Some more wandering thoughts

Just a few wandering thoughts from a wondering mind, the January 2021 edition:

With everything that has happened the past couple of weeks, doesn’t Christmas seem like months ago? We seemed to have thought if we could somehow get out of 2020, things would suddenly change for the better. Then today must be December 47th. Well, it does seem like things have changed, but not in the direction in which we thought.

I did it again, and I should know better. I watched the weather forecast on TV tonight in order to plan on what I was going to do in a few days. Why I do that, I don’t know. Because more often than not, the end of that seven day forecast by the meteorologist will be off from what was predicted. A few years ago and before he left the station, I remember Greg Fishel, the WRAL meteorologist, saying on air that any forecast over three days out wasn’t that reliable. I know that, but I will still start to plan on whether I will play golf the coming Saturday by checking the seven day weather forecast early in the week. I should know better.

Let’s face it, because of Covid, the new normal isn’t really that normal. Sooner than it has been, things will return to a somewhat more normal time. I know many have been hurt financially and personally by the Covid restrictions. But I believe that there have been thousands of lives spared because of them. Could it have been handled in a different manner that is not so burdensome? Maybe, but I believe that our leaders have done the best they can during a time like we haven’t seen in a hundred years.

This is important. We need to know for sure. Is it “canceled” or is it “cancelled?” During this Covid pandemic I’ve seen that word too many times. But how is it spelled?

Back in 2016, I worked with the Sampson County Board of Elections during the early voting period. I always enjoyed meeting and talking to voters while working. I tried to avoid politics and just have a general conversation. One day, a couple of weeks before the election, a voter was talking to me while I was taking a break outside the polling place.

The voter, who had voted for Donald Trump, made a statement to me that has turned out truer than I could have predicted. Concerning a possible Trump victory, he said, “It could be good, but it could be bad. But one thing for sure, it won’t be the same.”

Well, he was right. Whether you think the past four years were good or bad, it definitely wasn’t business as usual. Whatever one thinks of the good of the Trump administration, it will be overshadowed by the bad, particularly by the events of that Wednesday at the Capitol.

Concerning those events, wacko is wacko, no matter what your political persuasion. To me, there’s not much difference between a left wing wacko, hiding behind a racial justice banner, or a right wing wacko, wearing a MAGA hat. The leaders of the movements know they have radical elements in their respective groups just wanting to show their destructive selves. Those leaders bear some responsibility for inciting those destructive actions by direct or indirect inflammatory speech.

Mark Twain once said, “It’s easier to fool people than it is to convince them they have been fooled.” I’ve got a feeling that there’s a lot of people out there who will never be convinced they were used by their leader.

The Wednesday night after the assault on the Capitol, Rev. Steve Wilkins, pastor of Graves Memorial Presbyterian Church in Clinton, posted on Facebook the Epiphany service for the church. The message of the service had changed because of the events of that day. I hope he won’t mind if I share a couple of lines of his sermon that stood out to me.

Rev. Wilkins wrote, “Lord, have mercy upon us. The darkness is real and it is ours. The darkness is real, and it is heavy, and it is oppressive. But your light is always stronger, O God.”

Amen.