Looking ahead to 2024
I haven’t been feeling especially upbeat lately, and that’s an understatement. This is that time of the year when it gets dark early, especially up north where I live. Gloomy. October 7 and its aftermath have been horrendous. Tuesday’s election results are not encouraging at all and although I try to squeeze something optimistic out of them it’s just too much of a stretch at the moment.
I talk to friends and family and almost all of them are on such a different page politically and it seems as though that will never change, no matter what happens. I love them, but that’s the way it is. And no, I have no intention of ditching my friends and certainly not my family, so please don’t even suggest it.
This isn’t a post for analyzing why we’ve reached this point and what to do about it, but I refer you to some comments: from “Bauxite” here and here, and by “Turtler” here and here.
But for a complete change of pace, there’s this sort of thing. Utterly amazing, and I mean that in a good way. He is five years old:
And then there’s this by Horowitz at 86, shortly before he died. Same piece:
Do I have to look to 2024? That is Cruel and Inhumane.
From one end of life to the other.
Astounding, at both ends.
Who IS that child?
Thank you, Neo, for this interlude of utter beauty and wonder sending shafts of light into this darkening time.
A depressing post — child prodigy excluded — and I understand. I recently left New England for many reasons but high on the list was the raw negative toll that 4-5 months of cold and darkness can exact on a person. And I’ve lost some friends not because of small political differences but because I wasn’t fervently aligned enough with whatever cause they’d decided was most important that week.
Head high, Neo. Spring will be here before you know it.
Neo… your lack of “upbeatness” is no surprise for those of us who hold you in high regard and deep in our hearts.
What to do… this link shared yesterday
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/what-now
has a section that commends a return to a life of faith Get a Little More Religious. You Know You Want To.
You know I’m always going to point to the One who holds all thing and lives in grace… and offer 1 Peter 4:4-9 The end of the world is coming soon. Therefore, be earnest and disciplined in your prayers. Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay.
Prayer. Love. Hospitality. That seems a pretty fair tonic.
Apologies…that is 1 Peter 4:7-9…working without my glasses again…but go ahead & read all of 1 Peter 4…good stuff throughout… 😉
it could be, then again Matthew 24 is the greater wisdom
I very much share the, um, not-upbeat-ness. I found myself unable even to read much about the election results. Just the headlines were depressing enough.
Regarding loss of friends, a moment in 2016 is emblematic to me: within the space of a day or two I was un-friended on Facebook by two people, one because I disparaged Trump, one because I disparaged the idea that Trump was Hitler. Wasn’t close to either so it didn’t matter.
With actual friends, and some family, I’ve had no formal rupture. But are some with whom I don’t talk anymore. Seems to be mutual agreement.
I know many Americans especially on the Right have a very negative view of China and the Chinese. I tend to think it is complicated, China is a very old society and the CCP has only been in charge three quarters of a century. As David Goldman points out, there are more science and engineering students in China than in the West, by far. As our declining West obsesses over every historical fault and injustice and disparages our cultural heritage, China also has many, many students of classical music, and their knowledge of our literature and art is substantial, while here in the West we are taught to reject it.
This young musician is already proficient in an aesthetic that holds boundless insights. Many other Chinese are absorbing something in their studies that they may not consciously understand and accept, but that will change who they are and how they perceive the world. We don’t know where this might take them as individuals, or how it might affect the wandering of the collective Chinese culture over the course of time.
Chopin reaches out from the depths of the past and casts his shadow over a culture he never imagined, and we will never fully realize where that influence leads. Maybe that is something to be cheerful about.
I am puzzled at how one can maintain a friendship with a person who rejects one’s basic values. Minor differences, sure, like brand of beer or best pizza, or more significant ones like choice of entertainment, music or literature. But how can you maintain friendship with people who have profound differences on matters of abortion, homosexuality and other matters of morality? And as far as political differences, it used to be the case that Americans differed only around the edges but the two political parties were generally in agreement on the principle that America was a great country and patriotism was a virtue. At least since the War Between the States and right up until the democrats decided they really preferred life under Communism, somewhere in the mid-sixties. It is now the case, or it seems to me that one who claims allegiance to the republican party is still generally speaking a loyal American, whereas democrats are… something else. A review of the parties’ respective platforms would seem to reveal these monumental differences. I am sorry you seem to have such a conflict in your life, since it is too short to inflict such trauma on yourself. Following your request, I will not suggest you get different friends, but were I in your place, I would consider it. I should feel blessed–and I do–that my friends and, especially, my family are pretty well aligned in most opinions. Although we do differ on the best pizza.
the Chinese regime and its apparat, not the people, they have suffered a great deal going back to the Taiping rebellion, the Japanese invasion, the Maoist interlude
miguel…Mt 24 is ok for those who are already steeped in the apocalyptic tradition.
Peter is “boots on the ground” faith.
BUT…YMMV
Pax
My marching orders, rain or shine, are:
_______________________________
By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
–John 13:35 [KJV]
_______________________________
I’m not very good at it.
something to cheer us uphttps://piqsuite.com/reuters/former-top-baltimore-prosecutor-convicted-of-federal-perjury-charges
I also suffer from very dark feelings about our direction, but one thing that gives me hope is the number of people who are showing great courage in standing up for sanity. I’m going to write a post at some point listing some of them, but just for a sample they include:
JK Rowling, who has spoken up against the more extreme forms of the Trans madness and has not backed down.
Jennifer Sey, former brand president at Levi Strauss, who was on the short list to become next CEO, quit rather than be silenced about her political/social opinions…walked away from $1 million rather than promise to not talk about the events leading to her leaving.
Gail Heriot, law professor and member of the US Commission on Civil Rights, who very often dissents from the popular views.
Andy Ngo, who has taken a lot of physical risks to do his reporting.
David Foster:
Well noted.
These days there are saints stepping up. I’m not going to make a big deal about them being “saints” exactly, but they are special.
I honor them too.
Joan of Arc
In the face of your enemies,
in the face of harassment, ridicule, and doubt,
you held firm in your faith.
Even in your abandonment,
alone and without friends,
you held firm in your faith.
Even as you faced your own mortality,
you held firm in your faith.
I pray that I may be as bold in my beliefs as you, St. Joan.
I ask that you ride alongside me in my own battles.
Help me be mindful that what is worthwhile
can be won when I persist.
Help me hold firm in my faith.
Help me believe in my ability to act well and wisely.
Amen.
https://www.daily-prayers.org/angels-and-saints/prayers-to-saint-joan-of-arc/
Some people have written (not here) that the other GOP hopefuls should stand down, because Trump has such a big lead in the polls. This seems like saying “your team should forfeit the Super Bowl, because all the oddsmakers favor our team.”
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In six weeks the days will start getting longer! 🙂
There is something about the video of the 5 year old playing the piano that just does not seem real, … as in real physically, … not age vs. capability (although that might be part of it?)
I see his hands and fingers move, and I see the keys go up and down, and there is sound at the same time, but I have trouble accepting that there is a connection between these observations. How can his small fingers and hands have enough force to activate the keys? Often he is not even looking at the keys, the keyboard, or his hand/finger positions. It seems almost like he is moving his hands but there is a piano roll actually activating the keys/sounds. That he is pretending to play??
Maybe I just need to new glasses or hearing aids?
miguel cervantes LINK SHARE reposted for easy access
https://piqsuite.com/reuters/former-top-baltimore-prosecutor-convicted-of-federal-perjury-charges
Trying it, I don’t think it works as intended.
R2L:
He’s a bit older now and still plays the piano. But I know what you mean. However, since there are also blind pianists, he certainly doesn’t have to look at the piano to play. Here he is, a little older, explaining how he learned to play piano.
like cable guy nagin
I cannot remain friends, even (perhaps especially) old friends with people who not only do not share my values and whatnot, but who actively oppose and speak out against them.
Accordingly I have broken off several longstanding friendships in the past year. The thing is, those former friends don’t seem at all upset about this. In every case they were the ones who initiated the political discussions that led to the break.
I have no problem socializing with people who vote differently from me. I think my oldest friend (over 50 years) usually pulls the lever for completely different candidates than I do, but I’m not even 100% sure. We are very close, even lived together for many years, and we have had many, many long conversations about everything on and off the Earth. We agree on much and disagree on much. If he called me today and said he needs a kidney I’d be on the next flight to be at his side to donate one of mine.
As I think about my friends and guess who they voted for in the past several Presidential elections, I imagine it’s about 50/50 Democrat/Republican. There are a few people in my social circle who can’t seem to have a conversation without making it political. I find that boring, but still have no problem navigating the discussion to steer it away from superficial vitriol and towards deeper, philosophical areas.
There is a massive system; political parties, political consultants, politicians, media, social internet networks… who make a lot of money off anger, envy, spite and confrontation. I try very hard to keep them from succeeding in my life.
That performance was amazingly musical. When I was young and taking piano lessons, there was a student, about 6, whose instrument was the cello but was taking piano on the side. He had the same sort of amazing musicality. It really brought home the difference between average and talented 🙂
Folks may have noticed that I have an interest in some of the old time pianists, and here we are, Hofmann playing the same piece.
I have no trouble associating with and even loving people who have different ideas than I do about abortion, politics, culture, etc.
I may be the only very traditional conservative person they know. So how could I write them off or be hard hearted against them when they may have invincible ignorance that can be rectified by keeping the lines of communication open?
I try to be as kind and loving as I can so as to provide a reason for them to doubt that people who don’t think like them are evil monsters.
So a couple yrs back I’m there with three HS pals — we gathered to sing motets, Beach Boys, etc., sip single malt and shoot the breeze. Our host is the tenor, a Harvard shrink who seriously suspected Trump was planning to overthrow the government, a POV we assiduously overlooked in the interest of — literally — harmony. So we’ve put aside our Palestrina and we’re sipping and chatting and my math pal starts a tale of a student who once tried to get him fired basically because she’d flunked the course. Whereupon the shrinks’s wife, an otherwise likeable woman, says, “Math would’ve been entirely different if a woman had invented it.”
We had a couple more sessions, but it wasn’t the same. Five years of satisfying music and camaraderie were over.
Le Mot Juste:
Sorry to hear those pleasant get-togethers have come to an end.
But that comment by the shrink’s wife – wow. It just cried out for mockery, but I suppose the need to be polite overrode that.
Indeed, Neo.
She’s a sweet, soft-spoken woman — but of diaper-deep Leftist vintage: raised in Chicago the daughter of an activist Episcopalian pastor, a beloved brother she boasts was clubbed and arrested by “Daley’s thugs” during the ’68 Dem convention…you get the picture. But you may imagine what a sour note any mockery — however apt — would have sounded in a gathering devoted to harmony. (Not that we were ever any threat to your Bee Gees, or the Beach Boys or The King’s Singers. Au contraire: at times, four cats on a back fence was more like it!
@ Lily > “I try to be as kind and loving as I can so as to provide a reason for them to doubt that people who don’t think like them are evil monsters.”
I appreciate, and emulate, that philosophy, because it does influence some people positively; but it is important to note that it has never worked out well for the Jews.
…it has never worked out well for the Jews.
AesopFan:
Well, there’s the long, long run.
I don’t mean to be facetious.
I stand with the Jews.
It can be done.
I was born and raised in New England. My grandmother was born and raised in the Southwest. We disagreed on civil rights and religion- rather strongly. As a result, we seldom discussed those issues. My grandmother designated me to give her funeral oration. Which I did, gladly. I had recorded her in about 5 hours of tapes on the “old days, ” which my brother recently digitized. Warts and all I loved my grandmother. Some of her opinions were merely some of her warts.
My mixed race aunt (1/8 Indian- not uncommon in Oklahoma), who had married one of my grandmother’s sons, told me that my grandmother was the most tolerant person she knew. Whaat? With her view of the 1964 Civil Rights Bill? I figured it out. My uncle had contracted some rare brain infection- UCLA treated him for free, for the knowledge. When my aunt got ready to go to work in the morning, my uncle would lock her in the bathroom, believing she was going out to see other men. My aunt could take just so much of that, and eventually divorced him. My grandmother, like the rest of the family, saw that her daughter-in-law had good reasons for divorcing her son, and maintained cordial relations. THAT is why my aunt considered my grandmother to be the most tolerant person she knew. Many mothers-in-law in that position would cut off all contact with the daughter-in-law: “YOU DIVORCED MY SON, YOU WORTHLESS ….”
Ditto my grandmother in maintaining good relations with family members who had left the one true church. Again, we kept the peace by not bringing up religion, though we did go to her church if we visited her on Sunday.
On the other hand, a Noo Yawk librul cousin who escalated a discussion on the TX Big Freeze of 2021 into a political diatribe, is someone whom I no longer wish to converse with- online or otherwise. (We were never close, so it’s not that big a loss.)
I suspect that he had little experience in person-to-person political debate/discussion, where the participants instinctively learn how to discuss without antagonizing. By contrast, many online commenters know nothing but antagonizing.