Can Anyone Survive?


Hey, I was thinking, if I were to ever run for politics, I would never survive the kind of scrutiny our candidates are being subjected to.

How can I explain that some of my friends wound up in the Big House for virtually every kind of crime including murder. How can I explain that I spent so much time on the streets without supervision.

Yes, we were a rough crowd.

We all hung out in pool rooms when we were young; we got into gang wars….and fighting was a big thing.

My friends used to carry around firearms. It got as bad as that.

After getting pulled off the streets by law enforcement enough times, and getting my head handed to me, I straightened out.

I was lucky.

A few of my professors and teachers took an interest in what happened to me.

Not everyone is so lucky.

But I am sure if I were ever to run for office, I would be blamed for having criminal friends.

Well, the truth was that I had just as many scholars as friends as bad guys, but those are the ones they will remember and use to define me.

And then they will bring up the fact that I was a trouble maker and spoke my mind around elections.

And people will remember that.

They will not remember that I wrote the scripts, carried the signs and did the heavy lifting, too.

Nobody’s an angel. If they were, the chances are that they couldn’t survive in the maelstrom of politics. The truth is that most of us are a composite of good and bad. And that if given half a chance our good sides will emerge. The sorry truth is, however, that we are perhaps judged too quickly by those who don’t have the whole picture.

So, let’s take a step back from the brink and let’s do a little introspection.

It just may be good for the soul.

And perfect for the election.

Les Aaron