On November 11, 2016, a few days after the presidential election, I expressed the following thought with some of you: “We enter dark times.” My concerns at the time included concerns about the food we eat, the air we breathe, the gutting of agencies like the FDA and EPA, and larger concerns about the environment and climate change. That week I also expressed concerns for the civil liberties of many non-white residents of our country and members of the LGBTQ community. Closer to home for me personally, I also shared strong concern that “tax cuts for the rich combined with other proposed changes (would) result in trillion-dollar deficits.” Little did I know that a global pandemic should be among my concerns.
Oh my.
What have I done?
S’posed to be private.
Secret exposed.
I blame Alexa.
In cahoots with the Siri.
Google bitch too.
All disclosed.
Psst… play back the tape.
Private secret sex tape.
Smack my head. Mouth agape.
Love is like a weed.
Sometimes you chop off the top and leave it for dead.
Then it grows back bigger and stronger than before.
Love is like a plant.
With effort and the right environment, they can grow to produce beautiful flowers,
Brothers and sisters… come pray with me at the altar of tax preparation. Confess thine income and plead for the deductibility of your financial discretions. Tithe to thou preparer, not a percentage of your spoils but an amount commensurate with the complexity of your preparation needs and the expert knowledge you seek. Be grateful that your burden will not be as large as the one famously declared in the Beatle’s classic – “Tax Man”, and go forth upon the lands within the confines of the law and without discrimination toward your fellow human beings. Amen.
We enter dark times.
As we have in the past, humanity faces its next hurdle. Throughout our history there have been plagues, famines, and the rise of tyrannies fed by hate and anti-secularism. Logic and facts lose out to passion and anger, exacerbating problems and prolonging resolutions.