Wipe Your Feet! [View all]

"One of the first things I think young people, especially nowadays, should learn is to see for yourself and listen for yourself and think for yourself. If you form a habit of going by what you hear others say about someone, or going by what others think of someone, instead of searching that thing out yourself and seeing for yourself, you will be walking west when you think you are going east, and walking east when you think you are walking west."
-- Malcolm X

My daughter, son-in-law, and three month old granddaughter left yesterday, after visiting on a holiday season visit. This is my daughter that used to live in Boston, where she used to work with the current state attorney general. She is the kind of human being that our country needs.

She did not meet "Mr. Right," or "Mr. Left," to better serve her being. I used to tell her that she was no more likely to meet a good man in Boston than she was in Knappsville -- a mid-1800s crossroads that has continued to lose residents ever since. There are three houses and two trailors now. I am of an age where my daughter can appreciate my weak attempts at humor, in what both daughters call "dad jokes."

I told my daughter she would meet the person she was intended when she turned 30. And that she'd meet him when least expected, in an unusual setting. Fathers know these things, sometimes. Since the railroad no longer runs by here, after she had visited years ago, I drove her to another station where my father, his father, and many other family members had worked in the days of old. She was catching a train back to Boston.

The last thing she said to me before departing was, "I'm hoping to find an isolated seat. I don't want to talk to anyone." But of course, when she got on, she saw a young man who really caught her attention. Seeking any opportunity to talk to him, she correctly said, "Oh, my father read that!"

He was from a European country that this one can learn from. Soon, they began taking turns in going back and forth from Boston to Europe. More recently, they got married. I'm able to marry couples legally, and that made the second time in recent years. I did it for my son and daughter-in-law previously. I think it's a giggle that they wanted me to, as I've known me longer than they have, after all.

A lot of his extended family can here for the wedding. Since then, they've told me to move to their country, since the felon would be elected and destroy the United States. I said that President Biden would be re-elected. They said I was standing in the picture's frame, and could not see the whole picture. I thought that they all were really nice, highly intelligent and well-educated people who were simply wrong. It's not as if I am rigid in my thinking, for when VP Harris became our candidate, I fully supported what I knew would be the winning ticket.

I'm sitting in what is now a den, in a house that was a stage coach station in the late 1700s. I'm in my maternal great-great-grandfather's chair. There's a dozen pictures of relatives from my paternal side, people who were born and lived in the 1800s. Some of the pictures were taken in Ireland, and others nearby. At this stage of life, I know I am not far or long from when I'll be a picture added to the wall.

Years ago, just before having major surgery, I updated my Last Will & Testicle. The local pastor of a nearby church (which I got listed on the state and federal historic register) thought it was strange that I included instructing which ever kid lived here to spread my ashes on ice in the driveway. Thus, I will be more than a picture on the wall -- I will be what people track in the house on the bottom of their boots.

Since my daughter & family left, I've been thinking about my children, and my two little grandchildren. I've been reading Erich Fromm's book, "On Disobedience: Why Freedom Means Saying 'No' to Power." He wrote it in 1963, the year that President Kennedy was murdered in a very public way. Even old writings and events are still important. Fromm's book is an important read for Democrats today, as we enter a dark era.

My daughter has been active in politics since well before she was old enough to vote. While living in Boston, her social circle was made of two groups: political activists and amateur boxers. Among her friends in political activism, she was the lone registered Democrat, though other boxers were. All the other activists were registered independents, though they voted for my daughter's last supervisor, the current state Attorney General.

A number of them had come out for my daughter's wedding. I had a blast talking about political and social issues with them. Their thinking struck me as about the same as my son-in-law's family's ..... and indeed, their country's. I respect these young adults, and they respect me. I tell them what Onondaga Chief Paul Waterman used to tell young people: think for yourself, and act for others." I also tell them that the Democratic Party is our best hope, and it can only reach it's full potential if they invest their energies and talents in it.

I hope they remember to wipe their feet when they come in during the winter. For I shall not be here in a way to remind them that I'm stuck to the bottom of their boots. Can't have a clean house if I'm scattered on the floor.