We live in the information age where people prefer not to do research & instead use opinions, a funny picture on social media or what their friend said to make ‘educated’ decisions.
It is troubling.
A man cut me off today and I hit the horn and the brakes.
He chased me for several miles in his Chrysler 300 and pulled alongside my car and screamed at me but I never acknowledged him though part of me wanted to.
I knew if I did things might take a turn that I didn’t need nor really want. I hadn’t honked because I was angry but because I wanted him to recognize there was a coming at him and I preferred not to end up in his back seat.
It happened on my way to a lunch meeting at Deli News in Dallas. The guy didn’t follow me onto the freeway so the three minute commute to the on ramp was quickly forgotten.
Later on in the day some antisemites tried to douse me in a double dose of Jew hate which was more disappointing than anything else.
I have a pretty thick skin.
Being called names or accused of being a genocidal maniac by people who can’t find Africa on a map and wonder where their lap goes when they stand up don’t have credibility with me.
I spend large chunks of time in the car and or other places where I am afforded the opportunity to listen to stuff.
Sometimes I use that time for listening to all different kinds of music and sometimes it is for entertainment and or thinking.
So you can find me listening to books on Audible, interviews that Howard Stern conducts or various podcasts.
Lately I have focused more on Call Me Back – with Dan Senor. If we are Facebook friends you have probably seen me link to a few with Einat Wilf and or Ron Dermer among others.
Much of that is tied to what is going on in Israel and some of how it ties to the US. I supplement some of that with the Inside Israel substack and multiple newspapers/magazines.
Sometimes it gets kind of heavy but that is part of why I like the Stern interviews and some of the books.
If you do nothing but read/listen to people who talk about the existential threat facing Israel or democracy in the US it can be challenging.
It is fair to say I like flipping between getting lost in thoughts and ideas about some serious stuff as well as the silly.
Every time someone says you can’t fight your way to peace I present WWII where we most certainly did fight our way to peace.
Did fighting Germany turn every German into Nazis?
Nope.
Are there still some Nazis walking around?
Yes?
Do they control a country and have the ability to engage in mass destruction?
Nope.
Japan and Germany are very different countries than they once were.
That is part of a response I have shared a variety of times with those who have engaged with me regarding the war.
It is connected to what I said at the beginning of this post and applicable to so many events of the past decade or so, if not longer.
Moved most of the finances over to Quicken and been spending time trying to confirm that anything not listed there is intentional.
Stretched myself and exhaled in a way that made me snort because I realized I had seen my father do that a million different times.
Made me try to remember being truly little to see how much I could remember about it. Intermixed with the moment my own son said something to me in response a comment I made and shook his head.
“You never say that. Every other time you say XYZ.”
I shrugged my shoulders and wondered if he is right. He might be, it was tied into something I don’t pay as much attention to.
That in itself got me thinking about some of the changes I see in myself and some of the things that are going on now.
More changes, more people going their separate ways and more thoughts that some things will or won’t happen and it just doesn’t matter because they will or they won’t.
I’ll be 60 in five years and if you asked me to make a prediction about what life will look like I am not sure I would be willing to do so.
So many variables, so many possibilities.
It is kind of interesting, kind of exciting and kind of intriguing. But it is also too damn far away to worry about.
