I just realized writing makes me slow down. I’m kind of surprised at this, though I shouldn’t be … I often write in my notes app on my phone, which is sort of awkward, but immediate. So that is a slowing down thing. Also, I’m discovering that when I’m writing (or painting), I’ll often forget about time. This is one reason writers set timers, I’ve been told. I don’t like timers unless it’s for something radically important, like getting somewhere on time, or remembering to take something out of the oven. Or remembering to stop and breathe.
Being interrupted by a ding ding when I’m in the middle of a sentence makes me jump.
Aging is the ultimate timer to remind us to slow down. I’m a decade younger than our prez, Joe Biden, and this is why I’m so concerned about him.
Whether or not he’s capable of seeing out this campaign and securing a second term, he’s getting older daily, like the rest of us. When (🤞🏼) he starts his second term, each day, week and month will be filled, as usual, with pressures, stresses, responsibilities and tasks that require enormous fortitude— physically, spiritually and mentally. In our 80’s, we deserve to—we have to—slow down. Our bodies tell us to. Our minds and hearts tell us to. It’s time for reflection, gathering our wisdom and sharing it. It’s not time to pick up a sword and dive back into the national and global fray, battling the evil forces that threaten the welfare and existence of millions of people. It’s time to hand the sword to a younger warrior.
Joe has done a great job in many ways leading our good old, messy USA over the past four years. He inherited a big mess, and in spite of the strides he made in his presidency, things are messier than ever, at this point. I, for one, wish President Biden would see the writing on the wall and choose to set the timer. He could have a meaningful last chapter, writing his autobiography, spending time with family, finding some peace in slowing down. After all, as we know, aging is the inevitable equalizer.
Is the timer about to ring for our president ? I don’t know. But the suspense is killing me. What do you think?
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Another thought is that it could kill him to not slow down and then we’d have a woman first president of the US!
The moment he announced he would run for a second term I knew this is where we’d find ourselves. You don’t have to be clairvoyant to see that. The question is, how is a complete political rube of an arborist like me able to see this and not the DNC? It’s baffling. I’m hoping it’s part of a bigger plan for him to gather all the ride-or-die supporters and then step aside for someone that will energize the rest of the voters who are currently not psyched on a second Biden term.