Sunday Drive: Be Still, My Soul

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Well, as those of you who keep up with the news may know, the End of the World failed to happen on schedule yesterday. Perhaps it was just an oversight. Nevertheless, for those cold, lonely hours that assail us all from time to time, I present a song of comfort, as performed with angelic voice by David Archuleta.  I apologize for the annoying titles on the screen, but this was the only clear, complete copy I could find of this tune by this artist on short notice.




I used to draw much comfort from the Eucharist. Unfortunately, circumstances have kept me from attending Communion for many years now, and it is most unlikely that I will ever do so again. Still, sometimes I find a healing balm, a note of hope in the words of the liturgy, fondly remembered. Fellow Anglicans will understand what I mean. The rest of you, if you find a word or phrase that helps you, fine - if not, look in a direction that suits you better. But here are the lovely words that speak to my soul, dulled and weary as it is now by all the changes and chances of life in a world that seems more and more hopeless every day.

I pray speedy help and recovery may go out to all those suffering from the recent hurricanes.  It may be only words, but words and a hope of hope are all I have to give now.

The End of the World (As We Know It)

From this week's issue of Germany's Der Spiegel, an excerpt:

But what kind of a president will Donald Trump really be? In the past, he has also voiced approval of more liberal abortion laws and he once demanded health insurance for all Americans himself. Over the years, he has held all manner of contradictory opinions on many different political issues, sometimes at the same time.

Those who think they know what Donald Trump will do as president are likely overestimating their own intelligence. Trump will be the most unpredictable president that America has ever had. That holds true of his thin-skinned personality just as it does for his political positions. Anything, really anything, is possible. And that is the most disturbing thing.

It is possible that Trump will turn out to be the US version of the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez -- that he will appease and divert Americans while at the same time dramatically eroding the country's institutions and politicizing the judiciary, the CIA and the FBI. And that he, as he indicated he would, will allow for the return of torture. And that he will build the promised wall on the border to Mexico, impede people from Muslim countries from coming to the US, turn up the volume on bigotry and use the presidency to personally enrich himself. It could mean the end of NATO -- but it could also be that his bromance with Putin will cool and turn hostile.

It is equally possible, though, that Trump will turn over the governing of the country to experienced Republican politicians and will preside over proceedings as a kind of CEO. It is possible that he will build his wall as a sop to his supporters but will quickly realize that his announced intention to deport 11 million illegal immigrants makes no economic sense. It is possible that he will service the yearnings for a resurgent white identity primarily with rhetoric, that he will seek to stimulate the economy with billions in investments and that his foreign policy will simply be a continuation of the American withdrawal that began under Obama.

We simply don't know. The only thing we know -- from his statements, his campaign and his personality -- is that he will be a president unlike any that has come before.

NASA: Stop the Madness!

Your Head Trucker has not given any thought to the supposed Mayan apocalypse, but in case there was a doubt in your minds, NASA released this video ten days early to reassure the world that the end is not near:





Aren't you glad?

See also, with honk to Grandmere Mimi:

Mayans Unfazed about the End of the World