Ashland, southern Oregon — Thursday, October 22, 2026.
Lovely wet autumn day. The low gray sky makes the trees’ leaves glow with color. It smells fresh and cool. 54 F now, I think the high is almost at hand.
Despite my enjoyment of our rainy weather, I’m disappointed in many aspects of my existence. These are somewhat ‘first world blues’. I don’t have complaints about food, health, my home, wife, or friends. I’ve been spared a lot of discomfort. Yet, here I sit…
Mom continues calling and texting me to complain about my sister. Nothing I can do about it; my sister knows about Mom’s complaints. As Mom tells me, she told my sister about them.
I’m purchasing an Amazon gift card to help offset some of Mom’s expenses. Another sister, Lisa, has agreed to visit Mom and help Mom with the card. I’ve also ordered flowers for Mom and sent a card. I’m working on some kind of cake or cupcakes to be delivered on her birthday, as well, hopefully something large enough for Mom to share with the other residents.
It’s depressing to admit that Mom has always been a person who complained about things, so this is not new. What’s different now is that she’s living alone and doesn’t have a regular audience. But she often used to call me to complain about things until it reached the point that I told her, all you do is complain. This was over ten years ago. She told me, “Frank says the same thing.” Frank was her partner living with her. My sisters know it better than me, which is why they keep a distance from Mom.
I dislike it, but I see parallels between what’s happening with Mom and what’s happening with our nation with Trump in the Oval Office. Essentially, the situation for me with both represents paths that I foresaw but hoped would not happen.
In Mom’s case, I saw how she functioned and interacted with others. Not a hard pattern to spot. Seeing her physical decline for years, I tried getting her different help to come and help her at her home. Mom always resisted. Now, through her behavior and choices, she’s at a spot of her own making. Yet, she refuses to see her complicity in her current situation.
Likewise, we saw the slow movement toward Trump. Enabled by the two-party system, the lack of term limits and the willingness of each party to expand the president’s power slowly brought us here. Elected officials who are supposed to be servants of We the People are often treated as celebrities and given privileges and rights the rest of us can’t have. They have private gyms and dining rooms, a healthcare system that caters to them, high salaries, and tax breaks.
Many individuals elected to the US Congress become millionaires. Seventy-three senators are millionaires in our current congress. 195 to 220 representatives in the US House of Representatives are millionaires.
It’s hard not to see from the trends that many in Congress become reactive instead of proactive. They vote to keep themselves and their party in office. It seems more and more often in this century that they’re voting to enrich themselves to the detriment of We the People, our nation, and the world.
Eavesdropping as they always do, The Neurons contributed “My Wave” to my morning mental music stream. This is a 1996 Soundgarden offering. Fits my mood.
My hope and wish for you is that you have good things happen to you and yours today and everyday.
Cheers


