It’s a Simple Game

To borrow a line from the movie, Bull Durham, “This is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains.”

I thought about that this morning as I walked around the front 9 at Hurlburt Field playing an enjoyable game with friends from Wisconsin.  We make life far too complicated, just as Ebby Calvin Laloosh did in the movie.   

It is President’s day, and you know, I didn’t give one passing thought to all those hundreds of people nation-wide who felt it necessary to declare it “Not My Presidents Day,”  nor did I give a passing thought to the probable quotes or misquotes that would play out in the news about the President.  Thankfully for me, it doesn’t affect my life and until it does it seems pointless to get all worked up about it.

But you know one thought did play out as I washed my car today.  A little over a month and a half ago I was visiting a relative and she told me she was scared by the new President.  I didn’t think to ask the right follow up questions at the time, because I am slow that way.  But I thought of them today so here they are.

What scares you about President Trump? 

Is it the possibility of starting a nuclear war, like John F Kennedy almost did with the Bay of Pigs and Cuban Blockade?

It couldn’t be that he will start a war we can’t win and spend more on social programs than we can actually afford like Lyndon Johnson, is it?

Is it the possibility he will end a war where we leave Americans unaccounted for, or create an enemies list and have his staff break into the DNC like Richard Nixon?

How about the mixed messages sent by Jimmy Carter that encouraged the overthrow of an ally and then allowed them to take Americans hostage, feigned moral outrage over the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan, while arming the Mujahedeen and creating the incubation cell for the Taliban like Jimmy Carter?

Maybe it’s the approach Reagan took to bankrupt and destroy the USSR while increasing our national debt, is that it?

Is it the abuse of women?  Like Bill Clinton when he used his position to gain sexual favors from his young interns?

How about the Bush’s?  Are you scared he may start wars we can’t afford, or allow the economy to crash because his focus is on foreign affairs?

Or are you concerned he is not Obama and would choose to support Israel over the Palestinians, while addressing the concerns of the rural and rust belt Americans rather than the urban elite?

Or is it that you just think he’s a vulgar jerk and that scares you?