Time (truth, money and opportunity) passes– and gets lost in the wilderness of ‘Twitter’ and ‘Facebook’– quickly with a President like Donald Trump and an inept Congress like we have had for the last two years (and, probably, the twenty years before!). These last two years would have driven writers like ‘Samuel Clemens’(alias, Mark Twain), ‘George Orwell’ and ‘Ernest Hemmingway’ crazy! They certainly have been perfect fodder for a writer of acerbic social commentary named ‘Dave Barry’! Can you imagine what Will Rogers or Kurt Vonnegut would have done with material like our Presidential and Congressional political clown circus puts out every day?
What I wrote in 2015 (when writing my first book, Summer on the White Grass) has happened: “In God We Trust” has truly been replaced, as our nation’s core belief, by “In Lust, Avarice and Greed We believe!” The only good news is that both Trump and Clinton might be in jail by the time Mr. Trump’s first term is officially over? That’s only if Trump doesn’t resign or get impeached and Mrs. Clinton doesn’t retire from political life—promising she’s gone forever– before then. Those happenings won’t necessarily be ‘good news’ but would be good for the U S of A.
Meanwhile, legal sports gambling is expanding, ‘weed’ is being legalized in more and more states, porn is more prevalent and easily available (free!) everywhere on the internet, our President brags openly about his ability to ‘grope’ beautiful women, the Roman Catholic Church is in total panic mode over the issue of pedophile priests dominating it’s ‘culture’ (and the Roman Catholic Curia) — and church attendance numbers are falling through the floor. As the boys down at the bowling alley used to say, “These are great times to be a kid! Not an adult in sight”
So–Instead of reverting to my childhood days–I used this two year interval of war, corruption, financial/intellectual chaos and political stupidity to: re-write ‘Summer’ as a stand alone story about the history of the White Grass Ranch and destruction of that ‘historic’ (Designated a National Historic Site) property by the National Park Service in connivance with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, write a ‘Memoir’ of my life and times in the US manufacturing business and product development work in Asia (in short story form, 205 single spaced pages so far–without illustrations), and started on a book about the need for morality as the basis of good government– to be titled The Lost Compass. Who said, “A voice crying in the wilderness—“?
And with the thought that ‘wilderness’ is enough and all around us, it’s time to mount my horse ‘Hubris’ and say (loudly!) “High Ho Hubris, Aaaa–waaay!
Lou Christen, The Lone Curmudgeon
Copyright, Louis J. Christen, January 28, 2019