Accepting Defeat

By Fred Owens

Accepting Defeat. It was a rule, in baseball and in life, that you accept your losses. You played a good game, did your best, and you congratulated the winner.

That was the rule. Past tense. But people don't know what the rules are anymore. The rules keep changing, and people are confused. So they behave badly -- hence Donald Trump. Such a man flourishes when there are no rules. He is not likely to make a gracious concession speech. We already know that will happen and we can forget about Trump after that.

The problem is the millions of voters who chose Trump -- the ones in that basket. They will make a loud and stubborn minority.

In a way, Hillary's almost certain victory will solve nothing. I do not expect to feel good about it. I do not expect millions of voters to say ... "well, we tried, but we lost."

For my own opinion, I guess Hillary Clinton will be all right. I mean, we could do worse.

Children's Health. Hillary Clinton and I have both done significant work to improve children's health in this country. The big difference is that I never bothered to brag about it....

Just doing the work is not enough, you need to get more into self-promoting. You need to keep a record of your good deeds and make double-sure that you get full credit for your efforts. We all have much to learn from the example of Hillary Clinton. Do the job, then make sure everybody knows you did the job. That is the path to success.

(Donald Trump skips the first part. He makes sure everybody knows that he did the job, even though he didn't actually do it.)

Aleppo Aleppo, the largest city in Syria, is destroyed, burned and bombed to oblivion. But history can give us strength and hope. Aleppo is one of the oldest cities on earth, going back 7,000 years. Aleppo has been destroyed before, destroyed again and again by conquering armies and by civil strife. Yet every time this great city has risen from the ruins. Aleppo is destroyed but it will rise again. This is not wishful thinking, but a historical certainty.

Greenland is Melting. I would be so much more popular if I was a champion of environmental causes. Save the Whales!

This article in the New Yorker details current research in the Greenland Ice Cap, and seems to point in the direction of a possible disaster -- if it all melts suddenly. I don't know. I don't dwell on this too much.

I should be a disciple of Wendell Berry and cry doom. We should all go back to our villages and till the earth.

I should stand with the tribes in South Dakota and fight the oil pipeline.

On Friday we took a two-hour sunset cruise out of Santa Barbara, going on a fifty-foot catamaran called the Double Dolphin. We had a sweet time. The captain motored along the shore -- no sailing, because there was no wind, I mean zero puffs of air --  but humming softly on the motor, coming up on a school of playful dolphins. There must have been two dozen dolphins jumping and dive-bombing our boat, riding the wake, racing ahead. It was huge fun.

See, I love marine mammals. Save the whales!

Plus I do a lot of work in residential landscaping, all by hand, using only organic materials. So how come I'm not a hero? I need to hire a public relations manager and form a focus group. I need to learn the buzz words. I will get up every morning, look in the mirror and repeat ten times "sustainable, sustainable....."

I am super sustainable. I am more sustainable than anybody anywhere. And the Earth. Boy, do I love the Earth. Really.

This self-promotion is making me tired.

Buying a New Laptop. The 13-inch Apple Air costs $999 at Best Buy. Add MacWord and sales tax and it comes to $1,200. But if I buy it, then the money is gone. This is money in my savings account that keeps my warm at night. Screw the laptop, I'm keeping the money. My old banger still works.

Gardening. Today I went to Keith's house for a bit of yard work. I always have to sweep and rake under the jacaranda tree -- every week. I am bored out of my mind. I really need a vacation.

Vacation to Hawaii. Tomorrow Laurie and I will fly to Kauai  for a week's vacation. It should be fun. But gosh, we're going to miss an entire week of election coverage. Bye-bye, everybody.

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Fred Owens

1105 Veronica Springs RD

Santa Barbara, CA 93105

thank you very much

 

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Fred Owens
cell: 360-739-0214

My gardening blog is  Fred Owens

My writing blog is Frog Hospital