Make A Wish



Years ago, when I was still a callow youth (as opposed to a callow cranky old fart) I and several of my family members tried out to be contestants for the game show, "Family Feud". It was my sister's idea. I wasn't terribly keen on the venture but I went along for the lulz.



There about twenty other families in the auditorium that day and the producers asked each group a series of questions no doubt intended to weed out the weak sisters and to find those who would make for good television. My family didn't fare well as my two otherwise gregarious sisters chose that moment to go tits up from a touch of stage fright. My moment came when asked if given one wish what would I do with it. After a moment to peruse my options I said "I'd like a house".



"A house? Are you sure?" they said, looking at one another.



I said yes, a house, and they said, "Okay. Next."



Then we left. To no one's surprise we never heard from them again.



I look back on this event with no small degree of embarrassment because I'm certain what the producers were looking for were answers like "Feed the hungry" or "universal health care for all", something which implied a more sophisticated world view, but it took me years to realize that. Yet, it was that very specific moment of shame that now colors almost everything I do in my life. It took much too long to reach this point but I eventually came to the understanding that life isn't all about me, that everything I do has wider implications. And there's nothing wider than the understanding that climate change is real.



As they say in the Navy, "First your ship, then your shipmate, then yourself."



Which is why I'm voting for Hillary Clinton rather than Donald Trump, because he's the torpedo.



=Lefty=

