Way back when, John Kerry, who served in Vietnam,
ran for president. His running mate was John Edwards,
who was married to the love of his life. Edwards was
a simple man with four-hundred-dollar haircuts and
a gated home on a significant piece of land.
I remember him saying, time and time again, that
John and I are going to do this or that when elected.
He believed this and still was not true to the love of his life.
He cheated on her, as the story went, and enjoyed his ten
minutes of fame. His children were a nuisance to John
Kerry’s wife, who shooed them away when pictures
were taken of the happy cohesive group. At the time of
the campaign and during the vote count and prognostications
I was doing landscape work at my neighbors. I built two
retaining walls along their driveway, replacing and widening
what was previously there. I sat down and nervously listened
to the predictions of the outcome. I could not imagine
the haughty one in the White House with a Heinz-57 flag
waving in the front yard. I was nervous. I did not particularly
like George Bush who took us to war with Iraq, but thought
he was the lesser of two evils. Bush was the winner and the
election did not have to go to the Supreme Court. The haughty
one in the meantime or before, had his luxury cruiser registered
in Maine to avoid the taxes which would have been imposed
in his home state. He was a windsurfer and knew all the tricks
on avoiding taxes for him but was in favor of taxing everyone
else in every way he could. I would not call him a patriot.
He sustained three injuries in Vietnam, one of them supposedly
self-inflicted. He was released from duty and received some
awards. He had a love affair with money which led him to
marriage to Mrs. Heinz. I would call it a tradeoff. Meanwhile,
with gusto, I finished my work on the walls and my neighbors
upon their return were quite pleased. They couldn’t thank me
enough.
Stanski
January 25, 2023, ^
Steve Haarman 