Author: Matthew Groff

Is there such a thing as the right place to be? Is everything just luck and happenstance?

There are many ways to look at the world and I wonder how, and why I have found myself in the place that I am at? Joseph Campbell would tell me that if I have followed my bliss, then I will see at the end of my life, a grand design was being executed without my knowledge. That makes me wonder if there is still magic in the world, or if we make our opportunities? What if it is a matter of survival, and that what we see laid out before us?

I have always believed that life was more about perception, and point of view than reality. Some people hate stress, others thrive on it. Some want to take the final shot at the buzzer, others want to pass the ball to the guy who takes the shot. Things are only as bad as you allow yourself to believe that they are. (Clearly, there is an exception to this rule. If you are on a sinking ship without a lifeboat, there is no point of view that will make it okay.) It’s the old interview rule, don’t tell your new boss it was a “problem,” instead call it a “challenge.”

We are all just making it up as we go, and some us enjoy the game of improv that is underway.

My oldest nephew is 19 now and a college sophomore. We have always had an open an honest relationship, about books and life, and whatever the guy wants to talk about. I have always tried to tell him the truth, even to the chagrin of my brother and sister-in-law. “Weird” Uncle Matt had given way to “No BS” Uncle Matt.

The last time I saw him, he wanted to speak to me alone, and the big question on his mind was, “What’s it like being a parent? Be honest.” And I was. I told him that it was great, I loved it, but it was also lost of hard work. “If you’re not willing to work hard, then don’t do it,” was my advice. Then I followed with, “That also applies to marriage.”

There was a look of disappointment from him. I think he wanted me to say that it was awful, or that I had a 50/50 love and hatred of it.

That seems to be the expectation of everything now a day; nothing can be all wonderful, there has to be a downside that no one talks about, right? That everything has to have a hole poked through it so the bubble will burst.

I sort of understand where my nephew is coming from, or I guess I should say, I remember when I did this type of thing. Being of the age to now fully question the world that I am a part of and too see if I want to take part in it. The luxury of questioning the world around you.

I read Chuck Schumer’s Op-Ed in the Times about how Democrats need to stand strong and delay the new Supreme Court Justice appointment, and it read like trying to rally the people to a lost cause. The Nuclear option is gone, and the Republicans only need 51 votes and they have them. I am also tired of hearing that Collins and Murkowski will come and save us all by blocking the vote. They will be offered something and fold, or the pick will do the “I don’t know how I will rule” dance, which for those two Senators will suffice. In this, I am a pessimist, and we are all screwed.

But there is a mid-term coming. That is what our hope rides on.

I read this Op-Ed on the way into work today; Women Might Save America Yet. As the piece tries to stay optimistic, it had a very telling line in it, “It’s too soon to tell whether America will survive Trump in any recognizable form.” That I think sums up the America we are living in now; Will there be anything left that will resemble to Old Republic?

I do think that this midterm and general election in 2020 is the opportunity to make the changes that need to be made. I think it is pointless for liberals to try and restore a pre-Trump America. I think we have to establish a post-Trump America. There is so much that needs to be changed, and if there is a blue wave, then engage these votes in making a more perfect Union.

There is a heatwave going on in NYC, and if I look at a weather, I think the rest of the country. I hate the heat, and I used to live in Texas, so I know what hot really is. When I bring this up with people, I used to get the “but you have A/C down there.” Which is true, but I used to do outdoor theatre in the Summer, so I know what it feels like to sweat off 5 pounds, and never really feel cool.

But I survived it. Not sure how…

It is the same thing when I think about how when I was a kid growing up down there… I don’t remember drinking water… Clearly, I must have stayed hydrated. I just remember drinking Coke and Kool-Aid. I guess all that sugar did the trick.

And except for when I went to a water park, I never had sunscreen put on me. Lots of sun exposure.

Let’s juxtapose that with how a slather sunscreen my kid when I take her outside on a sunny hot day in New York. I don’t want my kid to get a sunburn, but I also feel a little silly as, though 80 degrees is hot, protecting my kid from something that my parents weren’t concerned about.

Won’t lie, I was pretty upset with the Supreme Court’s ruling on Trump’s Muslim ban. This is all the doing of Mitch McConnell and the hijacking of the appointment that Obama should have had. It makes me nervous for reproductive rights, gay rights, union rights, criminal justice reform, and leads me to believe that this court will support a super strong executive branch, stronger corporations, and weakening of environmental laws.

I look at American history, and I try to see if there is anything good that can come out of this… I have a tiny silver lining…

Of the three branches of government, the Courts are the last to change with the times, and it was designed that way. Think of it this way; Congress is built to almost change every election cycle. The presidency is in the middle, and kind of does a sway between parties every eight years. The court almost takes a generation to change from liberal to conservative, and vice versa.

Context: FDR had to deal with a conservative court that struck down several of his New Deal programs. This angered him so much that he tried to add seats to he could pack it to his advantage, which failed. But FDR started the slow process of getting more progressive and liberals on the court, so when you got to 1953 with the Warren court, more liberal decisions started.

But by the time you got to the end of the Warren Court, 1969, Nixon came and with it the new conservative Republican party. That slowly chipped away until you got to the now Conservative court we have today.

Now, if we are to believe the “Blue Wave” that is coming, and that the Congress is to return to the liberals, then we in the process of getting a liberal court back in 20 years…

I guess that makes me feel better?