The rain is falling in sheets. April showers are still here. With the cool temperatures, spring could pass for fall. Today I am thinking of fall. My favorite time of year. A time of reflection and hope. Peace in the valley.

I brought home a few little bags of groceries for $200. Wait until the tariffs kick in. Empty store shelves, as in the pandemic, are forecast. Our reliance on cheap foreign goods is herculean. Most of us have limited money and rely on saving a dollar whenever possible. Caviler statements that Christmas gifts will not include as many dolls and we must all be willing to suffer economic pain, are trite. Can anyone say buyer’s remorse?

I often told my staff at Southern Illinois University that we did not want to make each other’s lives more difficult. Life was hard without working to make it harder. Unnecessary regulations and reversals simply to prove you have the power to do so are egregious, heinous wrongs. I worked with a supervisor who went out of his way to make life hard for those he did not like or who made him feel inadequate. Leadership 101 was to him a golden opportunity to hurt as many people as possible, as he had been injured. Little minds hatch dangerous plans.

‘The fog is so thick you could cut it with a knife,’ He said. ‘Do you remember this road we have taken before and in better, clearer days?’ He asked. ‘We often came this route for Christmas and sang Jingle Bells with all of our gifts for Neva J and Earl in the trunk of our 57 Chevrolet,’ He said joyfully. ‘We played Garrison Kelior on the radio and spoke of our plans for the coming year,’ He laughed. I do not remember the big pot holes on the road nor the feeling of gloom that permeates the air tonight,’ He observed.

‘It seems that Halloween was a harbinger for our future,’ She said. ‘All the politicians put on Halloween masks that were given to them by a mysterious man in black,’ She recounted. ‘It turns out that some liked their holiday masks so well that they refused to take them off even though it is almost Christmas,’ She observed. ‘It has become fashionable for the rich and powerful to never go outside of their homes without their masks,’ She said. ‘The rumor is that many of the political parties in power are unable to remove their assigned mask,’ She said.

‘Karma,’ He said…