FATHER TIME ON THE MARCH EVERY DAY, EVEN FATHER’S DAY

When I was a kid, Father Time looked like my Grandpa.

It helped that my Grandpa looked like President “I Like Ike” Eisenhower. I was six years old in 1960 when things changed.

The new president looked more my dad’s age. The big job went from the Supreme Allied Commander Europe five star Army general, to a Navy patrol boat skipper in the Pacific.

John “A time for greatness 1960” Kennedy took the helm.

The big change from one generation to the next signaled some kind of hope for a first grader.

Turns out I wasn’t the only one feeling it. Father Time took a big jump back then.

It took another leap twenty years later.

Jimmy ‘Why not the Best?” Carter got caught in the riptides of the Nixon presidency. He was the first president I was eligible to vote for.

As a one term office holder, he bowed out to Ronald “Let’s Make America Great Again” Reagan.

Father Time looked at the old retread pol from California and said okay.

These things happen.

Sometimes they happen again. What never happens is time going backward, no matter the promise. An old man appealing to a young audience doesn’t always feel the acceptance.

But an old man reaching out to an aging audience with fears of the future does the trick? Looks that way to me, too.

The Best Time To Straighten Out The Old Man In Your Life? Father’s Day, Of Course

If you know your dad went to Washington D.C. for the Jan.6 insurrection, what’s the best way forward?

Report him to the local authorities, sic the feds on him?

Or bury that information, pack it far, far, down with the other embarrassments and shame you’ve felt.

But, what if you have a dad who didn’t listen to crackpot crap spread so thick that it’s hard to catch a breath of common sense?

Why not feel fortunately that on Father’s Day you don’t have the conflict of stupidity to deal with. Imagine the day spent with a former military guy insurrectionist, or retired police officer insurrectionist, explaining themselves in a positive way?

That sounds delightful, if delightful included plenty of angry yelling from an embroiled face pinched down into a new victimhood.

What to do if that happens?

If your dad is in his sixties, and you’re the child who was raised correctly, gently explain that orders spewed from the pretty mouth of a tin horn jackass are not actionable words.

Show a few examples of the guys who aren’t offered bail, who are denied the organic meals their momma usually makes for them. Explain how Jan. 6 wasn’t a regular day at the U.S. Capitol and that the bear spray, zip tie, people weren’t ordinary Americans taking a tour of the building.

Stay calm and review how the job once held by people referred to as ‘The Great White Father’ got in the hands of ‘The Fat Orange Goo Man.’

Show respect for the office, if not the man holding the office, even if they’re out of office, even if they defiled the office along with everything else in their life.

Facing Father Time On Father’s Day

Why do people say Father Time is undefeated? Because no one beats Father Time. Pretty simple idea, but not when broken down hacks use their platform to incite riots.

Father’s Day is a celebration of what, paternity? If the man who sired you casts their loyalty, their identity, and their very freedom, on following the words of a soft, buttered up, dictator loving liar, be gentle.

Things are slipping beyond their control, and hence their responsibility, their concept of understanding the difference between bullshit and earnestness, so be gentle.

Be agreeable, but know that help is on the way. Except it’s a long ways away.

Father Time will win this time and every time. On Father’s Day, and every day before or since, the clock keeps ticking. Your clock, my clock, and every clock on every father, keeps moving inspite of all effort to slow it down, or speed it up.

Be as kind and gentle as possible to dad’s with ill conceived ideas on how to spend their remaining time.

This Father’s Day we know there will be kids visiting their old man in jail because they fell under the spell of a hateful man who somehow dialed into their fears of being replaced, of diminished value, of losing their identity.

Between you and I, dear reader, if your daddy is one of ‘those people,’ you’ve got bigger problems than what to do on Father’s Day.