“My choices in life were either to be a piano player in a whore house or a politician. And to tell the truth, there’s hardly any difference.” — Harry Truman

I suspect this isn’t the case today, however, I can’t prove otherwise. Actually I’m more concerned about what I read in the papers, and I’m always annoyed with Katherine Kersten’s Tribune columns who claims President Obama’s speech to the students was creating a “cult of personality” for himself.

She believes Obama refers to himself too often ‘and takes for granted that students will be ‘inspired and moved.’ “ I listened to him on the radio, and I was inspired and moved. I believe they were. But then I think what if George W. had attempted something of that nature.

Bill Cosgrove’s counterpoint concludes what Kersten calls “Obama-worship,” is simply widespread recognition of his efforts and talents at beginning to achieve what the previous eight years tried to but couldn’t do —  “openly and honestly engage us in our own destinies domestically and internationally.”

In Kersten’s Sunday Opinion page she argues why students should read the classics. Here I have to agree, at least some of the classics she calls on. One of them, “The Catcher in the Rye” was one of the first classics I read and got lost in it. Then it was too far away from the Austin I grew up in. Yet years later, after spending portions of my life on psychiatric wards, not as a visitor, and then settling back into being “normal,” I again read “The Catcher in the Rye” and felt it was an incredible undertaking that was accessible. I don’t think I made it through “To Kill a Mockingbird,” but appreciated the movie further along in my adult life.

Now there is a new passage as Alan Meir tells us “We have entered this new era where essentially everything is on all the time.”

I find this unfortunate and sad in a way to see so many young people everywhere wearing a cell phone attached to their ear as they drive down the road or walk down the street, ignoring life or viewing the beauty of nature they pass by. It’s the quiet joy of silence that accompanies me on my daily walks. And what a treat  it was to turn back toward home as the rain began to fall as I neared my destination.

I’ve enjoyed watching the progress on the addition to the Hormel Home take shape over the spring, summer and now fall, and the core of workers, unfortunately they all seem to be men. Maybe there were women involved in the project. Monday, it was my turnaround point when the rain began to fall and followed me home waiting until I got there before the heavy rain bringing a fresh fragrance to the air.

I hope some of you watched Obama spend most of an hour on the David Letterman show the other night where laughter was abundant but also a meaningful discussion on health care. Obama pointed out that 30 million American’s don’t have health insurance, and he pointed out that premiums went up 5.5 percent the last 10 years. He said the status quo is unacceptable, but he also pointed out that the Canadians were happy.

Obama said we need to save money, make people healthier “but we’re scared about the devil we don’t know.”

The show closed with a discussion about what America faced in Iraq and what we are now facing in Afghanistan. He said our troops will be out of Iraq by 2011 and Iraq will have an opportunity to succeed.

When asked by Letterman about Afghanistan, Obama said the central objective was to take those folks out.

We’ve come to know those folks as the Taliban.

He pointed out that diplomacy is also a factor, it was not just military and moving forward was no easy decision and an enormous risk where we are facing a group of extremists willing to slaughter.

We are soon to have a new member of our family who it seems is being called again to active duty.

Letterman, in closing, said to Obama “I can’t tell you how satisfying it is to see you work.”  There is also something worthwhile in his playfulness as well as his ability to listen, and I am so pleased that he put a halt the missile system that was planted by Bush. Now the Soviet’s have responded in kind.