Prelude

Just a word before we begin

I wrote today’s essay — due in your mailbox in about 15 minutes — before President and convicted felon Donald Trump’s attack on Iran on Saturday. It’s an event that instantly changed the atmosphere, political and otherwise, and will have repercussions for ages to come.

I hope what I wrote for today will still be meaningful and useful; nothing it states has been altered by Trump’s latest mad act. But it didn’t feel right to offer it without an acknowledgement of this dramatic change in our world.

But even as we deal with this new travesty of decency, let’s not forget Epstein. Let’s not forget the perverse crimes of which Trump has been accused.

There’s a whole lot of self-congratulation going on now in Trump’s camp, which is likely to be as premature as any in which they’ve indulged — including, famously, his claim to have won the 2020 presidential election before even 50% of the votes had been tallied. It’s a pattern.

What happens next is uncertain, and that creates anxiety. Many of us think we know what’ll happen next — an attempted quash of the November elections, for one thing — and we may be right. But. Nobody really knows what’s going to happen next.

It’s hard to live with uncertainty. To a large degree, all we can control is our reaction to it.

Remember the little tyke up there? Aloka the Peace Dog? He sure was sweet. And calm. And happy.

Remember the instructions?

Find a piece of paper and a pen. Write:

Today is my peaceful day.

Take a few deep breaths.

Then we’ll face the day.

Here’s a song that has always meant a lot to me. Let’s talk soon.