GK: I'm a selectman in a small town in Maine, and last night the crowd was surly over planting a white oak on the common in honor of James Weldon Johnson Day, which is a new holiday in Maine, coming up on June 17th. Johnson died here in 1938 when a train hit his car in an early morning rain storm—his wife was driving, she testified later that it was hard to see and hear the train, and the gate did not come down. Regardless, the rail company was not found to be at fault, and life limped on. JWJ was a remarkable renaissance man—author, poet, diplomat, professor ... a founder of ASCAP and NAACP, and writer of "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing." On June 17, the Governor's proclamation will be read, several notables will come to town, and planting a tree on the common here to celebrate his life was what was proposed last night. The democrats thought it was reasonable and stayed home. The republicans showed up for a fight. I think I now understand how it went when another crowd wanted to free Barabas and hang Jesus. Your words this morning are a cleansing breath of fresh air that renews the soul. Keep 'em coming. TLHH
Thinking they were irate that it was a WHITE oak, eh? (Canadian here). Be at peace - had it been a red oak they'd have accused you of being communists (we Canadians get that routinely...because we're Canadians). Cheers and hang in there.
Thanks Garrison for that thoughtful column. The basic truth of the universe is that things change.
But sometimes change is so slow that we don't realize that it is taking place.
Before the 1970's, the republican party was the party of President Eisenhower, Henry Cabot Lodge, and Nelson Rockefeller. Today it is the party of Donald and DeSantis. They tell me that republican legislators in Florida are passing laws to allow (or require?) genital checks because said legislators are concerned that a student of the wrong sex might participate in sports. But I encounter many people who don't seem to know that republicans today are different from those of the 1950"s.
President Eisenhower talked about balancing the budget and looking for world peace. Republicans today are concerned about genital checks and bathrooms.
I think that many of our problems arise because many people today are spoiled.
I grew up many years ago with adults who came of age in the depression. Life was hard for most people but those people were generally well mannered and polite and did not put themselves first. When we went to "dinner on the grounds" at church, these people did not rush ahead and try to get to the food ahead of everyone else. If there was one piece of chicken left on the place, they would not take it.
But now a days, many young people have comfortable lives with nice homes and campers and boats and huge pickups, but they (especially the men) seem to have a sense of grievance. They don't enjoy what they have because they are angry and want more stuff.
On one of your PHC programs, Garrison, you once said that when you were young, people either made something or they sold something to make a living. Now everyone is involved in communications. I think that is one of our problems. We are busy communicating when often times we have nothing to communicate.
Seems that now young people are always talking on their phones or texting. What do they have to talk about? And how do they do any work if they are always talking on the phone?
Turkeys and chickens which grow up in the massive flocks of which you write are dumb creatures; but those which grow up independently in the woods are good at taking care of themselves.
Anyway, Garrison, have a nice day and a nice life. I enjoy seeing your columns. It is a chance to read, think, and respond with a few comments.
One of the great pleasures of life is to sit in a silent room and think. But it is not something that I do very often.
We can go one further: Eisenhower coined the term "military industrial complex". The man knew a few things. We're seeing a similar trend here in Canada; our Conservative Party has moved very far to the right - or at least large portions have - and they're in a leadership contest right now. The leading contender thinks formal moves to digital currency will solve inflation. The inmates want to run the institution. Cheers.
PS: I've seen Pres. Eisenhower's home at Gettysburg. Very interesting that he and Mamie elected to retire there. A General to the end.
Aubrey, I'm not Democrat or a Republican. I'm a Distributist, and we do have a party, the American Solidarity Party, to whom the term "beautiful losers" applies. ( Go to our website, have a look at our positions. )
I think Eisenhower was our last great President. If your admiration of him isn't already unstinting, it is likely that it would be if you read Evan Thomas' fascinating book, Ike's Bluff.
I do think it is a mistake to invoke political figures from the past to bolster the credibility of one's own point of view. Eisenhower would have nothing to do with today's Republicans not because he would regard them as rightist extremists, but because he would be incredulous and disgusted that, for example, Indiana during Mike Pence's governorship didn't have the courage to maintain its mild version of a religious freedom restoration act. ( First, of course, the dear man, who was so voraciously eaten alive with dread of nuclear war during his second term that he took twice the amount of barbiturate prescribed to him so he could shut down his doom - filled nightmares, would have to have the fact of same sex marriage explained to him. He would find it incomprehensible that the United States had gone so severely mad, and would conclude that his entire life of public service had been a waste. )
I don't admire many people in politics today, certainly not Trump, but in your disdain for DeSantis, you omit the reason why there might need to be "genital checks." It can be summed up in a name: Lia Thomas.
Could Eisenhower comprehend a commonweal in which people are asked their preferred pronouns?
I’m liking your comment because of two things: (1) I will never concede to referring to singular people as plurals; and (2) I couldn’t agree more about trans-persons, formerly men, competing as women in sports. In every way except genitally (if they have had surgery), they are male—bigger, taller, stronger, more muscular. They have a right to convert themselves socially to living as females, but the price they should pay is to no longer compete in sports. If they really want to make such a transition, that should be a small price.
I am a Scandinavian from a small town in South Dakota, but I always relate to what you are saying especially todayin your first paragraph: " Our stoicism would be diagnosed as depression. Sedatives are pretty much wasted on us." That is the truth and it is how it is.
Dear dear Garrison, God bless those stoics that produced you and your inimitable writing style. May you continue to lead us, intentionally or not, into paths of righteousness and truth. Your friend (still , with Coyote persistence, attempting to make the Perfect Powdermilk Biscuit). Magnolia
I lived in many places before high school - 16 to be exact - Maine to California, Washington, DC to Washington State - yet your words bring me 'home' many times - to the place I imagined as home. I am just two years younger than you and have seen you and the Prairie Home team perform at Interlochen 3 times. Wish we could have those times again.
On the subject of "bucket of blood" novels and mass shootings. If I may, I highly recommend "Vernon God Little", by D.B.C. Pierre: first novel (I think) and WINNER of the Man Booker 2003. Narrator was virtually only friend of a shooter and is shunned by his community. Believe it or not, a brilliant and touching book.
It calmed me to read those words. Thank you.
GK: I'm a selectman in a small town in Maine, and last night the crowd was surly over planting a white oak on the common in honor of James Weldon Johnson Day, which is a new holiday in Maine, coming up on June 17th. Johnson died here in 1938 when a train hit his car in an early morning rain storm—his wife was driving, she testified later that it was hard to see and hear the train, and the gate did not come down. Regardless, the rail company was not found to be at fault, and life limped on. JWJ was a remarkable renaissance man—author, poet, diplomat, professor ... a founder of ASCAP and NAACP, and writer of "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing." On June 17, the Governor's proclamation will be read, several notables will come to town, and planting a tree on the common here to celebrate his life was what was proposed last night. The democrats thought it was reasonable and stayed home. The republicans showed up for a fight. I think I now understand how it went when another crowd wanted to free Barabas and hang Jesus. Your words this morning are a cleansing breath of fresh air that renews the soul. Keep 'em coming. TLHH
Thinking they were irate that it was a WHITE oak, eh? (Canadian here). Be at peace - had it been a red oak they'd have accused you of being communists (we Canadians get that routinely...because we're Canadians). Cheers and hang in there.
Thanks Garrison for that thoughtful column. The basic truth of the universe is that things change.
But sometimes change is so slow that we don't realize that it is taking place.
Before the 1970's, the republican party was the party of President Eisenhower, Henry Cabot Lodge, and Nelson Rockefeller. Today it is the party of Donald and DeSantis. They tell me that republican legislators in Florida are passing laws to allow (or require?) genital checks because said legislators are concerned that a student of the wrong sex might participate in sports. But I encounter many people who don't seem to know that republicans today are different from those of the 1950"s.
President Eisenhower talked about balancing the budget and looking for world peace. Republicans today are concerned about genital checks and bathrooms.
I think that many of our problems arise because many people today are spoiled.
I grew up many years ago with adults who came of age in the depression. Life was hard for most people but those people were generally well mannered and polite and did not put themselves first. When we went to "dinner on the grounds" at church, these people did not rush ahead and try to get to the food ahead of everyone else. If there was one piece of chicken left on the place, they would not take it.
But now a days, many young people have comfortable lives with nice homes and campers and boats and huge pickups, but they (especially the men) seem to have a sense of grievance. They don't enjoy what they have because they are angry and want more stuff.
On one of your PHC programs, Garrison, you once said that when you were young, people either made something or they sold something to make a living. Now everyone is involved in communications. I think that is one of our problems. We are busy communicating when often times we have nothing to communicate.
Seems that now young people are always talking on their phones or texting. What do they have to talk about? And how do they do any work if they are always talking on the phone?
Turkeys and chickens which grow up in the massive flocks of which you write are dumb creatures; but those which grow up independently in the woods are good at taking care of themselves.
Anyway, Garrison, have a nice day and a nice life. I enjoy seeing your columns. It is a chance to read, think, and respond with a few comments.
One of the great pleasures of life is to sit in a silent room and think. But it is not something that I do very often.
We can go one further: Eisenhower coined the term "military industrial complex". The man knew a few things. We're seeing a similar trend here in Canada; our Conservative Party has moved very far to the right - or at least large portions have - and they're in a leadership contest right now. The leading contender thinks formal moves to digital currency will solve inflation. The inmates want to run the institution. Cheers.
PS: I've seen Pres. Eisenhower's home at Gettysburg. Very interesting that he and Mamie elected to retire there. A General to the end.
Aubrey, I'm not Democrat or a Republican. I'm a Distributist, and we do have a party, the American Solidarity Party, to whom the term "beautiful losers" applies. ( Go to our website, have a look at our positions. )
I think Eisenhower was our last great President. If your admiration of him isn't already unstinting, it is likely that it would be if you read Evan Thomas' fascinating book, Ike's Bluff.
I do think it is a mistake to invoke political figures from the past to bolster the credibility of one's own point of view. Eisenhower would have nothing to do with today's Republicans not because he would regard them as rightist extremists, but because he would be incredulous and disgusted that, for example, Indiana during Mike Pence's governorship didn't have the courage to maintain its mild version of a religious freedom restoration act. ( First, of course, the dear man, who was so voraciously eaten alive with dread of nuclear war during his second term that he took twice the amount of barbiturate prescribed to him so he could shut down his doom - filled nightmares, would have to have the fact of same sex marriage explained to him. He would find it incomprehensible that the United States had gone so severely mad, and would conclude that his entire life of public service had been a waste. )
I don't admire many people in politics today, certainly not Trump, but in your disdain for DeSantis, you omit the reason why there might need to be "genital checks." It can be summed up in a name: Lia Thomas.
Could Eisenhower comprehend a commonweal in which people are asked their preferred pronouns?
I’m liking your comment because of two things: (1) I will never concede to referring to singular people as plurals; and (2) I couldn’t agree more about trans-persons, formerly men, competing as women in sports. In every way except genitally (if they have had surgery), they are male—bigger, taller, stronger, more muscular. They have a right to convert themselves socially to living as females, but the price they should pay is to no longer compete in sports. If they really want to make such a transition, that should be a small price.
I am a Scandinavian from a small town in South Dakota, but I always relate to what you are saying especially todayin your first paragraph: " Our stoicism would be diagnosed as depression. Sedatives are pretty much wasted on us." That is the truth and it is how it is.
“Arrogance is deadly, a good heart counts for a great deal, true feeling is a beam of light…” and to these matters I aspire. Thank you Mr K.
I needed this today. Thanks.
Your words, your thoughts, your memories ricochet off everyday life to our funny bone to peace of mind to truth.
The dreaded disclaimer. What did you do Now (?)
Dear dear Garrison, God bless those stoics that produced you and your inimitable writing style. May you continue to lead us, intentionally or not, into paths of righteousness and truth. Your friend (still , with Coyote persistence, attempting to make the Perfect Powdermilk Biscuit). Magnolia
i love it. Have not much to add,
I lived in many places before high school - 16 to be exact - Maine to California, Washington, DC to Washington State - yet your words bring me 'home' many times - to the place I imagined as home. I am just two years younger than you and have seen you and the Prairie Home team perform at Interlochen 3 times. Wish we could have those times again.
I love that you inserted “think on these things “ in a sentence. A sweet old song began in my head immediately. Wish we sang more of those.
Also a decent book by Krishnamurti !
Chuckles, chuckles, chuckles
A balm for my spirit. 💗
LOVE this!
On the subject of "bucket of blood" novels and mass shootings. If I may, I highly recommend "Vernon God Little", by D.B.C. Pierre: first novel (I think) and WINNER of the Man Booker 2003. Narrator was virtually only friend of a shooter and is shunned by his community. Believe it or not, a brilliant and touching book.