And then I wrote...

by Dick Schilling, Editor Emeritus

... that there is a television commercial showing an attractive older woman who says something like: “I am only 62 years old. I have many years ahead of me yet.”
I don’t remember what she is advertising, and statistics may tend to back up her statement. But we octogenarians might be excused if we don’t look that far ahead anymore. I never feel I can promise anything for a year ahead. Or a month. Or even a week. Some days, not even tomorrow!
Still, that doesn’t stop me from wondering about some things and hoping to be around to see others.
For example, will the Cubs make it into the playoffs, perhaps even the World Series, this fall?
Will the Iowa football team win nine or ten games and be invited to a top tier bowl game in January?
And who will be the candidates for president for the two major parties next year?
That’s particularly interesting as the parties prepare to select their candidates, starting early in the next year.
American citizens seem to be saying they might prefer a candidate who is “different” from what central committees are proposing.
Showman Donald Trump continues to lead the Republican polling, even though he has insulted women, Mexicans, veterans and former prisoners of war, among others. Despite that and even though he seems to share the tonsorial taste of Dennis the Menace, he still finds favor.
Hillary Clinton’s place as the chosen one among Democrats, tarnished by a lack of trust in her honesty, is being strongly challenged by an avowed Socialist, Bernie Sanders. Socialist used to be a pejorative in the United States, particularly since German Socialist Adolph Hitler. After all, Nazi stands for National Socialist.
Personally, I have not found among the 16 Republican and handful of Democrat candidates any one who I could wholeheartedly support at this time.
But I am interested in seeing who emerges, and then how that race is run and won.
As I ponder, I am reminded of a family saying that I heard often growing up. When I would cite something or someone as unfair, and threaten to do or say the opposite of what I was expected to do or say, someone would caution me with it, and I repeat the caveat in this case:
“Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face!”