I may make my Memorial Day entry my last for awhile; as I am finding it harder and harder to stay ahead of the curve…of course, if some !@#$%^&*! newspaper said they were picking me up as a weekly columnist – I’d probably shoulder on. But I’m burned out from two teaching jobs and still trying to parent my 16-year-old: albeit twice-a-week: via telephone and soccer tournaments. I am going to the Land Down Under for the month of July – where – perhaps, I will be able to recharge my batteries.
I consider Paul Revere the consummate patriot — as he warned his brethren that the British were coming: one by land and two by sea. I feel no shame in comparing myself to Paul – as I began “The Doctor’s Inn” to be a Paul Revere of sorts: trying to warn folks of potential disasters (and clarifying the possibilities for myself).
But now, I’m finding that where I was once ahead of the “Revere” Warning Curve – I’ve been caught up by the likes of Jon Stewart; Stephen Colbert; and, any number of clever contributors to the Letters section of my beloved Times. I simply don’t have the time or resources to continuously and consistently deliver humorous (or serious) criticism of those powers that map the destiny of these here United States. And I frankly marvel at the satirical genius of both Stewart and Colbert (knowing full well that they have a team of writers and researchers backing them).
But, I actually prefer tending to my meager garden and doing glorious battle with the squirrels (and gophers): Though the birds have backed off; the squirrels still seek ingress into my “netted” garden; and the gophers, well – you know that gophers can pretty much dig their way into anything they want.
Being a Man of Letters is wonderful therapy, and, a honing of those cognitive processes that make living life enjoyable. But trying to pump out something profound on a weekly basis has started to feel like the proverbial albatross around my flimsy, artistic neck. And, I am catching myself becoming redundant in my essays – belaboring the same old topics and issues that most people probably don’t give a flying fuck about. The people that DO care, are most probably in agreement with me; while those that don’t — certainly won’t be converted to awareness and probably wouldn’t get past some of my inflammatory (intentionally so) titles.
Ron Howard (yes, lil Opie) was quoted in The Times the other day — suggesting that young people see the world differently from him…duh, we’ve known about the Generation Gap since, since, since, well…since “Rebel Without a Cause.” But for a gifted film maker to finally verbalize this insight – well, I realize that brilliance often occurs by accident, and, perhaps…chaos theory is the greatest explanatory theory ever.
I can’t become like Plaschke and Simers…who purposefully incite reaction with calculated stupidity. I refuse to act that stupidly – though I know I stumble upon it quite often.
And my former hero, Derek Dick (a.k.a. ‘Fish’) was accused of “no longer being vital” – which in Brit speak means: having nothing relevant to say. I don’t want to become irrelevant – but I don’t think a consensual majority even cares anymore if it’s “two by land and one by sea.”