Good Things All Around us that Make Me Cry With Frustration

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The last few days I have noticed numerous things: people, events, objects, conditions, which are wonderful.  As I get gradually ground down with the dumbness and stupidity (check with Lewis Black for the difference), these positive things keep slowing down the almost inevitable entropy which will almost surely send me to an early grave.

As I have written, I have just gotten back from being briefly hospitalized for a ‘Cardiac Event’—basically a small heart attack, and so my outlook was pretty gloomy to begin with.  But there were numerous happy flies in my ointment of misery.

There were a variety of nurses, Physician’s Assistants, Lab workers (‘phlebotomists’, as they were occasionally careful to announce), and doctors, who came in for various procedures.  They were all regular folks (in contrast to the Catholics who work in the hospital on the other side of town), but who were thoroughly professional, knowledgeable, informative and articulate.  There wasn’t the other-worldly sweetness of the Catholics, but there was an earnest eagerness to make me feel better that was unexpected, but welcome.

When my colleagues at work found out, I was moved by how concerned they were about my health, but also their concern that I might be taken off the active list for too long.  In an educational institution, if one of the teachers is taken sick, there is a concerted effort to try and make sure the students do not suffer: substitutes are called in (or, in a tertiary institution, people take on additional loads).  But if the invalid is sick for too long, the attitude is, well, it’s only education, for heaven’s sake; they don’t know even their 7th grade material, so what’s the diff?  But there’s a ripple effect, and stuff has to be cut out of the curriculum for their next four or five follow-on courses, because they missed some topic due to someone having been sick for half a semester.  But my colleagues covered three days for me, learning difficult material some of them had not looked at for decades.  One of the most recent recruits, who had been one of my students, expressed the determination that I should be with them forever!  Let me tell you: there is nothing that can reduce one to tears faster than learning that one is wanted and missed!

Because of this recent crop of conservative presidential candidates, who make GOP presidential hopefuls as far back as Nixon look like absolute angels, our spirits have been worn down.  Even watching Comedy Central, where it used to be that Jonathan Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and now Trevor Noah, can put an amusing shine on even the most depressing news, it didn’t always raise the spirits as much as I often desperately hope.  But last week, one of the funnier episodes was about Brits, who had been polled for a suitable name for a certain research ship, and the popular choice that had floated to the top was Boaty McBoatface!  I sincerely wish I had thought of that name!  Bear in mind that our friends the Brits are trying to deal with a conservative Parliament that makes our conservative Congress look like a pinata party.

When I came home, I was welcomed by four pets: two dogs, and two cats.  They had no clue that I had been out sick; they only knew that I had been away for some time.  Oh, the love that was showered on me, licking, getting rubbed on, woofety woof, and miaouws and other distinctive sounds that only the animals in our house seem to make!  The animals all belong to my wife and her children, but they are so well-behaved, and so affectionate, that my belief in the theory that the pets take on the characteristics of the owners is confirmed.

A cardiac event is frightening to one’s family.  My daughter called me and chatted to me, obviously trying hard not to convey too much of her anxiety, and describing how her various projects were coming along, in particular, this event in which various bands performed covers of Fleetwood Mac songs.  Their band had evidently been a smash hit!  We had been over there for Spring Break, and I had to agree that they were fabulous.  (Junior does a really good approximation of Stevie Nick’s stage presence.  Here’s a link to a clip of a rehearsal of Edge of Seventeen.)

But, across the country, there are those who are worried about the political scene.  There is a lot of vicious humor, but also a lot of gentle poking fun at the Republicans.  We liberals don’t want the Republicans gone; we only want them back, and sane.  For three decades, Republicans have been trying to give Business what they want: lower taxes, and more freedom to operate.  But it appears that despite accumulating unprecedented profits, individuals, even those among the most wealthy in the world, have not been as happy in recent times as they were thirty years ago.

For instance, Bill Clinton signed into law (a Bill that was passed in a heavily Republican Congress) a relaxation of the rules that used to limit the number of radio stations in any market that could be owned by a single entity.  As a result, Clear Channel Communications bought up a mind-boggling number of radio stations which now broadcast essentially the same material throughout the US, at the same time (except for local commercials).  This means that they control the popularity of particular songs and performers, which means that performers in any locality have lost the ability to gain a local following, and thus to gradually increase their popularity.  Clear Channel, being the home of Rush Limbaugh, can be assumed to be a conservative organization, so that they can effectively use the stations to broadcast Republican values.  But the Conservative sector of the population is clearly a lot less happy, and arguably a lot angrier than they have ever been.  It is hard to believe that Obamacare has caused all this fury.  Have the lower taxes caused this anger?  So, what, is it Mexican immigration?  Abortion?  Gay marriage?  The conservatives are making themselves unhappy.  That’s a clear signal that they should be pushed out of government for another eight years, and intelligent conservatives can be depended upon to see that.

Another theory is that those who support the overachieving Trump campaign are mostly elderly, uneducated white Americans.  (A few years ago one could never say that; the very thought that uneducated white Americans existed was considered UnAmerican.)  So all we have to do is to wait until they die off.  Giving them free alcohol and cigarettes might hasten the process.

It is difficult to see these little sparkles among the gloom as a trend.  But it is important to call out: Do you believe in fairies? like Peter Pan.  It is easier to believe if others believe too.  Unfortunately, in social media like facebook, we are connected to others who think more or less the same as ourselves.  But progressives have long believed that they were in the minority.  That may not be the case.  We're just lazy to go to the polls.  This is part of the reason why superior liberal candidates are hard to find: we don't have any faith in our fellow-liberals, that they'll actually help us get elected, and that we won't look like total idiots.

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