Yesterday, upon the stair,
I met a man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today,
I wish, I wish he'd go away...

When I came home last night at three,
The man was waiting there for me
But when I looked around the hall,
I couldn't see him there at all!
Go away, go away, don't you come back any more!
Go away, go away, and please don't slam the door...

Last night I saw upon the stair,
A little man who wasn't there,
He wasn't there again today
Oh, how I wish he'd go away...

-- William Hughes Mearns 1899

Where were you when the Nazis bombed Pearl?
Where were you when Ruby killed Jack?
Where were you when Bobby killed Martin?
Where were you when Glenn walked the moon?
Where were you when Columbia was challenged?
Where were you when Chad hanged Al?
Where were you when the CIA burned the twins?
Where were you when Donald pulled off his coup?

A dialogue on compassion between a friend and I. Edited to make me look better. And him worse. 

GLB

1988 was the year I quit the Republican Party.

 

On a nice spring/summer day, we walked to the Rockville City Hall and I changed my registration from Republican to Independent. (And the rest, as they say, is history.)

 

P.S. Attached is a photo of yours truly meeting William F. Buckley Jr. at Gonzaga University in 1962.  Notice the priest is watching me suspiciously  -- even though I was a good conservative then, maybe the priest smelled a whiff of heresy?  (Priests seem to be good a finding heretics.)

CBV

• Read more about Revolution Redux (mangled from the awesome original by Lenon and McCartney)

I debated posting this at all because it's a downer, and there's nothing particularly new here. But it is on my mind so here goes.

We are all going to die. The total morality rate is 1. The question is how we live, how and when we die. Times like these force us to think about how we live, how our choices affect not only our own lives but also the lives of others.

I'm a numbers guy. It may seem callous and cold to speak of life and death as if it's a calculus problem. And indeed, that is a risk. But the alternative, to be willfully ignorant of the numbers, seems to me criminal. If we are to make informed decisions, numbers matter.

So, here are some key numbers emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic.

I dreamt I was in a reception line at a formal event. At the head of the line was the President of the United States, shaking hands one by one.

He took my hand firmly as I stepped forward for my turn. I leaned slightly toward him and said "We have something in common, you and I."

"Really? What's that?"

I let his strong grip pull me closer, and spoke in a hushed tone so only he could hear: "Neither of us belongs here."

Can't find it right now, but one of my friends posted an old video, an interview with Martin Luther King, Jr, one of America's greatest leaders of all time. That post reminded me of MLKs "Letter from Birmingham Jail."

https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html

You've heard of it, no doubt. But if you've never actually read it, do so now. It will stay with you and inform the rest of your life. As you read, remind yourself he's in jail at the time, writing in long hand. No cut and past to craft the words. No internet or even (gasp) books to look up references. Just his mind. And time. Time he used constructively.

One part that impressed me is his response to the plea to wait before taking further direct action:

"Such an attitude stems from a tragic misconception of time, from the strangely irrational notion that there is something in the very flow of time that will inevitably cure all ills. Actually, time itself is neutral; it can be used either destructively or constructively."

Time itself is neither friend nor foe. It's what you do with it that makes all the difference.