The guy on the next barstool is curious about the photos I’m taking, so I explain it’s an exercise I do every so often, sitting in one place and finding something picworthy from wherever I’m perched. I show him the shot I took of the champagne flutes, refracted through a water glass, and then we veer off into a conversation about cameras, motorcycles, politics, and abortion. Turns out, he owns one of the condos in the hotel complex where we’re staying and he sells motorcycles, among other things, to put food on the table. I get the feeling he can afford much fancier food than he’s munching on at the moment, but he also seems to enjoy being in a place where everybody knows his name. He took some photos when he was younger, drifted away from it, has considered getting back into it, but life intervenes and you move in different directions. We talk about our kids, who are relatively close in age, their careers and life choices, the way our roles change as we and our children get older, and the complexities of business. I tell him a bit about my career and he gives me a brief tutorial on the motorcycle industry, which leads us into the challenges of updating a brand and appealing to a new generation of buyers. Then we're deep into marketing, supply chain management and the damage that the finance guys have wreaked on American industry. I tell him re-shoring and the rebuilding of infrastructure are big investment themes for me, now that the Chips and Science Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law are generating results. His state is one of the bigger beneficiaries, but he isn’t all that familiar with them, and I’m not surprised. Based on some of the phrases he uses, I know at least one source of his news, and Biden successes aren’t a primary topic over there. So, now we’re talking politics, focusing on the misplaced incentives that make it more profitable, literally, to create problems than to solve them. We agree that Congress is pretty ineffective at addressing the issues that are most critical, that there’s more grandstanding than real effort in political circles, and there's a gigantic gap where common sense should be. Inevitably, it seems, we end up on abortion. Both of us believe life begins at conception, but neither of us thinks a woman should be forced to carry a dead fetus to term. He said he was opposed to all the proposals for post-birth abortions and I said I would be opposed, too, if that really was a thing. Between those points of agreement, we didn’t quite find a bright line that divides what’s acceptable or not for the two of us. And by “us,” I’m talking about two men sitting at a bar...pretty much a textbook definition of having no skin in the game. Ninety minutes later, we both have somewhere else to be and some of the world’s problems will need to wait until another pair of old guys grab our stools. As I’m heading out, it occurs to me that it’s incredibly easy to have a congenial conversation with a stranger, to talk about challenging issues without getting angry, to see things differently without seeing an enemy. Clearly, I should spend more time in saloons.
2 Comments
Steve
3/24/2024 10:25:53 am
There are no laws that state women have to carry a dead child/fetus within them. The morning after pill is the most popular form of abortion now, and that is being used primarily for "live" children, not dead ones. Abortion is the political third rail for a reason...it is not an issue that promotes apathy, but passionate responses...because the most vulnerable of all our citizens are involved. I was told by a famous exorcist that real evil is always choosing the lesser good.
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Dad Writes
3/24/2024 11:11:44 am
I'd disagree strongly on that one. Real evil is choosing real evil. We live in a world where people demand purity from others, but fall victim to the failings of our own humanity. A lesser good is still good and there really is no "pure good" available to mortals.
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Who writes this stuff?Dadwrites oozes from the warped mind of Michael Rosenbaum, an award-winning author who spends most of his time these days as a start-up business mentor, book coach, photographer and, mostly, a grandfather. All views are his alone, largely due to the fact that he can’t find anyone who agrees with him. Archives
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