A Sunday evening's olio of miscellany

Dead people:

I was going to post a comment about the gushing praise of the late Tim Russert on the community blog of the Bookshelf Community. It became rather personal and local to Fairmont, though, so I’m putting it here:

Tim Russert was a valuable person.

So was Dr. S. K. Wang, who died Friday. He was a Harvard trained orthopedist who left mainland China in the war and then served as an officer in the United States Army. He was my friend, and even when he stuck a spear in my heart in a deposition, he did it with good nature. He was a brother Mason. English was his second language, and he knew it, so he spoke clearly and spelled medical stuff that his accent made unclear. I remember a deposition where he had said that a client had no impairment, but needed retraining. Aha! I had him in a contradiction! Why, doctor, I asked, would someone without impairment need retraining?!? He replied, well, I think she’s too lazy to work as a (whatever), so maybe something else will catch her interest. Sigh. And he laughed and laughed, and so did I.

So was Betty Leggett, a lady at our church, who spent a great deal of her life caring for a profoundly disabled daughter, as well as raising 3 other children. Life threw lots of garbage at her, and she kept her faith and good spirits. She loved to play bridge and was really good at it. She led an exemplary life.

Opening our minds for the one should not close them for the many. Each of us will die, corporeally. I don’t pretend to have made a whole raft of progress on the spiritual implications of that, but I have the progressions visible on an EKG down real good. In a normal life, each of us will have at least the opportunity to confront Thanatos, although many folks leave the room, go get coffee and wall off terror that cannot be named.

Like I say, there is a whole spiritual realm to all of this that I really don’t understand.

Chutzpah:

I love that word. I think I can define it by example. Yesterday, I was in B&N with LaJ prior to going to a flick. (Aside: Movie = Zohan. Thank God for ear buds and the MP3.) I saw a new book that looked pretty good. (Final Theory, by Mark Alpert) So I headed for the coffee shop to get a cinnamon dolce latte (reminds me of one of my favorite Far Side cartoons) and downloaded it for $10 to my ebook. I don’t know how big a competitor the ebook is going to be to the brick & mortar world. I have read that Borders is looking at an acquisition by Amazon.

Local Politics:

Partner Amy has a real race in the general election for Family Court Judge. The Republican candidate is Shirley Stanton. Therefore, there is no gender factor. Shirley is a VERY nice lady, and the sort of person who has the velvet glove covering an iron fist controlled by a jet engine mind. She is economically successful, so if she chooses to, she can dump 30K into the race and she presents herself very well. Shirley is my friend.

The canon:

I’ve submitted the current installment of the canon to the bar magazine, and I’ll publish it here when it’s published there. It’s really now a perpetual work in progress. Next month’s submission will include a few books on spirituality which, to those who have known me for years, will seem rather, well, bizarre. Or heretical.

By the way, the Committee on Heresy and Secularism (consisting of myself) met this morning before services, and renamed rooms at the church. From now on, the narthex shall be known as the “front room,” and the sacristy, the “kitchen.”

Life too short:

In the past week, several people have talked about being involved in unpleasant phone conversations with idiots. That should never be a problem. You should never hear more than one abusive phrase directed at yourself. And it is pointless to reply. Just hang the damn phone up and move on.

Perspective:

In Europe, gas costs the equivalent of $6 per gallon, and the Middle East is a lot closer.

Pippa passes.

R