MOM, WHAT CAN I DO TODAY?

Every Saturday morning, eating breakfast with my mom and little brother, I would ask the inevitable question, “Mom, what can we do today?”

While I didn’t love attending school, I was seldom bored there the way I was on Saturday mornings at home, the day looming ahead of me with nothing to do.

One of my mom’s favorite “go to” place on Saturdays was the Los Angeles Zoo, which was nearby and, I assume, not too costly.  I especially enjoyed feeding peanuts to the elephants and listening to the lion’s roar.

Now I’m 83 years old, and Mom is no longer around to suggest entertainment.  I work in my office three days a week, but the rest of my time is my own. So now I must answer the question for myself, “What shall I do today?”

I suppose I could watch Dateline on TV.  The show deals mostly with the murder of a spouse and the subsequent investigation.  I watched two of these one-hour shows yesterday evening, but I think that’s enough for a while.  The basic story always remains the same.  Just the names of the characters change.  And since Daveen and I get along fine there is little chance of one of us doing the other one in, so there is nothing useful to be learned by watching the show.

Instead, I find myself turning to reading.  I just finished an excellent biography of Patrice Lumumba who was the first democratically elected prime minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo when the country gained independence from Belgium. Sadly, he remained in office for only a brief period of time before he was executed by his rival, Mobutu, in the early 1960’s.  I still remember a bad joke circulating at that time. An alien lands in the Congo and says, “Take me to your leader.”

“Mobutu or Lumumba?” was the answer.

“Take me to your leader now.  We can dance later.”

The book details the overthrow and assassination of Lumumba, in which it appears that the CIA was involved upon the “indirect” request of President Dwight Eisenhower.

I was thoroughly engaged reading the biography, and think I’ll challenge myself to start a program of reading one book a week.  Mostly biographies.  Next up – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Happy holidays to all. May you enjoy your time with family and loved ones; or however it is you choose to spend your days.

Alan