Guest Blog: New Year Tale

Thad Guyer, guest blogger.   Not a candidate for anything

Are political discussions making you happy?   Are they making your family life better??  


Guest Comment by Thad Guyer, with A New Year Tale of America

John and Mary Jones raised their three children in Des Moines, Iowa, Contempt, Inspiration and Apathy. Contempt was a popular boy, a natural leader who appealed to the rebellious nature in his schoolmates. He was revered for “telling it like it is”. Inspiration was a gentle girl who could be counted on to see the best in people, dreaming of bringing all beneath her big tent of ideas and higher values. She was revered for respecting everyone with tolerance and inclusion. The youngest, Apathy, was just their “normal kid”, never a joiner or much of a doer, but at least he never had enemies. John and Mary were the least proud of Apathy, if the truth be known, and hoped he’d “just be happy” in life. 

In their retirement, John and Mary are reflecting on how they thought things would have turned out for their kids. Contempt had become, as John always predicted, a leader of sorts. He had good success in a chain of machine shops, but his fortunes were quickly diming as customers placed their orders abroad. He had become angry, and his friends were all disgruntled just like him. His greatest comfort was attending Trump rallies and re-watching them on Youtube. Inspiration was, as Mary knew would happen, doing a fabulous job of balancing her career and family. But like Contempt, she had become disillusioned because “the establishment” was conspiring to marginalize her hero, the Senator who truly let her ideals soar while “feeling the Bern”. Though never saying it, Inspiration disliked Hillary almost as much as Contempt hated Obama. She was also hurt that many of her friends considered her a political “kook”. 

Had it not been for Apathy, the Jones Christmas reunion in Des Moines would have been a disaster. He neither knew nor cared about Trump or Bernie, they were just two more talking heads interrupting the little good tv that still existed. Apathy, without ideology, grabbed the remote from Contempt and Inspiration as they battled over which of their heroes should have the screen, thus allowing the extended family to fall back into stuffed sofas and chairs for the heart-warming Christmas specials. Apathy brought relief to the tension between Contempt and Inspiration, for after all, they were brother and sister and had beautiful childhoods in common.

John and Mary, looking on from the kitchen as the cookie dough baked, shared their thoughts on how it was Apathy who had turned out to be their happiest child. Had it not been for him, the family would have been torn apart, alienation might have been the new normal. Mary looked at her husband and asked, “honey, where has all the apathy gone, that magic glue which held our country together for so long?” John nodded his head hopefully and answered “I don’t’ know, but let us pray for its speedy return.” 

{Peter Sage Note:  Thad Guyer is an attorney living and practicing whistle blower law wherever he chooses to put his laptop computer.   He is currently mostly in Saigon.}