“Janus, the Roman god for whom January is named, is a twin faced deity, the god of gates and doorways. He is a god of transition. This New Year’s Day, many must feel the two views look about the same for Janus: One face looks upon the economic havoc of 2008; the other sees more of the same for 2009. But there is reason to hope. The moment of sobriety, for all its inherent pain, offers great promise. In it, leaders have the opportunity to help focus us on common goals, eliciting self-sacrifice and ingenuity, for a brighter future.” (St. Petersburg Times, 1/1/09)
The thoughts expressed in the above quoted paragraph were similar to what I wanted to write that I just made them part of this Jotting! As I look forward, I hopefully see some good things are going to be happening in 2009. Looking back I see many things for which to be thankful.
The pastor at the first service of the year alluded to “Janus” and added something I had never heard of before. It was that the face looking back is an ‘old’ one and face looking forward ‘young’. This makes sense since the past is always old and the future young!
“Tempus Fugit!” (Time Flies!) Or so it seems when you are at my age. Even though I am less active than when I was younger, I still find getting all my projects done in the prescribed time gets tougher and tougher. In looking back to review what has passed, it occurs to me that it is too bad I don’t keep a diary or journal. Well, the thought is a good one but experience has taught me it doesn’t fill the bill most of the time. I did keep a journal in the years 2001 through most of 2004, but when I went back to read them I found more trivia than important memories. I recently came across two of my favorite writers, P.D. James and C.S. Lewis commenting on keeping a diary or journal. C.S. Lewis writes, “…a diary is nothing so useful as I had hoped. You put down each day what you think is important, but of course you cannot each day see what will prove to have been important in the long run.” P.D. James the author of some eighteen books who wrote one entitled “A Time To Be In Earnest”. The book was a record of her life from age 77 to the 78. She has just published (2008) another entitled “The Private Patient: An Adam Dalgliesh Mystery”. I note in the info about her in that book that she was 80 years of age in the year 2000, so she is publishing this one in 2008 and 88 years of age! The title to the book “A Time to be in Earnest” is taken from and adage by Dr. Sam Johnson which reads, “At Seventy Seven, it’s time to be in earnest”. In the book, “A Time to be in Earnest” she agrees with Lewis that keeping a diary is difficult since you must determine each day what is ‘important’ enough to record. She doesn’t bother with daily reports in the book but generally scans weeks or so at a time. She concentrates on evens as the happened within the year. Lewis had one good comment about keeping a diary. I brought even more appreciation to him of the biography of Dr. Johnson by Boswell. He writes: “The only good I got from keeping a diary was that it taught me a just appreciation of Boswell’s amazing genius. I tried very hard to reproduce conversations, in some of which very amusing and striking people had taken part. But none of these people came to life in the diary at all. Obviously something different from mere accurate reporting went into the presentation of Boswell’s Langton, Beauclerk, Wilkes, and the rest” (All are men with whom Dr. Johnson chats in Boswell’s biography) It is an interesting coincidence that both authors in talking about keeping a diary end up mentioning Dr.Samuel Johnson. I learned in reading P.D. James’ book on the year from 77 to 78 that she was and is an ardent fan of Dr. Johnson and considered him a better writer than William Shakespeare!
We had many wonderful things happen in 2008 so it is difficult to class one as more wonderful than another. One that I have mentioned before in these Jottings but still calls for comment, is the sacrifice, the graciousness, and love exhibited by June in going north for nearly two months to a take care of Katherine, my former spouse. Katherine had another knee operation and would be incapacitated for some time. June had taken care of her after her first knee operation. Son once again she lived with her, fed her and many relatives and friends, saw she got her vitamins and medicine, and tried to make her take some exercise. There is no classifying these actions. They are the acts of a loving and caring woman that I have been blessed to call my wife.
While we were up north we also got to attend the graduations of granddaughter, Kate Bake, Linda McSorley, and Kelly Golden. Kate and Linda went on to college, Kate to Princeton, and Linda to Fordham. Kelly went to a job in Baltimore. We also had the opportunity while down in Maryland to spend some time in Shirley McSorley’s home in Northeast, MD. We had our twin grandsons, Dave and Sean Hopkins, join us there for a time. They were back to living together in Aberdeen, MD. June also managed to make some extra food for them to take along when they returned to their apartment. We ended our stay up north at our favorite New Jersey shore resort, Avalon. It was a gift of a week there from son Bill for Christmas. We had many visitors, some staying and others passing through. We left there on June 16th and arrived home in Florida on the 18th.
The election of a black man as President is of course an historic event. We noted this in our November Jottings. But there is another somewhat historic event in his election in that the White House now has two young children also living there. In my lifetime there have been other children living with their parent President, but not as young as I recall. The last time such young children resided there were with John Kennedy. It is interesting that the one surviving child and member of that family, Caroline is now seeking take Hilary Clinton’s place as the Senator from New York. Unfortunately comes the thought of how John Kennedy ended his stay, i.e., being assassinated which we hope and pray will not be Obama’s fate.
Another war rages as we write. This one is between Israel and Palestinians, or Hamas. The United Nations among others condemned it with a 14-0 vote for a cease-fire. The U.S. abstained! Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State explained that U.S. ‘fully supported’ the vote but because of the negotiations between Egypt and Hamas they had abstained. How do you “fully support” a resolution but abstain from voting for it? Couldn’t we have voted in favor of it and then spoke of our continued support of the negotiations? I learned later that Condoleezza Rice was the initiator of the resolution! Then she was ordered to not vote for it by the President. The Press alleges he did so at the request of the Prime Minster of Israel! It reminds me of the way Bush treated the UN in 2003 when they informed Colin Powell that there was no evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq nor were they believe any ‘terrorist’ residing therein. Their message was ignored then and now the President says, “Not finding weapons of mass destruction was a significant disappointment” He fails to mention the evidence he had from the UN in 2003 but as with other UN actions he ignored it. It is a wonder that he even bothered to continue having a representative as part of the UN. His actions as I recall were one of the reasons Colin Powell left the office of Secretary of State. It is no wonder that most of the nation in the last two and half years, according to Gallup Polls, lost confidence in the leadership of President Bush.
I would never have made it as a diplomat. We assume these actions are politically motivate, but then aren’t they all – regardless of who is President? Obama claims that won’t be so in his administration but only time and history will prove that. I am happy I am not obliged to answer that question and look forward to a New Year, a New President, and New Ideas to help us live happier and better lives in the “land of the free and home of the brave”!
We wish you all good health and happiness n the year 2009 and until next time Pax Tecum! (Peace be with you!)