The seven stages of grief.

My friend Stan just sent me an email, which included the lines below. 

I was worried about you since your column became silent after the election.  It appears that you are following the "Seven Steps" of overcoming grief.


He was referring to this little parody by my other friend, Robert McCusker, an advertising executive in our area.   Bob publishes "The Friday Follies" to bring a little lightness and levity to his loyal readers every Friday.  This was part of today's Follies.

Time to consider the Seven Stages of Grief;

Through the Process, Back to the White House

1) Shock & Denial

You react with numbed disbelief, you deny the reality in order to avoid the pain. This may last for weeks. Take a break from talk radio and cable news.

2) Pain & Guilt

As shock wears off, it is replaced with unbearable pain. It is important for you to experience the pain, don't avoid it or escape with alcohol or drugs; even if marijuana is legal now in several liberal states.

3) Anger & Bargaining

Frustration gives way to anger. You may lash out and lay blame on someone else. Be careful not to lose all your liberal friends.

They are not ignorant, they just know lots of things that aren't true. Time to release those bottled up emotions.

4) Depression, Reflection & Loneliness

During this time, you finally realize the true magnitude of your loss (four long years again) and it depresses you.

You may isolate yourself, reflect on Ronald Reagan, and focus on memories of winning the Cold War without a shot fired.

You may sense a dread of ObamaCare and despair.

5) The Upward Turn

As you adjust to life with the Obamas on teevee every night again, your life becomes calmer and more organized. You learn to watch Nat. Geographic instead of Fox News.

Your physical symptoms lessen, your depression begins to lift slightly; your sphincter relaxes a bit.

6) Reconstruction & Working Through

As you become more functional, your mind starts working again, and you will find yourself questioning anything that Rush and Dick "Romney Landslide" Morris say.

You will find yourself seeking realistic solutions to problems posed by life without the Mittster in the Oval Office.

Go ahead, apply for Food Stamps and your ObamaPhone, like 46 million other recipients, or the 10 million on Soc. Sec. Disability. Yes, you can!

7) Acceptance & Hope

During this, the last of the seven stages, you learn to accept and deal with the reality of your situation.

Acceptance does not necessarily mean instant happiness. Joe Biden, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are tough to stomach.

Given the pain and turmoil you have experienced, you can never return to the carefree, untroubled YOU that existed before this election.

But you will find a way FOREWARD (pardon that word) and actually plan things for the future. 2016 will come someday.

Eventually, you will be able to think about Romney-Ryan without pain; sadness, yes, but the wrenching pain will be gone.

You will once again anticipate some good times to come, and yes, even find joy again in the experience of just living in the good ole US of A.

 

[Our parody borrowed a lot of the above  stages from this serious site:]

Click here to go to "recover from grief.com 

 Check out the Follies here. 

For those of us who are loyal readers: 
'It wouldn't be Friday without the Follies.' 

Thanks Bob!!!

BTW --- "the chair" has found a resting place in my garage. 

 

Tears for our once great nation

My friend Walt received this letter written by a relative of his on Wednesday morning.  I have been given permission to include it in One Empty Chair. 

_________________________________________________

Subject: Tears for our once great nation

Dear friends,

Sadly, yesterday, this country re-elected a gutter dog instead of a world leader.  Americans have re-elected a President that is intent on bringing America to its knees - one who prefers the company of Putin and Chavez over credible world leaders. Don't be fooled by his words, pay close attention to his actions - the real indicator of the condition of his heart.  His actions demonstrate his undeniable contempt for this country and those who worked hard and sacrificed to make it great.

I am deeply saddened by the choice America has made and it is clear to me that we are now firmly set on a path for a forever divided and weak nation - a divide between the takers and the givers, entitlements vs capitalism, a nation where the are no losers or winners.  American exceptionalism has seen its best days. The day has come when the takers now outweigh the givers. This nation is slowly killing the goose that lays the golden egg and no amount of quantitative easing will fix this problem or replace the capitalist engine. The liberal encroachments on our freedom, as infiltrated throughout the public school system and overly biased media, have finally won.  We are raising up a generation of lawless individuals - a generation of illegal immigrants who are afforded the same rights and benefits of legal American citizens. The constitution means nothing to the America hating President, it is merely an old document that is no longer relevant or helpful to his cause. We all know we are on financial path that cannot be sustained - Medicaid and social security trusts have been robbed - unfunded liabilities can never be paid back. 

The culture of "me first" will come to an abrupt end one day and the further we drift from sound biblical principles, the faster we move towards spiritual death which will be the ultimate and final demise of this great country. The character, strength and work ethic....traits that made this country great are no longer valued.  The endless potential in our lives - known as the American dream has vanished - replaced by a government that decides what dreams should look like and how they should be achieved.  The cancer, also known as liberalism, has now metastasized.

Please pray for this great nation today: (1) pray that good will triumph over evil; (2) pray that light will shine where darkness exists; (3) pray that this country embraces sound biblical principles rather than a "me first" philosophy; and (4) pray for our leaders!

Regards

IT IS HERE

Tomorrow is "the day"    Go vote!   You know how The Chair hopes you will vote.


CNN poll this morning calls it a dead heat.  That means Mitt has continunued to gain momentum all the time since BO blew it in his debate.  Of course more and more people have come to realize that BO had his chance four years ago and did not deliver on his promises.

Happy voting and may we all be cheering Wednesday morning!

How we teach our children about money

by BO

MO and I have two daughters who are at the age where they need to seriously learn about about managing their money.

We use the federal government and the way I want to run it, as our basis for teaching.

Basically, what we tell our daughters is that if they spend more than we give them for an allowance, all they have to do is to go find some "rich kid" and tell him that he (she) has to give them some of his money 'cause he has more than he deserves.

If you spend all that, just go tell the rich kid you need more.  If she refuses, tell her you will get congress to pass a law.

Our girls don't need to learn anything about financial restraint, because they can always get more when they demonstrate a need for it.  And their "demonstration" does not have to be very good.  BTW, we don't expect them to do anything demeaning like household chores.  Oh no, just being alive is enough to get money whenever they want it.

MO and I realize our approach is not shared by many of our friends and political associates, but it is the new way---- our way.

yours truly
BO


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The Chair thought Monday night debate was a draw.  Mitt did what he had to do.  "Create no openings"    It is like a football game where the team that is leading as the end of the game approaches needs to play a strong defensive game.  Momentum is on Romney's side ---  so do nothing to derail it.   The buzz in Florida is that BO needs to do something to close the gap.

Romney-Obama debate October 16, 2012

The chair declares it a draw. 

Some criticized Romney for not going after BO more strongly on Libya, but it seemed to me that he had to show restraint lest he be viewed as "too hard" on the media darling.

One strong win and one draw so far.

Not too bad!!!

Watch for the explanation of how BO & MO teach their daughters about money management.  Coming soon to a monitor near you. 

Ryan-Biden Debate

Hi to all of you out in cyberland

My name is Joe B and I am out to make a fool of myself in tonight's debate.  I hope you like my teeth, cause I am going to show you them a lot tonight.  All my liberal friends, including many in the media, will tell you that I won the debate at the end of the night.  But much of  the American public will  conclude  that they are not comfortable with having me only one heartbeat away from being president.  I can just see ol' Barry  (that is easier for me to say than Barack) squirming when he watches me trying to belittle young Mr Ryan.  I will call Ryan my "friend" a lot and openly sneer when he is talking and shake my head and roll my eyes and even laugh out loud.  (that is LOL to you kids under my age of nearly 70 out there.)

Then I will interrupt him and just generally try to get him rattled by my obvious superiority. I mean I am not just older, but I am wiser, and I have nicer teeth.  The viewing public will get to see all that tonight.  It is true that I am generally knowledgeable about most of the issues we will be discussing, but I am going to let my demeanor overshadow that.  I am not going to be rude, but I suppose there will be those few on the fringe that will think I am.
 

The ones I really want to get to are the undecided voters....the ones we need to  persuade to vote for me and Barry.   They will see my obvious superiority over that young cub.  I don't care if he does stay calm and on track.  I don't care if he does have facts and figures just like mittens did when he debated Barry.  My charm and good looks and nice white teeth will win them over.  You just watch.  So what if I am derisive and disrespectful.  I am the king and everyone will know when I get done humiliating him.  You watch.  You will see.

If you don't like what you see tonight, you can just take your vote and go someplace else.  I sure hope Barry appreciates what I am going to do for him after his dismal performance against Mitt Romney.  I will get that Ryan kid with my smirk!!  It is my ultimate weapon!  He will just fold up when he sees that!!
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Epilogue

The BBC website said-  "Mr Biden may have won on points, perhaps, but his manner may have put off some undecided voters.
He was stronger, more agressive, more certain of his position- but chuckled, smiled, laughed, grinned at his opponent in a way that was certainly condescending and some will have found irritating."

A number of polls after the debate gave the edge to Ryan, but Biden is credited with "doing his strategic job" of providing much needed energy to the Obama campaign.

 Here is photo from politico.com.