It’s late afternoon as I begin this essay with snow falling and the world quiet. Snow absorbs sound and causes people to slow down as winter dampens the world with its whiteness. Becky loves snow, and so do I, especially with a cozy fire, good company and enough of things that matter. Even the birds outside the window say “thank you” for a fresh supply of seeds in the bird feeder which hopefully will sustain them through winter’s chill.
My brother collected all my Mom’s old photos and had them put on a CD as a Christmas present. We’ve enjoyed sharing Mom’s gift and reminiscing, which always seems better when experienced together. I was struck by how many pictures showed heavy snow during my boyhood. History shows that America was colder then; even Time magazine lamented the “Polar Vortex” of the 70s which they said was caused by global cooling. I read a report several years ago that chronicled global cooling in the late 1800s which was followed by warming, drought, and the dust bowl of the 1930s. The cold snap and snows of my boyhood followed that warming trend which seems to have returned in the 21st century. I’ve missed the snow in recent years, though I’d much rather be too hot than too cold.
Because I’m home now my perspective has changed. Raising a child is hard but joyous work. I have a renewed appreciation for the women of the world who are the nurturers and glue of families. However, Becky is right when she says, “It takes a family” to raise a child. And now, I get to help in this most important task as we help with my grandson, Oakley. And I’ve observed that “being there” makes all the difference. There are subtitles in his mannerisms that can’t be described; they must be experienced. My wife raised our two daughters, and though I helped, our home and family were thankfully managed by my wife. Some years ago a colleague on his second marriage and family confided in me how he once focused on his career and wasn’t there for his first family. He assured me things would be different this time.
Doctors of my generation seem different than the rising stars of the Millennial and X generations. I once sat in a focus meeting with a group of multi-generational doctors. I was struck when a young doctor told the group that her priorities were first her kids, her marriage came next, then her work-out regimen, and her medical practice and patients came last. The focus of many doctors these days is the end of responsibility at the conclusion of their shift.
Being there is one thing, but being aware is another. I’ll admit that I didn’t pay a lot of attention to politics in the first thirty years of my life. I was too busy getting an education, starting a medical practice and raising a family. However, I’ve been aware for the last thirty years and the last five are unprecedented. The Obama Administration is a dismal failure not because he is black, but because his policies are all wrong. Obama-care is a perfect example why the government is incapable of managing healthcare, which is one sixth of the American economy. Obama and the Democrats passed a law that none of them read and is grossly unjust. More than 2000 waivers have been offered to exclude some from compliance with the law, but not others. Now we learn that provisions in Obama’s signature legislation provide for a bail out of insurance companies who stand to lose their crony capitalist shirts in Obama-care. Even Obama’s healthcare website is a joke and a huge security risk.
As I watched the President come into the House of Representatives, I reflected on a commentator’s description of the “POTUS poodles” crowding to shake the President’s hand and be seen. Once a year we listen for leadership and all we really get is repetitive standing and sitting and clapping that reminds me of a nursery school game. This year’s vacuous rhetoric even drew the criticism of the President’s own main stream media. The President now threatens to side step Congress and rule by executive Order with his pen and phone if he doesn’t get his way. In ancient Greece the ruler of a city state was called a tyrant. Shades of this term resonate in America even today.
Much is said of a “lame duck” presidency that goes beyond the idiom of a crippled fowl. What would a leader have said in the SOTU address? He would build the Keystone pipeline and put Americans to work, and deny the Chinese oil from Canada. He would bring the terrorists of Benghazi to justice as he promised in previous SOTU addresses. He would explain to the American people why the State Department, Hillary Clinton, and his Administration deceived us with a contrived anti-Muslim video. He would bring to justice the abusers of power within the IRS. And he would the stop class warfare rhetoric which pits rich against poor, black against white, and liberal vs. conservative.
Actually, Mr. President, Americans just want you to leave us alone. We’ve tried five years of big government intervention with repeated stimulus programs which just make the wealthy like George Soros more wealthy and the rest of us and our children more indebted to the Chinese. On your watch and with your policies ninety-two million Americans aren’t working. Almost fifty million are on food stamps. Our “enemies no longer fear us and our allies no longer trust us.” Sir, you are responsible for this mess.
Many believe that America can survive the mess created by Obama and the big government progressives and RINOs. I’m not so sure. You see this has all been done before and history does repeat itself.
Mr. President, if you want a bold agenda that will save America read 2 Chronicles 7:14 and obey. Idolatry and the welfare state always fail with terrible consequences.
