“The first thing you learn in life is you’re a fool. The
last thing you learn in life is you’re the same fool.”
A character named Leo Auffmann said that, in Ray Bradbury’s book,
“Dandelion Wine.” Bradbury wrote the book in 1957. He had already made a name
for himself as a Science Fiction writer with “The Martian Chronicles,” and
“Fahrenheit 451.” Then he wrote this delightful book about a 12 year old boy
discovering what it means to be alive.
When I read the line it resonated in a personal and humbling
way. I have learned over the years that I am a fool. I have also learned over
and over, that I am the same fool. It is impossible to have any small semblance
of self-awareness and NOT learn this simple, humbling truth.
It doesn’t have to be depressing. You can learn that you are
a fool, and still have the confidence to proceed in life.
When I watch and listen to the fools running for President,
I am struck by the thought that they, universally, have not learned this most
basic lesson in life. They are fools. They don’t know it. We should all be wary
of each and every one of them.
This is not to say
that they are all equally foolish. Obviously some are worse offenders than
others. I am making it a personal policy not to name names, but the ones who
proclaim loudly and without a hint of irony that they are the greatest thing to
come along ever, these people in particular are people we should run from as
far and as fast as we can run.
Who then, you might ask, should we approve of? In a
Democracy, who should we vote for?
I haven’t figured out the answer to this question.
There are those who have a long standing policy of voting AGAINST.
They vote against whoever they dislike the most. They don’t particularly LIKE
those who they vote for, but they rationalize their vote by saying, “Better
than so and so.”
I’m not convinced. Anytime you vote, you are, by default,
voting FOR someone. Voting for someone implies that you support them. You
approve of that person being in a position of power.
I am no longer certain if I can ever approve of anyone who
would run for political office. I cannot, in good conscience, approve of anyone
who thinks they should be President. I am beginning to think that the desire to
run for President automatically disqualifies you from the job.
Perhaps I am suffering from a loss of faith, but I no longer support politicians. As a group, they are people to be disdained and disapproved
of.
They consist of ‘the bad,’ and ‘the worse.’
They are fools, and they don’t know it.
I think the rest of us are all too aware of it.
-Peter Wick
March 15, 2016
