Age related

Awwww

I went for a bicycle ride this morning. After several weeks off I rode Saturday and it felt good. Today...not so much. My legs seemed to think Saturday's workout overdid it.
This afternoon I played 18 holes on the executive course. I've only played 9 at a time up until this point but D-Day is looming in the not-distant-enough future so it's time to step up the preparation. Because I walk and carry my bag I am feeling a bit whooped tonight.

But probably not as tired as Earl. He came up just after I'd teed off at the first hole and asked if he could join me. "No" wasn't a realistic option so off we went together. I learned that Earl is 88 years old and this was his first time back after getting his pacemaker. I don't think he weighs 110 pounds and twice I asked him if he was OK. He trembled enough that I don't know how he managed to put his ball on the tee. And after he'd placed it there he stood up and rested for a minute or so. Then he'd "hit" it with his graphite shaft driver and watch it travel...oh...20 yards or so.
He left after two hours and eight holes. I hope he gets out of bed tomorrow morning.

A little background may help.
The Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) has been around for a long time. Sixty years ago they had a sizable community in a place called Short Creek, a town that straddled the Nevada/Arizona border. At the request of local authorities who were bothered by the demands they placed on the local school district and on the welfare department the feds descended on the compound in the middle of the night on July 26, 1953. They took virtually all of the 400+ residents, including 236 children into custody. Soon the news (back in the day of 3 networks and newspapers) had pictures of distraught mothers separated from their children. For a variety of reasons, including the social climate of our country in 1953, public opinion turned against the law enforcement officials and in support of the FLDS. Two years later the Short Creek compound was back to it's pre-raid state (but now renamed Colorado City) and the FLDS marked the Short Creek Raid as their defining moment. It confirmed for them the hostility of outsiders and their righteousness.
When the now-convicted and jailed Warren Jeffs took over the FLDS from his father in 2002 he assumed even greater authority over the community and, among other things, lowered the age at which girls were given away by him in marriage to men in the community. If one of the men transgressed one of his commands he would take one or more of that man's wives and her children away and give them to another man.
OK, now think about the coverage of this law enforcement action you've seen, especially the images and interviews with members of the FLDS. You've seen women - hardly any men - talking almost exclusively about their pain at being separated from their children. Have you wondered why we only see women heading into the courthouse or standing around outside?
Men don't generate public sympathy. Mothers do. And they have talking points just as surely as a politician does. For them this is a replay of the Short Creek Raid, a very defining moment in their community identity, and they hope to generate the same positive public reaction they did in 1953. That's why they don't talk about their beliefs or practices and the men have been heretofore almost invisible.
Will it work 50+ years later. I don't think so. The cultural environment has changed too much, including a very strong sense of the need to protect children. Incest and child sexual abuse were taboo topics in 1953. Not now!

The humidity here is at 9% and the dew point is 13 degrees. I spent enough time outside today that my eyeballs are dried out and I'm stuck on "thirsty."
More Diet Coke!