I’m always amazed when people pin their hopes on others: mates who will fulfill all their needs; children who will take care of them in old age; siblings who will call regularly or visit, or extend invitations to visit them; friends who will be kind, thoughtful, and noncompetitive; businesses that will conduct affairs honestly; and especially, politicians who will put country over party.

If I’ve learned anything over the many decades I’ve lived, it’s that more often than not, reality falls short of ideals: mates fulfill some needs but not others; children have valid (and, sometimes, not) reasons for being unavailable; siblings forget to call, or have valid (and, sometimes, not) reasons for not visiting, or extending invitations; friends become thoughtless or competitive; businesses care more about profit than product safety; and politicians…well…..

We can complain endlessly about the way things are, voice our anger and frustration over the selfishness, greed, entitlement, and epidemic cruelty and corruption, demand justice, and continue to pin our hopes on investigations and investigators, courts, judges, and others to set things right, but in the end, it falls to us.

It’s like the empty toilet paper roll in your house, the one that seems left just for you, the one with several useless shreds hanging off it. You can rant at your kids and mate all day about responsibilities, the importance of considering others who need to do their business, and even stick reminders all over the house and washroom; but in the end, you’ll just wind up frustrated and angry.

So maybe it’s time to accept reality, the same reality we accepted in the 2018 election. November 3, 2020 is 587 days away. Let’s replace that roll.

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