I am at a crossroad. I am being told that a man that I admire intellectually; since grade school, has strived to become a Supreme Court Judge, but along the way has had a few stumbles like partying and drinking to excess regularly, womanizing, running drug rings and sex slave cults. I have a woman with a PhD in Educational Psychology, telling me she was sexually compromised (nearly raped) by a man when she was in college and at age 51 has still not come to grips with it. I have scientists (and non-scientists) telling me that man, is singlehandedly causing global warming and the earths demise. I have people telling me the Holocaust didn’t happen. Recently I had a friend, whom I love and admire, tell me that the “President’s Alarm” is a Big Brother ploy to infiltrate our daily lives and spy on our cell phone activity. I have heard speech after speech telling me Socialism is good/bad for me. I have heard, as I am sure everyone has, especially at election time that Candidates are Saints/Devils. What am I to believe? (Keeping in mind here that I am 80 years old, with a tad of historical background.)
When I am perplexed, bewildered, unclear, or confused, I make an effort to gather facts, data and historical information to shed light on the my quandary.
1.) When it comes to election palaver the thing I am guided by is a saying by Mark Twain, or Will Rogers. “Remember that after all the slurs, slings and arrows have been hurled before election day, you are charged with voting for and living with one of the creeps.” Or something to that effect. Get it?
2.) Is Socialism good/bad. I am the first generation son of Danish Immigrants who left Denmark in search of a better life. I will say no more, except, Socialism is not good for Americans.
3.) My wife and I were recently evacuated from our home due to the devistating Carr Fire in Redding California. Phone Calls from friends and finally a Red Alert on my cell phone from CalFire convinced me that I had best clear out. I was evacuated for 10 days, the fire literally licked at my front door, but all was saved, most importantly my wife’s life and those of my pets. I think the “President’s Alarm” is a good thing.
4.) Nearly 25,000,000 (Twenty Five Million) people died as a direct result of World War Two. Around 6,000,000 humans, 25% of the total were of Jewish descent. People of Jewish descent equaled less than 1/10 of 1% of the World Population at that time. That, to me is a pretty good indication that the Jews were singled out for horrific deaths and that the Holocaust really did happen. There is also the glaring fact that I lived through that period of world history and was well aware of what was going on.
5.) The Earth is 4,543,000,000 (4.53 Billion, with a B, years old). Humans have inhabited earth for 200,000 (Two hundred thousand years or .0044%). History has recorded human activity for 6,000 years (6 thousand or 0.000132%). Those 200,000 year olds were of a primative sort, and probably had little effect on warming. The Industrial Revolution started in mid-1700’s, but it wasn’t until the mid-1800’s that the world started belching steam and smoke. We are now in the early 2ooo’s, 180 years later, (or 0.000004% of Earth’s age). I have a very hard time believing that man, in that period of time, as come to comprehend the earths climate cycles, although we do understand (I think) that Ice Ages occur every 100,000 years, and Saharan Cycles occur every 20,000 years. Obviously there is more to this topic than this paragraph, but this is enough to make me thank the President for standing up to the Paris Accord money pit.
6.) I remember “petting parties” in the 50’s, when I was in highschool, when both boys and girls got together, consentually, had to sneak alcohol, smeared lipstick all over each others faces, smudged (caused something to become messily smeared by rubbing it), and knotted up the angora on our girlfriends sweaters and then, with hormones raging, went home and took a cold shower. I’m sure the vast majority of us, boys and girls alike, were there for the experience. Some of us had good experiences (thanks Doreen, to this day I remember your pink softness and sweet smell), others not so good. The 80’s were another 30 years in the making, fully absorbing the “Lovin 60’s and Swingin 70’s” and I’m sure that alcohol was more prevalent, knowledge was vaster and expectations were higher. The desire for experience was just as powerful in the 80’s, I am confident of that fact. I’m sure the 80’s experiences were good and not so good, as well. Enough said.
7.) It is hard for me to understand how a person who has strived to be a Supreme Court Judge all his life also found time to be passed out drunk on regular occasions, a serial rapist and a drug lord. (Ted Bundy does come to mind, but he didn’t serve 28 years in public service, mostly as a Judge. Serial raping seems like something you would do earlier in life, but certainly not in highschool or while on the bench.) I also have a hard time convicting someone when there is no corroborating evidence that a crime was committed.
I guess, when you look at it, I’m not as confused as I thought.
