A Panacea for the End of the World

Life in the Boomer Lane has been unable to metaphorically put pen to paper in today’s increasingly debilitating world. A stay at Jellystone Park (home to Yogi Bear and his cohorts) with five of her grandchildren did provide a brief respite from the knowledge that the earth was rolling rapidly downhill toward certain oblivion. It’s tough to focus on the news when one’s time is consumed by consuming all of the food and activity created solely to delight children. Aside from LBL being accosted by the Yogi Bear Police Patrol for allowing her 13 year old grandson to drive the golf cart, everyone behaved and had a great time.

Alas, she had to return home, to find that Trump is still calling the shots from his easy-to-read edition of the Mafia/Nazi playbook. Unlike those esteemed felons, Trump doesn’t need arms. He simply unleashes his irate tirades and secret messages to those who stand by to do his bidding. His enemies are then voted out of office, and threats against their lives become the focus of social media content, outnumbering the videos of the zany things cats do. LBL suspects that, if ballots could be looked at closely, she would see teeth marks on their names.

She sees her country making the inevitable shift from rule of law to rule of personality, in which only one figurehead and one message is allowed. Lots of countries have tried that in the past and are attempting to do so now. Putin has been pretty successful thus far, but the poor guy seems to be struggling now from overreach. Even the mafia knows better than to try to take over another family’s turf.

Back in what LBL used to call “home,” two states are dipping their toes into the Brave New World of Lock Step. Florida has passed laws like “Stop Woke Act,” to limit free speech in the workplace, as well as school discussions/workshops on black history, LGBTQ rights and any kind of discrimination. Another fan favorite is the new “Don’t Say Gay” bill which limits education of gender/sexuality issues.

Texas, in addition to a law banning abortions under almost all circumstances, has decided that teachers must now follow a playbook regarding topics like discrimination and the history of racism in the US. Since the words “discrimination” and “racism” will most likely be removed entirely from children’s vocabulary, LBL isn’t sure how any material could follow anyway. They have also removed the requirement to refer the KKK as “morally wrong.” Instead, LBL suspects the KKK will be listed as a civic organization, akin to the Elks and the Rotary. A law passed last year declares that schools can display the national motto of “In God We Trust” in a “conspicuous place” but only if the poster is “donated” or “purchased by private donations.” Needless to say, these donations are flooding in.

LBL must apologize if a Reader’s particular state isn’t listed here. She is well aware that other states are clamoring get aboard the time machine that takes them back to another century. She must also apologize for being such a Debbie Downer. Now Husband is the target of most of her dire predictions and sometimes it’s just too much for him. “Doesn’t it drive you crazy to be like this?” he asks. Her answer is always “Of course it does.” She wishes sometimes that she could live at Jellystone Park, in which there are rules against political signs of any kind, and people of different political, ethnic, religious and racial persuasions all seem to be able to get along. Also, thankfully, the Jellystone police don’t carry weapons.