The world thinks we’re crazy or worse…here’s why

 

My bride and I, along with another couple, took a trip to France the last two weeks of July. The main purpose of the trip was to check off a bucket-list item; see the Tour de France bike race in person. We also planned the trip to include visits to several places in Paris, the south of France, the French Alps, and a visit to the beaches of Normandy. It was a busy couple of weeks!

We arrived in Paris on a beautiful Friday morning and immediately began exploring. Over the next 4 days, we:

• ·         Enjoyed a food tour, led by a Brit who had lived in Paris for a decade. His pleasant nature and wit, along with an extensive knowledge of foods and dining locations, made for a very enjoyable five hours. 
  
  
  
• ·         Dined aboard a river boat on the Seine. This cruise began at 8:30 pm and wound up around 11:00. Since the dock was located near the Eiffel Tower, we returned just as the lovely site lit up and began its nightly sparkling. It was magical! 
  
  
  
• ·         Visited several markets in the city. I’m always amazed at the multitudes of these whenever I visit Europe. The markets are fascinating in terms of their size and the wide variety of products they offer. Great for eating and buying gifts for the folks back home!
• ·         Visited famous landmarks like the Eiffel Tower, the Bastille, and Notre Dame Cathedral to which, unfortunately, we were unable to gain entry. You may recall it suffered horrible damage in a fire in April of 2019. While repairs will continue for a long time, much of the cathedral is available to visit and so many people are doing so – 30,000 per day – that getting one of the timed entry slots is difficult. We walked around the outside and learned all about the rebuilding and renovation. The combination of modern technology and old world craftsmanship is fascinating to see.

After enjoying Paris, and all the food and drink we could manage, we took the train to Avignon in the south to begin our Tour de France adventure. Train travel is so delightful in Europe! Fast, inexpensive, and civilized, it’s one of my favorite parts of a European trip.

In Avignon, we rented a car big enough to hold four adults and luggage (it took the largest SUV they had which wasn’t big compared to American vehicles) and headed into the country. We rented a “Chalet Atypique” through booking.com and it was very rural. It consisted of two small buildings on a farm near the town of Bedoin where decent cell service is not yet a thing. Just the same, it was delightful to be off the grid for a few days. 

 I had also arranged to rent Ebikes for the four of us and they were delivered shortly after we arrived. Having never ridden one, I was looking forward to seeing the difference. 

The next morning, we packed lunches, along with the requisite bottles of wine, and headed off to Mt. Ventoux, a very famous climb of the Tour, which began about 5 kilometers away. Almost immediately, I realized that ebikes are amazing! These provided a boost to your pedaling and you could adjust the amount of assistance with a lever. With almost no effort, we easily managed about 20 kmh, uphill. Amazing!

We reached the entrance to the road leading up the hill and headed up along with thousands of other bike fans, stopping for a break about the halfway point. The weather was gorgeous, our stopping point was in the shade and so we decided to watch from there and proceeded to picnic and party with everyone for the next 5 hours or so.

I had the opportunity to speak with a few folks from the surrounding area, all of whom were kind enough to speak English and not let me butcher their native tongue. By the end of the day, we had made a few friends and acquaintances before heading back down the hill. (There were so many that we were forced to walk about halfway back because of the crowds.)

The next morning we packed up and headed north to the French Alps, to a ski resort called La Plagne. The Tour would finish there two days later and we had a condo at the top of the mountain. These next two days were filled with hiking and eating and drinking and game playing with our friends. Topped off with a hike over one summit to another one where the stage ended. MB and I secured a spot 150 meters from the finish line with a giant video screen across the road from us. As a result, we were able to watch the entire race and then catch the riders as they blazed past us. Such a good time!

The next morning, we drove to Albertville and turned in our rental car and caught a train to Paris where we checked into another hotel for two nights. Our stay included sauntering across the city to the Champs Elysee to watch the final stage finish of this year’s tour. We stood with thousands of other fans in, at times, a driving rainstorm as the riders passed by 3 times before finishing a few hundred meters from our position. What an amazing spectacle this is!

We walked slowly back across the city to our hotel, stopping for dinner at a brasserie, before turning in for the night.

Next morning, we took a train to a town called Caen where we rented another car to drive to Normandy. Our stay for two nights was at a bed and breakfast about fifty meters from Omaha Beach, site of the D-Day Landing.

Our guide for the Normandy tour was a delightful local man who guided us from 9:00 am to 6:30 pm, driving us around the area while providing a detailed description of every place we visited; the German cemetery, the American cemetery (where we caught Taps being played and the colors being stricken for the night) the town of Bayeux and Caen where several of the battles took place during the first three days of the invasion, Omaha Beach and the German bunkers that had been built for defending against the invasion. These exist today as a testament to what the Allies had to overcome to secure our freedom and remove the Occupation from France.

Standing in one of the bunkers, looking through a narrow slit at the beach and ocean, I kept imagining what it must have been like to be a young German soldier; looking out onto the ocean and suddenly seeing, as the sky brightened with dawn, over 7,000 ships spread out as far as his eyes could see. Over 150,000 troops were on their way to take back what had been stolen. How frightening and discouraging that must have felt!

We had dinner that night at our hotel and talked about what all we’d seen and experienced over the last two weeks. We also talked about the conversations we’d had with the people we’d met and how we found the French people to be very friendly and welcoming to us. The ones that we engaged in deeper conversation were especially more friendly when they found that all four of us did not vote for the current administration and, in fact, are adamantly opposed to it. They were almost unanimously on our side of the conversation and wondering, openly, “How did he get elected?” (Our answers focused on our election process and systems, including a discussion about how many Americans don’t bother to vote. Most were surprised by that.)

The flight home two days later started me thinking about why the world is questioning everything about America and where she stands, at this moment. After all, the US had been responsible for helping to overthrow the murderous regimes of the Nazis along with Italy and Japan. Our ability to crank out necessary arms and munitions was one of the deal makers in winning the war.

Along the way, the US was instrumental in helping Europe to rebuild through the Marshall Plan, and assisted those economies in getting back on their feet. The treaties that were signed, and the partnerships that were formed, allowed all the free countries of the world to develop powerful economies and raise standards of living for nearly everyone.

When Trump was elected the first time, it left most of the free world scratching its head and wondering what happened? The chaos, the pomposity, the brusqueness, the cozying up to dictators (Putin, Un, etc.) seemed so unamerican to everyone. When he was defeated in 2020, there was almost a collective silent prayer of thanks from all those countries. Almost as if to say, “Okay, the Americans are back on track again! Thanks heavens!”

Now that he’s back in power and was elected by “the same people that voted him out” they’re stunned even more so! He’s even more obnoxious, he appears to be a racist, and a fascist, is an adjudged sex offender, isn’t particularly intelligent, and is bringing a host of unqualified people in to run the US Government whose sole qualification is they follow Trump. He’s overseeing the cutting of programs that directly improve the lives of people around the globe and is looking to charge tariffs (without knowing how they actually work) to countries that have been our trading partners for decades under the accusation that those “supposed trading partners” have been “ripping us off for years!”

Why does the world think we’re crazy or worse?

I think part of it is that, unlike most of the rest of the free world, Americans are far less likely to register to vote and, once registered, are less likely to cast a vote.

Want some data?

79.8% of Americans that are eligible to vote, have actually registered as of 2025. 18-34 year olds really hurt the average as they’re around 62%. And actual voting is lower than the average of all countries with free and fair election – right around 60% vs over 70% for the rest.

Since Europeans typically vote more frequently, I suspect they are expecting Americans to do so, as well. After all, we’re the ones who really helped save the world from authoritarian domination in WW2 along with the cold war. Americans must believe in democracy then, right? Right??

If that’s so, then HOW THE HELL DID THEY ELECT A DICTATOR, WHO COZIES UP TO OLIGARCHS? WHO BRINGS THE MILITARY IN AGAINST HIS OWN PEOPLE? WHO IS A THIRTY FOUR TIMES CONVICTED FELON? WHO APPOINTS THE LEAST QUALIFIED PEOPLE INTO POSITIONS OF POWER SIMPLY BECAUSE OF THEIR LOYALTY TO HIM? WHO APPEARS TO BE A RACIST AND A SEXIST? DOES IT MEAN THAT ALL OR MOST AMERICANS ARE LIKE THAT? HAVE THEY BEEN THAT WAY ALL ALONG?

If you aren’t yet aware of it, people in other countries think we’re crazy or worse. These are the reasons why!

Just know that they're also rooting for us to get out of this current situation we've put ourselves into. They think we can do it!

I sure hope they're right...

 

Donald J. Trump – the man we elected President

 

The thoughts expressed here are solely my own.

A few people have pointed out on social media that we should stop attacking his policies and give them time to work their “magic.” Fair enough. (Although nearly every economist, with any credibility at all, is saying the results are going to be terrible. And that’s just on the economic actions! How about that foreign policy?)

Let’s focus on Trump, the man, then.

What do we know about him?

He was born into wealth and yet claims that he built his entire fortune himself, pulling himself up by his bootstraps. He says he was an incredible student at Fordham University and then at Wharton Business school where he graduated with a BS in economics in 1968. His grades have never been seen by the public and for someone who leans heavily to the vainglorious, I can only imagine how awful they must have been, or he would have been waving them around for all to see. (He claims to have won his golf club “championship” 18 times over the years. Does everyone else just not show up?)

He claims that his track record as a businessman gives him incredible insight into how the economy works and is best maximized. For the record, his various enterprises have filed for bankruptcy six times, including a casino. Casinos are among the most lucrative businesses in the world because the house always wins. The only way to bankrupt one is through horrible mismanagement.

He claims to be a devout Christian yet in one interview was unable to name a single Bible verse by which he likes to live. He has been married four times and has proved to be a serial philanderer during each of those. He has been adjudicated as a sexual abuser and ordered to pay millions to E. Jean Carroll. He has lied over 30,000 times in public and each has been documented by the press. His actions clearly don’t match up to the common definition of a Christian. They also don’t line up well with commonly accepted moral standards, for that matter.

He claims to be a patriot and yet he managed to receive five deferments from the military draft during the Vietnam war, the first four for education and the fifth for a medical condition of bone spurs. (The details surrounding this are murky and unclear.) He has been quoted as not wanting to attend veteran funerals because “those guys are all losers!” Unlike other Presidents, he has been unwilling to spend time welcoming injured veterans home from overseas. (He allegedly attended one ceremony early in his first term and said he’d never do it again.)

He claims that our country needs to abolish its DEI efforts, and signed executive orders to do so, because they’re biased against some people (white folks) and that merit and competence will rule the way people are promoted in all government roles. He then appointed administration officials based on their loyalty to him instead of their merit, background, and competence. The Secretaries of Defense and Health and Human Services are just two glaring examples. He has fired many people in top positions of the government, simply because he sees them as disloyal to him and his cause.

With these examples, I believe it is possible to define Donald Trump. He is a lying, philandering, ignorant, immoral, narcissistic, racist, megalomaniac.

That’s who we’ve elected to the most powerful position in the world.

No wonder the world is wondering what happened to the United States. I wonder that, myself.

You call this Unifying? It’s Round 2 of the Bullsh*tter-in-Chief!

Are you kidding me??? 

Admittedly, I was disappointed that Kamala Harris didn’t win the presidential election in November. She had a long climb to make in just over 3 months’ time. And while she did a terrific job across the country about letting people know what she stood for and what her presidency would be about, a large percentage of the voting public was not moved to go and vote for her. Many said they “just didn’t know her” and that stopped them. (Heaven forbid they should do their own research and read her website which was very clear about all of this.)

The result was that a lot of potential voters stayed home, thus electing the 45^th POTUS as the 47^th POTUS – the second time in our history that a President served non-consecutive terms. As of 2 days ago, Donald J. Trump was the President of the United States.

His first administration was something of a disaster and ranked by many presidential scholars as the worst in history. (Having watched them live for the last 60+ years, that’s saying something!) In any case, he promised while campaigning that he would be a great unifier and would get America out of it’s “perilous decline of the disastrous past 4 years.”

It’s important to note that the past 4 years have seen the largest growth in our economy in history, the lowest unemployment rate of the past 50 years, more new businesses started than in the past 50 years, more jobs created than the past 50 years, and a constant reduction in the crime rate during the last 4 years, too. Was there inflation? Yep and while it was painful for many Americans, it was also the lowest of any of the major countries of the world; in other words, it was handled effectively, more so than anywhere else in the world. (If you’re looking at that last paragraph, and wondering where the decline is, your confusion is based in logic and reality. If you disagree with any of it, feel free to do your own research. Each of those statements is a fact.)

Shortly after being sworn in on January 20^th, 2025, which was also MLK Day for the ultimate irony, Trump signed a huge pile of Executive Orders. Some were pure fantasy (removing the citizenry birthright? It’s in the Constitution, dude) and others were just mean (There are only 2 genders, according to the new POTUS, flying in the face of science, of course.) and one was downright sinister. That’s the one that really pisses me off.

With the sweeping of Sharpie, TFG has pardoned or commuted the sentence of every one of the January 6^th insurrectionists; 1506 of them to be exact. Calling them patriots or proud Americans, he has basically said that what they did on that fateful day was just fine!

While he had said he was going to do it while campaigning, I am astonished at this outrageous act. There isn’t a single second of video that shows that group as being anything other than riotous, treasonous, racist, anti-American, anti-Democracy assholes. Their actions that day caused deaths, disabilities, and shook the very pillars of our country. By taking this action, TFG has made it clear that the only Americans he will honor and protect are the ones that are totally loyal to him. If this doesn’t frighten you, you are either not paying attention or are too MAGAfied to understand the ramifications.

The GOP has long described itself as the party of law and order. I have yet to hear a single member of the party stand up and say, “This is wrong!”

Jesus Christ, people he’s just said that police don’t have to uphold the law and people who break it in his name are welcome to do so!

Despite my not voting for him, I had decided that I would support our new President as long as what he was doing was good for all Americans. Based on these actions on the first day in office, he’s lost any support from me for anything he does in record time.

No one will ever convince me that he is anything but an ignorant, racist, narcissistic, bully. The only way to deal with a bully, in my experience, is to punch them in the nose as many times as it takes for them to get the message.

I hope it isn’t too late to save America.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss…

 

Those words are the closing lines from a rock song by a group called The Who. Title of the song is “Won’t Get Fooled Again.” It came to mind on Wednesday morning after I opened my iPad and learned that America had actually re-elected Donald J. Trump.

His opponent, the current VP Kamala Harris, is incredibly qualified, highly praised by just about everyone except the GOP, and ran a skillful and hard fought campaign with Tim Walz, her running mate.

Instead of electing her as the first female President as well as the first mixed race candidate, we have a replay of the administration that brought you such hits as:

·         “Don’t worry, it will just disappear!” Speaking of course about the Covid 19 pandemic which ended up taking the lives of over 1 Million Americans. (Scientists have stated that the failure of the administration to act quickly likely contributed to about half of those deaths.)

·         “I’m not going to that military cemetery; they’re all just suckers and losers.” Speaking of the opportunity to pay his respects to the fallen military heroes for Veteran’s Day. (He was unable to understand why anyone would sacrifice for their country, saying “What was in it for them?”)

·         “This is a witch hunt!” Speaking of the legal actions taken against him at various times during his time in office. So far, he was impeached twice and was found guilty of 34 felony counts. There are two other actions outstanding in state courts but the Federal charges against him will likely be dropped.

There are so many others that I could make this post literally dozens of pages long. I’ll just put up this cover from Vanity Fair magazine to illustrate what I’m talking about. The snippets down the left side say it all.

 

So, our next President is truly a piece of shit. Or, as someone in Scotland referred to him during his first term, an orange Cheeto dust covered, ferret wearing, shit gibbon.

His policies that he has offered and promised on the campaign trail include hair raising ideas about the economy that, according to 23 Nobel prize winning economists, will cause prices to increase dramatically and throw the country into a recession. They also include rounding up (using military and law enforcement) and deporting over 10 Million illegal immigrants, completing the wall across the southern border (the one that Mexico was going to pay for?) firing thousands of Federal employees and replacing them with his loyal followers (who know next to nothing about the job). He’s also threatened to have his detractors arrested and thrown in jail.

(I wish I were making this up but to give you some idea, as I write this, the stock of the two largest private prison companies has gone up 30% in value over the last 2 days. And that’s on the possibility that this sort of thing will happen.)

The result is that people who didn’t vote for him are very upset; some could be classified as despondent. People have been taking sick leave because of the election result. It’s that bad.

Meanwhile, many of those that did vote for him are acting like the good sports you would expect. A friend of mine posted on social media that she’d gone to the beach for some healing and this morning she was awakened by the sound of several dozen Jeeps driving in a line on the beach as loudly as they possible could with flags flying: MAGA, Elect Trump Vance, and Fuck Kamala Harris. They paraded for 45 minutes until the police showed up and ushered them off the sand. They reappeared about 2 hours later for more of the same.

How did we get here? I truly have no idea. I have some suspicions and most of them revolve around ignorance and an unwillingness to dig into the facts that candidates bring to their roles. I shudder to think it's actually brainwashing or something. Cult behavior has little to describe it so, I'm at a loss.

For the time being, I’m going to let all the pundits and analysts do the work they’re paid to do. I’ll read what they write, expand my personal reading list to learn what I can and see what turns up. The next 75 days (transition period) will be interesting.

At least we won’t have an insurrection this time around.

I hope.

 P. S. Here's the song; you can hear it on the internet.

Won’t Get Fooled Again by The Who

We'll be fighting in the streets
With our children at our feet
And the morals that they worship will be gone
And the men who spurred us on
Sit in judgement of all wrong
They decide and the shotgun sings the song

I'll tip my hat to the new Constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again

A change, it had to come
We knew it all along
We were liberated from the fold, that's all
And the world looks just the same
And history ain't changed
'Cause the banners, they all flown in the last war

I'll tip my hat to the new Constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again, no, no

I'll move myself and my family aside
If we happen to be left half-alive
I'll get all my papers and smile at the sky
For I know that the hypnotized never lie

Do you?

Yeah

There's nothing in the street
Looks any different to me
And the slogans are effaced, by-the-bye
And the parting on the left
Is now parting on the right
And the beards have all grown longer overnight

I'll tip my hat to the new Constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
Don't get fooled again, no, no

Yeah
Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss

 

Wandering Through Germany…

…and learning how the people of that country dealt with the perpetration of the worst mass murder in the history of humans. 

My Bride and I just returned from a trip to the Netherlands to see our son and his family and also spent a week sightseeing in Germany. We were in Berlin for about three days and Frankfurt for about three days. 

According to DNA tests, both of us have some ancestors from that part of the world; in my case about 70% of mine is from Germany and the surrounding countries. I wasn’t surprised by that when the tests were run as an old family tree that had been passed along to me showed my earliest ancestor was my seven-times great grandfather, Johannes Keller. “Long John” as he was nicknamed (family lore has him at being six foot six inches tall) came to North America in 1730 at the age of 2. He was a veteran of the Revolutionary war and lived to the age of 102. I know this much to be true and I have some decent documentation to all of it. 

In any case, I was excited to go to Germany as I’d never been. I’d been told great things about Berlin and looked forward to seeing the sights. I hadn’t heard much about Frankfurt but we were staying there in preparation for taking a river boat cruise on the Rhine River to see the “parade of castles” that exist all along its length. 

We spent time on a hop on/hop off bus in Berlin to get a look at everything quickly and then spent 2 full days walking on our own. The Rick Steves books are always in hand when we go to Europe and his walking tours, as always, proved excellent for seeing the sights. We saw all the biggies on our walks – Brandenburg Gate, the remainder of the Berlin Wall, the Topography of Terror (home of the SS and Gestapo and their role in the rise of Naziism; it may be the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen. I was physically ill by the end of our visit) the various parks, and the iconic TV Tower which provided us an opportunity to have brunch while overlooking the city from 218 meters up! 

Brandenburg Gate

TV Tower

Memorial to the Jews Murdered in Europe

We spent several hours at the Memorial for the Jews Murdered in Europe – that is its official name – and I’ll come back to it in a moment. After three nights in Berlin, we boarded a train to Frankfurt for the next three days. 

The Frankfurt Bahnhof (railroad station) is the busiest one in Europe. Trains are running through it nearly 24 hours a day on 21 tracks and platforms. Our hotel was an easy five minute walk from the station and gave us a downtown look at the city. While it was a four star location, according to Rick Steves, its location made for a bit of excitement. 

The Red Light District was about a block away which gives the area a much seamier feel. Coupled with that, the area in front of the train station is packed with the illicit drug trade of the city. We watched wide open drug deals going down nearly all day, especially in the evening, in full view of a large police presence. 

Interestingly, I never felt unsafe and MB hit the nail on the head when she mentioned that everyone seemed to be in a good mood and she knew we wouldn’t get shot because access to guns in Germany (and nearly all of Europe for that matter) is almost non-existent. 

Our river boat cruise was very nice. Since it was near the end of the season, it was a very small group on board and the host was attentive to all of us. He was very funny, a very nice man with a wonderful knowledge of all things German and very informative for our tour of the castles of the Rhine. 

We also found a wonderful Irish bar in Frankfurt with real Irish food, good drinks, excellent servers and a huge number of fans watching the Frankfurt football team engage in battle with another team to whom they eventually lost. (The bar cleared out quickly afterwards.) 

We eventually boarded a train back to the Netherlands where we had one last dinner with our son, daughter-in-law, and grandsons before heading home the next morning. 

But I want to take a moment to talk about how Germany addresses their role in WWII and the Holocaust because I think there is a lesson for us. 

After visiting the Topography of Terror Museum and learning about the Nazi regime (and being totally disgusted) we viewed the Holocaust from the Jewish side. 

I mentioned before about the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. This is a full city block that is covered in coffin sized stones of varying heights, 2,781 of them. The result is a series of walkways that are narrow and, in some cases, dwarfed by these stones. The sun casts interesting shadows throughout the course of the day. It makes for a quiet, very reflective stroll. You can almost feel the souls and hear the cries of the murdered Jews as you walk among the stones. 

Below ground, a museum exists – free to visit – that walks you through the holocaust from start to finish. Over the course of less than 15 years, the Nazis managed to murder over 6 million people; the vast majority were killed between 1941 and 1945. That’s two times the population of the city of Chicago. 

How was this carried out? 

Here’s my unknowledgeable take on it. Hitler, along with some of his cronies, determined that their Aryan race was superior to all others. In order to extend the life of the Third Reich, they decided that the Aryan Master Race must remain pure. To ensure that, they worked to eliminate the weakest they could think of and that was the Jewish population of the world. Hitler enlisted Heinrich Himmler to lead the genocide effort. It began with the passing of anti-Jewish laws in the 1930s, supplemented with an all-out propaganda campaign, continued with moving all Jews into “ghettos” and finally sending them to concentration camps where some were worked to death while others were simply murdered. 

Methods included lining people up and shooting them in cold blood, loading them into trucks with sealed compartments and pumping in the exhaust until they expired (a long, slow, painful death that took around 45 minutes) or herding them into specially designed gas chambers where they used hydrogen cyanide to quickly kill them. Since the Jews were forced to strip before entering the chamber, the bodies were either dumped into mass graves or were burned in giant burn pits. Some of those mass graves were eventually reopened by the Nazis and the bodies were stripped of gold fillings in their teeth prior to mass burning. 

I was brought up short reading about one town’s demise in the museum. Its population of 31,198 was completely murdered in one week. The Nazis came into town and began marching the townspeople out of town, lining them up and shooting them. Over 6,000 people per day, men, women, children, old and young, were lined up and murdered with machine guns. By the end of the week, the town was devoid of life. Why did they not just run away? Some were able to escape – that’s how we know this happened along with the Nazi’s diligent record keeping – but the town was locked down and people trying to escape were shot anyway. So, they waited and prayed and hoped for salvation that never came. 

In the final analysis, between 250,000 and 500,000 people were directly involved in the killing of the Jews, The German people have admitted this, worked to punish the perpetrators, made reparations to many survivors and the countries that they came from. They have also owned up to what happened and share it willingly in the hopes of it never happening again. Anywhere. May it be so. 

Why did I write this? There’s a part of me that wishes the United States would own up to slavery in the same way. Between 10 and 12.5 million African slaves were transported to the US over the course of about 100 years. (I had no idea it was that many until I just looked it up.) In 1790, slaves made up almost 18% of the US population, and yet they weren’t considered people, they were chattel. Like cows or horses. Yeah. 

In my life, I don’t recall seeing much in the way of apologies to families of former slaves. I haven’t seen any reparations. (Don’t give me that “40 acres and a mule” BS either.) 

Were some of those slaves murdered? No one knows the exact number, but the answer is yes, some were. In any case, their lives were horribly affected through their enslavement about which they had no control. 

I believe that there should be a way to officially apologize to the descendants of US slaves and provide reparations to them. 

They deserve nothing less.

What are your thoughts on this? Comments are open.

You Gotta Have Heart

It’s been four months ago now. 

I had a heart attack, August 27th. 

About 3:00 am. 

 Yep. Surprised me, too. 

 I mean, I’d been living a fairly healthy lifestyle for almost 15 years and had been eating far healthier since marrying MB in 2001. 

 I’ve been exercising in the form of cycling since 2012, go to the gym on an irregular basis, too. 

Turns out, you can’t outrun your genes. 

 My paternal grandfather, George Sylvester Keller, had six or seven heart attacks in his 60s and the last one killed him. 

 My father, Earl Webster Keller, was diagnosed with heart disease when he was 85. That’s not what killed him, though. Colon cancer is what got him but he did have a weak heart that he ignored. Guy still went to the gym three times a week until the cancer took him down. 

 My turn came in the middle of the night when I woke up with a racing heartbeat and heavy sweating, like I’d just finished a long climb on the bike. 

At first, I thought I’d had a nightmare or had finally suffered the anxiety attack I’d never had. I managed to go back to sleep, fitfully, and then got up around 6:00. I was drinking coffee when MB came into the den and asked if I was okay. I told her what had happened and we did the first thing that comes to mind these days; I took a Covid test. 

Negative result. 

 I then took my BP and it was elevated slightly. I felt tired which made sense having climbed Mt. Ventoux in my sleep. Told her I’d eat breakfast and take a shower but thought maybe going to the doctor was a good idea. (That really scared her as I don’t do that.) 

We eventually ended up in the ER where they ran me thru a series of tests and determined that my heart had had an “insult.” (My cardiologist is a funny guy.) I told him that was probably my liver flipping it off. (He laughed at that.) 

 (Side note – I’ve never gotten into the ER so quickly. If you want to see quick service, go into the ER complaining of possible heart issues when you’re an older male. I was in a small room with three nurses working on me in less than 2 minutes. MB wondered what had happened to me, I was gone so fast.)

Anyway, after two days of tests and two nights in the hospital, I ended up with a heart catheterization, a balloon angioplasty on my right coronary artery (99% blockage) and a stent. 

The good news – my cardiologist tells me I suffered no long-term damage to the heart muscle and that I’ll recover fully. 

The bad news – it’s going to take a little while. I’ve already had 3 months of cardiac PT and am taking a bunch of prescription medications with various side effects. But if that’s the worst of it, to stick around for another 25 years or so, I’m good with that. 

Here’s a recommendation for you. If you’re a male with a history of heart disease in your family, take the time to get a physical regularly especially if you’re over 40. And for goodness’ sake, exercise. Even regular walking will give your heart the boost it needs. 

Final note – as I was being released from the hospital, the doctor was walking through various things. MB mentioned that I liked bourbon and was a collector and how would this affect that. He said, “bourbon, in moderation, is not contra-indicated.” 

Now, that’s good news!

Sending the Old Man Home

Sending the Old Man Home

My father died last week. But I don’t really grieve for him.

He was diagnosed five years ago as potentially developing colon cancer and the surgeon wanted to remove it but dad wouldn’t let him. Said he’d seen a close friend go through it along with chemotherapy and radiation, living just barely, sick all the time, and made it for eighteen months. He decided that whatever time he had left, he was going to live it in his own way and go for quality over quantity.

It’s probably a judgement call on the part of the official but I’d say he got both.

He died at 90 and was in pretty good health, and damn good spirits, until about a week before he passed. He was married to the same woman, my mom, for over sixty-seven years and while they had their spats they were incredibly cute together; always holding hands when walking together and professing their love for each other constantly. (It looked like they weren’t happy because they’d both become considerably deaf and when you’re shouting at someone, it’s tough to sound endearing.)

He spent much of his working life, over 35 years, as a bricklayer. Some folks would call him a mason but he always called himself a bricklayer. If you’ve never seen one work, it’s worth watching up close. Bricklayers move heavy objects, brick and block and mortar, and place them with amazing precision to create walls, basements, buildings, homes, pathways, streets, patios – all of which will last for hundreds of years. When a master bricklayer is at work, there is no wasted motion, no extra effort is expended, and they create something amazing in an almost lyrical fashion. In my youth, I could watch him for hours and it was incredible. For about 8 years, he laid 1,500 bricks a day for 5 days a week; that’s nearly a half million bricks a year at about 4.5 pounds each – 2,250,000 pounds of brick and block and another half million pounds of mortar! And that was just in the 8 years – he did the job for almost 40.

He did it because he found the work fulfilling and he could get paid for it. He bought a house in Arlington VA, raised three sons, put food on the table, owned a truck and a car. Made a life. He didn’t make a lot of money (I was earning more at 20 years old than he was at 45) but he made enough. And when it was time to “knock off” for the day, he could go home and watch TV, read the evening newspaper, read a book from the library, or just sit and talk.

I admire that. A lot.

At fifty years of age, he went into business with my uncle buying into some restaurant franchises called Po Folks and moved to Columbia SC. Probably the boldest thing I ever saw him do. They ran them for about 5 years until my uncle ran off with a hostess from one store, absconded with the company funds (although it was never proven) and they had to get out of the business. He went right back to laying brick for another eight or so years before retiring.

After he retired, mom got him a job so she wouldn’t have to put out a contract on him.

He became a courier for a chain of optical stores in Columbia, working part time five days a week. The employees all got to know him as “Mr. Earl” and he became the unofficial mayor of the company. His job evolved into the official hugger; he would roll up to a store with the mail and all the young women would come out and hug him and talk to him for a few minutes before getting back to work. May have been the greatest retirement job I’ve ever heard of and, we’re convinced it kept him alive for years more than he should have been.

He knew everyone in the organization and everyone knew him. He kidded the founder of the company that he expected a gold watch when he made it to twenty-five years. When that man passed away from ALS, one of the last things he told his son before he left was to “be sure Earl gets his watch.” The company held a special event to celebrate his 25^th anniversary and present him with an engraved gold watch. He wore it proudly until the day he passed.

Five weeks ago, we convinced him to retire. We were concerned about his driving and that he might do harm to someone else and put the company in a bad spot. He retired on December 31^st. The send off they gave him was nothing short of amazing; each store took the time to shower him with gifts, pictures, and, of course, many hugs. He talked about it for weeks!

Three weeks later, he took a turn for the worse and wound up in the hospital where he refused treatment they were proposing, opting to go home and enter hospice. For the next few days, he entertained guests at the house who came to hug on Mr. Earl and tell him how much they loved him and how much of a difference he made in their work and, more importantly, their lives. He told me, over and over again, that he couldn’t believe how much love he was getting from all these people. He kept saying, “I was just being me. What was the big deal?”

You were the big deal, Pop. The real deal.

Dad appreciated a good joke, a wise crack, a sharp needling comment, the newspaper and its accompanying crossword puzzle, a good meal, and a glass of iced tea on a hot summer day.  He was a veteran of the Korean War in the Army and supported our veterans at every opportunity. He was a real Christian and believed he’d see us in the afterlife. The night before he died, I mentioned that if he got to the other side and it was a bit hotter than he was expecting that he should mention he was related to me and at least he’d get a good seat.

And maybe a glass of iced tea.

Rest well, Pop. You earned it.

The Happy Couple on their 65th Anniversary
Earl Keller 1932-2023