September Musings

With Hurricane Florence literally knocking on our doors (and windows) causing us to be house bound (a real challenge for Mary, because she has to visit at least two grocery stores a day as she knows most of the butchers in Myrtle Beach), it was a good time to catch up on my reading.  Reading feeds my thoughts and imagination, and often it leads to journal entries that sometimes make it to a book I am working on.  These are some of those thoughts that I crossed (not all are mine) my mind this past week.

• “A man’s most valuable trait is a judicious sense of what not to believe.” - Euripides (485-406 B.C.   When it comes to politics and many politicians, the duplicitous comments and lies give me reflux that no amount of Tums can tame.  Some Democrats’ behavior during the Kavanaugh hearings was treasonous in my judgment.  Euripides was right, “we must learn to discern the difference between truth and political motive, the latter which is anything but patriotic.

• “I rarely attempt Shakespeare, but it just so happens another Shakespearian quote made it to my journal —”Our (self) doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.”  I thought about that one after the Browns’ game last night and watching Baker Mayfield take over the Browns’ quarterbacking duties near halftime and bring the Browns back for a huge win, their first in almost 2 years. Speaking of fearless, it defines Mayfield.

In my youth and while in the Corps, I possessed an impressive command of the most colorful metaphorical language.  When I speak of the countenance (or I should say lack thereof) of most politicians today, that skill set seems to reinvent itself as if it never diminished.

• “As I gaze at the moon and stars - I wonder if there is intelligent life up there or are they just like us?”  Anonymous