Earlier in the day, you might have been wondering how much of your assets might melt away, as markets around the world gyrated with perceived increasingly negative news. Later, on political blogs everywhere, reports that Fred Thompson was ending a run for his party’s nomination.
Then, news that a young and successful actor had died, most likely from a drug overdose.
Usually my evenings are a strange brew of real estate work, reading blogs, playing or watching bridge online, editing photographs, and so forth. In the background, talking heads on the various political shows fill me in on what has happened during the day - occasionally inducing some mental error while I compete!
Tonight, I thought that a majority of these shows would be devoted to discussing the future for Republicans now that Fred was dropping out.
Wrong!
Oh, yes; Thompson got some time. But - just as on the Internet (Fred; 174 hits; Heath Ledger, over 1,800) - almost all the focus was the death of Ledger.
Please do not misunderstand me. The death of a vibrant young person is a terrible tragedy. I myself have faced the illness of addiction in my own family, and words can barely express the pain and the awful outcomes that it can produce.
Still. On political cable channels, would one expect hour upon hour of focus about a movie star, rather than on the people who will soon lead our country? I would not - but - once again, I prove myself to be a poor prognosticator of what might occur.
Back to the politics. Fred wasn’t “my guy” (Rudy was and is). Yet, Thompson would have been “my guy” had he gotten the nomination. Smart, humble, straightforward, intelligent … I particularly loved when he stood up to that ridiculous interviewer in Iowa, who wanted him to state in one or two words what he thought about some of the most important issues facing us. He wouldn’t do it. If Fred couldn’t have the opportunity to really explain his viewpoint - at least 30 or 45 seconds! - well then, he would not play along.
I wish we had more like him.
And, as long as I am wishing, I wish that whoever does get the nod to be our next president might have some insight about addiction. The War on Drugs and “Just Say No” have been sad failures. I don’t know the answers. I only hope that others may have a glimmer of a solution.
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