At the risk of reaching too far back into the past for a subject of interest, I want to tell you about a notable seafood restaurant I came across a number of months back while in Sarasota, Florida for a wedding. The beaches there are nice, and there are some absolutely lovely areas chock-full of charming shops and restaurants. Regrettably, I was unable to visit them all, though God knows we made the effort. Truly the place is worth a second visit, if only to get to one more restaurant I saw while we were driving around near the hotel.
It was called "Barnacle Bill's". That was enough for me right there, as that is the partial name of a rather crude and salty song of which I am fond (although there are tamer and more sophisticated versions). It's a fine song, and I was pleased to entertain the idea that its titular character had retired from his seafaring and romancing to the town of Sarasota to run a seafood restaurant. Unfortunately, the illusion is ruined somewhat by what I've heard about the bizarre disinclination of sailors to eat seafood. Why make life at sea any harder than it already is, fellas?
Showing posts with label economy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label economy. Show all posts
Monday, August 15, 2011
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Our Despair
I recall that in "The Magnificent Seven", Charles Bronson's character attracts a few youthful admirers while defending a Mexican village from bandits. The kids resent their parents, but Bronson admonishes them, talking about the nobility of their actions. He tells the kids how the responsibility of being a provider weighs on the parents like a heavy rock, and how it eventually drives them into the ground.
That last part is what I'm getting at, only it's not responsibility that feels like it's driving us into the ground. It's not even as positive as that. It's more as if it's brutal despair that weighs on us every day. Every day, more jobs bleed out of the economy, and our national self sags and totters and reels. Japan played that out all through the 90s, and we can only hope to pull out of it before it gets to that point.
I hope that we have the fortitude to do so. We have before, many times. The only time it was worse than this, though, it took a war that engulfed the world. I don't foresee something like that saving us again, so we're going to have to do it for ourselves this time.
Subjects:
despair,
economy
That last part is what I'm getting at, only it's not responsibility that feels like it's driving us into the ground. It's not even as positive as that. It's more as if it's brutal despair that weighs on us every day. Every day, more jobs bleed out of the economy, and our national self sags and totters and reels. Japan played that out all through the 90s, and we can only hope to pull out of it before it gets to that point.
I hope that we have the fortitude to do so. We have before, many times. The only time it was worse than this, though, it took a war that engulfed the world. I don't foresee something like that saving us again, so we're going to have to do it for ourselves this time.