Well, it has been a busy year so far. On the first day of January, Linda and I had our traditional black-eyed pea meal made with hog jowl and served with cornbread and pepper sauce. Cooked low and slow overnight, the peas tasted great.
Everyone who matters knows eating black-eyed peas on the first day of the year will ensure a prosperous year, so it goes without saying that eating them is a win-win since black-eyed peas are a treat in and of themselves. Add a little pepper sauce to the peas, and you have a perfectly balanced meal. I promise I am not making this up.
Then on the 15th of January I celebrated my 63rd birthday. Linda allowed me to choose where I wanted to eat lunch. Out of the blue I chose Steak n Shake. I hadn't eaten there for a couple of years, so it was a complete surprise to my wife that I would want to eat there. I happen to like their small hamburgers and their ice cream desserts. And it is hard to beat their prices.
On the 20th of January, Donald J. Trump was inaugurated as the 45th president of the United States. This is a sea change from the Obama administration and promises to be interesting, perhaps even exciting. But then, not all exciting things are positive, so the jury is still out on that. There's no denying that we have a much-divided nation. In fact, it may be more divided than it was during the Civil War. Finding unity feels a little bit like winning the War on Terror. There is no apparent end to the disunity in sight. There doesn't seem to be a good way to bridge the many divisions we face as a nation. It is almost like there are two nations living under the same roof, so to speak. And the house may not be big enough for both.
On the 21st of January, I sold my beloved 1979 sky-blue Ford pickup. We called her Blue Betsy. She was popular with the grandchildren. Unfortunately, I seldom drove Blue Betsy anymore since I bought my new truck and I literally hated to see her sitting out in the weather every day without being driven. Besides, I needed the money for my woodshop. So I ran an ad in Craigslist and a nice man from southeast Oklahoma drove up with his son and bought it. I plan to use the proceeds to finish the dust collection system in my shop. Linda has a few ideas for some of it too. Good luck with that!
The first week of President Donald Trump's administration saw a flurry of executive orders meant to dismember Mr. Obama's legacy. I have to admit it is quite satisfying to see a leader take action and work with other people to get things done. I think meeting with leaders from the business world and from organized labor is a great first move to get the economy going. It is refreshing to see someone who enjoys meeting with people instead of taking the aloof approach favored by Mr. Obama. It appears Vice President Pence will be integral to working with Congress to pass legislation that favors the citizens of this great nation. He seems to be a man of principles.
On the 21st (Saturday), we witnessed the march of thousands of women basically protesting the election of Donald Trump. Many of them were wearing knitted pink hats on their heads. These hats were meant to represent vaginas. Most of these women appeared to be really angry. I was surprised to hear some of the hateful language employed by the speakers. I mean, when someone is accusing others of being bigoted, divisive, xenophobic, homophobic, transphobic, etc., it sounds a little discordant to be so hateful and, yes, bigoted.
Now today (Friday) we have the March For Life in Washington, D.C. This march is undertaken each year to protest Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion. Today we will see tens of thousands of people from all over the United States marching peacefully. They will pick up their own garbage and there will be many prayers offered for the nation and for the leaders of the nation. Vice President Pence will speak to them, as will many leading religious leaders. The attendees will include Christians and other religious folks as well as atheists and the non-religious. It is a common mistake to think that there are no pro-life atheists or non-believers in America. The truth is the pro-life movement is made up of people from all walks of life. We usually don't see a lot of coverage of the March For Life from the mainstream media. That's because they tend to minimize anyone who is pro-life. But if Madonna happened to appear at the rally and threaten to blow up the White House, you can bet they would cover that. But then this crowd won't be angry, just concerned about the culture of death that has taken over the country.
Also, January saw the Dow above 20,000 for the first time in history. This stands in sharp contrast to some of the predictions a lot of people made about the stock market if Trump would happen to win the election. In fact, some dire predictions were made, but so far there seems to be more of an air of optimism than one of pessimism when it comes to the economy under a Trump administration.
So January has been busy and interesting and full of news. Linda and I have been under the weather as we both had bronchitis, but we are feeling better now. We are thankful for our lives and to be still kicking in the New Year.
Sam Byrnes is a Gentry-area resident and weekly contributor to the Eagle Observer. He may be contacted by email at [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
Editorial on 02/01/2017