Quin's thoughtful
piece on the homepage this morning really resonated with me and
I hope our readers will take a moment to read it.
I too have been deeply demoralized by recent developments both
at home and abroad. I joked to a friend the other evening, "Eh, the
way things are going, I'll give civilization another 20 years at
best. Perhaps it's time to stop caring and just start
partying….."
I felt awful about that joke. What would my idol, Ronald Reagan,
think of a conservative saying something like that, even in
jest?
On the surface things are grim indeed and seem to be getting
grimmer. But as Quin so ably reminds us, beneath that surface lie
many small (and not so small) successes both foreign and domestic
which, taken together, add up to enormous potential. We have an
opportunity -- well, actually, a mandate -- to profoundly change
the World (to paraphrase Newt) and now is not the time to go
wobbly, (to paraphrase Mrs. Thatcher).
It is a beautiful day in Washington, DC. This morning, as usual,
my commute in to the office took me across the Memorial Bridge.
With the Lincoln Memorial facing me and Arlington National Cemetery
in my rear view mirror, I slowly passed a hearse going in the
opposite direction -- toward the cemetery. I could see the coffin
in the hearse only because of the bright colors of the American
flag that draped it. In all likelihood, it contained the remains of
a young American who gave his life in pursuit of the aforementioned
mandate…then, to arrive at the office to find Quin's post,
well….lots of food for thought this morning.
Quin writes, "In this Easter week, all our eggs are in (a)
rickety basket. All the more reason for us to redouble our efforts
to make sure the basket doesn't fail."
Count me in.
