11/27/2022

My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,

            You are not in the news today. The only articles about you in my feed were “Jon Batiste to headline Biden’s first state dinner, serenade Macron (WP)” & “Biden relaxes sanctions on Venezuela as opposition talks resume (CSM).”

            Your absence from the headlines made me revisit the question I often ask myself, “why do you keep writing these letters?” It’s no longer a vigil, to keep my fear of my POTUS at bay by digging into the news to get past sensational headlines. I rest easily knowing that you will make prudent decisions & are being counseled by experts.

Has writing letters to the POTUS become a habit? What am I getting out of this? Wouldn’t reading the news for a half hour be sufficient?

            Somehow it feeds me. Some days it feeds my intellect, as it did the other day when I researched “a day of solemn humiliation, fasting, & prayer” & today when I learned about how “the nation’s housing stock has grown out of sync with shifting demographics… raising questions about how elder care will be managed in the coming decades.”

Some days it provides a catharsis, releasing the pent-up emotions that I hold back most of the time. That happened today as I read about Jon Batiste & his wife’s leukemia & the way that she has taught him to fully appreciate the beauty and healing power of the music.

Every day it reminds me to check in to what’s going on in Myanmar. Doing that prompts me to appreciate the privilege of living in the US & recognize the fragility of our social order.

            I also like knowing about the life of the POTUS.

            I would love some reciprocation, but I recognize that you are leading a nation of 332 million people & so getting personal attention from you would be like winning the lottery. I’ll probably keep writing anyway.

            BYBS,