I hadn’t quite stopped saying happy New Year to everyone\nyet, but last Friday something else took my attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I’ve got the plague. It’s a bad one this year; a lot of\npeople are down. I hope I recover quickly. I’m hearing some people are out for\ntwo weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This was NOT the plan for the New Year. Nobody wants to get\nhorribly sick!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As I sit in a fog, I am catching up on TV shows without\nstress: documentaries. I’ve picked up Ken Burn’s “Prohibition.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This one is interesting. The drive to outlaw liquor was a\ncause led by women. Since men were the ones who earned the money, women relied\non their fathers and husbands to bring home enough money to pay for food and\nshelter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But again and again, men would spend their pay on alcohol\nand leave the family with nothing. It\nwas an evil that had to be stopped. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Forces united and a monumental effort was made to have a\nconstitutional amendment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NO ALCOHOL<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But it didn’t turn out the way they hoped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alcohol became more of a way of life than it had been\nbefore. And it even jumped the gender divide–women had been excluded from\nsaloons before but entered freely into speakeasies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was increasingly clear that it wasn’t working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And one big reaction was to double down. They said it’s not\nworking because the police aren’t enforcing it enough! Take it more seriously!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I know there have been times in my life when I clung to a\ngoal, not seeing the harm I was inflicting on myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If it’s not working that means I must try harder!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I used to think that way, but I’ve learned to take a step\nback and tinker. What’s out of line? Is there something I’m missing? There’s\nlikely a better way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As I sit in my brand new year, with my brand new plans for\nthe year derailed, I think how it could have been different. What if the\ntemperance unions had been a little more temperate in their temperance?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Could we have had a whole different ending? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And I wonder what a different perspective could do for me in\nmy life too. Taking an enforced break from my usual focus because of sickness\nhas its benefits. I wonder.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I hadn’t quite stopped saying happy New Year to everyone yet, but last Friday something else took my attention. I’ve got the plague. It’s a bad one this year; a lot of people are down. I hope I recover quickly. … Continue reading