Reflections on Everything, Nothing and the Progressive Era

Well, today is my father's 103rd birthday. Only he's not here, he is with Jesus, I think, died in 2011 at 89. He was born in 1922, just after the period of history called The Gilded Age and the Progressive Era , about which I have begun reading a book by Leon Fink called, fittingly, “Major Problems in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era” in a series of books called the “Major Problems” series by textbook publisher D.C. Heath and Company. I had a great breakfast today (fried potatoes two fried eggs, and an English Muffin with lots of butter), but since then I've just been kind of junking out. Not a lot, but useless eating. Two Vienna Fingers with tea this afternoon, a white chocolate truffle, two Ghirardelli peppermint chocolate squares, just now. If I don't keep it to the serving size, I'll totally pig out. Oh, and about a Tablespoon or two of peanut butter out of the jar. And a microwave baked potato with butter and sour cream. Yes, I'm obsessed with my weight. I can't stand to gain weight. I can't stand that feeling of my jeans being tight around my waist and my stomach pressing against it. And I did make it to the gym for an hour of cardio on the recumbent bike. And later, I watched one episode of "48 Hours" on the Court TV channel and wrote down where to find all three of the true crime stations on my antenna TV. I still have to take my Juice Plus capsules and the other gummies plus Zinc and biotin and calcium and D3. I don't know what the biotin is doing. Nothing, I don't think. My nails have never been as bad as they are now. I am also obsessed with my hair. I cut it all the time but I want to grow it out. I mean I cut it myself. It keeps looking terrible so I cut some off. It's never been terribly long. The longest it ever was, was in 1993 and it was permed and looked really cool, but I doubt if I would ever get another perm. My hair is wavy and full of cowlicks, apparently, or at least, that's what the stylists say. I just always figured it was "problem hair." It just wanted to do what it wanted to do. It's not real wavy, just wavy enough to be unruly, I guess. Can't have it short in the winter, though. So I'm going to keep trying to grow it out and keep cutting layers in it all the time. I am living by faith. I am relying on the presence of the Holy Spirit to get me through this life. With all my issues, I have a faith in God and Jesus that sustains me. I haven't been in a great mood lately. Lots of things bothering me. But that's just life. That's what my late best friend always used to say. I felt sorry for myself today quite a bit, I must confess. I had unpleasant interactions with someone on Facebook this morning. No need to go into it, but it's over now, and I read a little of my "Major Problems in the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era by Leon Fink. I am pretty interested in the "Progressive Era." Yes, I think there are "major problems" with progressivism, and this history may help me to understand how it came about. I did find out that the term "robber barons" was coined by a Marxist. The chapter (Chapter 1) is called "the Price of Progress: Capitalism and Its Discontents." WTH? Oh, my goodness. I can see where this is going. Progress creates "inequality" or something, so that's where the smart, elitist types get to stick their noses into everything and rule the rest of us, so that's where it all started, the Progressive nonsense. I guess I might have known. But it is going to be an interesting read, because it's full of writings from a hundred years ago, etc. Okay, I found it. "No recent student approached the era with more bias than did Matthew Josephson, three of whose works have remained standard interpretations of the period for a generation. Frankly Marxist in his approach, Josephson "saw the period in terms of economic, political, and social exploitation of the many by the few, for whom he coined the telling phrase, 'Robber Barons'" This author places The Gilded Age and the Progressive Era in the years approximately from 1877 to 1920, the term originating in the 1873 novel of the same name by Mark Twain and Dudley Warner. It was news to me that Mark Twain co-authored a novel. Learn something new every day, I say, keeps life interesting. There is one essay about the Brooklyn Bridge, 1883, that kind of belittles the idea that it was any cause to give glory to God, which reminded me of the Tower of Babel story in the Bible, and I can see how humanism must have really been able to flourish during this period of history in America. The author, a former mayor of New York, Abram S. Hewitt, also a former U.S. representative, says that, with regard to the great Brooklyn Bridge, "What hath man wrought?" is more appropriate than "What hath God wrought?" quoting a pious lady, and basically mocking her religious sentiment. Clearly, this has been going on for a long time. I really wanted to want to work on a painting today, and I worked a little while on the one from a friend's photo of her black horse running in the snow. I just can't get motivated to sustain any effort on any one thing, it seems. I just get irritated with any problems I encounter, and give up. I had a problem understanding something in Chapter 22 of Exodus. I won't go into it now. It's getting late. I'm getting kind of tired of listening to the background music, ready for some quiet. So with that, I close this Saturday evening meditation. Good night, God bless and have a nice Sunday tomorrow. I'll be back then, Lord willing.