The OLD Philosopher – John M. Miller
Following a four-thousand mile journey through the Midwest, I concluded that what I had read in the newspapers about the circumstances for farmers is completely correct. When my daughter and I crossed the Mississippi River at Memphis, we saw fields which were still flooded two or three miles west of the river, even though the highest waters had receded a few weeks before. Later we saw hundreds of fields which will not be planted at all this year. Other hundreds were planted too late for the crops to produce abundantly. In northern Missouri and southern Iowa, numerous farms had been abandoned to prairie grass years before, and there were no buildings left on that land. Climate change is rendering Midwestern farming an even dicier business than it has always been. ---
There are many thousands of relatively new wind turbines producing electricity through the Midwest and Southeast. The effects of climate change are being nobly, if belatedly, resisted.
I observed very little televised news of any sort, and read no newspapers. Those sixteen days of newslessness were glorious. ---
I also chose not to watch much televised news upon returning, until the Mueller appearances before the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees on Wednesday. After witnessing the entirety that dismaying display, it seems likely that only a very few citizens and no Members of Congress will have changed their opinions on what, if anything, should be done about allegations of impropriety by our chief executive. ---
The 80th birthday party of our high school class in Madison, Wisconsin was a huge success. It will probably be our last class reunion. From now on we shall face increasing “Intimations of Immortality,” in the title of Wordsworth’s poem, except that for us they will be Intimations of Morality, as our octogenarians will start to drop off at an increasing rate. Still, 184 of us out of 287 graduates are still living, which I find astonishing. When we graduated, life expectancy was 67. Now it is 84. What a statistical transformation! ---
My 2014 Honda Civic, which I trust will be my last car, got 38 to 40 MPG on the trip. It had 79,500 miles on the odometer before I left and now has 83,500+ since I returned. Alas, my carbon footprint became much larger. Four days before I left, my car was bashed into a by taxi driver making too-fast a U-turn in the parking lot of our building, So for two weeks I had to try to convince friends and relatives it was an errant cab driver, and not a doddering codger, who did the bashing. Ah well; old age is not for sissies.
I was reminded again of what I have long known: It is always good to get away, and it is always good to get back home. Overall, life is indeed a great blessing. ---
John Miller is Pastor of The Chapel Without Walls on Hilton Head Island, SC. More of his writings may be viewed at www.chapelwithoutwalls.org.