Dec. 30, 2001 - 18:01 MST

THE WONDERING JEW

Muted

The Wandering Jews's mind seems to be wobbling like a top that is so tired that it is about to spin out horizontally on the floor. But in a way it is nice to peacefully think thoughts not thunk yet or re-thunk as it were, once more, by this lunk.

There is something I always thought should be but isn't, I think that every human should have housing, doctoring, clothes and food guaranteed. Of course my belief holds that the shiftless probably would hardly enjoy the diet they earned. Also the extra workaholics would get lagniappe, above that the largess should be distributed around the world.

Not exactly a communist society but one in which everyone would have the basic necessities to support their life. Then the extras they would have to work for and providing they didn't use the extras to establish a position of power over people's welfare they should then enjoy the fruits of their labor. Its a foregone conclusion to me that a person would have to be super smart to drive a Mercedes, own a fancy condo (financed in part by a housing allowance that all would have), have super fine clothes, eat the finest cuts of meat and so on into infinity - depending on his or her energy and intelligence.

I can even see how someone or some pair could work hard enough to have a mountain cabin or a fishing camp, a small one sufficent for a family.

And, if a person had no ambition or wish to learn and apply that knowledge, that one's lot might be a dorm room in a big complex with a spartan dining room without any fancy stuff.

I cannot dream in my own mind of anyone being able to build one of those vast estates and have the ability to wield power over others by the use of money bags. To my mind under a system I am thinking of a person or family could not possible earn enough to own something like that.

Of course it would be hard to implement the machinery and routine to have a country like that. And the natural perversity of humans would probably make us our own enemy n the end.

This type of scheme has been tried many times through history and eventually faded away. Still going here in our country are the Amish and the Mennonites who live pretty well like that. In recent times there were communes established by the Hippies which eventually fell apart, I know not why but suspect that many of the people there found that they did not want to work that hard and / or share equally.

Oh well, I am entitled to dream, I think.

This afternoon I watched the Broncos play the Raiders in Denver's new stadium, sheesh Investco paid a vast sum to have Mile High Stadium carry the Invesco name, I expect for the next century at least it will still be thought of and called Mile High Stadium by we the hoi polloi.

But this Jew wandered once more in his mind. Thinking of New Year's Eve's of my youth. Mom and Dad might have company in to play cards, but just before midnight in New York City every one would cluster around the radio and hear the New Year come in from there and on out to the west coast. Guy Lombardo's group played usually. My memory is a bit dim but I think that Hawaii is this side of the international date line and seems to me that the party would break up after we heard the Hawaiian guitar music. I think Ben Bernie the Yowza, yowza guy would have his band on the stand too, I think in Chicago. The grown folks would all have drinks going and I and any of my friends there would have Cokes, occasionally spiking them when the grownups backs were turned.

Coast to coast radio was still a big thing to us. The networks were NBC, CBS and I think the other one was called the Mutual Broadcasting System. So we brought the New Year in with joy and celebration for a few years.

My mind just made a left turn there and wanders into times when I was out alone on a cold winter night in the snow, all the houses dark, little traffic and I could hear snowflakes hitting the ground. Obviously they were not the soft fluffy ones, and I am sure they had a name for that kind of snow. But it was a sound that could not be heard over traffic noise.

By the time my papers were delivered on a Sunday like that where I would enjoy the feel and the sound of hard snow hitting the ground and by golly, probably it was just in my imagination but I thought I could hear snow clattering against itself a bit before landing.

I loved my friends and people and being around in the daylight too but late at night when everyone else was in bed except the milkmen and a police car now and then, was a special time to me. Snow added a special romance to the whole thing. It then, was my world solely, the snow softened everything to the extent that even the ugly houses shone with pearly beauty and the sounds came as if from afar. My peaceful night, seen with my joy and respect was beautifully Muted . . . . . . . . .

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