Uncle Grumpy sat bolt upright in bed at 2:30 AM....he was gripped by a need to apologize... I know I have been irascible....impatient....judgmental....especially vis-a-vis the political scenario... I am old...officially. I turn 70 on my next birthday. In 1900, I would probably have been dead by now (although my great-grandfather on my moms side lived well into his high 90s....), especially with my susceptibility to viruses. Old people have two classic postures: cranky old fart, or sweet, wise mentor....and I am immediately suspect of early-onset Alzheimers in the second scenario... I am impatient. I am watching a country so rich in resources squander them...,a country founded upon such noble promise leaving that promise unfulfilled...and it really pisses me off, because I--like so many of my fellow travelers who survived the decades of upheaval of the 60s and 70s--thought we had already won the ground now being contested.... But then again, that is politics, especially in the sloppy, loud day care atmosphere of democracy, filled with its preschoolers, each screaming and crying for their particular desire or need... Politics is the essence of inter-personal relationships...it requires compromise, or it requires absolute brutal domination... Politics is, therefore, the essence of my favorite line from Jean-Paul Sartres NO EXIT: Hell is other people.... I posted Bertoldt Brechts scalding analysis of political illiteracy yesterday....but today I am driven to post another, sweeter, writing....Kurt Weill wrote the music, and Maxwell Anderson the lyrics of September Song from KNICKERBOCKER HOLIDAY... It was a departure for Weill, a long-time collaborator with Brecht in the creation of hard-hitting sociopolitical theatre pieces.... This was a sweet reminder of why old folks are impatient...because time is running out... So, Uncle Grumpy feels he should apologize..... Ah, screw that....
Posted on: Wed, 15 Oct 2014 11:24:10 +0000
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