As Americans wait to see how our leaders in Congress will deal with the current financial crisis, thousands of folks working on the first official Presidential Debate, scheduled for tomorrow night at Ole Miss in Oxford, Mississippi, must be going nuts. They've spent over $5 million on preparations for the debate, and Mississippi Governor Haley Barber is still smiling and saying "We're planning on having the debate," but don't you know it's crazy down there? My writing group that usually meets monthly in Oxford moved our
gathering to Memphis this Saturday, not wanting to deal with the traffic or the crowds that might still be hanging around the next day. With the debate "up in the air" at this point, I hope my husband's flight home from Washington, DC tonight isn't affected by the last-minute crazies that might be also hitting the airlines, with candidates and their attendants also flying into Memphis, either tonight or tomorrow, since our airport is closest to Oxford. Traveling mercies go out to him and to everyone else coming our way! Those who know me well know that I'm not a very political person. I'm not smart enough or committed enough to spending the time needed to figure this mess out. You won't read many opinions about political issues on this blog. Oh, yes, I'll vote, but I place my hope in a kingdom that is not of this world, so I pray for our leaders more than I campaign for them. Yeah, I'm sure some of you are thinking that's a cop-out, but again, I'm paying attention when I can, and I will vote on November 4.
But in the meanwhile, as we're all waiting for results from Congress, I'll share something I ran across while researching for an essay I'm polishing up to send to a magazine soon. I'm considering leading with this:
Maybe Billy Joel was right. Maybe the generation that came of age in the fifties and sixties didn’t start the fire, but we certainly fanned the flames.
(The essay is about the pursuit of pleasure, something I know a bit more about than politics.) For a fun ride down forty years (1949-1989) of historic and political highlights, check out these videos of Billy Joel's song, "We Didn't Start the Fire." The first one is an actual music video:
The second one is more like the newsreels we used to watch before the main feature started at the movies. Remember that? Anyway, I hope you enjoy the videos, and I'll be back sometime over the weekend.
2 comments:
That's not a cop out, it's actually pretty reassuring that one person in all bloggerdom does not pretend to have all the answers. That's also one good thing about the financial crisis and the $700 billion bailout plan: a poll I saw said one-third of Americans don't know if they agree or disagree with it. I had no idea one-third of Americans would admit to not knowing something. I guess we are bombarded with punditry-soaked media all day it's sometimes difficult to realize not everyone is arrogant and uber-opinionated.
And as a former history major, I am required to name that song as one of my favorites.
My husband is reading your comment over my shoulder and smiling. So I said, "I love it when smart people leave comments on my blog. It makes me look smarter." Instead of being a former history major, I'm a former aerobic dance instructor (yes, but many many skinny years ago) and I can still remember working out to Billy Joel's song (this one and many others) back in the day. Funny how the same song can trigger such different memories for the diverse lives we lived. Thanks for writing, Brandon!
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