The Fish and the Tern

For many years I have watched the schools of fish bubbling the water in the bay. Out of the sky comes a flock of attack birds diving for the fish. The birds hit the water, grab the poor fish, and its gone. I have long seen this as a metaphor of our lives. I am sure I have been influenced by my mother’s sudden disappearance when I was just a kid. We were poor. There were three kids. She didn’t want anymore. And so in some back alley she bled to death. That was the biggest adversity that I ever had to face.

So here we are driving along Route 25 in Ridge, Long Island. We are stopped for a red light. Both Kate and I are relaxed, enjoying our days accomplishments when out of nowhere comes the tern, a Cadillac Escalade slams into us. Before we know what is happening the emergency vehicles are there. Both Kate and I are strapped onto boards, totally immobilized, put into an ambulance, and taken to an ER. Luckily we are not seriously hurt, just banged up enough to bring on the trauma of one’s mortality. A trauma I am very familiar with.

I believe that early childhood experience has very much shaped how I have lived. Life could be snuffed out in an unexpected moment. Like the fish swimming along minding his own business, one swoosh from the sky and he’s gone. That has made my living intense. I simply am never sure when my walk down this beautiful road might suddenly end. None of this is very conscious. I do believe that makes me want to take as much advantage as I can of this wondrous journey.

Our little trauma has no impact whatsoever on the unfolding drama in the nations capital. Pelosi weaving and ducking on the torture problem. Obama unable to make up his mind to release the torture pictures or not. I see so many of these issues as sidebars or ways to prevent focusing on some of the fundamentals, like “the economy stupid.” I have asked my Congressmen and Senators why they don’t just reintroduce the Glass Steagal Act. (No reply yet.) That would separate our Savings Banks from Investment Banks. That’s what FDR did during the 1930’s depression. It was the repeal of that law that permitted Citibank to buy Travelers’ Insurance and send it on the road to bankruptcy only to be saved by the tax payer.In the meantime, one of the major players in the old derivative stunt crowd, Mr. Geithner, is expected to now make certain that everything the bankers do is transparent. Fat chance. But this story is disappearing from page one. We are losing sight of the issue--”It’s the economy stupid.”

I have noticed of late that there are other voices beginning to ask what happened to all that grass roots support that elected Obama? While he tries to find a place from which to lead, it would be very helpful if our professor President heard more from his constituents. Perhaps that would help him to understand that leading means committing yourself to a position and fighting for it. If your major objective is to have everybody agree with you, that can end us up compromising away all the things we believe in. At some point you may have to fight. Maybe he will learn that as he nominates a justice for the supreme court. Obviously his opposition doesn’t give a hoot who he nominates, they are about to give him a lesson how to fight. Hope he learns from it.

In the meantime keep in mind the fish and the tern, and don’t waste any time being bored.

Thanks Kate. N.H.W.Y.