Today we saw proof that age doesn't mean wisdom...
What is up with Barney Frank, Jack Murtha, Chuck Schulmer and John Kerry?
I can tell you because I know; they think they have paid their dues and so now they think they know what they are talking about so feel they can say anything they want. And how do I know that; because I am over 50 (so I guess that chornologically makes me their peer?), and fell (still fall?), into the same trap myself.
As most who read this blog know, I am a retired military officer in my 50s. When I got out, for a time, I thought I was pretty smart. I mean after all, I had travelled a very large part of the world, had been an officer and leader, and besides, I was over 50, so I had to be wise! WRONG!!
I was pretty lucky in the service in that there were plenty of things that tempered the way I intereacted with my fellow members of ship's company and took the edge off of my stupidity. Add to it my enlisted ranks wife with her whithering and I MEAM WHITHERING sarcasm and Scottish-Irish gift of the gab, and I was able to keep my ego in check (or else!). After I got out and became a civillian I thought more highly of myself than I should have or really had the right to. I mean, I was a veteran, so I must be an expert in everything, and besides, I was over 50, translate older, translate smart, translate...RIGHT, sure I was.
Well, I thnk that for the most part I have probably through no fault of my own to mostly get over myself and here I am now watching some of those senior members of Congress make fools of themselves in the same way, and in the process, and, possibly stab the younger generations for whom they claim they are trying to build them a future right in the square of that same collective future. My point is that they probably have developed a probably over developed sense of themselves; I think that explains a lot of the recent sillines, and, they need to be put in check..BY YOU, NOW!
Luckily, Barrack Obama heads the ticket and the Democratic party, so things will probably turn out ok, but I am still a little worried about things, especially in places like PA. I still am worried by what McCain is doing going back in there, and by the apparent lack of concern being shown by the Obama campaign; I still think there is some cause for concern. So, we don't need the help of these mostly brillant and well motivated but occasionally ill considered unsolicited, "helpful" commentary. On a more immediate level, there is a way to deal with some of this and that is by contacting some of the old gaurd to ask they think before they speak. Barrack doesn't need the help, really, NO, I mean REALLY!
I have no illusion that I still have occassional "boy am I ever smart moments", but they seem so far to be fewer (I really hope that is true or I am making a fool of myself more than I would like to think), and I seem to catch myself. I don't know how to explain why it happess; I guess I will have to settle for a combinatio of stupidity and an occasional moment of self doubt, low ego, as the answer. Ego is a bad thing, and the occassional slap in the face is a good thing.
So, c'mon fellow Kossacks, help me out here. Contact these guys and ask them quietly but firmly to hold their thoughts to themselves. Try to find a nice way to remind them of the old adage "if you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything at all!" And at my own request, please try to convince me not to worry about PA.
I hope this rambling blog makes sense; if it doesn't, I really do apologize. If it is ego in the way, then do I ever feel silly. Maybe I should shut the .........k up!