Plenty of Things to Make

Us Upset as We Begin

New Year & New Decade

By Tom Anselm

Every once in a while, I lose my relentless optimism and get really cranky. Make Mr. Rogers look like Meow Meow ate his favorite red tennies. Make Mother Teresa look like Archie Bunker. So today, with everybody and his brother doing an oh-so-clever retrospective of not only the year 2019 but also the last decade, I am just really ticked off. I know, I know… lousy way to start a year right? Well, too dang bad.

Here is my “Greatest Hits of Pain in the Butt Stuff.” Hold my beer. Let’s start with people. People who run red lights and cut in and out of traffic on the highway. People who preach tolerance for everyone’s lifestyle and opinion, but go off the deep end when someone does or says something that differs from “their”  position. People who allow hatred to guide their daily life. People who claim to be “woke” (a word that just positively gags me), but fail to see just how hypocritical they are.

Which brings me to the worst kind of people… politicians. They claim to be so concerned for their constituency, for “the American People” (every time I hear that term I scream!) when all the time we all know that most of them are just in it to get reelected and to take care of their donors. Especially at the federal level, but also at state and local levels.

Former Speaker of the House Thomas “Tip” O’Neill used to say ‘all politics is local’ when he could have said ‘all politics is self-serving.’ Which brings me to the next bunch of self-serving hypocrites, the press. Again, I know it has always been this way, especially in our free society, and I do feel the First Amendment may be one of the greatest ideas the Founding Fathers might have come up with. But come on, boys and girls on both sides, can’t you just be a little fair with your reporting. This one could go on for many paragraphs, so I will stop here.

How about the way our leaders, so-called, bully each other? Despicable. What great examples for our children…not! And the trend toward pronoun-identification. What the what? People really being asked as to what pronoun they prefer for themselves? This is just plain silliness.

Let’s skip to crime and law enforcement. Police bust their tails getting criminals off the street, then judges and prosecutors and defense lawyers make deals and plea bargains so they can get a nice conviction record or keep the poor misunderstood perpetrators out of those nasty jails. Or to dish out suspended sentences or light time or early paroles, only to see these same criminals back out in our neighborhoods committing more crime, well, it makes me feel like puking.

Not to mention the highest officials of the top law enforcement agency in the land, the FBI, doing all its dirty little tricks and acting so virtuous in the offing. Okay, ‘allegedly.’ We’ll see how that goes.  Not expecting much. But wait, there’s more, as they say in the infomercials.

As a Catholic, I am appalled, horrified, disgusted at how we have been lied to by our leaders with regard to the sexual abuse by priests. Years of deceit, obfuscation, pandering, transferring perpetrators, ruining lives and, sad to say, I fear it goes all the way to the top. Along those lines, how about the same type of behaviors being shucked under the rug when we look at the rich and powerful, the entertainment moguls, the politicians (again!), the ‘connected’? Yuck, and for shame. I could go on, but better stop. Gotta get out of this funk.

Maybe take a walk in the woods. Refind the positive perspective. There have been some great things to savor this year, like the Blues winning the Stanley Cup, a great-niece’s wedding, and a life-saving operation for our precious little Tommy. Time to start 2020 fresh. Prayer is the only thing I can bring to all the above.

So here goes: Lord, give me the strength to turn to You with my vexation. I pray for this world, for our children, and their children. Please, Lord, shower us all with Your peace. So, Happy New Year, friends.

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