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You Never Know …
This is making the rounds on Facebook. Luckily, I don’t believe everything I see on the Internet. I mean, that’s nuts, right? I was born in 1968. Which was about 20 years ago. Or so. Give or take.
My dad was born in 1945. He has a picture of himself as a baby, being held by his great-grandmother, who was 85 years old at the time (see picture at end of post). So she was born in 1860. America is a young country.
World leaders in the late 1700s said that representative republics were too unstable. America would never last. Once the citizens realized that they could vote themselves rich, then the game was over. Perhaps they were right.
Or, perhaps they were wrong. Perhaps Americans will recognize that America is the greatest force for good that the world has ever seen and will endeavor to preserve her, warts and all.
Or, perhaps, Democrats will continue to win elections a week after they happen via mail-in ballots. We grow weary of pressing the issue. It would be nice to take a break from it all. Why can’t we all just get along?
In the future, those who read the history of our era — say, from 1950-2050 — will wonder why we actively destroyed the greatest force for good the world had ever seen. But they won’t understand how tired we were. Tired of the daily struggle. Tired of getting fact-checked on Facebook. Tired of the condescension from our masked neighbors at Kroger. Tired of pretending to believe the unbelievable. It’s easier to just go along to get along. Why can’t we all just get along?
Indeed.
You may not care. After enough bourbon, maybe I won’t, either. Although that amount of bourbon continues to increase. I can’t tell if it’s from increased tolerance to ethanol or from decreased tolerance to absurdity. I suppose it doesn’t matter. But as things get increasingly absurd, it’s getting harder to care about daily events. I try to care. I really do. But sometimes, it’s hard to care.
But our great-grandchildren, who have not yet been born, care. Or rather, they will care.
My dad’s great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize America right now. Her generation did a lot to vanquish the Democratic Party of the time — the Jim Crow South and segregation. Her generation recognized the evil of the Democratic Party of her time and did its best to improve on it.
And now, here we are. Will we stand up against the evil of the Democratic Party of our time? Will we stand up for the rights of man? Or will we acquiesce to the rights of government?
Note that I didn’t ask if it would be difficult or not. I just asked where we would draw the line. They may ask who won. They won’t ask about degree of difficulty.
Somewhere, there is a point of no return. I think we passed it some time ago. Others feel that it is close, but not yet upon us.
I don’t think it matters who is right. We should act as if our decisions matter.
For one thing, when one believes that one’s decisions don’t matter, one tends to make bad decisions.
But more importantly, you never know. You may be playing from behind. But you could possibly win. You never know. So you play until the game is over. And our game most certainly is not over. Things may seem difficult. But this is not over. Maybe soon. But not yet. Perhaps.
And if we’ve already lost, then we have nothing to lose, right? So we might as well keep playing as if we have something to play for. You never know.
You never know.
One benefit of losing is that it takes the pressure off. The favorite should win. They have every advantage. But the underdog feels no pressure. They just play. And you never know how things might turn out.
Happy and successful people are often blessed with an ignorance of their own limitations. They should lose. And they usually do.
But not always. Sometimes they win. Even when they really shouldn’t. Sometimes they keep playing against impossible odds, and they win anyway. You just never know.
So you might as well keep playing. You never know.
It’s easy for me to say this, as I was born only about 20 years ago. The idealism of youth, and all that.
On the other hand, my dad’s great-grandmother (pictured at left, holding my father) might find this to be important. Perhaps she has a perspective that some of us young kids lack. Imagine what she went through in her life. Perhaps she worked through difficulties that many of us wouldn’t understand. Perhaps she is less understanding of our fatalistic outlook.
You never know. Perhaps we’ve already lost. Our efforts could be futile. Hard to say, I guess.
But heck — let’s play.
You never know …
Published in General
I think it was Walter Williams, when he was substitute hosting for Rush once, who said that he’d been around for a third of the country’s existence.
From the story:
Reminds me of the story about John Tyler’s grandsons, one of whom is still alive. Their father, Tyler’s son, was born when Tyler was in his 70s. Methinks DNA testing might cast some doubt on who the fathers really were.
Geez Doc – great post. Could you squeeze in any more quotable one-liners? It’s worse than Lay’s potato chips “can’t eat just one”. Too good of a job of answering your own reflections. Makes us work hard to chime in with anything more than just fodder.
The fatigue you speak of is palpable. Yet so many things are worth this fatigue (and more) IF the goal in mind is worth the effort. You have shared your escapades as a competitive track and field athlete. What level of ‘tired’ were you prepared to withstand? My own short stint as a semi-competitive marathoner (sub 2:45) extended into fatigue I didn’t know I could manage. Dr. Ben Carson’s 22-hour surgery separating conjoined twins. The birth of Curtis Butler at 21 weeks, then spending 275 days in NICU. Every disciple of Christ (except John) dying a martyr’s death. What won’t a committed human being put himself through if the ends seem “worth it”?
It seems today convenience is paramount. Our society/culture has embraced convenience above nearly everything else. The goal is convenience and comfort. Hell we use convenience to elicit more convenience! We don’t have to get off our couch to join a media subscription, to start a Big Bang Theory binge, to order a pizza with our cell phone, paying with Venmo because it’s too inconvenient to hit pause, find a microwave meal and wait four minutes. Don’t ask me how I know that is possible. No cooking. No waiting. No patience. No thinking.
And it leaks into the big things. It’s convenient to stay silent at the school board meeting…or just not show up, my kids are grown (cowardice). It’s convenient to just add pronouns to an email signature (enablement). It’s convenient to just put on a mask to walk to a table then to take it off (absurd). It’s convenient to indulge the 13 year old with puberty blockers or consider organ amputation (depraved). Ad infinitum. Going along to get along.
It certainly isn’t convenient, or easy, and it will be tiring but is it worth the effort to fight for
Yup.
“A grey head is a sign of wisdom. It is gained in a righteous life.”
The thing about getting old is realizing that the horizon is not unlimited, you can sort of make out the end of the diving board looming, something 10 or 15 years off might be out of reach.
True that. I took a job with JSC to work on the Lunar Gateway program. Before they recruited me for it my plan for this year was to write six or more books. Now that has been cut to three. As of now I have 16 books on my “really want to write before I die” list. I might well have to jettison them if I stay with my NASA job. I am still trying to decide if it is worth that.
I joined a small consulting firm a year ago as the oldest member of the firm. Recently had my first “review” (very informal) with the partner in charge of implementations, and one of the questions he asked me was “Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?” As soon as he read it he started chuckling. I responded “Retired? Dead?” I checked out of the “climb the corporate ladder” rat race at the age of 35 and see no reason to join now. But it sometimes is rather humbling to think that my expiration date is likely much closer than it has ever been.
Holy smokes!! You must be a machine.
Not really. Most were short, 30,000 words or less. The ones that were not (60-80K) were to be collaborations.
I think they are afraid of death because so many are now secular. For the rest, fear is contageous..
I don’t get this. How would someone who was born in 1930, get a Civil War pension? Because of a parent? But is it still a pension then? More like Survivor’s Benefits or something.
Read the article.
Helpless child of a veteran entitled to a pension.