Tuesday On My Mind

Task 42, November 1 to November 8

"Men and nations behave rationally once they have exhausted all the other alternatives". Abba Eban

We have strong points of views. We adopt intense, often rigid opinions on almost any subject under the sun. We (in this case, men) can argue about sports, food, sex, money, cars, liquor, movies and politics. I once heard two guy argue over which tires are better: radial or bias ply. What?

Just the other night I met three guy friends for dinner. Pasta. Old fashioned pasta. It's one of those places where they call the sauce "gravy", and people hunch over their plates, fork in one hand and a hunk of bread in the other, and push the food into their mouths.

At any rate, the guys and I were there for four hours, and we didn't agree on a single thing. Nothing.

For example, we got into it about guns. I'm not a gun guy--my old man gave me a .22 for my 13th birthday, but it didn't take. What do I need a gun for? I have a Costco close by, which takes care of my need for meat, and when the squirrel in my back yard tries to ransack my tomatoes, I shoot it with water from the hose.

This friend of mine, Seth, railed at me about the 2nd amendment, and went on and on about his God-given right to keep a loaded shotgun underneath his pillow if that's what he chose to do, and no one was going to tell him any different. The other two guys leaned his way, and eventually that argument bled into another until it went where it was destined to go: the upcoming election.

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The election? Maybe you've heard about it? Trump vs. Harris. The most important election of our lifetime? (I thought that took place in 2020? Or maybe it was 2016?). Or in my case, it was 2000--I was a basket case on election night in 2000, and the weeks following, when the Supreme Court stepped in to decide the presidency.

Don't get me wrong. I'm going to be traumatized if my candidate loses. And my wife? Forget about it--I'll be commuting to Canada if I want to see her for the next four years.

But whatever happens, whether I wake up the next morning in terribly funk, seething with anger and frustration and wailing "how can this happen"; or I wake up totally elated and euphoric and grinning from ear to ear--I WILL arise and I WILL push through as I have always done--controlling that which I can control and letting God take care of the rest.

But I do hope I win.

TASK:

Get a grip on yourself before Tuesday.