Tease

There is snow on the ground. It's covering the almost-sprung daffodils. But it's almost melted and the forsythia is blooming. The wind was biting during the postprandial dog sashay. But the grass is greening up nicely.

Spring is such a tease. I don't care. It is coming. Even if it's flurrying right or if it snows on Easter, I know it's coming. And that's a good thing, since I'm living with two annoying spring teasers at the moment, both recently home from warm climes. "Oh, snorkeling in the Gulf of Mexico was SO much fun!" "The Cubs won at Hohokam Park." "I decided to come home because there was a cloud in the sky yesterday."

Such bad manners, flaunting their fun in my face while I stayed here to walk the dog and mind the manchild. Who raised these people? Oh. Never mind.

I continue to avoid writing about politics. In fact, I continue to avoid the topic altogether. Obama is in office. Each step he takes seem calculated to do the best good for the most people. Which seems to make him somewhat unpopular. Each decision thus far has not made this liberal happy. Which seems to me to be a good thing.

I'm think that compromise on all sides is the most likely answer to the various messes left on our plates at the moment. If clinging to ideology would have ended the war in Iraq or or our economic crisis, the pundits would have been elected King and/or Queen long ago. Life is rarely that easy.

Me? I'd far rather have every solution clearly labeled "right" and "wrong". Mercury in vaccinations has definitely caused autism in every child currently so labeled. Eating hot dogs will kill you in 7.4 years if you eat more than 2 a day. Republicans are bad people and Democrats are good people.

I'm particularly annoyed that my last statement isn't true. Life would be SO much simpler if I didn't know a number of intelligent, caring, responsible and fun individuals who are, in fact, certifiably Republican.

I'm full of "seems" and "if only" about our nation right now. If only I could review each decision Obama makes with a quick checkmark: right or wrong. If only the various approaches to the war and the economy had one among them that called out to me, "I'm unequivocally the best choice--pick me, pick me!" If only those things were true, it would be much easier to write about government and politics right now.

Obama was absolutely the right choice for President. A moose would have been a better choice than McCain/Palin. So that was easy to write about. This economic stuff, about which I understand so little that it all seems a bit like astrology to me---hokum, bunk, think positive--doesn't lend itself to pointed rhetoric or even pondering for me. It all makes me want to keep my mouth shut, my fingers crossed, and my prayers coming.

Because the economic mess doesn't seem much akin to spring to me. Despite its teasing ways, I do *know* that spring is coming. It will come. It always does. How to achieve a secure and financially sound setting for all of us? I don't think there's a whole lot of data on that. Just a lot of tease and surmise.

Liz