7.15.2023 – distinction between

distinction between
the push of past versus the
pull of the future

Any historian worth his salt knows how to eschew monocausal explanations of human events — that is, the attribution of a single motive to any given decision.

And there is another necessary distinction, the one between motives and purposes (the first a push of the past, the second the pull of the future), for rare are also those instances when the purposes of a decision are singular or exclusive.

I was struck by this phrase written by by John Lukacs in his book, Five days in London, May 1940 (New Haven, ale University Press, 1999).

It brought to mind the old discussion (and forgive me for my use of pronouns) between the idea that men make their time (The important man theory of narrative history) against the idea that times make the men (The social view of history).

As I was taught, Hitler impacted his world or the world as it existed in the middle 1900’s created the vortex that vomited out a Hitler and had not Hitler existed, another person would have been created by the spirit of the time or Zeitgeist.

I guess I go both ways.

The boiling angst of post WWI Europe was going to lead to someone or something at sometime.

The fact is that Hitler DID show up in 1932 and his arrival on the stage had a great impact on the world at that time.

In the grand scope of things, 20 or 30 years either way in the history of the world may not mean much, but for those people alive and soon to be dead, that Hitler showed up in 1932, the man and his times had a great impact.

So I DO think that the former President could have been created by the times.

But the man and the moment, for better or for worse, met.

With consequences unforeseen, the man and the moment met.

The push of the past and the pull of the future called for someone and that someone turned out to be Mr. Trump.

Maybe not a single motive but I do feel that the term monocausal explanation kind fits as I think you can look at a lot, and I mean A LOT or what is impacting us today can be traced to this one person being in office.

It leads to easy speculation, on just one topic, how this country and this world would have reacted to COVID had the President of the United States and ‘Leader of the Free World” had provided leadership.

I think I will leave it there.

The push of the past, the pull of the future and the impact of one person.

Maybe this was best depicted in the life of George Bailey in the movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life” which was a box office failure and rarely watched until NBC discovered it as a cheap holiday on air filler but I digress.

I imagined a time where an Angel came down to me and asked had I ever thought about a world where I hadn’t been born.

He snaps his fingers and we visit a world where I had never been born and it turns out that everyone was better off and having a great time.

The Angel looks at me and shrugs and says sorry, sometimes these things don’t work out.

Then the Angel has me click my heals three times, I am wearing black loafers, and say there is no place home and bang, zoom here I am.

One of those rare those instances when the purposes of a decision was both singular and exclusive.

7.14.2023 – you are remembered

you are remembered
for the rules you break, you don’t
do that … well, I did

Most deep-sea craft undergo costly rounds of inspection and testing by reputable marine organizations that specialize in certifying the deep-diving craft as safe. But Mr. Rush obtained no certification for Titan, saying it stifled innovation. In a documentary, he said: “You are remembered for the rules you break, and I’ve broken some rules to make this. The carbon fiber and titanium — there’s a rule you don’t do that. Well, I did.”

From the article, The Maverick Design Choices That May Have Doomed Titan By Helmuth Rosales, William J. Broad, Eleanor Lutz and Bedel Saget, in the New York Times, July 14, 2023.

The Mr. Rush quoted above is Stockton Rush, the man behind the Titan and the Titanic.

One might call this famous last words or maybe a case of an unfortunate truth.

7.13.2023 – work was mine to do

work was mine to do
have tried to give it every
thing that was in me

He acknowledged that when he became president he had grave doubts about his capacity to do the job:

“When Franklin Roosevelt died, I felt there must be a million men better qualified than I, to take up the Presidential task.

But the work was mine to do, and I had to do it.

And I have tried to give it everything that was in me.”

He reflected on the decisions, large and small, every president has to make: “He can’t pass the buck to anybody.”

On Harry Truman in the book How Did We Get Here? From Theodore Roosevelt to Donald Trump by Robert Dallek, HarperCollins Publishers, 2020.

Seems like Mr. Truman also said something along the lines of that it is amazing how much you can accomplish if you don’t care who gets the credit.

I guess that’s why each generation longs for the good old days.

7.12.2023 – sun rises from ocean

sun rises from ocean
joggers are out in numbers
island comes awake

In season, tourist traffic makes the morning commute an issue.

Not like out of season.

Out of season, with school in session, enough teachers, students and buses have to be at schools located out on the island, rather than on the mainland, that car traffic slows way down and I leave early in the morning to avoid it.

In season, there is no school traffic to speak of and car travel is a little bit faster but there is the tourist traffic to worry about.

I don’t mean cars.

I mean bikes.

I mean joggers.

Joggers and bikers line the roads early in the morning.

Joggers on the sidewalks and foot paths, ignoring the crosswalk signs.

You need an eye for cars.

An eye for traffic lights.

And an eye to watch out for those joggers.

Those people who sweat and strain, body all aching and wracked with pain all the work year long, waiting for vacation and once they get here to the island, the get out of bed at the crack of dawn … to go running.

The island is quiet in the morning.

The sun rises silently, without noise.

I make my way to work and park.

I walk through the hotel complex to my office.

The only sound is the early morning birds and the housekeeping staff with their vacuums getting started on their day.

That and the low sound of feet, padding in running shoes, hitting the pavement.

The sound of tourists enjoying their vacation.

7.11.2023 – sit around swearing

sit around swearing
properly excellently
to lessen the pain

From the article, “The ultimate swearword: an algorithm has come up with the ‘best’ expletive ever. It is certainly a surprise“, in the Guardian that states:

Perhaps it’s reassuring that the best mathematics can come up with sounds so rubbish. When AI has taken all our jobs, at least we can sit around doing nothing except swearing – properly and excellently – at each other. To lessen the pain.

I am reminded on Mark Twain on swearing.

He had some good ones.

“Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer.“

And …

“When angry count four; when very angry, swear.“

My favorite quote comes from the play, Inherit the Wind, where Henry Drummond, the lawyer modelled after Clarence Darrow says:

“I don’t swear for the hell of it.

Language is a poor enough means of communication.

We’ve got to use all the words we’ve got.

Besides, there are damn few words anybody understands.”