On Sunday’s way back when my family would visit my Grandma and Grandpa Buncher. It was a ritual for us, we actually had to get a little dressed up with a tiny speech about respect and off we would go to visit my fathers parents. My Grandma Buncher was a lady who believed in waste not want not. I had no idea, then, of the word frugal but indeed she was very frugal, the word I used at the time and only sharing it with my little sister was mean. In Pittsburgh the word for soda was “pop”. My dad was a policeman and our income was not that much so if we had any “pop” at our house it was a generic brand and it was delivered by the “pop” and seltzer man(back in the early 50’s almost everything was delivered.) At least it was “pop” so my little sister and I felt that we were almost like every other family. My Grandma Buncher however thought that “pop” was a waste of money and a lot of phooey. Trying hard to have her grandchildren enjoy their visit to her house my Grandma would invite my little sister and I into her kitchen and she would say, “Children, this is much healthier for you and you don’t need a lot of it to enjoy it.” She would then take some elixir of raspberry, or grape drip drop it into a a glass then take out the seltzer bottle and spritz it also into the glass. As she would add the seltzer she said, “it seems like a whole lot but children, all you really need is tiny bit and you will certainly be just as satisfied.” Handing the the glasses of home made “pop” to us my Grandmother would end the discussion by saying, “ People who are empty inside always want more, people who are satisfied inside need nothing more. Never consider what you think you need but enjoy every ounce of what you have.” She would finalize that conversation by saying “and give it a good burp!” She would giggle but how could anyone burp in front of their grandparents!
For me there is no real wonder as to the popularity of most to many of the GOP-Tea Party candidates for president. As monstrous as many of those men and one woman seem to be the real scary part of this whole cultural debacle is the EMPTY people who celebrate and support them. This pack of presidential hopefuls with or without their white robes and hoods, understand that promising more, better, greater and most will fill the void and vacuum of a demographic never ever able to feel satisfied. Like the spritz of seltzer, promises made by the GOP Tea Party candidates, arrive in a bubbly. Add the sweet taste of “we versus them” to color the drink and suddenly you feel full. But when a person is truly EMPTY inside as my Grandma Buncher suggested some people may be, your satisfaction grows less and your need for another glass of hate and anger grows and grows.
“Never consider what you think you need but enjoy every ounce of what you have” were sweet words from my Grandmother, but sadly in this nation in the year 2016 the candidates running for president only offer their townsfolk parables about what you have is not enough. The presidential candidates promise that more for you is correct and less from them appropriate. Don’t be satisfied unless you have it all. Just like the seltzer bubbles spinning and bouncing the promises of the GOP-Tea Party are so enticing, causing a burp of excitement, but eventually will fall flat. “People who are empty inside always want more thus they seek others who are just as empty to be their hero’s.
