FOUR YEARS? SEEK COMFORT — The Weekly Opine

Eatin’s been good in my neighborhood. (Photo credit The Weekly Opine)

Resist, relax, repeat

Four more years. Now, we all know the onset of four years can feel like forever. Example: when you set foot on campus as a freshman, your senior year felt like it was a marathon distance away. Or, if you hung around for five years (like me) the finish line was even further away, tucked beyond the horizon at the end of a long, twisting road. But, when it was over the years seemed to pass swiftly, leaving indelible memories in its wake.

Four years is a familiar measuring stick for Americans. There is the generally accepted 4-year college timeframe. America’s participation in World War II lasted about four years. World War I lasted four years (although America fought for just the last year or so).

For many of us the most significant war is the American Civil War, contested before our nation reached the century mark. The Civil War was a 4-year, bloody slugfest whose scars still pockmark the nation’s landscape. There are preserved battlefields, military cemeteries, and monuments honoring heroes and, oddly, monuments dedicated to secessionist traitors.

Our presidential cycle runs four years. When the president does good, like JFK, Obama and Biden, time seems to fly. When presidents are bad, like Nixon, W. Bush and Trump, it feels like trying to escape quicksand. The time it takes for bad presidents to undo the good deeds of their predecessors seems to take less time than what it takes for good presidents to reverse wretched deeds committed by bad presidents.

Nothing like a pleasant drive to ease your mind. (Photo credit The Weekly Opine)

Pace yourself

Recently, I’ve heard several cable news guests talk about the need to move on from grieving over last fall’s election results. I wholeheartedly agree. Yes, it is appalling that half of Americans signaled, with their vote, that they are OK giving up the progress our predecessors fought and died for. Some of our neighbors favor a fascist, authoritarian government. They support a racist, billionaire immigrant from South Africa and his puppet U.S. president, both illegally grabbing power as they initiate ruining millions of people’s lives.

Note to MAGAs: Unless you are a billionaire, or at least a millionaire, what’s coming courtesy of Project 2025 will not spare you. If long ago settled entitlement programs that keep you alive, like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, are dissected you’ll get no pass because you voted for Trump. If the popular Affordable Care Act, that enables you to afford healthcare, is gutted you will suffer the same as progressives and liberals will suffer. Just ask MAGA women who can no longer access abortions unless they travel across Confederate red state lines into a welcoming Union blue state.

Buying groceries? The cashier will not ring up a lower cost of eggs for you because you are a MAGA. Pumping gas? The attendant will not re-calibrate the pump to give you cheaper gas because you support Musk and Trump. Voted for Trump and now shocked that relatives are being deported? Duh, Trump’s arguably #1 campaign promise was to deport brown people, and still you voted for him. I’m not sure what the Spanish translation is but in English the idiom goes, “You get what you pay for.”

An injection of comfort

Even I, who thrives on fighting back, spent a sleepless night experiencing angry sorrow after the election results were announced. But when I woke up on Wednesday, November 6, I was determined to fight. I woke up invigorated to help stop Trump’s corrupt agenda. My participation in the resistance will extend beyond writing opinion columns. To paraphrase George W’s comment in the aftermath of 9/11, my congressman Danny Davis will hear all of me soon, because too many Democrats are still not tenaciously fighting for our democracy. Dems must re-learn how to play to win with aggression, decorum be damned. I may show up in D.C., too.

Like pain-killing meds from your pharmacy, an afternoon or evening watching old favorites makes you feel better. (Photo credit Turner Classic Movies)

Still, pausing for comfort must be part of the equation.

This week, without intentionally planning to do so, I’ve inserted measures of comfort to ride alongside resistance. It started Sunday evening when my sweetheart cooked up a hearty penne pasta, mushrooms and broccoli with a thick garlic-infused red sauce. The night was capped off with glasses of pinot noir while watching an episode of the comforting HGTV show “Home Town,” followed by an episode of yesteryear’s dynamic drama, “West Wing.”

On Monday, I made Sloppy Joes for dinner, augmented with store bought classic potato salad. Ahh! Wednesday, the main dish was my homemade meatloaf along with my all-time favorite dessert, cherry pie and ice cream. (When I was a kid, at my request, my mom did not bake a cake for my birthday. She baked a cherry pie complete with candles on top.) This week I’ve had the pleasure of eating a grilled cheese sandwich made with Gruyere cheese, sampling dark chocolate and sipping more red wine. A comfy week of culinary bliss.

Comfort this week has been derived from more than food. I’ve dialed-up my workout intensity at the health club. I took my 1976 Torino out for a relaxing ride. For the first time in years, I sat at my electric piano and produced noise unrecognizable to the trained ear. I made a rare visit onto Facebook to chat with a few high school friends. The week included binge-watching “The Andy Griffith Show” and “Martin” reruns and classic movies on TCM.

While it is central to stay on top of the news (from credible sources), it’s also important to take time to smell the roses, to counter the stench coming from the pile of corruption permeating around us.

I feel re-charged.