I know, I know: the world is going to hell in a handbasket. Insanity swirls around us, infusing the air with weird sparkles which causes us to wonder if it’s safe to inhale.
It’s not.
But it never has been so don’t sweat it!
I’ve been as concerned as any rational person must be as this reality reversal of a presidential campaign unfolds.
At the turn of the century, the very idea of a Hillary Clinton/Donald Trump presidential match up sounded like the fever dreams of a crack head. Back then, our undies were all in a bunch over the Y2K scare, fearing that computers all over the world would crash when 99 rolled into 00, deleting all our files, information, records and money. Looking back, that doesn't sound so bad.
Now you understand that "May you live in interesting times" is a threat, not a toast.
Kind of like "May you outlive all your friends."
So Britain just voted to exit the European Union. I didn’t think the EU would last this long but I’ve been wrong about most everything since 9/11.
The Remain faction warned that an exit would mean economic turbulence and possible collapse. The Exit faction claims it means liberty, self government and unbridled potential.
“What comes next? You’ve been freed.
Do you know how hard it is to lead?
You’re on your own. Awesome! Wow!
Do you have a clue what happens now?” King George III (Hamilton)
We need to pay close attention to what happens next. I think the Remain folks probably have the short term pain correct but that was no reason to stay. Moving out of one’s parent’s house is a scary, tricky and expensive endeavor but it’s necessary if one ever wants to assume the mantle of a self-governing adult, free to make one’s own choices and most importantly free to fail as often as necessary to succeed.
If western civilization has become too timid to attempt any change, even when the status quo is deadly, then WC is already moribund. The vote to exit the EU proved that 52% of Britain is not too timid to survive.
This fills me with hope! Watching what has been going on in Europe in the age of Jihad, I’d come to the conclusion that Europe really didn’t survive WWII. It’s taken over 70 years but it looked like the continent was succumbing to the wounds it suffered during that war. I’m thrilled to think that perhaps that’s one more thing about which I’ve been dead wrong lately.
Last October, my daughter Katie told me I had to get the soundtrack to a new show on Broadway that was the best thing she’d ever heard: Hamilton. The story of the American Revolution and the life of Alexander Hamilton as narrated by his nemesis, Arron Burr, using hip hop and rap and an all minority cast.
She was right. It’s the best thing I’ve ever heard.
Don’t let the musical labels ‘hip hop’ or ‘rap’ scare you: it’s fantastic, catchy, sing-able, danceable music.
I said before Christmas that I hoped it would be the biggest thing to hit Broadway since Annie, that every American becomes familiar with it, that schools would use it as a teaching tool and that someday high school productions of Hamilton will outnumber those of Grease.
This year, the show won a Pulitzer Prize and 11 Tony’s. Tickets in NYC are impossible to come by as its sold out for years. Everyone who’s anyone wants to see it and everyone is listening.
Lin-Manuel Miranda may have single handedly revived the idea of American Exceptionalism.
Okay, he didn’t do it alone, any more than Laurence Chamberlain won the Battle of Gettysburg by himself but if you had to narrow it down to one, crucial moment and man…
“I Am Not Throwing Away My Shot” is the contemporary version of “Fix bayonettes!”
Closer to home, the University of St. Thomas men’s basketball program won the National Title this spring! Jay was able to add National Champion to his long list of professional milestones.
The ring hasn’t come yet but I’ve seen the prototype and its gorgeous. Along with his Big 10 championship ring and his NJCAA Hall of Fame ring, he now has enough rings to leave one to each of his kids.
I’m very aware that everything I’ve hoped would happen this year is happening.
So if I don’t get a few things, I’m not going to let that bother me. Whether we elect a silly orangutan or a vicious harpy president in November, I can’t let it dim the brilliance I’m living in right now.
Storms come and go. Its sinful to allow the threat of rain keep you from enjoying the current sunshine. And grass only grows where the rain falls anyway.
Blah-bitty blah, life is grand, love is real and beauty really is everywhere!