Time Rolls On

 In memory of Norm Macdonald who passed away this week: his advice was 

"the only thing an old man can tell a young man is that it goes fast, real fast, and if you're not carefult it's too late!" 

Amen to that. Hard to believe I've been relocated for almost 9 months. Don't know where the time goes.  I know I've said it many times, but the slog up the hill to 50 goes at a snails pace, or least it seems to at times, but the trip down from 50  to "unknown" is like being on a double black diamond run. Holy crap I forgot how to slow it down...before I crash into that fence.

Today's blog contains musings that help me avoid doing anything of substance. 

September 16^th 2021

Jojo will fly out to Phoenix today, having turned down a six figure job that would have been boring. Unlike her mother, who took any job to make life affordable for her family, Jojo only has to worry about herself. Lucky girl.

Wormholes of the Day

Today’s OpEd pieces, at least two, got to me this morning. One was on the use of the singular “They” in lieu of a gender-specific pronoun. The author is the Assistant Dean of Yale Law School. His piece centered around how he addressed his students at the beginning of class until each had revealed THEIR gender identity. (see I’m a quick study). I had to look up usage of the singular They because it has always grated on me when reading they or their when the sentence clearly indicates singular, not plural. I stand corrected. The use of they/their as a singular pronoun/possessive has been in use at least since the 1300’s. Who knew.  Wouldn’t it be easier to just learn everyone’s name at the outset of class rather than to assign all students anonymity until each has to, sometime painfully, reveal THEIR gender identity?

The other piece by the curmudgeon George Will focused on presidentially mandated masks for federal employees. He cites the Constitution has not having given that power to a president. This debate of Constitution vs Common Good should be added to the numerous unresolvable debates now on the agenda in this new world order. I refer to, among others, the right of censorship on social media, of rejecting a post or a particular poster for posting what the webmasters deem untruths, or false information (fake news?), specifically related to Covid 19 cures and presidential/political statements.

How does the common good figure into these debates? Does it need to be codified? I’m thinking of freedom of speech laws: when does a statement cross over from free speech to censorable speech?  The FCC has rules pertaining to broadcasting (social media included?) that pertain to false information that causes harm. Libel and Slander laws seem only pertain to personal harm as a result of something publicly said about said person.  I can see the murkiness of these waters. My  mind wanders to a future where, as a politician speaks, a panel of experts sit on the side in real time, buzzers in hand, ringing in every time a misrepresentation, lie, or other version of a lie is spoken by the politician.   A fact-checking panel. And who elects them arbiters of the truth? Another wormhole.

Meanwhile, and I always use meanwhile to shake myself off the mental edge of the abyss brought on by these arguments, I prefer our intelligentsia and political leaders (not the same thing by any means), focus on a more pragmatic path of Think Globally, Act Locally. That is, focus on the problems of our current society that need fixing: lack of affordable housing for both the poor and the underpaid – in each of our back yards. Zero in on upgrading our education system so that all children receive the best education possible-in our back yard. Provide assistance to the underserved communities-in our back yard.  Set achievable carbon emissions reduction goals- in our back yard. Have contests between municipalities for the lowest carbon footprint for those who need incentives.

 Last but not least, in this age of rancor, neighbor-against-neighbor, battle to the death over beliefs, increase independent, unbiased, non-personality-pegged dissemination of information- it’s called straight news.  Let people to think for themselves, based on solid information, and let them demand answers when the facts they need to make an informed opinion are missing. Don’t tell them what to think.