"...Think Of It This Way, Without Both A Right Wing AND A Left Wing, The Damn Plane Ain't Goin' Anywhere But Down...."

Getting old can make you tired.

 

But not necessarily in ways you assume.

 

Later this month, I will be sixty two years old.

 

In some ways, I am still twenty.

 

In other ways, Moses looks like a teenager to me.

 

But, as you might imagine, I am tired.

 

Physical fatigue?

 

Well, sure.

 

I need to lose weight, my blood pressure wanders around from okey doeky to "hmm, we might want to keep an eye on that".

 

And any professional baseball player would kill for my cholesterol number as a batting average.

 

But, I still manage to walk (semi briskly) a mile and a half a day.

 

That's outside in the fresh country air and doesn't count trips back and forth to the refrigerator later in the day.

 

And, in spite of my family pre-disposition for assuming that every little chest cramp is the onset of the big one, every test I've had on purpose or by routine in the past year indicates that I am in, basically, good health.

 

See, there's that family hypochondria thing again. I simply couldn't bear to say good health and had to qualify it with the word "basically".

 

Once again, though, I am tired.

 

Here's something that was once easy for me to handle that now exhausts me.

 

What follows is a recent post on FB from a professional peer/acquaintance.

 

And what follows that are five "comments" regarding said post.

 

Each comment is from a different FB'er.

 

And, out of respect and courtesy, all names have been excluded. 

 

 

 

Political rhetoric aside, can anyone explain why this nutty Fort Hood shooter is not being tried as a terrorist?

•  One word OBAMA

   
• ?

   
•  btw...he is still getting a paycheck

   
• Cause us right wingers R the terrorists now,

   
•  He is obama's kind

 

 

First, I got a kick out of the idea that a subject so soaked in patriotism, not to mention the partisan feelings, would try to "disclaim" any political rhetoric.

But, A for effort, there.

And as for the replies, well, let's agree to agree that whatever else they are, or aren't, this is still a country that allows freedom of speech.

As it should and, God willing, always will be.

But, here's a thing.

And rather than fan flames on Facebook or take up the valuable time of other Facebook friends who have better things to do than read more incendiary blather back and forth between warring political factions, I'm offering , here, what I would have posted there had I been inclined to fan flames on Facebook or take up the valuable time of other Facebook friends who have better things to do than read more incendiary blather back and forth between warring political factions.

And I quote (myself)...

"To those whose knees jerk and lips hiss 'Obama" in response to any and every question that has anything, even remotely, to do with America in the year 2013, spitting and snarling and spewing, never missing an opportunity to express their arguably pathological hatred for the man, please allow me to draw attention to something....we get it....we all get it....you hate him....and you want him gone. And if that's not clear, allow me again....we fucking get it...we all fucking get it....you fucking hate him and you fucking want him gone...truth be told, there, spitters and snarlers and spewers, I haven't been all that knocked out with the job the guy has done, but I have this freaky character quirk that seems to limit the amount of spitting and snarling and spewing I do....I really endeavor to listen to the question being asked and consider some sort of reasoned, if passionate, response to said question and not simply and merely jerk my knees, purse my lips and hiss "Obama"......

"...there's a couple of reasons.....first, it's entirely possible that, all of his failings notwithstanding, his name might simply not be the correct answer to the question being asked....second, if I puke out the word "Obama" as the answer to every question that gets asked, my credibility as an answerer is going to inevitably go where the aforementioned puke goes, right down the crapper.....and, finally, answering every question with that same single word will, deservedly, categorize me as one of two things......a Tourette's sufferer.....or stupid."

"so, please, for the love of God, stop. Stop spitting and snarling and spewing. Stop jerking and hissing and listen to the fucking question before you answer. Stop showing yourself to be a one dimensional, uneducated, ignorant fool wasting everyone's time and taking up space in the places where honest, tough, sincere discussion can take place and might actually accomplish something."

"maybe even some of the problems that you seem so anxious to solve but seem to lack the vocabulary to offer any assistance in the effort".


There was a time in my life when I would have made, at least, some small effort to coat my criticisms in a more civilized, socially palatable lacquer.

But that was a long time ago.

And I'm totally exhausted trying to figure what nice words to use in place of the simple words.

If you recognize yourself anywhere here and are offended by my criticisms of you.

Tough shit.

I'm inclined to be cranky.

Because I'm getting old.

And I'm tired.

Of stupidity.