This will be the first Mother’s Day without my Mom, who passed away last July. It’ll be the first time I can’t send her flowers and a card, or call her up and wish her a happy one, or thank her for all her boundless love and caring and kindness over the years, or remind her how much I love her and how much she means to me.
Mom’s final stage of decline was fairly fast, but she spent a lot of time before that in sort of a “plateau” that I’m relatively grateful for, where her Alzheimer’s symptoms seemed to progress only very slowly. Sixteen months ago, she had forgetfulness and confusion, but she could still laugh, talk, smile, and walk about with a little help. We spent Christmas of 2015 together, Mom chuckling approvingly from the sofa as her grandchildren played at her feet. A month later, she was bed-bound and much less communicative, and shortly after that it became clear that my 89-year-old Dad could no longer care for her at home, even with help. They moved into an assisted living facility just a few months before she passed.
I worry about Dad now. Thankfully, he’s always been an optimist who is very good at finding the bright side, keeping busy, and carrying on. We speak often, and he seems to be managing fairly well. But I can only imagine how much he misses her. Loss of one’s spouse is a weighty thing that I can scarcely begin to fathom. I’m heartbroken all over again, just contemplating this Mother’s Day, and revisiting old pictures and my post from Mom’s passing last year. Treasure the time while you have it, my friends. And make sure to care for those left behind.
A rare day off presented itself, and I’ve seized it: recording a new, 10-minute episode of The No Fear Pioneer that I’ve been wanting to get to for a long while now.
Related to today’s discussion: Natan Sharansky’s Fear No Evil — the uplifting account of a man whose faithfulness to his principles, integrity, and inner compass enabled him to endure trials few of us could imagine.
Whatever short-term mitigation of circumstances may fall out of the election results (I am not counting on anything, and expect very little), my long-term view of what we should working on hasn’t changed. There remains a strong and determined movement in the culture toward people wanting the State to provide for them and shelter them from freedom’s inherent risks, and I don’t see that shift abating — either in terms of people’s desires, or the state mechanisms they put in place to fulfill them. Progressivism operates like a ratcheting mechanism (credit to Bill Whittle for that apt analogy): It advances persistently, by gradual increments, and is only rarely reversed in small and temporary ways. Those of us who yearn to live the joyful and free-wheeling life that America’s founding generation envisioned, and that their own risks and sacrifices made possible, need to make ready to head to a new frontier, for only by going where others fear to tread will we be able to build and enjoy a thriving freedom-loving Civilization again.
“The Way Out” remains my guiding compass in this endeavor. It’s a series I continue to ponder and will add to — along with the No Fear Pioneer podcast — as new ideas arise.
I’m also looking forward to hearing what Bill has been working on and hinting at on his Stratosphere Lounge podcast, as I’ve often found myself thinking along similar lines.
Freedom is a tremendous and precious inheritance. To develop our potential, thrive in it, and pass it along to each successive generation is our highest calling. I write here to give my thanks, and to seek ways we can cultivate the resilience, independence, courage, and indomitable spirit necessary to sustain a culture that cherishes liberty.
