Lee Geiger

There is no sure path to success, but the surest path to failure is trying to please everyone.

Tim Ferriss

Question: Why did you take such a long break from writing The Marginal Prophet?

Answer:   Because I’m a wimp.

WARNING! This Prophet is rated BS for mocking today’s political environment. Some material may be inappropriate for those who give a damn.

I have a confession to make. I am not a political junkie. Outside of deciding who I want to sleep in the White House every four years, normally I can’t tell you which party rules the Senate (each state has two of those, right?), who’s the House Minority Whip, what cases the Supremes are hearing (there’s supposed to be nine of those, right? What do you mean “not at the moment?”), or which legislative district I live in. I can smile and say I’m too busy to pay attention but that wouldn’t be quite right. For example, I’m not too busy to keep up with the minute-by-minute updates on my fantasy football team. Rather, the truth is much simpler and easier for me to digest: I DON’T REALLY CARE ABOUT POLITICS.

Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, allow me to explain why I took a break from penning the Prophet, and the wise man who convinced me to get back on the writing saddle.

On September 22, 2016 I published a post titled “Happy POTUS To Me,” a story about how, on my 57th birthday, I unwittingly ran into President Obama and his massive security detail at Caves Valley Golf Club outside Baltimore. Normally, on any given day, I receive 10-20 emails per blog post, the vast majority of which are short, sweet and complimentary. However, after this post I received 184 emails. Most were nice and a few were highly amusing, but way too many accused me of being naïve, uniformed, and downright stupid. Don’t I realize what damage he’s done to our country? Then there were the mean-spirited ones, accusing me of being a textbook left-wing California bleeding heart liberal who worships at the altar of Nancy Pelosi. Moreover, whereas most emails are usually no longer than a few sentences, those sent by the more fervent folks on the right felt obligated to send page-long manifestos spouting every conservative gripe they had with the entire Obama/liberal agenda. Why the visceral anger, people? All I did was say I saw the President of the United States ride by me in a golf cart, not that he walked on water while looking for his ball. I decided my safest course of action was not to publish again until after the election. By that time, cooler heads would prevail, right?

Wrong.

On November 13, 2016 I published a post titled “Dear President-Elect Trump,” an open letter to The Donald congratulating him on pulling a rabbit out of the hat and expressing my sincere hope that he would find a way over the next four years to make America proud. That post generated 247 emails. TWO. HUNDRED. FORTY. FREAKING. SEVEN. The overwhelming majority was from the left side of the aisle, asking me when I had become president of the Steve Bannon Fan Club. The really fun ones used some very colorful language to describe how, despite my perceived optimism, they would never normalize a President Trump. I was accused by more than a few left-wingers of being mistaken, misguided, and worst of all, a traitor. So I had that going for me.

So let me see if I’ve got this straight. Depending on whom you voted for, I’m either FDR on steroids or Sarah Palin in drag. That’s a market you can fly a 747 through. At this point, the easiest thing to do would have been to turn off my laptop and assume a fetal position. Which is exactly what I did.

Shortly after the new year, with my Marginal head firmly planted in the sand, I opened a book by best-selling author Tom Friedman titled “Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist’s Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations.” Early in the book, Friedman claims successful columnists, or bloggers, are “either in the heating business or the lighting business.” He expands upon that thought by saying:

“Every column or blog has to either turn on a lightbulb in your reader’s head—illuminate an issue in a way that will inspire them to look at it anew—or stoke an emotion in your reader’s heart that prompts them to feel or act more intensely or differently about an issue. The ideal column does both.”

“But how do you go about generating heat or light? Where do opinions come from? I am sure every opinion writer would offer a different answer. My short one is that a column idea can spring from anywhere; a newspaper headline that strikes you as odd, a simple gesture by a child, the cruelty of a school shooter, the wrenching tale of a refugee. Everything and anything is raw fodder for creating heat or light. It all depends on the connections you make and insights you surface to buttress your opinion.”

Thank you, Mr. Friedman.

Friedman’s insights gave me exactly what I needed; a swift kick in the hind quarters to wake me up and bring The Prophet back from the dead. However, that doesn’t mean I’m going to dive headlong into endless political discourse, commenting on every Trumpian tweet, or the predictable knee-jerk outrage. I’m just not wired that way, and hopefully neither are my readers. What it does mean is that I’m going to try to grow a thicker skin, to step outside of my comfort zone, and write about more than just rainbows and lollipops and fanciful days of yore, and pray that by the end of the day I didn’t say anything controversial and upset somebody’s apple cart. The way I see it, going forward, if I’m going to catch the grief, I may as well help myself to the gravy.

That’s my story, folks. If that’s not your brand of tea, feel free to beat the rush and unsubscribe now. You won’t hurt my feelings.

Have a nice day.

P.S.- But wait, there’s more! Tom Friedman goes on to say in his book:

“It is okay to change your mind as an opinion writer; what is not okay is to have no mind—to stand for nothing, or for everything, or only for easy and safe things. An opinion writer has to emerge from some framework of values that shapes his or her thinking about what should be supported or opposed. Are you a capitalist, a communist, a libertarian, a Keynesian, a conservative, a liberal, a neocon, or a Marxist? …you can’t be an effective opinion writer without a set of values that informs what you’re advocating. Dov Seidman likes to remind me of the Talmudic saying, ‘What comes from the heart enters the heart.’”

P.S.S.- I don’t normally do this, but based on the principles espoused above by Mr. Friedman, I’m going to telegraph my next blog post, titled “What I Believe.” Then I’m going to return to my Marginal Prophet roots and write stories about the lunacy of Wall Street, the amazing Pretty Blonde, unsung heros, my kids, Moraga, and anything else that crosses my slowly-forgetful mind. I hope you’ll stick around for the ride.