Words and Consequences

 

Encouraged and invigorated by the shameless lies of the unrepentant lame-duck President, and emboldened by the vitriol spewed by sycophants in the United States Senate (Messrs. Cruz, Hawley, Johnson, et al. I am looking at you), rioters stormed the Capitol Building yesterday afternoon.  

Having fomented this outrage with repeated lies about the results of the November election, one that he doubled down on yesterday afternoon during his recorded video statement reminding these folks how special they all are and telling them to go home, Mr. Trump owns yesterday's events.  Do not feel compelled to take my word for it.  Read Michael Goodwin's column (here's the link to it) in the New York Post.  

Ultimately, a half-dozen members of the United States Senate and one hundred twenty-one members of the House objected to certifying Joe Biden's victory.  Among them, noted constitutional scholar and freshman Senator from Alabama, Tommy Tuberville.  Coach Tuberville, who confirmed approximately sixty days ago that his understanding of the three branches of the federal government was that it is comprised of the House, the Senate, and the Executive Branch.  I cannot wait until he attends his first State of the Union and witnesses the arrival of nine men and women wearing the black robes of Supreme Court Justices.  

Jingoism masquerading as patriotism.  As dangerous as ever. 

-AK 

Certified or Certifiable?

For your consideration, as Vice-President Pence today presides over the certification of the Electoral College vote count in front of a joint session of Congress and in front of however many millions of eyeballs are watching on television, iPhone, tablet, or whatever: 

-AK 

A Story About Love

This year is the twentieth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.  Shortly before Margaret, Sam, and I joined Jill, Joe, and Rita to ring in the new year in Bay Head, I finished my final book of 2020. 

"What Brothers Do" 

Michael Everett Brown, M.D. 

Dr. Michael Everett Brown is, in his own right, an extraordinary human.  His big brother, FDNY Captain Patrick "Paddy" Brown of Ladder 3, was larger-than-life. Paddy Brown was a legendary figure in the FDNY long before he was killed in the collapse of the North Tower on September 11, 2001.  

Michael Brown's book is an incredibly worthwhile read.  It is evident throughout just how much reverence Dr. Brown felt for his big brother.  The greatness of his book is not that he recounts the stories of his brother's heroism, which he does.  His book's greatness is found in the way he humanizes his brother.  It was on a human level that Paddy Brown's life - and death - had the greatest impact.  He was far more than a hero. He was a son, a brother, and a great friend.  His death affected not simply the city he loved, it affected those he loved and those who loved him most of all. 

The final line of Dr. Brown's book is, "I started out writing a story about pain and ended up writing a story about love."  Indeed, he did.  

-AK 

The First Rule of the Playground

Could not help but think of my father, WPK, Sr., on Friday night as I watched Ohio State obliterate Clemson in the CFP National Semi-Final, 49-28.  One of the best pieces of advice he ever gave me was "Never Violate the First Rule of the Playground:  Never Write a Check with Your Mouth that Your Hands Can't Cover".  

Dabo Swinney, the Tigers' exceptionally-successful head coach, violated that rule in the run-up to Friday night's game.  In the final Coaches' Poll before the post-season (and after Ohio State had been selected for the four-team playoff AND had been named as Clemson's opponent in the National Semi-Final), Swinney voted the Buckeyes #11 in his Top Twenty-Five.  He had ranked his own Tigers #2.

Coach Swinney now has the off-season to choke down his dinner of crow and humble pie, served cold of course. The best revenge always is.  Presently, Ohio State is busy preparing for its January 11 date in the National Championship Game with Alabama, which took Notre Dame about behind the woodshed in the other Semi-Final.  Early on, oddsmakers have installed the Tide as a touchdown favorite over the Buckeyes.  While I have no idea who will win next Monday night, I am reasonably confident saying that I doubt Coach Ryan Day or his players give a rat's ass about the odds.  

-AK 

Prime Time

Margaret, Sam, and I began this year in my favorite place.  After spending a simply terrific New Year's Eve as Jill and Joe (and Rita's) guests in Bay Head, I woke up on New Year's Day and, shortly after sunrise, I went for a run.  Sam I Am stayed home.  When the wind barrels out of the northeast at 10+ miles per hour and makes an already brisk 38 degrees feel like a bracing 27 degrees, man runs and beast does not.  My decision elicited no complaint from my faithful canine running companion. 

There is no way that I enjoy welcoming the arrival of the new year more than by running at the Shore. On New Year's Day, I headed east towards the water for a couple of blocks before snaking my way south into Spring Lake.  

Spring Lake September 11 Memorial

New Year's Day 2021

I ran through Spring Lake for a bit and then turned east towards the water so I could run north - to home - on the boards...into the teeth of the aforementioned northeast wind.  

Spring Lake - New Year's Day 2021

It was very cold.  Yet, it was even more calming and serene. 

Belmar - New Year's Day 2021

As I ran, I thought of Mom.  I thought of how much she loved the beach and the ocean. I thought of the peace it had brought to her - especially during the final twenty years of her life when she lived in Jupiter, Florida.  I thought of how much peace it brings to me.  And I smiled. 

Belmar - New Year's Day 2021

My love of the beach, my reliance upon it to center me, and to bring me peace is my inheritance.  Here, forty-three months since her death, I remain indebted to her for it.  I always shall be. 

Love you, Mom.  My love for you is something that neither time nor memory shall fade away.  

-AK 

Days of Miracle and Wonder

For all the trials and tribulations 2020 brought, it also brought the Missus and me two more granddaughters. Rylan arrived in late February and five months later, almost to the day, Shea joined her. My grandkids are the great blessing of my life. They prove to me that I have made out much better than I otherwise have deserved to make out.  They are extraordinary. 

Maggie, who is three-and-a-half (already!), her brother Cal, and their first cousin (literally and figuratively) Abigail, are dedicated, fervent believers in the magic of Santa Claus and Christmas.  Cal and Abigail are two-and-a-half.  While Margaret and I did not see the Colorado branch of the family tree in person this Christmas, we did visit with them via the magic of Face Time, which permitted us to see firsthand how excited Abigail was about the Doc McStuffins toys and paraphernalia Santa had left for her under her Christmas tree, which is to say as excited as Maggie was about Santa remembering that she had asked for a Cry Baby Doll and as excited as Cal was about Santa bringing him the dinosaurs for which he had asked.  

My grandchildren are the greatest gift I have ever received and shall ever receive.  This Christmas, in a year when opportunities to be merry and bright were in dangerously low supply, their pure, unadulterated joy was my best present - even better than the new Garmin watch AND the ticket to the 2021 See. Hear. Now Festival on September 18 and 19 in Asbury Park that Santa (a/k/a Margaret) left under my tree. 

Children grow up fast.  Too fast, perhaps.  There shall be a Christmas, far closer on the horizon line than I might want to acknowledge presently, when believing in Santa will be spoken of in the past tense.  Those days are not these days.  These are the days of miracle and wonder.  I shall embrace them and enjoy them for however long they last. 

-AK 

1 / 1/ 21

If you are reading this, then congratulations for having made it through 2020. If at any time in the annals of recorded history three hundred sixty-six days have taken longer to complete than those we have just completed, then those who lived through that other time have my most sincere sympathies. 

The irony about a new year is that while the year is new, the history we carry with us into it is not. Our life is not a dry-erase board that is wiped clean on December 31.  Instead, it is a work in progress to which revisions are constantly being made.  You cannot outrun your past, whether an individual, a family, or a nation.  You can try simply to learn from whatever bad decisions, errors, and mistakes that occupy a piece of your past to ensure that you do not repeat them going forward.  A mistake repeated over and over is a decision.  

We the people of these United States find ourselves fast approaching the first anniversary of COVID-19's appearance here. Almost twelve months after its arrival, millions remain out of work, hundreds of thousands have died, countless students of all ages are still learning remotely, and we are still being directed to wear masks, wash our hands until they bleed, and socially distance ourselves from loved ones. How is it that as we begin January 2021 we find ourselves living in a nation that looks eerily like the nation we lived in way back when in April 2020?  

The answer is that we did it to ourselves. 

One of the late, great John Wooden's many time-tested maxims was, "If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?" It is a maxim that we ignored, and have continued to ignore, in dealing with COVID-19. In our desperation, our zeal to "get back to normal", we ignored more than simply science. We ignored common sense and logic.  Tragically, we proved far too often throughout 2020 that we have not only weaponized ignorance in this country, we have weaponized politics.  Instead of playing the long game and considering not simply what was in our own best interest but also the effect that acting solely in our own best interest would have on everyone else, we played a short-sighted, ignorant game.  

To borrow a phrase from the Poet Laureate of New Jersey, looking out for one another, "ain't a Democrat thing or a Republican thing, it's an American thing." Here in 2021, may we all resolve to be better to one another, not simply in word (which is important) but in deed.  May we resolve to stop cutting our noses to spite our faces.  

The year is new.  Whether it shall be happy depends upon us.  

Let's resolve to do this thing, shall we? 

-AK