| 23 July 2006 Before Breakfast Each day you do not learn something, you die a little. I was fortunate to learn several things before breakfast, which puts me on par with The White Queen in “Through the Looking Glass.” She had a conversation with the White Queen, a woman of extraordinary rendition who claimed to be “One hundred and one, five months, and a day old.” The Queen pleaded with Alice to try and believe it. Alice replied, “There's no use trying, one can't believe impossible things.” “I daresay you haven't had much practice”, said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” I am missing Alice this morning, and the conterpane was undisturbed on the other side of the bed when I rose. Before most of my senses came fully on-line, I padded about the apartment looking. I did not wear my glasses, and it is perhaps on that account that I saw no white rabbits, nor likely women, old or young. Instead, I listened to the radio and was treated to the idea that America should speed arms delivery to Israel, particularly the thick green metal oblongs to which one attaches laser-designators, and an appreciation for the inner workings of the organization of the Party of God. I found both of notions perfectly impossible. On the one hand, is the notion that a nation might go to war without the full means to carry out its completion, and the other, that the stockpile and subsequent lobbing of rockets at civilians might be accomplished without significant and immediate consequence. I shrugged, and resolved to believe them both, since I have the list of six to get through before I can get to the work of a Sunday, and the other four might be more pleasant. I thought for a moment. I read an account of an electric car, a sleek two-seater, whose makers claim it is capable of racing from a standing start to sixty miles per hour in four seconds flat. It is advertised to have a range of 250 miles before requiring a recharge, and it does not appear to be impossible. It was such unlikely good news that it seemed impossible. But the Tesla Corporation claims they can deliver one to you by next summer, and I am reluctant to believe it is impossible. It being the Christian Sabbath, I could examine the miracles. But that cuts too close to the reason for all the unpleasantness overseas, and to the core values of us all. The zealots and their impossible notions of faith are things I can barely accept, much less believe. I brightened, as I scrolled through the incoming information. It was possible to believe in the impossibility of their beliefs, and add to it the likelihood that there is some straightforward solution to this mess. I must share that belief with the Secretary of State, who takes plane this morning from Andrews AFB to make peace, even as the belligerents request more ordnance from their respective patrons. That certainly seems impossible, and I happily checked off two more items, for a total of four. It hardly seems impossible that Tiger Woods will fail to win the British Open today, though he holds but a single stroke lead. I discarded it as a possibility. The matter will not be resolved before breakfast, after all, and I need to move on with the day. More likely in the realm of the impossible is that the President is serious about his veto of stem-cell research legislation. Or more precisely, and better nuanced, I find his belief of the impossible to be perfectly plausible, and hence worthy of the first (and only) veto of his Administration. That got me into a ticklish place, logically, but I checked it off none-the-less. Remembering that it is Karl Rove who has apparently been orchestrating this impossible social agenda while our troops are at war, our borders porous, the earth warming and the budget hemorrhaging red ink, I realized I had a sixth impossible thing. I believe in Karl. What a relief. Six impossible things, and it is not even time for my eggs. Copyright 2006 Vic Socotra |