In the Middle of Nowhere

Every Saturday, one of our local daily newspapers has an editorial page with a "view from the Left" and a "view from the Right." I've always been impressed with the scale and scope of subjects the two advocates explore each week. 

I appreciate the newspaper's striving for balance but In light of how much of our lives most of us spend in a variety of states, politically and philosophically, I am less than comfortable at the ease with which we tend to create real and sometimes synthetic lines of demarcation that do nothing to help us build the bridges we need throughout this country, but do manage to speed the expansion of walls we keep erecting.

Nationally we have too much 'my mind's made up, don't confuse me with facts' already, so folks like Fox News and MSNBC, continuing to 'accidentally' or 'inadvertently' (as the preferred adjective, like anyone on earth ever does something vertently) have used video of one event to underscore and support reports on entirely other events, That needs to stop now.

As for One America News, OAN, they need to sign off permanently as they are adding nothing but uncivil coarseness to our civic discourse though I've been assured by friends who live where Sinclair Broadcasting has stations that those make OAN look like PBS. 

Meanwhile, back here at the local level (wherever that may be for you), we must resolve to get better at distinguishing a good person from a good elected official. Sometimes they are one and the same and sometimes they are two different people. All ducks are birds but not all birds are ducks. I dare to offer a blinding glimpse of the obvious like that because It helps underscore my larger point which is while each of us is our own message in a bottle, it's a big beach.

"Well out here in the middle, You can park it on the street. Step up to the counter; you nearly always get a seat. Nobody steals. Nobody cheats. Wish you were here my love. Wish you here my love."

-bill kenny