I was honored this past week by a friend who commented on one of my dusky (OK, it was a little dark) commentaries on our current human condition.
She said that my “intellectual optimism” was needed.
And I know lot of my posts may seem dark, but at least for now, the truth is leaning toward the dark side. I try, as best as a partisan can, to speak the truth as I see it. I try to present an honest critique – and I do know most of the people who honor me with their time by reading the posts agree with me, albeit in a general sense.
But what you need to know about me is those dark moments come, but they go just about as quickly.
I have written a lot about my upbringing and how great an influence my maternal grandparents had on me. That certainly doesn’t minimize what my parents did, it is just that my parents taught me how to behave in the here and now, while my grandparents gave me the benefit of a lifetime of overcoming struggle while raising a family of genuinely good men and women and being happy with what they had.
I come from a family tradition of shrugging things off and pushing on. All of my cousins have that same drive – and it is a testament to my grandparents that they do.
I think I have said it before that sometimes it just feels good to get things off your chest by saying it out loud so others can hear and then get on with business.
So, here comes a mini rant – but stay with me because it comes back to good.
I made a comment on my Substack Little Emperors post that it seems that things people my age consider just part of the daily suck are often existential crises or extinction level events for the littles.
You know, we all face challenges in our daily lives, some do carry existential risks - like terminal diseases or being deployed to a hot zone abroad (or Chicago on a holiday weekend) - but most of our challenges are just part of our daily lives. Dealing with tasks work, the people at work, our bosses, peers, and subordinates are often difficult. We must get things done thorough authority or indirect influence and face the issues arising from each.
Some days, everybody pulls on an oar, other days they seem to want to find ways to stick a wrench in the gears. We have issues at work, at home, with the kids, the dogs, the neighbors, the kids of neighbors and the dogs of the kids of the neighbors.
Some we deal with directly, some indirectly.
Some days just totally suck, some days you deal with human anal sphincters – and when you do, it seems they always come in waves. Six degrees of Kevin Bacon gone bad – an avalanche of human anal sphincterism.
Some days turn into weeks or months, and it feels as if we are strapped to the mast with Odysseus on an endless voyage or slogging along with Hercules on his Trials.
None of this wins us any Pulitzers, Nobels, or Oscars. There are no front-page, above the fold accolades or prizes for navigating everyday life, even though our entire civilization depends upon each of us being able to successfully navigate those waters every day of every week of every month and year. Our prize, if we are lucky, is getting to come back tomorrow and give it a go all over again.
Maybe Albert Camus was right, maybe Sisyphus DID find meaning in pushing that darn boulder up the hill every day only to watch it roll back down at sundown.
There is much not to like about our current world. I commented earlier that those of my readers who were fans of the WSJ’s "Best of the Web Today" column when James Taranto wrote it will know what I mean when I say that I miss the days when Taranto’s classic expression "Everything is seemingly spinning out of control" was just a classic expression and not a factual description of today.
Stuff sure can blow.
But some days are gold. Some days the Minotaur you must slay on your quest is just an ankle-biting Chihuahua. Sometimes the voyage of Odysseus is in an air-conditioned car. Some days people do their jobs without being told, the kids do their homework without being asked, nothing breaks down and even the dog behaves. Some days, things click – it is home on the range time, where never is heard a discouraging word and the skies are not cloudy all day.
Those are great…and most years, if we are honest, those days far outnumber the bad days.
But then there are those who assume their daily lives are worthy of prizes, they seem to revel in the bad days.
You know of whom I speak.
The Biden administration, the Ibram Kendi’s, the AOC’s and their racist Squads, the Pelosi’s and Schumer’s, the cast of MSNBC, CNN, the New York Times, the Washington Post and especially, Felicia Sonmetz – all the people who tell us how grateful we should be that we have a dementia riddled septuagenarian and his barely functioning imbecilic sidekick as president and VP – basically anyone who elevates everything to a crisis level – even if they must invent some sort of outrage.
I am out of patience for people who seem to go in search of something to bitch about, especially when they are the root of the things we really should be bitching about – inflation, gas prices, illegal immigration, attacks on our liberty, crime, etc. – pretty much the whole enchilada grande.
But on the whole, America remains a pretty damned good place – even today, even with the crap we are buried in each day. America is not a racist country, and we are not in danger from a white supremacist movement that would be lucky to fill up a transgender party bus on the way to a Saturday night drag queen talent show - and I am fed up with politicians who claim we are things we are not.
I have enough bad character traits to shoot at, no need to invent more.
In all honesty, while my life isn’t Top Gun: Maverick every day, there are enough of those days to keep me hopeful and looking forward to the future.
I know a lot of folks are just like me. Some days you just want to explode all over everything. I just want to be left alone to be me and to take care of my family without being insulted by elitists who aren’t but presume they are, and they think their insults matter to me.
The fields where my f*cks grow are barren, and I harvest not a single f*ck to give to these folks.
To you, my fellow optimistic happy warriors, I have everything to give.
Couldn't love this one more. Tried to share on my FB page but couldn't. User error maybe?
Most days are pretty good. In fact, there’s a lot of days when I put on the Rolling Stones’ Aftermath album and it sounds just as fresh as it did when I first heard it at the age of 10, in 1979. To be honest, I find that most days are like that. I’m pretty bi-partisan. To me, there’s things to like in both parties, and things to cringe at in both parties as well. It’d be a welcome change if, every now and then, if you might go into things about the right that irritate you. You’re a thoughtful and engaging writer. Surely there must be some hypocrisy on the right that drives you crazy?