Road trip
By the time you read this, I should be somewhere over the Indian Ocean after eleven fascinating and wonderful days in Lebanon, in the company of Christopher Hitchens and whole other cast of distinguished characters. It was a trip in two acts about one subject: Lebanese Democracy. Sunnis, Shia, Christians and Druze turned out in force in Martyr’s Square to commemorate the 4th anniversary of the assassination of Rafik Hariri, which brought on an unprecedented backlash against Syria. We saw the principal speakers from a distance from the midst of a vast crowd. That was the first act. In the subsequent days, we would meet them personally. Walid Jumblatt in his castle, Samir Geagea in his mountaintop eyrie, and the Lebanese Prime Minister, Fouad Siniora. As often happens in plays, the most fascinating action took place offstage.
I should say that the New Opinion Group which is associated with the Lebanon Rennaissance Foundation, sponsored my trip. At least they paid for the airfare and the hotel room. But in a larger sense I went courtesy of you readers. I didn’t go in my day job capacity; it was the Belmont Club they wanted along. Thanks guys.
Tip Jar
did you parachute in?
Well, thank you and them very much Wretchard.
It gives me a unusually humble feeling to be regardered as a capable enabler. (No doubt this humility will prove but a passing thing.)
Now back to work: T. R. Fehrenbach at mysa.com has just completed a two-part essay on military spending, need for same, benefits of same AND what kind of force structure is really needed.
Highly recommended reading for all goo Belmonters.
So now the unclaimed rocket attacks on Israel are explained. Just some typical Belmonter hi-jinks. And a poor sense of direction. Syria is the OTHER way.
Dave: Thanks for the tip; I’ll look at that. By the way, how do you get this goo off your hands?
It must be said that if the Lebanon Renaissance Foundation is looking to carry the March 14th message to policy makers in Barack Obama’s Washington, none of these guys — Christopher Hitchens, Michael Totten, etc. — is really going to be effective.
Say hi to Totten. I contribute a small amount to him every month on the basis that he’s a fellow Oregonian, and was thrilled to read that he’d actually had the opportunity to go toe-to-toe with some real live Arab thugs during the altercation involving Hitchens. Since I haven’t read differently, I’m assuming he came out of it alright.
DB – it must also be said that Barack Obama’s Washington may not be around that long. It always astounds me that moonbats can evidently never understand the concept of impeachment, and given that there is *so* much unfinished business and secretive transfers out there that haven’t been looked into yet, to think that he will last out his full four years is the height of dizzy optimism.
Hope this evolves into a 300 page book. Congratulations.
Hope that Jumblatt has evaluated the consequences of his spearheading the resistance to the Israeli invasion of the 1980s, understandable as it was at the time, and has concrete ideas on how he, Netanyahu and the advocates of a Free Lebanon can frustrate the Iranian Syrian plans.
My neighborhood here in Los Angeles is full of former residents of Lebanon. It was once a wonderful place to live and do business. Would it could be again. The best Lebanese cooking is the richest and most sophisticated in the region blending all the elements of their history, Arabic, Turkish, Armenian, Greek and even French and Jewish cuisine into a vibrant delight.
Wearing shades – obviously undercover work
Glad you had a safe trip, W. I’m sure the place has changed a lot since I lived there for a year in 1956. ‘Course I’ve changed a little in that time too. We all look forward to reading your thoughts on what you saw and heard in Beirut. F
You and Hitchens Huh? Oh my.
Oh and thank you.
@F,
20 years before you lived in Beirut it was considered not that unusual for my Uncle, a Jewish American, to get a Dental Degree at the American University of Beirut so that he could then get into medical school, the graduate schools being restricted or putting up artificial barriers at that time. Yes an American Jew was more welcome in an American University in Beirut in in an American University in America at that time.
Dave,
Also thanks for the link. While I heartily agree with J.R.’s prescriptions for re-energizing the economy by strengthening the military, there is a HUGE problem. We cannot get anywhere near there, unless we first address the issue(s)of national resolve.
To think we could attain the defense footing Ferenbach describes, while these socialists are in office, is just wasting brain cells.
As I see it, we have just about 18 months (til Nov. 2010) to put in place a plan that wins back a solid conservative majority in the House, and replaces Spector, Snow and Collins in the Senate.
(Note: even if we are successful in such efforts, those 3 RINOs still get to retire with full pension, lifelong 100% healthcare coverage and Federal protection.)
They don’t have to give a sh*t how angry we get; there’s never any accountability. Frosts me.
Without a radical change in national direction, any/all of this discussion about what a strong military should look like is pie-in-the-sky and irrelevant…ain’t gonna happen. 0 is already talking about reducing the national deficit by downsizing the military!
Conservatives won’t get another “peaceful” opportunity to change our country’s course after 11/05/10. We are already numerically out-voted by illegals and dead Democrats.
Our mortal enemies are in the house.
HOPE we survive to make a CHANGE.
Thank you for being our ambassador. I cannot imagine a better one, for the Belmont Club or for all who love freedom.
Best wishes,
Jim
Well, well, congrats Wretchard. You deserved to be picked–you run one of the best blogs on the internet. Period.
Maybe media is changing. I hope we see more of this. Impressive.
Rumor is Hitchens tried to take on Hezbollah. (Via Ace of Spades HQ)
Here’s the link for the curious.
http://ace.mu.nu/archives/283102.php#283102
Have to love the symmetry. Richard Fernandez and friends in Beirut. John Kerry in Damascus.
Does Kerry have to play the useful idiot with such determination and resolve?
Wretch,
You used to have a tip jar. Would like to send you some more support. How can this be done?
Off Topic – but got to throw it out there just because:
InstaPundit is covering Tax Revolt protests across the country. People waving signs that read, mostly, “I’m mad as hell as I’m not gonna take it any more.” The phenomena is being called the American Tea Party.
April 15 is coming up fast. I wonder what would happen if everyone from sea to shining sea who hates the stimulus package and wants to register a protest just doesn’t pay their taxes this year. After all, if we don’t give the money to Obama, he can’t then turn around it give it to ACORN.
Can you imagine the IRS trying to track down the 45 million people who voted for McCain and who refuse to pay taxes to Obama? If the Dem’s refused to accept the results of the 2004 election and did their utmost to overthrow a sitting government as well as to overthrow the democratic process, then I see no reason why the Republicans shouldn’t respond by refusing to pay for it.
IJPD:
The future’s so bright, I gotta wear shades.
Nahncee,
Even Rush is talking about “pitchforks.”
Unfortunately, most of those 45 million voters you cite have their taxes withheld. It’s the 25 million small business owwners that can make the necessary statement by withholding their payments on 4/15/09.
They’ll need to know that the 48 million-strong minority backs them 100%. By that I mean we promise them amnesty from gov’t persecution and prosecution.
SBOs need to have a formal letter of protest to send to the IRS in lieu of payment.
We, the People are really freakin angry, so we are delaying the sending of our hard earned CHANGE until…
Can you imagine the overwhelming sense of HOPE-lessness within the IRS if even 10 million of those letters show up?
This is excellent news. So happy to see my favorite blog prof travelling with the bad boys.
John Kelly:
Any hints yet of ethnically cleansing those folks yet by Gangster Tony Villar with your tax dollars?
—
Sam said…
“Karl Marx 1867
“Owners of capital will stimulate the working class
to buy more and more of expensive goods,houses and
technology,pushing them to take more and more expensive
credits,until their debt becomes unbearable. The unpaid
debt will lead to bankruptcy of banks, which will have
to be nationalized, and the State will have to take
the road which will eventually lead to communism.
(Das Kapital,1867)
“
With holding till 10-15-09 is kinda like a government loan anyway. it’s all good. You get to make a statement, and you get to hold the cash for six months more. Maybe by that time your clients will pay you too. Then maybe not.
I think a lot of us small business owners will be not paying till October partly by necessity.
And what a surprise! Obama and Nancy want to raise taxes some more and cap CO2. What a wonderful stimulus for the economy and investors!
The one thing you can say about John Kerry: In 2004, he was the least qualified candidate the Democrats could possibly choose to run for President. Then, in 2004, Obama joined the Senate, so naturally the Democrats went with him in 2008.
The best thing about Obama is that he is bringing liberalism out on the table for all to see, the disgusting, smelly entrails steaming in the sun for public appraisal.
2010 will be another 1994 for the Republicans, but Obama won’t squeak through in 2012 like Clinton did in 1996. Hang in there!
Tony said:
“The best thing about Obama is that he is bringing liberalism out on the table for all to see, the disgusting, smelly entrails steaming in the sun for public appraisal.”
One of the givens about liberalism in America is its solid backing by the entertainment media. With that in mind, read the comments to the following link:
http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/oscars-crisis-hollywood-frustrations-and-fears-over-sundays-awards-stars-and-advertisers-give-show-cold-shoulder/
It looks(?) like there might be a backlash brewing against liberal Hollywood. Now that Obama has been elected as our Messiah, John Q. Public might(?) actually be questioning the validity of what the MSM and entertainment media has been feeding him.
Geoffgo: I wonder where you go to get a bumper sticker made. I want one that says:
“April 15 coming up fast — Obama can’t waste it if you don’t pay it.”
NahnCee @20 and other tax revolters: The idea is good for letting off steam on BC, but the Government will just pick a few non-payers and crucify them per encourager les outres.
My take on Obama is that he doesn’t worry at all about citizen expressions of outrage (unlike Clinton who lived by polls). With the opressive power of the Feds and with the Media at his back, he’ll do as he wishes until he’s turned out of office.
I am not an optimist.
#28 NahnCee
I have no financial interest in the company, but have used them several times to create my own public displays of sedition.
makestickers.com
Good prices for small quantities, excellent customer service.
#29 tRex
Agreed and also not an optimist. We cannot affect our government, because they have no fear of us. Hussein Pasha has no further need of us except as serfs.
As they have not yet made it clear that further elections are moot, Members of Congress still can barely be reached and taught lessons. I just did an edition of my newsletter on an alternate to the Tea Party demonstrations. While I appreciate the feelings involved, demonstrating where the Congresscritters aren’t, or outside empty Congressional offices will have no effect. The media will not cover them, and it does not damage the bubble of impunity that Congress operates within.
While it is only a beginning tactic, I recommend that teams of conservative constituents go to the district public meetings where Democratic Congresscritters [except for the Blue Dogs who voted against the "Stimulus" both times] meet with the public in about the only contact Congress still has with real people. Go there, be rational, be relentless, and get in their faces. “Use logic. Use their own words against them. Use follow up questions, and take over from each other if the enemy cuts off the questioner. Do not let up. Do not become obscene or uncouth, but be insistent, implacably so.” Be prepared to be ejected or arrested. Wear wires and/or cams to put things on YouTube. Make their lives hell. A Congressman or Senator who votes to attack this country and its people should literally fear the public reaction when he or she encounters those not of the Nomenklatura.
The goal is to force them to over-react, leading to other actions. But that is just a beginning goal. We have to decide where we are going, and what to do if we are suppressed. I recommend this piece by THE NEW PAMPHLETEERS:
http://thenewpamphleteers.blogspot.com/2009/02/act-worthy-of-yourselves.html
One choice is submission to our own variant of National Socialism. The other is laid out in the piece.
Subotai Bahadur
Real Estate Downfall
#20
I’m willing to go to jail for not paying my taxes if you are. I’ll bring this up @ our next GOP women’s mtg. It’s a brilliant idea and it just might catch on. I’ll post the idea out on Lucianne.com and see if there is any enthusiasm. Waiting ’til 11/10 is way too late.
#28
We are an enterprising group down here in Tx. I’ll bring this up and have an answer post haste.
#30
I think it would be a hoot if a bunch of old retired women went to jail for tax evasion. I doubt they’d get me before I can attend my 60th HS reunion this June in St.Louis. (I’ve got a blind date that I’d like to check out.)
Tony and Eggplant: Back in 1993, when Clinton’s first cabinet nominees were either dropping like flies or had simply not been named, George Will was asked by David Brinkly what he thought of this situation. He responded “I disagree that the Administration is in disarray. This is what liberal government looks like.”
And today, as Obama’s new cabinet turns out to consist of people who forgot to pay taxes, party apparachnik thugs, and the very lobbyists that Obama railed against, we can say: “I disagree that the Administration is in disarray. This is what liberal Democratic Chicago government looks like.”
W,
Sounds like a cool trip. Look fwd to hearing more about what you learned. Travel safely.
L3
A-OK, RWE:
All Systems Go!
-Rocket man-
#12 LOTM: Even when I was attending AUB Jews were welcome. That was the Lebanon of President Chamile Chamoun, a Christian whose cabinet included Muslims, Armenians and assorted others. “Paris of the Levant,” Beirut was called, with good reason. And the AUB campus (I was at the College Internationale, the secondary school portion of AUB) was a lovely cosmopolitan enclave. My dorm room overlooked the sea coast and we walked past the tennis courts down to the coast, where salt-drying pans were carved out of the rock, regularly. In those days many Palestinians lived in black goathair tents on either side of the road out to the airport. Their condition was miserable, but I believed then (and still do now) their leaders wanted it that way so they could appeal for international aid instead of becoming productive citizens (of Israel or Lebanon). Victimhood was just being developed as a political tool, but it took Yassir Arafat to perfect the process.
All in all a wonderful year for me. It all changed very soon afterward, but I had left and it always seemed like a kind of dream anyway. F
Syrian Nazis… I hate Syrian Nazis.
Hitchens is a crazy bastard, but God love him. And cheers to W for some recognition.
There is a gossamer thread underlying all the conservative threads on all the other blogs that deal with the current state of fiscal irresponsibility being practiced by our beloved leaders in D.C. and the disgusting lack of accountability. No one has spoken it yet, at least not loudly, but it’s out there. I can feel it. Everyone is thinking it, but no one will say it for fear of the F.B.I knocking on the door…..who will make the clarion call? When all other peaceful solutions have been exhausted, what avenue, then, is left for free people? Biden wants a reset with Russia. Where is our reset button?
It used to be that the Democrats would be for higher taxes because perhaps they thought that if they didn’t collect it then they couldn’t spend it (the basis of NahnCee’s proposed tax revolt). But I don’t think they operate under this assumption any longer — Obama campaigned on a tax cut, and the porkulus has a much-touted tax cut ($13/wk!). So if they’ve spent a trillion and a half so far with another couple trillion in the pipeline, by how much would they have to raise taxes to pay for the porkulus? Right – so high that it will never work. So guess what? Don’t raise taxes, just roll it into the debt. 2009 can be a “freebie” for the Dems – give billions to liberal interests under the guise of stimulus necessitated by the crisis which, of course, is all Bush’s fault. Balanced budget won’t matter a whit because of the need to “do something” to stimulate the economy.
In the past, Dems have owned the spending side of the equation, “buying” votes through governmental disbursements; Republicans have owned the tax side, buying votes through (the all too etherial promise of) tax cuts. I think the Dems have figured out a brilliant new strategy: They don’t need to cede any ground to conservatives; they can cut taxes and increase spending at the same time. They’ve got something for everyone! And lets face it, American politics is all about the here and now. Officials are happy to kick the can down the road just so that nothing bad happens on their watch. Of course this Ponzi scheme can’t continue indefinitely, but as long as the Chinese are willing to buy bonds and Treasury can print fiat, it’s all good.
So I’m not sure witholding taxes would have the desired effect. Additionally, despite how much we heard about the metaphysical impossibility of detaining 12 million illegal immigrants, I bet you’d be surprised at how fast a few million tax witholders would be found and prosecuted. That would definitely be a project that is “shovel ready.”
NahnCee, you have an interesting idea. But, whole counties or states need to stop paying cash into Zero Swindle Machine. Payroll withholding is about 45% – 50% of the government’s receipts (excluding sale of debt). That is why Counties or States should allow a payroll “holiday.” There are a lot of red states and red counties. It will take a lot to make 0bama feel the pain.
St3wi3, you have made a good point. But, in the long run or not-so-long run the bond market will notice the addition debt flooding the market. They will adjust interest rates higher and bond principle lower. That will hurt a lot of retirement funds, adjustable mortgage holders and individual investors. It could even hurt countries such as China (PRC) because they hold a huge amount of dollars and dollar denominated debt. It will be an ugly situation.
Good work Wretchard! I will be looking forward to an interesting report.
[Correction]
NahnCee, you have an interesting idea. But, whole counties or states need to stop paying cash into Zero’s Swindle Machine…
A march, a march on Washington, in July. It’s been done before. There’s more than enough conservative media out there to get the word out in time. But someone, some group of people, has got to take charge: spread the word, organize it, book speakers, create a website, get donations for expenses…. It’s a big job, but doable.
I don’t see people marching on Washington. For one thing, people who are being asked to pay for other people’s mortgages have jobs and responsibilities and aren’t going to just flit across the country to march on the White House.
I’m intrigued by what unsk posted about “withholding until 10/15/09″. Is that just for small businesses or can normal people do it to? Just how engraved in stone *is* the April 15 deadline?
I don’t think that people withholding their tax payments will bring the Federal government to a grinding halt, but I *do* think it would be hugely embarassing to Obama, not only in front of his unemployed-but-protected ACORN supporters but to the Yurpizoids, the Arabs, the Russians and the Chinese over there who he has been promising hope and change to. What kind of a leader can claim to be a World Leader when he can’t even get 49% (or more) of his own citizens to fund his folly?
Could a taxpayer send an IOU-sort of letter to the IRS saying, “I am withholding my tax payment until the Stimulus Bill has been openly discussed in Congress and revoted upon – or until October 15, whichever comes first?”
Stay out of the really bright sunlight Richard. I makes your hair look grayer and that makes me feel even older.
toad, that reminds me of this young maiden watching her grandmother’s goats on a hillside one day when this toad hops over and says “Kiss me and I’ll become a handsome prince and marry you and we’ll live happily ever after!” Well, she scoops him into her lunch basket and heads off to the City, where soon her “See the Talking Frog” show makes her a huge fortune.
NahnCee:
I’m not a tax accountant, but I believe anyone can file for a time extension on filing your taxes good till October 15 . It may send a message. The issue may not be just the money for the government, but knowing the true state of nation’s aggregate tax status.
As Subotai posted the Obama government is sure acting as if they need not fear the general electorate or the taxpayers. Congress according to Redstate is planning another, yes another, super secret massive spending bill for this week and the Bama is planning tomorrow a “fiscal responsibility summit”, which can only mean another huge grab of your money in taxes.
Except for Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, no conservative pundits I know are going ballistic. Surely, no Republican politician is going really ballistic. Mitch McConnell, the only guy with real power to stop this socialist/marxist takeover, is a complete pussy, with his knickers all askew on how the Republicans are going to be portrayed in the media.
Buddy is right on the mark to market rules in a declining market. Banks will start asking for mark to market on collateral when commercial business loans come up for rollover, and then watch the bottom fall out. Cutting that business financing only leads to bankruptcies of the companies needing those loans. That’s what happened here in La La land in the early nineties. Everything went into the toilet in a hurry.
Who’s gonna pay for bonds for the stimulus and the new massive super secret spending bill? There are stories out there that the Chinese mortgage crisis makes ours look like a cakewalk. Huge overbuilding, with no one to rent the huge amount of apartments and condos. Projects are asking for $800 a month rent where the payments should have been $3000. Oops. The out of work peasants who were supposed to be the tenants are going back to the villages. All the rich ganjin who were going to take all the high end condos didn’t seem to materialize, either. I have heard through business contacts of lots of bankruptcies in Japan too. China and Japan are the guys we, as in the Bama, were kinda hoping to buy our bonds. China feels they have to buy for now, but they’re only buying short term bonds, that way if the bond sales start to falter, China can get more for their money, the next go around. That’l be fun, let’s pay high interest on those multi-trillion dollar deficits. Ya that’l work!
Seems like the Bama wants to take down the economy. What’s next, Marshall Law? Is that the plan?
Anybody can file a six month extension. Trouble is, you got to pay interest on what’s due, and, possibly, some penalties, depending.
If you’re a ‘big shot’ you can just take a, say, six year extension, without even filing for it, and, if the subject ever comes up, you can pay up and walk, no problemo.
If you’re a ‘little shot’, but have something to lose, you best not try to do this.
If you’ve got nothin’ to lose, do as God or your conscience guides you.
There is even a form where you can donate money through the IRS to help pay down the national debt. I’ve often wondered if this has ever been done by any American. It’s never been done by me, I can tell you that.
Wretchard, Is that a flak jacket you have on in Lebanon ?
Wretchard, Is that a flak jacket you have on in Lebanon ?
You don’t need a flak jacket in Beirut. A better getup would be jeans, white silk shirt, leather jacket and a knockout blonde about six foot two inches in height wrapped around your arm.
I’m wearing long sleeved, black Coolmax shirt and a Lowe Alpine mini backpack with a bottle of water, a GPS and air in it and nothing around my arm. But as the other readers pointed out, I am wearing shades.
How much would the blonde cost you?
Wretch,
You do look like a cool operator there. I thought for sure you were wearing tactical gear.
I like the suggested accouterment; my dad says he’d “like to die falling off a tall blonde”.
Cheers
@Annoy Mouse,
If the arm accouterment is provided by whoever pimps for the Saudis then it is sure to be a photogenic if intellectually empty experience. Unfortunately Lebanon has been subject to so many years of Syrian control that there is the risk that the business has been expropriated by the brother in law of the nephew of the Third Secretary at the Second Department of the Mukhaberat, In that case your order for a “stunning blond” will produce either 1) a Circassian bodyguard named Mustafa with an enormous mustache or 2) a Palestinian albino psychopath named Maryam. On the whole I suspect that Mustafa might be better company.
Personally I’m a little too long in the tooth to get too worked up about what’s on my arm. The remark was made facetiously, more as a commentary on style than anything else. It’s easy to live out a fantasy; maybe a large percentage of people inhabit a lie of their own making because it’s so much more comfortable there than looking at what stares back from the mirror.
But that’s all there is to save: the man in the mirror; the only thing with a soul. Once you’ve accepted him then you can look out on the world and see other people as they must see you. A guy with a slight limp selling bread out of a cart or a mousy looking office worker heading home to a spaghetti dinner and a stale newspaper. The revealed mystery of the great religions is usually this: that what matters most isn’t the marble palaces or the visions of power; it isn’t the Porsche and the fantasy goddess. It’s the gap-toothed person selling you a soft drink across a dirty counter and the man in the mirror who is handing him a coin.
.56 wretchard
“Once you’ve accepted him then you can look out on the world and see other people as they must see you.”
Very dualist, Wretchard. Elegantly so but still dualist.:)
Thanks for staying engaged.
Silver/gray hair is great camouflage and gets you treated with a bit more respect in most places. Shades also help.
No one looking at you in that pic would have a clue where you are from or your race. You could fit in anywhere.
But the black shirt combined with shades draws my attention after years of going armed and scanning crowds for potential threats. And those pouches on your rucksack would also catch my attention immediately. It looks like tactical gear.
That shirt in your website pic is totally neutral and would attract no attention in most places.
Travel safe, Wretch. And watch out for that bus.
.1 CJM
“did you parachute in?”
Perfect comment CJM:). Brevity to an art form. Said it all in 4 words. You could starve to death as a per-word journalist.
“Personally I’m a little too long in the tooth to get too worked up about what’s on my arm. The remark was made facetiously, more as a commentary on style than anything else. ”
Translation: Mrs. Wretchard read the comment and is asking deeply probing questions.
ha hahahha –good one –
“America, look behind you! Turn around! Turn around!”
i dunno, haven’t the Jerusalem Post’s columnists heard the news? If it don’t affect the UAW it ain’t happening?
I’m certainly not a tax expert, but I do know that after a you reach a certain level of income, you must make quarterly paymets on your income tax to the IRS. Or at least, you had to a few years back. No excuses, as I remember – for the brief period I had an income high enough to have to do that, at least. Any tax experts out there?
“Personally I’m a little too long in the tooth to get too worked up about what’s on my arm. The remark was made facetiously, more as a commentary on style than anything else. ”
Mrs. Wretchard read the comment and is asking deeply probing questions.
I wish. And some part of us wishes it was true. You leave first youth and then middle age like a traveler climbing out of a valley. When at length you reach the ridge you are tempted to look back once last time; to pause for a final glimpse as you strain to hear the chords that were once so familiar but are now so far away. But if you know what is good for you then you’ll adjust the pack which once so lightly rested on your shoulders and take the first step into whatever betides. And that first step brings with it liberty. Now you are on the road you knew you would always take. No more fears now. All you love lies where you left it, both behind and before.
53. NahnCee:
How much would the blonde cost you?
Feb 23, 2009 – 12:55 pm
… probably just his marriage.
*Ba-Doomp Boomp*
“But if you know what is good for you then you’ll adjust the pack which once so lightly rested on your shoulders and take the first step into whatever betides.”
As he aged, my father became afraid. He was afraid of EVERYthing, and desperately did not want to rock the boat. He and my mother were afraid to change a doctor’s appointment because the doctor might get mad at them. They were afraid to change out their old wall-hanging telephone because the phone company might get mad at them.
As a result, I am determined not to allow fear to become a factor in my maturity (such as it might be). Bette Davis said that “old age is not for sissies”, but my motto is “never *not* do something because something bad *might* happen”. Otherwise said, “I promise not to learn from my mistakes.”
Always always always — onwards. Upwards. Outwards. Taking roadtrips to where the terrorists bloom in the spring.
Nahncee, in your case, would that be a road trip to the campus of Evergreen State University?
LOL
Berkeley’s closer. But yes, like that.
Wretchard, nice passage there in #63. you’re right –never thought of it in that way, but youth is surely burdened with the weight of the unknown. Makes one so much older then, and younger than that now. That ridge is real in every way, hiding the other side until that day finally from the crest one can at last see the horizon. Then the long descent –unless one stays on top, in the wind, in the solitude.
Best thing about cresting that ridge is the half-alives have fallen away and stopped trying to pull you back.:)