In A Time of...

If anyone is wondering why the Kung Flu seems to have disappeared from the headlines it’s because as much as the media loves a plague, it loves a fire more.

But just because the Kung Flu is not dominating the headlines don’t think for a minute, that you can take your mask off.  And maintain social distancing, even if the people you see in the glow of the fires, aren’t.

Did you ever realize that life had passed you by?  That you’d missed a great opportunity, the chance of a lifetime?  Well I did.  My late wife was a Pediatrician and she had a private practice.  And, I realized if I were still there doing what I used to do, getting the charts, logging in the patients, sweeping and mopping the floors, throwing out the garbage and wiping up little kids vomit.  If I were still doing that now, I’d be a hero.  But then I’m not doing that anymore and I’m not a hero. 

Then I remembered that HBO series about the 101^st Airborne Division, ‘Band of Brothers’.  They were the first guys in on D-Day and they held out in Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge.  One of those guys was interviewed at the end of the series and he was asked.  “Do you think of yourself as a hero.”  And, he answered.  “No, but I served in a Company of heroes.”  And, I’m thinking maybe that’s me?  But no, that’s not me.  The Kung Flu wasn’t around back then when I was doing all that.  Although I got sick a few times, quite a few times.  But no, not good enough, not even close.

But then I realized that the other Doctors, Nurses and Medical Assistants that worked with us are still out there.  And, on the front lines too.  So maybe it’s like the end of that movie Troy about the ancient legendary war between Greece and Troy.  The war goes on for ten years and when it’s over, a whole lot of guys are dead.  It was, as if there had been a plague.  You could say the scourge of war, is like a plague.  The Greeks are victorious but they’ve lost their number one guy, Achilles.  The last lines of the movie are Odysseus saying.  ‘If they ever tell my story let them say I lived in the time of Hector, the Breaker of Horses.  I lived in the time of Achilles.  I lived in the time, of heroes.’  Yeah maybe that’s it.  I lived in a time of heroes too.

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Grand Ole Joe Biden

We got to thinking about Joe Biden.  Now a lot of people having been making fun of him but this is serious.  Only two people with any chance of winning the Presidency wind up running against each other.  And, he’s secured the democrat nomination, so he’s one of them.  And, he’s been around for a long time.  So long in fact that when he first got elected Jimmy Carter was President and that’s back in the 20^th Century.  So, we all got to thinking what if Joe Biden had been around in another time because well, he already has.  But what would he have said say in 1775 if he were a member of The 2^nd Virginia Convention.?

“I know not what course others make take but as for me give me liberty or give me… you know… the other thing.”

Then there was November 19, 1863 in Gettysburg and when we look at the calendar, we see that Joe Biden’s birthday is about equidistant from that day and today.  And, we’re not age shaming.  It’s just math.  Joe Biden born 1942 – 1863 = 79.  Today 2020 – 1942 = 78.  If he gets elected and is President on Jan 21, 2021, he’ll be 79.

“Fourscore and seven years ago our forefathers brought forth, on this Continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men… you know the thing.  You all got copies or well we’ll get them to you.  I have to go now.  This other guy went on way too long and my wife has to be somewhere by 6.   Gotta go now or I’ll be in a lot of trouble.”

Then of course there was December 8^th 1941 and while Ole Joe wasn’t around as yet he was about to be in a few weeks.

“Yesterday December 7^th 1941 a day that will live in,,,  What’s this word here?  Oh yeah infamy.  Who wrote this thing?  Oh well there’s gonna be a war.  It’s a thing you know.  We’ll beat these guys ‘cause we’re angry.  Then there will be an election and I’ll beat Joe Biden.  And, if you don’t vote for this thing, you ain’t an American.”

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Our Day Will Come

Over the years I’ve gotten into the habit of channel surfing as soon as the commercials come on the TV.  Other times I might not want to leave a particular channel because it’s like a Yankee game, so I would just hit the mute button.  This has just been a defensive measure against the never-ending onslaught of commercials, commercials everywhere.  But yesterday for some reason I forgot to switch the channel or even to hit the mute.  And it turned out to be a good thing.  Because there on the TV screen were celebrities, a never-ending array of them.  Most of whom I’d never heard of but that didn’t matter as they’re somebody, even if I don’t happen to know their names.  And they want me, little old anonymous me, to…  “Stay safe.  Stay home.”  They want me to know that.  “I’m not alone in this and they care.”  And, “We’ll get through this and get through this together.”  And, I’m having a hard time today writing this down on my computer because, because of all the tears.  All the tears that are running down my cheeks.  I mean, who knew?

And they’re right too.  We will get through this.  There will come a day when we turn on the TV or log onto the internet and we’ll know it’s over because we won’t see Dr. Fauci.  This has to happen.  This day must come.  This Kung Flu thing will go the way of the H1N1, the Ebola, the Spanish Flu and even the Black Plague.  And we’ll know it’s over as this little gnome of a man Dr. Fauci will no longer be seen.  Dr. Fauci will walk in the footsteps of Jeffrey Epstein, Matt Lauer and Monica Lewinsky.  They’ll be no more video, no more pictures, no memes no # Dr. Fauci.  Just gone, poof!  And, that day is somewhere up ahead and we’ll get there, together, all of us.  Or well, at least most of us.

So cue the music Mr. Curry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw9RVjEN9OI

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Heroes

There is a neighborhood just down the road and we like to think of it as East Egg because there are Mansions there that look like the Great Gatsby could have lived in them.  Well actually these homes are beyond just Gatsby’s, as Gatsby lived in West Egg.  Daisy lived in East Egg where the real money was.  And, as I wandered through this wonderland of private streets, elaborate gardens and huge Mansions, I saw Landscapers hard at work, mowing lawns, trimming hedges and keeping the Mansions ready for when Daisy and Jay Gatsby come back, hand in hand.

And I realized that these Landscapers, these nameless, unknown men are getting the job done while all around them people jog and stroll.  And, some of these people jogging and strolling aren’t even wearing masks.  And these joggers and strollers are obviously paying no attention to the ‘Stay Home Stay Safe’ Fatwas issued by the City, State and Federal Governments.  Then I realized theses Landscapers, these hardworking men well…  They’re heroes. 

I mean the, Landscapers could get the Chinese, Wuhan Kung Flu as these hardworking men are on the front lines, literally.  And we think it’s time to take a moment and honor these brave men.  So, here’s to the Landscapers, God Bless Them, Heroes All.

And disturbing news had been coming out of North Korea.  Some sources were saying that Kim Jong Un had unsuccessful heart surgery and wound up in a vegetative state.  Other sources were saying he was dead.  Now we’ve made fun of him so many times over the years, that we think of him as a friend.  I mean the guy loves to eat, drink and party into the late, night hours.  Kim Jong Un also loves the NBA and Jackie Chan movies.  What’s not to like there?  And Kim Jong loves one of the guys from the old neighborhood and our friend, Donald John Trump, 45^th President of the United States.  And Kim Jong Un had his brother whacked, just like Michael Corleone did.  And King Jong Un loves to set off ballistic missiles like they’re fireworks on the 4^th of July, so we would have been real, sorry to hear he was gone.

But good news, as Kim Jung Un popped up alive and well on May 1 which is May Day.  May Day is the biggest day of the year if you’re a commie, so there was no holding him back.  And, it seems that reports of his demise, as Mark Twain put it years ago “were greatly exaggerated”.  Or as we would say today, just more fake news. 

And we’re happy too because while most of the world thinks of Kim Jong Un as this crazy guy who wanted to set off nuclear Armageddon, try to remember that in North Korea or properly put, The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, he is… a hero.  And this world always needs heroes.

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