As IF Times

In a departure from the usual  musings over media buffoonery, I wanted to share this ode to golf penned many years ago, to commemorate the regular golf jaunts made with an evolving cast of like minded participants.  In this present climate of restrictive personal freedoms and state enforced social gathering edicts, it harkens back to a time, not that long ago, when free people did as they chose.  A time when people lived their lives without the big eye scrutinizing their every activity.   Freedoms are always taken for granted until simple things in life become restricted and regulated.  It is also a reminder that moments in life are to be savored, not merely hash marks on the continuum of our lives.  It’s the texture of the fabric that makes living meaningful, not the length of it.   A 1973 single by Seals and Crofts entitled “We may never pass this way again” articulates this sentiment nicely.

While the following verse was composed in the context of golf and without an accompanying musical score, the sentiments are similar and are universal.

United of purpose

Of friends and of time

We share this brief moment

A verse in our lives

We savor the triumphs

The joy and amusement

Of remarkable shots

But more likely bemusement.

We share our tall stories

Of heroic shots made

But also our misery

When hooks became fades

We’ll naught soon forget

The guys that are here

Who have all come together

Most year after year

Try as we might

To have the same show

It’s never the same people

That’s just how life flows

We truly are blessed

Though we take it for granted

That all our joys shared

Will in our memories be planted

The passage of time

May make these thoughts fade

But here’s hoping we never

Forget the friends made

We don’t know if fate

Will to us, constantly favor

So every great moment

While here, we should savor

We’ll take all our memories

Of those that have joined us

We’ll reflect in quiet moments

And think as in chorus

If fate and good fortune

Allows us once more

To bask in the pleasure

At Bandon and shores

Then lucky are we

As comrades and men

To experience the brilliance

Should we pass through again

Imagine if weathermen had the power to influence your actions.  Upon predicting a big rainstorm, people will be obligated to wear heavy  waterproof gear and carry umbrellas.  Not doing so would increase the risk of slipping and falling and since the elderly are most at risk, they should be confined indoors until it’s all safe.  We’ll know it’s safe… when they tell us it’s safe.  Even able bodied people are at risk, so everyone needs to sport  nor’easters and wellies in the interim.  But likely only for a few weeks….at the most.

Anyone caught not appropriately attired would receive a fine, or in some cases, a beating if the cops are having a slow day. Not having the appropriate and approved gear precludes you from entering food establishments or mixing with the obediently clad.  This applies even if it were NOT raining because, you know, it might.  For as long as the omnipotent weathermen are expecting rain, everyone has to be appropriately clad in the prescribed gear.  As we know, airborne malaises can be borne by moist air; think of cholera and croup etc. Not to mention the horrible smell of wet dog that afflicts some people.  Until the danger passes then, society must be protected.

As in any emergency situation, there will always be those scofflaws that disregard the official edicts and gamble by allowing themselves to get wet. They will have a ridiculous rationale along the lines of, “people have been getting wet for centuries”.  Of course, this is just selfish behavior and only evident in the fringe deniers.

Sitting atop a pyramid of hundreds of regional weather authorities is the Head National weather Poohbah, whose decisions affect the activity of the nation. There is no authority on weather higher than him because….well just because.  As he rightfully points out, it is always raining somewhere and the restrictions can only be lifted once rain stops everywhere.  To add solemnity to the situation, statistics on the elderly dying are trotted out on a regular basis.  Had they not  gotten wet, they would have likely lived forever.

Suddenly schools are deluged with people aspiring to be weathermen because this appears to be the new power position in society. The best part of the gigs?  You can never be fired for being wrong.