In case you can’t already tell, I was an English Major, with a concentration in American Literature (because I came from England and wanted to learn more). Anyway, I often find myself taking life lessons from the books I read, and I mean regular non-fiction or fiction, not so-called self-help books.
This subject was inspired particularly this morning because my daily reader had a quote from Aldous Huxley which is very pertinent to the pickle we find ourselves in these days. He says “Experience is not what happened to you, it is what you do with that experience.” So I realized that we must not lose heart and must keep up our resistance to the fascist takeover by the liar-in-chief and his Project 2025 enablers.
Huxley’s quote also reminded me of a woman I met when we were crossing the Atlantic for the third time. I was 12 years old and had already initiated my lifetime habit of talking to strangers. It turned out that this very cheerful woman I initiated a conversation with had suffered more tragedy than most, but she was determined not to let it finish her off. She had lost a couple of children before their time as well as having had cancer two separate times in both breasts, I think. Even as young as I was, I was incredibly impressed by her fortitude. And as you can tell, I still remember her to this day.
So while current circumstances are enough to piss off the Pope as we used to say, we will not be cowed and must continue in every way possible to fight back. I have just finished reading E. Jean Carroll’s book Not My Type, and I was amazed at how many years and how many court cases it took for her to finally get some measure of relief from our justice system. The book also reminded me of the case against Giuliani in which the poll workers won a defamation judgment against him.
Now I am going to read a book sent to me for my birthday by my BFF Carol. She knows I admire Kareem Abdul-Jabbar immensely, and she found one of his titles from 2016. “Writings on the Wall: Searching for a New Equality beyond Black and White” which was very thoughtful of her. My darling sister also knows my taste and sent me one of Alexander McCall Smith’s No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency novels that I had missed. So I have my serious daytime reading as well as a good bedtime yarn to keep me occupied while I figure out how to save the world.
RESIST ALWAYS
TTFN
Lady, you have gotten so far behind with saving this world that I fear for us all. Robert Reich posted today that he is enthusiastic about how great younger people are today, and how funny they are also. Perhaps you might take on and mentor a younger understudy to fill in as you devour those new book. If so, I am applying. I wasn’t born until 1949 and can recount history from Eisenhower through Trump.