Time

As anyone with grandchildren will tell you, 

it goes too fast.

One minute you're babysitting for an infant

and, just days later,

they're going into 2nd grade

or helping you by picking up sticks from the yard...

now, if I could only get her to cut the grass, trim and spread mulch,

I'll be set.

       For those under 60, let me tell you a secret:

 time goes into hyper-drive as you age.

 

If you listen to any news at all these days, 

issues about age, and our conflicted feelings about it, 

are alive and well. 

 

In fact, I believe, the amount of coverage given to 'aging'

is indicative of a larger societal struggle

revealing how much we generally avoid acknowledging and accepting

certain realities about getting older -

for ourselves and for others.

 

Our current president told us almost 4 years ago 

that his would be a transitional presidency -

anyone else remember that?

He was going to get us out of the chaos and turmoil 

created 24/7 by the Orange Menace 

and steer the nation away from the pandemic and the uncertainty

that was rampant.

And he's done that.

By any economic measure - except perception about inflation -

our economy is ahead of the majority of other countries,

post pandemic

and we're doing very well.

 

The trouble is, somewhere along the line,

the DNC forgot that someone was supposed to come next.

 

I'm certainly not a political operative inside the Beltway

I only obsess and watch MSNBC and the Meidas Network daily

so I,at least, know the players -

and, from what I see,

there is NO indication that a core group of younger progressive Democrats

has been identified, mentored and held up on a consistent National basis,

creating a pool from which to choose our next Presidential candidate.

 

A job, btw, which should have been happening over the last 3 years -

not 2 months prior to the Democratic Convention;

not in an election year when our democracy 

and the constitution, as we know it,

is up for grabs.

Biden had a terrible debate experience of 90";

no argument here.

But the subsequent, very public, hand-wringing and setting our collective hair on fire

that the Dems are engaging in is NOT helpful.

(Perhaps those of us who have testified in court multiple times

as expert witnesses

have more sympathy for flubbed word choices

 and being off our game than most.

I can't tell you the number of times I did my best, 

wasn't totally pleased but thought I passed - 

if I graded myself on a curve -

but, when I got the transcript to review,

was appalled and surprised they hadn't immediately 

sent for a mental health eval team for all the gibberish I was spouting.)

I don't know you guys;

is Biden old?

You bet he is, and getting older by the day -

AS WE ALL ARE.

 

I'm younger than he is and I, sure as hell,

wouldn't want the responsibility of being in charge of the country.

3 years as Senior Warden at our church 

was the height of the responsibility I was willing to take on.

Is he capable of leading our country?

Yes.

How do I know?

Because he's doing it!!

 

And, even if you buy into conspiracy theories 

that it's not him that's running the country,

if it's not him that's making all the decisions, 

at least he's gathered a group of competent, knowledgeable 

public servants around him

that are guiding him in ways that serve us all.

 

 If I was Jill, I'd be begging him to sit this one out;

to take me home to the summer house and watch waves come in and go out

for whatever period of time we have left.

But she knows who she married -

a public servant who wants what's best for the country.

 

Frankly, I'm voting for Joe -

even if he's stuffed and propped in a chair

in a corner.

 Because our democracy is on the line.

 

Fascists are waiting to install a dictator and institute religious law 

that will make The Handmaids Tale look like a vacation spot in the Caribbean.

We have a corrupt Supreme Court

that is reinterpreting the Constitution to meet their ideological ends.

Changing horses in midstream sounds risky and dangerous to me.

Vote for Joe - and get Kamala as our first woman president -

when he dies;

which he will.

I'm good with that;

unless of course, I die first.

Then, good luck to all of you.

Democracy was great while it lasted.