Frog Hospital: It Begins with Breakfast

Sunday, July 17, 2016

It Begins with Breakfast

By Fred Owens

There was Brexit -- June 23 -- but it seems a century ago and we gazed over the ocean to Britain to consider that very important event. Then the black man was shot in Baton Rouge and shot again in Minneapolis. Terrible. President Obama flew to Dallas to eulogize five slain white police officers. You had to remember who was who.

Back across the ocean again, the truck driver struck the crowd in Nice killing 84 people. It was terribly random. The next day, only two days ago, Turkish President Erdogan survived a military coup attempt.

Today, three cops are killed in Baton Rouge.

This seems like a lot, but I am far from overwhelmed. And why? Because I avoid raw footage on social media and the flash mob hysteria of Facebook. Because I read books and do not jump to conclusions. Because I trust my heart and my mind when they are working together. Because I read history and I know that most of this has happened before.

And because I start the day with a good breakfast. Slow down for a minute and follow my routine. On most evenings I get in bed about 10:30 and read a few pages of some novel. I start to get very sleepy. I put down the book and fall asleep in no time.

Some nights I have dreams. I never understand them, but they seem harmless and necessary. I usually wake up about 5 a.m. for a bathroom visit and then I doze until 6:30.

I enjoy getting up in the morning because I look forward to having a nice hot cup of coffee and reading the newspaper. The paper is out there on the driveway. Santa Barbara is a first-rate community with a second-rate newspaper. Just take my word for it. But I can read the sports and Dear Abby and the funnies and some useful items about local events while I'm watching Good Morning America with George Stephanopoulis.

I eat a bowl of Heritage Flakes cereal from Trader Joe's. I cover it with cold milk and add a little honey.

I do this every day. Ritual is very common in morning times because there is a delicate transition from sleeping to waking. Like a emerging from a shell we emerge from the deep unconsciousness of sleep into wakefulness and a mild disturbance can throw us off our game.

I read the morning news with my coffee and cereal to find out what happens in Nice and Istanbul and Dallas and Baton Rouge.

The news is always bad. That's why I want to know. We can give a brief moment of attention to a distant calamity. That is a good thing. But I can also hear the birds singing and the crows talking right outside our window. And I am not telling you about the one who shares my breakfast, but she is good news from start to finish.

Clinton and Trump. The terrorist attack in Nice and the attempted military coup in Turkey reminds me that Mrs. Clinton is the more solid figure. Trump is nothing but mouth, but Hillary will fight if necessary so I am with her.

It's the three a.m. phone call. That was a good ad Hillary made in 2008 -- that she could deal with a crisis in the middle of the night. But you know -- most of us can. Most of us can suspend our routine because of an emergency and still make rational decisions. God forbid a three a.m. phone call comes to you or to me, but we could handle it if we had to.

But Mr. Trump? I don't trust him in broad daylight much less after midnight.

Raise the minimum wage. Raise the minimum wage. Forgive student loan debt. Shutdown the payday loan business. Abolish all private prisons because justice is a public responsibility ........ Legalize marijuana and retroactively pardon prisoners convicted for sale and possession of that plant...... that's probably enough ...... I also maintain a lot of cranky, reactionary views so it doesn't add up to a consistent political program. The Democrats don't have much use for me because I don't stay on message.
Breakfast. What is your morning routine? When do you get up? Do you read the news? Do you converse? Do you start the day off with exercise? Do you like eggs? Scrambled or fried?