CHOICES

     In life there are choices to be made and the consequences of those choices are unavoidable. Choices must be made carefully and with thoughts of down the road events. Choices must be made with the knowledge that even if they are made in secret, even if they are denied, even if the choicemaker appears to be Teflon, it will not last and the truth will out.
 How do we know this? Well, simple. Just look back at your life and see how many times choices were wrong, led to problems and though hidden, were eventually discovered and the consequences not so pleasant, be it in private or public life. And as for the world? Well, the NSA thought they could hide their snooping on American citizens and look what happened there. The USA thought they could hide and deny their snooping on their allies and look what happened there. Bill Cosby put on a wonderful decades long, lifetime long, outer face of a wonderful, warm, funny guy, an example to others and wow, did that explode and yesterday he was finally arrested. The USA and Iran swore up and down and all around that their treaty would be kept, enforced, bring peace to the world and all sorts of pie in the sky promises. Threats to reestablish sanctions were made if there were violations by Iran and well, see how that is working out. Iran fires missiles, shoots at Navy ships from us and the French, imprisons Americans, hanged another and America, with its threats did what exactly? NOTHING! Do these government officials think that all this would remain secret, that there would be no outcry, no consequences to their rash and careless actions? Choices.
     One of the new TV programs coming to the air in January is one called The Colony. It appears that LA has been taken over by mysterious aliens and their human henchmen, for always, there are those who will look out for themselves, sell themselves for the momentary benefits for them and damned to all the rest and to the future. People in LA have to make choices that will affect them, their families and friends and all the people in general and many of these choices are made under threat, under enticement and in moral and ethical vacuums and challenging times. Who decides what and the consequences should be a fascinating watch.
     And here, in the real good old USA, in Florida, in West Palm Beach, in Century Village, we too have to make choices. We too have a "wall" around us but this one is permeable and even has been breached going both ways, in and out. We have people comparable to the aliens and their henchmen who also have sold their souls for what seems to be a better position for themselves or an office or a title, a chance, they think, to strut around looking important.
     These choices have been at the cost of their souls and the truth will out. Just as the nefarious transfers of funds during the paving crisis - which is still with us - and the lousy non - contract contract and the horrendously incompetent job of it - all of it has come out after years of trying to deny it. Boasts are presently being made about how wonderful our water in the lakes is and huh? Really? When the nitrogen and phosphorous levels are two and three times what is appropriate? When the claim is made that one can see two feet down?! Really? Where? Which waterway? Where are the turtles? Where are the little wells the fish used to make and guard and that we could see in the clear water? What are those green slime tracks? Now I am told that they are vegetation, not algae. Couldn't prove it by me, but anyway, they do not belong. There is still crap in the water and yet we are being told in teeny tiny print how well it is all going. Oh yeah.
     Choices were made. To lie. To cheat the residents. To intimidate residents. To cut out 99% of the Village, even more, actually, as only a select few are allowed to volunteer in UCO. Our very own 1/2%. The very word volunteer is a joke as are the numerous pleas they make for volunteers to come forth. I will cry crocodile tears for them and real ones for us who are at the receiving end of the consequences of these choices, these lies.
     So TV has nothing on us here! We have our own "aliens", our own collaborators - and look how the French collaborators from WWII are now being unmasked  - our own evil choice makers and our own group of resisters and resistance which  also is growing in leaps and bounds. No one is immune from the relentless exposure of truth. No one. So when you sit down to watch the new season of shows - I know, crazy, right, what with new seasons all year long - but there it is - and here we are - so when you watch the new shows, watch Colony and check for the truth under all the plating of drama over it. Are we too, a colony of sorts? Do we have our own aliens and collaborators? Do we have our own sell their souls people here who are causing much havoc and troubles for us? Oh, yes, oh yes indeed.
     And please, do not try to Bakerize me because I talk of aliens. Allegories, metaphors and comparisons. Truth and lies. The inevitable outing of the truth and the exposure of evil.
     And in the meanwhile, while you and yours huddle in the back rooms of UCO and in the back rooms of life, we out here are enjoying ourselves, laughing with friends, many times at you, making plans, and hopeful for the future, for we see the longer views and the longer inevitabilities that will arise. So keep hiding your heads in the sand and bluster away. Enjoy the little time you have left to do that. The walls are coming down.
     Oh, and the open letter addressee? Still deciding. So wait around, take a breath, keep up with your choices and consequences and watch how they come to roost right back on your collective heads. But again, you just sleep tight. There's nothing you can do about it to stop it - unless you all resign. That's a thought.
     As for the rest of us, I wish you and yours a wonderful, happy and peaceful New Year, for us and the world for surely we all need a break.
Enjoy, party, watch fireworks, drink a toast - but drive carefully and responsibly. Stay safe.