Narrative inspired by the elements:

In the quiet chambers of his study, an old man sat, his mind as sharp as the legal tomes that lined the walls around him. His hands, though aged, still carried the steady strength of a man accustomed to wielding both law and logic. Years had softened his voice, but the precision with which he spoke was no less commanding. He had spent a lifetime navigating the intricacies of the law, crafting arguments with the same care and deliberation a master craftsman might take in shaping a fine piece of furniture. Each case, a puzzle to solve, each contract, a story of power and consequence.

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Friday, November 10, 2017

About twenty-two years ago I travelled to Naples, Florida with a friend to interlope at his mother’s and step-father’s rental apartment on the Gulf coast for a week over the Christmas holiday. My recollection is that the apartment belonged to a Vice-president of Mobile Oil who planned to retire there ultimately but who in the meantime had arranged to rent it.  My friend’s mother explained to me that she and her husband routinely spent three months of the year over the winter in Florida; and that they always arranged their upcoming stay in the year prior to the visit while they were then currently in Florida. At the time I marveled at the planning which naturally exceeded anything I had ever undertaken for my comparatively shorter southern jaunts to the Caribbean or Mayan resorts. Now that I have graduated to the vernacular of a retired snowbird the planning routine is a familiar one.

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On Sunday, March 9, at 2 a.m. local time, the clock leapt forward by one hour, marking the shift to Daylight Saving Time (DST). This seasonal adjustment is designed to extend evening daylight in summer by setting clocks forward in the spring and back in the fall—hence the mnemonic: “spring forward and fall back.” While golfers may relish the extra light for late afternoon rounds, farmers, whose routines are dictated by their livestock rather than the clock, may view the change less favorably.

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Travel is a cultivated and varied appetite. For most, it remains a moderate indulgence, though in later life, free from professional and familial obligations, it often transforms into a more prolonged alternative to life at home.

Recently, however, our approach to travel has shifted. The primary catalyst for this change is the political climate in the United States, where we have spent the past decade exploring. Compounding this is an increasingly unfavorable global landscape, with rising safety concerns reflected in official government advisories. The widening divisions between religious and racial groups have further estranged nations from one another.

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The natural world into which all living creatures are born is, for the most part, self-sustaining. Birds and insects grow and survive without visible amendment, guided only by the forces of nature. The sun rises and sets; the seasons change; flowers bloom and wither; leaves come and go. Human beings, by contrast, distinguish themselves through deliberate and sometimes extraordinary modifications—not only to their own natural growth and evolution but also to the world around them. They alter agriculture and architecture, photography and cosmetics, music and language, even the alphabets they use. More remarkably, humans create entire fictions—narratives among and between themselves—that shape their perception of reality. This continuous process of revision and reinterpretation far exceeds the natural limitations of partnership, familial growth, and physical necessity.

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Late last evening, just as I was crawling into bed, I noticed an email notification from my newest acquaintance and neighbor, Carolina. She wrote:

“Hello Bill, if you’re triking around 11 tomorrow, stop by the old pickleball courts (I think they’re green). Four of us who haven’t played in a year or two are going to give it a try.”

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Within my personal vernacular, “schmaltz” is primarily reserved for music of a highly sentimental or conventional character. However, the word has another, less poetic but no less evocative meaning.

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A rainy day on Hilton Head Island is rarely uneventful. Being directly exposed to the North Atlantic, with only modest sand dunes and Palmetto ferns for protection, the island often bears the brunt of unrestrained ocean weather. Rain here is seldom gentle; forecasts frequently warn of severe thunderstorms, wind advisories, and gusts reaching 80 km/h, making the air feel even cooler. When last evening’s forecast promised a stormy day ahead, I made an easy decision: I would forego my usual tricycling and indulge in the rare pleasure of sleeping late.

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There once was a lawyer named Rex
Who was endowed with a small organ of sex
When tried for exposure, he replied with composure
De minimis non curat lex!

De minimis is a Latin expression meaning “The law does not concern itself with trifles”, a legal doctrine dating back to the 15th century by which a court refuses to consider inconsequential matters.

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With the unfolding histrionics of Trump’s recent election, it is increasingly apparent that there is a rift between liberalism and libertarianism. One (liberalism) is openness to new ideas; the other (libertarianism) advocates minimal state intervention. The paradox (that is, the unanticipated conflict between social welfare and personal independence) is that anything which violates the entitlement of others to freedom from the conduct of others is interpreted as an invasion of that privacy.  As a result, the dominance of the majority (specifically its putative rulers) becomes the priority.  This in turn precipitates attack on anything which unsettles the unobstructed traction of the rulers’ interests. Examples of this transition include intolerance of minority religions, intolerance of minority needs and behaviour, intolerance of minority literature, division of labour interests, commercial and political governance, etc. Basically anything that disturbs the rule of governing interests is discounted. It must be expected that the universal human nature for preservation of its self-interest will prevail. There is no logical reason whatever that distances or defends that preoccupation. To imagine that the actors of the drama have attended some school of beneficence before assuming control is irrational.

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