(Kruiser’s Permanote Description: This column is intended to be a lighthearted, short-form way to frequently connect with our cherished VIP readers. Sometimes it will be serious. Sometimes it will be fun. Sometimes it will be a cornucopia of intellectual curiosities and fascinations. OK, maybe not so much the last one. Anyway, as this is a departure for me, I’m including this explanation at the top of each post for a while. Also, non-subscribers can see the first couple of paragraphs so I am in desperate need of filler until we get to the private stuff (subscribe here). Please remember that there is a standing invitation to ask me anything in the comments. Once a week, I’ll answer.)
I decided to extend last week’s weekend news detox by a day and add Friday into the mix. In a lifetime full of questionable habits, this is one of the better ones that I’ve had but I’m not being consistent with it. That’s going to change. I simply feel too good afterwards. It also gives me fresh eyes for the week ahead. When I begin the Monday Morning Briefing on Sunday I’m refreshed and ready to tackle the week with enthusiasm.
Whenever I do an interview or have a conversation with one of my conservative friends who’s fired up about the news of the day, I am often (almost always, actually) asked if I am not mad at what is going on in my beloved country. The questioner is usually taken aback when I reply “Not at all.”
I have the luxury of perspective that comes with having made it out of my twenties alive and settling down enough to get through a lot of years after that. I don’t know that I have achieved full-on guru status yet, but I have learned some things along the way.
Especially about anger.
The modern world is teeming with things that will piss you right off on an almost minute-to-minute basis, but only if you let it.
I choose to not let it.
Anger is exhausting. Anger is a monumental waste of time. Anger makes people look like Hillary Clinton.
First Lady Hillary Clinton used to smile a lot. Twice-failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton scowls a lot in between Franzia belches. The aging process can’t be blamed here — I know a lot of people in Granny Maojackets’s age range who are happy with their lives and look great. Yeah, they’re drinking for breakfast too, but for healthier reasons.
I’ve cautioned more than once about the dark side leading to making us behave like the progressives do. I’ve seen so many people on our side stewing in their own anger this year that I have to sadly admit that it is now a bipartisan problem.
One of the big reasons that I don’t get angry anymore is that I’ve found that any kind of visceral, emotional response to a problem greatly interferes with my head getting clear enough to think about solutions.
Let’s all be more frivolous, shall we? Especially in this space. I know that I promised that I’d keep everything lighter for the Distraction posts and this one is a little heavier. It popped into my head over the weekend that I needed to write this post. The voices in my head have not learned anger management skills yet and they cannot be ignored.
It might be time to start doing some beer reviews for you fine VIP subscribers. My palate is not refined enough to talk about notes or hints or whatever but I sure as heck know how to give a thumbs up or thumbs down.
We’ll figure out something. Summer’s coming. We’re going to have a good one, even if I’m not quite bikini ready.
