Occupation of Independence

Yes, I am ashamed of myself. But I'm not the only scoundrel who is wallowing in schadenfreude over the demise of the tourism industry. Really folks, it was getting ridiculous before the virus came along and saved us. All those people living in their vans.  All those clowns showing up in campgrounds at 11:30 p.m., and then slamming car doors for the next hour or two. Every other vehicle in America having four wheel drive, and the ability to pollute the backcountry with their presence. Gigantic house-sized fifth-wheel trailers with open frame generators from China. Reservations, rules, fees. Loud music playing half the night. Pickup trucks that require step-ladders to enter.  Side-by-side UTVs everywhere, blasting by at high speed. Lines outside restaurants with boutique food at high prices.  McMansions popping up on every square foot of private land that can be said to have a "view." In other words, every place was getting as crowded as Colorado.  And now

My dog and I were feeling like heroes. We were the only customers in an outdoor seating area outside a bakery downtown, on a gorgeous spring day. Up and down the sidewalks, there probably weren't more than four people walking around. What a graveyard. But considering the demographics, I'll bet most people were happy to see themselves and their neighbors commit economic suicide, if there was a chance that it might hurt Trump.  Something surprising went my: it was a ten-year-old boy, whizzing by on a bicycle. He didn't have a helmet on, and he had a careless attitude toward stop signs. In other words, he was acting like a ten-year-old boy. I hope they never change. This image made me think of the ending of the movie, "Mission." I hope the reader has seen that movie, for several reasons, not least of which is the musical score by Ennio Morricone.  You might remember how it ended, after the climactic bloodbath of the natives: a couple small children had surviv

America has had presidents who could offer the inspiration that the country needs right now, but I don't think a reality-TV-star will measure up. Perhaps the entertainment value of a president is not the most important thing in the world. The country faces a serious struggle -- not exactly a "war" -- that represents what William James might have called the "moral equivalent of war." But our current struggle is more than just a metaphor of war, because it requires us to accept casualties, as a real war does. How has the notion gotten into people's heads that you can win a struggle without casualties? It probably comes from the 20 year era of Forever War which the country got suckered into after 911. Although America has destroyed the lives of more than a million people in the Mideast, only a few thousand Americans have been killed. No sacrifices by the average American in fighting wars on borrowed money -- that is what war has come to mean. But in re

You still see them -- panhandlers at places like Walmart parking lots. Oddly enough, the numbers haven't changed as much as I expected. How are they getting by? They usually have masks on, presumably so they don't scare people off.  Are people more likely to donate to them at times like this? It is easy to come up with arguments pro and con on this question. from Money.com I have thought about making a donation, but rather than help strangers, it seemed like a better idea to donate to a friend or relative who has been hit hard by the times we live in. Does that make sense? In thinking about these things, it suddenly occurred to me that Giving and Receiving are important issues in the human condition, and yet, I haven't really thought enough about them. If nothing else, it motivated me to read a classic book that didn't interest me before, "On Benefits," by Lucius Annaeus Seneca. There are times when reading this book that you will imagine you are