guardian on 11/18/2024.

It wasn’t so much the article that caught my eye as was the footnote.

The footnote that read: If you are not tired, please do not write to me to tell me this. It was a rhetorical question and I’m envious enough already. I know you well rested, perky people are out there; please just enjoy not being tired and eat your spirulina.

And I had to look up spirulina.

Spirulina is a type of blue-green algae that is rich in protein, vitamins, minerals, carotenoids, and antioxidants that can help protect cells from damage.

Not sure why if I am not sleepy, I should be eating spirulina but there you are.

11.19.2024 – any nation

any nation
so conceived, so dedicated,
can it long endure?

It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they have, thus far, so nobly carried on.

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion

that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain;

that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom;

and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

I never felt these words to be so much more a warning than words of encouragement.

Was it all false?

Was it always a hypocrisy?

The slave owners who wrote out that all men were created equal?

People always have been the foolish victims of deception and self-deception in politics, and they always will be until they have learnt to seek out the interests of some class or other behind all moral, religious, political and social phrases, declarations and promises.

At least that is what that feller Lenin said.

Today is the anniversary of the Gettysburg Address.

It was on November 19, 1863 that Mr. Lincoln said those words in closing to his remarks dedicating a cemetary.

He opened his remarks saying,

… our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.

So conceived and so dedicated …

When I was a kid I read those words not as SO FROM THE FACT but as SO MUCH …

Those words used to matter.

Liberty and created equal.

We shall see, once again, if they can long endure.

11.18.2024 – new rulers stymied

new rulers stymied
by incompetence, infighting
self-sabotage

Once Trump won, decent outcomes for the country were probably off the table. The institutions are unlikely to hold. Establishment Republicans cannot be counted on to protect us. The best we can hope for is that our new rulers will be stymied by incompetence, infighting and self-sabotage. In that respect, Gaetz may be just the man for the job.

From the article, Matt Gaetz Is the Perfect Man for the Job by Michelle Goldberg in the New York Times, Nov. 14, 2024.

I am trying to stay out of politics so the topic of the article is incendental and I want to salute the word craft in the marvelous sentence “The best we can hope for is that our new rulers will be stymied by incompetence, infighting and self-sabotage.“

… stymied by incompetence, infighting and self-sabotage.

In many ways, this was the underlying foundation of the Allies war on Nazi Germany and it worked out okay and I can easily imaging these words being strung together by Mr. Churchill.

That being said, I am reminded of a discussion of the so called ‘End Times’ I had with a friend of mine.

The End Times in Evangelical circles is when the world as we know finally falls apart.

As we talked about this I thought outloud:

The amount of sin in the world gets to the point where the only thing that can make any difference is the return of Jesus.

Then I looked at my friend and asked: “This would be a bad thing … why?“

Then I asked, “Do we want to encourage bad behavior?

11.17.2024 – do not be afraid

do not be afraid,
discouraged – go and attack
the King of Ai

Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. For I have delivered into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land. You shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king.

Book of Joshua, Chapter 8, verses 1 and 2, (New International Version Translation).

It’s mostly just a coincidence that couples the resurrection of Trump with the rise of Artificial Intelligence.

A coincidence that lends itself easily to the idea of a new world if not a brave new world is just around the corner and all the uncertainty and discouragement that the idea of this brave new world will not be much a world to live in.

It’s also mostly just a coincidence that my daily Bible reading was from the Book of Joshua, Chapter 2.

And it’s mostly just a coincidence that a city that stood against Joshua was named Ai.

I ask you, when you hear the term, The King of Ai, who do YOU think of?

I know not the orange guy but that other oddly named feller the has a seat on his train.

And the King of Ai will be delivered into our hands.

Today you draw your reassurances where you can.

I cannot understand where this country is in respect to its past and in response to its elected future but these Bible verses helped me to remember that God is IN control and I draw reassurance from that.

I will NOT be afraid.

I will NOT be discouraged.

Hang on to hat, this is going to be a bumpy ride.

11.16.2024 – when really matter –

when really matter …
really matter now but when
they really matter

So as long as we’re being conscious about learning and getting these things in long term development then all these games will help us pay dividends and help us win those games later when they really matter. They really matter now, but when they really really matter.

Michigan Head Basketball Coach Dusty May on where his team is after 2 games as quoted in Michigan basketball, Dusty May ‘not going to panic’ over early turnover troubles by Tony Garcia in the Detroit Free Press.

Win those games later when things really matter.

They really matter now, but when they really really matter.

I do, goofy to say, know what he means.

But like they say in baseball, a win in April counts as much as a win in September.

They really matter in April, but they really really matter in September.