Wednesday

This day on the calendar, an eclipse but that we won't be able to see because it's Down Under.

The last eclipse of the sun I recall witnessing was here, from down in the Harbour Village garden, facing south and wearing a sun shield eyeshade given to me at our school, Holy Nativity Episcopal School. It was a good one, a total eclipse, but the day never went dark, really pitch black dark, not at all disappointing, and an experience. I took lots of snapshots as it progressed that day.

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Confirmation class seems to be going fine, still prepping till it's all over, ran out of handouts last Sunday so yesterday got both handouts reprinted. Not bright, the colors are copied and reprinted from a copy and reprint, but I reckon that what counts is the black words on white paper, eh? Done!

Last Sunday was a chat about all that goes on in worship every Sunday morning, a liturgical session, and although it isn't scheduled, we'll finish up this coming Sunday, April 23, for anyone who wants to come. I was intending an informal discussion of Jesus "post-resurrection appearances" for that hour, but we didn't finish my Episcopal-101 lesson plan last week, so folks asked to continue.

Then the following Sunday, April 30 we'll look at our church as an institution - - Holy Nativity as a parish, our Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast, the Episcopal Church, and our place in the worldwide Anglican Communion. The Sunday after that, May 7 has been reformed to be our day for the Rector's annual Instructed Eucharist session, always a fun and informative hour.

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anamnesis, not forgetting, +Time is my blog, for me not you, and whatever I DWP; something's on my mind. Actually there were two things in mind, this is the second one, maybe I'll remember the first one before signing off this morning.

In my conservative days, my heroes were George Will and William F Buckley, Jr. - - both reading their writings and watching them on television. At some point, Tucker Carlson came alone bright and young in his bowtie, and I picked him up as another favorite, highly intelligent and well spoken. But something happened to/with/for Tucker that, while making him a superstar, brought me down on his judgment and thinking maybe he's not all that smart after all.

But no, Tucker is smart, the problem was me believing in him as a man of honesty and integrity. He has bought into the political Populism that scheming politicians use to capture the votes of a gullible and often rabid segment of the electorate. Populism knows that people are stupid, so say what you know they agree with as though you fervently believe it, and they'll get in line and follow you, vote for you, watch your television show. Populism is an abandonment of integrity, ethics and moral responsibility, in order to attract votes, get elected, gain popularity, money, wealth, power. That's the road Tucker Carlson has taken, much to my disappointment, sadness and, okay I'll just say it, disgust. Something I read this morning framed him concisely,

"It's no surprise to other people that Tucker Carlson ... doesn't believe half the things he says on his show. ... A new trove of documents ... includes a slew of texts and emails in which Carlson shares his candid feelings about former President Donald Trump. 'I hate him passionately,' Carlson wrote, calling his presidency 'a disaster' to which 'there really isn't an upside.' When cameras rolled, however, Carlson took the same "wildly pro-Trump stance" that informs his current effort to recast the Jan 6 attempted coup as a peaceful protest of patriots ... "

I watched it all live that day, 6 Jan 2021, I watched President Trump, who refused to accept that he had been voted out of office, incite a mob that he had summoned for violence, I watched them storm from his podium, gather around then break into the capitol building, including smashing windows to gain entry. I watched a man carry the Confederate battle flag into the capitol rotunda beneath portraits of America's heroes. I watched a capitol policeman try courageously to lead the mob up stairs the wrong way, I watched it, I saw it. I watched rioters fight the police. Anyone who buys into "peaceful protest of patriots" is as full of it as that same Christmas goose.

This is America, where government and what we've had as our democracy stands solely on trust. To violate it is shameful. Shame. Shame.

The article I read this morning went on,

"Carlson was not always like this. ... He began his career as an affable, preppy, right-of-center Beltway journalist with a vocal distaste for phonies. But after three of Carlson's TV shows on different networks were cancelled and his career was tanking, he realized that hate-mongering is where the money is ... "

I admired Tucker Carlson. When he was starting up, I admired his courage and his integrity and his caustic sarcasm, and his views, positions, and statements. He was young then, young and innocent, naive. He found a better way to gain popularity, wealth and power. I'm not ashamed to have believed in him, I like to trust people, and I generally do until they prove me wrong, a damn fool.

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About that first thing I had in mind: it still has not come back to me. That often happens at this age and Time of life. It was something biblical or theological. If it returns to mind, I'll try to chat to myself about it on +Time another day. Meantime,

RSF&PTL