{"id":110650,"date":"2021-04-22T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-22T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=110650"},"modified":"2021-04-21T18:57:19","modified_gmt":"2021-04-21T23:57:19","slug":"the-view-from-the-balcony-a-house-divided-against-itself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/the-view-from-the-balcony-a-house-divided-against-itself\/","title":{"rendered":"The View From The Balcony: “A House Divided Against Itself”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I was sitting on The Balcony above City Grocery, drinking a Greyhound, smoking a pipe, and minding my own business, as is my custom, when the door next to my chair opened and out stumbled a geezer who looked like he\u2019d been rode hard and put up wet. The stranger took a seat in the southwest corner of The Balcony, directly across from my southwest corner table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The man wouldn\u2019t\u2014or couldn\u2019t\u2014sit still. He squirmed and shifted and agitated like the proverbial cyprian in church. Old ants-in-his-pants was trying to sip on a heady glass of Pabst Blue Ribbon but was shaking and quaking so badly that as much beer spilled in his lap as went down his throat, making it look like he\u2019d pissed himself. Even while he was sloshing his eyes darted in every direction as though he thought someone was out to get him\u2014paranoia on steroids. He hummed quietly to himself a tune that sounded like \u201cReveille.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I could sense him fixing his eyes on me from time to time, but never for long. Finally, I turned my head and caught him eye to eye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat\u2019re you lookin\u2019 at?\u201d he shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I shrugged my shoulders and held up my hands as if to say, \u201cI have no earthly idea.\u201d \u201cI could ask you the same thing,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He forged ahead. \u201cYou don\u2019t recognize me, do you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNope,\u201d I said. \u201cDon\u2019t know if I\u2019ve ever seen you before.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh, you\u2019ve seen me, but I\u2019ve been beaten up so much in the last thirty years that I\u2019m not surprised you don\u2019t recognize me,\u201d he said. \u201cI used to walk the halls of Congress and sit in the Senate and House regularly. I was a common face at the White House. I was even present in the governments of all fifty states. Sometimes I was easier to see than at other times, but I was there, and I made a difference. I\u2019m still there, but you can hardly make me out. It\u2019s like Where\u2019s Waldo?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPresidents, Senators, members of Congress, and others used to call me in and ask my opinion. They listened to me. I brokered the settlement of more treaties and pieces of legislation than you can shake a stick at. Then things started to change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGovernment officials\u2014especially those who were elected to office\u2014began to circle the wagons around party and policy. Working together for solutions that would be best for all concerned was being replaced by decisions and actions that were self-serving and frequently out-and-out pandering. Sometimes I couldn\u2019t even get into the offices of the same folks who used to not only welcome me but seek me out for guidance. I\u2019ve had more doors slammed in my face over the last thirty years than in the last two hundred combined. It\u2019s disheartening at best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo, here I sit\u2014totally worn out and discouraged. I\u2019m on the verge of giving up, retiring, quitting. I\u2019m obsolete. All anybody wants to do is make a name for themselves and be sure they get re-elected. The idea of \u2018the greater good\u2019 is no more. Nobody cares.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI care,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He looked at me with equal surprise and skepticism. \u201cReally? You care? I matter to you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYep,\u201d I said. \u201cYou matter to me and I know a lot of others you matter to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cReally?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cReally,\u201d I replied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThen you\u2019d best get off your butt and out of your corner and do something about it,\u201d he said. \u201cOtherwise, I\u2019m history. Capiche?<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCapiche<\/em>,\u201d said I.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With that he stood and started to leave. As he was about to exit The Balcony I spoke up. \u201cYou are who you think you are, aren\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYep,\u201d he said. \u201cOne in the same.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou mind telling me your name so I can know for certain?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He stalled, his hand on the door to make his exit. Looking at me over his right shoulder he said, \u201cMy name\u2019s Bi. Bi Partisan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI thought so,\u201d I said. \u201cI thought so.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bi Partisan has left the building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026and that\u2019s the view from The Balcony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Randy Weeks is a Licensed Professional Counselor and a Life Coach. He can be reached at <\/em>randallsweeks@gmail.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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