OKAY. I am a tad calmer, though I admit to having sent a harangue to Sen. Brown about those mini-drones flying around in my airspace taking pictures... You know about them, yes? No word back. Hope he didn't take it personally. It's just that he is the only legislator other than Bernie Sanders and a few others, perhaps, in whom I feel I can confide my true feelings.
Here's the antidote to any moments of despair you may have about the state of our union: History. Reading a chapter or two out of "Lies My Teacher Taught Me" set my train car back on the track. I spent my learning time reading about what Woodrow Wilson was really like. Then I remembered the good old days of slavery as slavery, and not just enforced poverty, and I was back to my old self.
My old self understands that this government has never been a pretty thing to watch - not counting the music from "1776." If I fool myself into thinking that we are currently on the steep downward slope to hell, I look at history and realize that the slope has been there since the first minute. Then I walk away from looking at politics again, for the 99th time, and find the beauty in my world.
The author of the book (something like Louen, can't remember the spelling and don't feel like going to get it) challenges me to name ten famous Americans who were game changers (sorry, Ms. Palin) and who were not politicians or heads of state or any of that political stuff. Tough challenge. Besides sports figures, they're the ones who have been crowned heroes.
And by the way, Betsy Ross had as much to do with designing the American flag as the Breck Girl had to do with making shampoo. 'Kay. I've had all the fun I can stand. Oh, wait, here's the chapter on Christopher Columbus...
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