Category: Commentary

This is the home of grumpy opinions.

That’s Not Fair

On July 2, 2021

Balance Scale Clip Art N47 free image download

We have become a society consumed by the concept of fairness. Things of which we disapprove or perceive to be to our disadvantage are unfair. Things we perceive as being to our advantage or of which we approve are fair. What is fair to me may be unfair to you and vice versa. I’ve given a lot of thought to this whole concept of fairness and in many ways have struggled with an answer that satisfies me.

The first time I really started thinking about it was when my children were young. They frequently declared that things were unfair. Of course, these were generally things they didn’t like, such as dad telling them they couldn’t go certain places or do certain things. They could never explain what they meant by not fair other than they didn’t like it. But in their defense no one else seems to be able to adequately describe it either.

Denouncing something as unfair has become a socially acceptable way of saying “I don’t like it.” It seems to say that fairness has some intrinsic value like good or evil. These are two other concepts which also are difficult to explain but have a more intuitive meaning than fairness. Is it fair that one person works harder than another and so makes more money? Is it fair that one person was born with musical ability? Is it fair that another person is born with natural athletic talents? (If it were up to me, I’d say it is unfair since I have neither musical nor athletic ability.)

For many, the natural inequities of life create a perceived issue of fairness or unfairness. The beneficiaries of natural gifts will of course consider it fair that they are able to benefit from those gifts. Those who perceive themselves without such gifts will deem it unfair and ask for special considerations to allow them to be equal with those they consider more advantaged.

So, what is The Grumpy Doc’s opinion about fairness. Well, I’ll tell you what I told my kids. There is no absolute fairness. You cannot define fairness to the satisfaction of all people. Things are the way they are. If you don’t like them, work hard to change them. If you do like things, work hard to keep them the same.

If there is any fairness, it is that we should all have an equal opportunity to work for the things that we want. That doesn’t mean we all start from the same place and those who have been disadvantaged by society in the past must be give equal opportunity with consideration of past inequalities. To those who say they have never benefitted from special consideration: “What’s your golf handicap?”

Do I know how to achieve these things? Sadly, no. That is for people smarter than me. Do I consider it unfair that there are people smarter than me? No, I’m glad. If The Grumpy Doc were the smartest guy around, we would all be in trouble.

Brown Beans and Cornbread

By John Turley

On June 8, 2021

In Appalachia, Commentary

Best Beans & Cornbread in Weest Virginia Winners (2019) | USA TODAY 10Best

I find it interesting that things take on more importance in retrospect than they had at the time. I grew up in West Virginia and I left the state when I was 19 and spent the next 21 years living in other parts of the country.

We moved back to West Virginia when I was accepted in medical school at Marshall. I found it interesting to discover that things I really didn’t remember as being part of the culture had somehow become iconic.

What most surprised me was brown beans and cornbread. Schools and churches had brown beans and cornbread suppers to raise funds. This was supposedly a West Virginia tradition. Unfortunately for me I really don’t remember it.

I know we had cornbread and probably had brown beans. I don’t remember them being linked together as the “classic” Appalachian dinner. Although I must say it has become one of my favorite meals and I regret all those years I missed out on enjoying it.

This got me to thinking how many things that we consider traditional or “American” have only become so from the vantage point of looking backward. Nostalgia minimizes faults and amplifies virtues.

Many things that were not so important at the time have become set in stone as an important part of our heritage. For example, collectors now pay a fortune for old toys that are considered to somehow represent a special bygone era. However, at the time, they were just toys. They were played with and discarded when the kids lost interest in them. Who has not said at one time or another, “I wish I still had my”, you fill in the blank here, be it the original Barbie doll, baseball cards or Star Trek toys.

Speaking of Star Trek, let’s look at the series. I’m sure this is where The Grumpy Doc may upset some people.

When you consider the entertainment dynasty that arose from the original Star Trek series it is hard to believe that it only lasted three seasons. It was initially cancelled after the second season and brought back for an additional season only after an aggressive letter writing campaign by fans.

If you look at the old shows, the stories were simplistic, the special effects were rudimentary, and the acting was over the top. Especially Captain Kirk, who could always find it within himself to over act in any scene. Yet somehow, after many movies and numerous spinoff series, we have come to regard this initial run as classic television. I will admit they made moral points on many episodes, but these were often heavy handed and in-your-face moralizing.

When we think of Great American literature one of the books we think of is The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. At the time of its initial release, it sold poorly. When Fitzgerald died, he considered himself to be a failure as a writer. It wasn’t until World War II when The Great Gatsby was one of the books printed and distributed to the troops, that it became popular. He is now considered an American icon and rightly so.

The same thing happens to politicians. These are people that we know and revere as great Americans and who have been subjected to near deification. These are people literally carved in stone, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln. From the perspective of many years, we have come to believe that these men were universally loved, admired, and respected. However, during their lifetime they had many political and personal enemies who criticized them at great length and all three suffered through periods of declining popularity.

In future posts I’m going to discuss each of them in turn and look at how they were perceived during their lifetime as compared to how we perceive them now. Each deserves separate attention. Despite their flaws, each was vitally important to the America that we now know.

Equally as interesting are things that were once popular or considered important and are now almost completely unknown. I will be addressing those in a future post as well.

One thing I will warn you about now, I have a great interest in historical trivia. The Grumpy Doc is really trying to understand how perceptions of previous generations have shaped current opinions about many aspects of society. I will be sharing many of my thoughts on these issues.

Memorial Day

By John Turley

On May 31, 2021

In Commentary

Image result for American Flag Clipart. Size: 191 x 104. Source: clipartix.com

Memorial Day began to honor those who died in defense of our country. Over time we also recognized the sacrifice of police and fire fighters. Now, in the face of the latest threat to our nation, let us add to the list of honor those in health care, education, and other vital industries whose lives were lost providing for our safety and security. May God bless them and their families.

Nine Out of Ten Doctors Recommend……

By John Turley

On May 28, 2021

In Commentary, Wine

It’s interesting to think about how the popularity of things changes overtime Sometimes they go in and out of fashion as a matter of preference. Other times it’s because we have learned that things done in the past were not beneficial or were perhaps even harmful. I’m going discuss a couple of those things and then try to wrap it all up with a guess about what may be popular in the future.

The first thing that comes to mind is cigarette smoking. There was a time during my younger days when cigarette smoking was not only acceptable, but it was almost mandatory if you were going to be sophisticated.

As illustrated by the advertisement above doctors were often employed as a vehicle to sell cigarettes. And in fact, I remember a friend telling me he was advised by his doctor to start smoking because it would “exercise his lungs”. (I really hope he misheard that.)

Movie stars all smoked. Check out Turner Classic Movies and look at any film from the 1940s or 1950s. The stars constantly had a cigarette in their hand. I can’t recall a movie with Humphrey Bogart where he wasn’t lighting up. The women were also lighting up. Lauren Bacall looked pretty sexy with a cigarette.

It wasn’t just the movie stars who made us want to smoke. President Franklin Roosevelt smoked, and he used a cigarette holder. He made it look elegant and made a lot of other people want to emulate him. Unfortunately for many who tried, very few could pull off the cigarette holder without looking foolish.

Smoking was also considered to be manly. President Eisenhower, when he was the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe during World War II, famously smoked 5 packs of cigarettes a day, all unfiltered. And we could only hope to have looked as cool as James Dean did in Rebel Without a Cause when he lit a cigarette in almost every scene. We certainly can’t forget the Marlboro Man, the rugged cowboy who always had a cigarette in his hand.

When I was in high school, we couldn’t wait to start smoking. We were convinced it would make us look like grownups, and as soon as we were able, we started lighting up. For the most part our parents told us we shouldn’t smoke but since they were smokers themselves that really didn’t carry a lot of weight with us.

But it’s easy to understand why my cigarettes fell out of favor. Health warnings in the early 1960s helped to discourage people from smoking and the widely reported scientific studies linking it to cancer that occurred in the 1970s and 80s further lessened its popularity. Smoking is no longer looked upon as sophisticated or elegant. It is looked upon as deadly.

The popularity of wine is also interesting. In the early 1900s wine was considered the province of the upper classes. It was served at white tie dinners by formally attired butlers. It had an aura of aristocracy. Average people seldom had wine at home.

Prohibition almost destroyed the wine industry in the United States with only a few wineries receiving an exemption for sacramental wine. (It was good to be Catholic during prohibition.) After prohibition, the wine business initially did not recover in the United States. It wasn’t until the 1970s when a few wineries from California started challenging the Europeans that wine started gaining any popularity. We only have to remember that for years the term that was used to refer to a “Skid Row drunk” was wineo. The only people who use that term now are wine aficionados. We use it jokingly to refer to ourselves to try and offset the wine snob image.

Wine has reached an almost cult status now. It’s become not only popular but ubiquitous in any group that considers itself to be “with it”. The craft beer phenomenon is a natural follow on using many of the same terms and rituals. It has also created a new generation of beer snobs.

So, what is next? I wish I could predict. I’d start investing now. Using the principle that what was old will be new, I’m going to take a guess and say that vinyl records will make a comeback. Or is that already happening? Good thing us geezers never get rid of anything.

The Word

By John Turley

On May 25, 2021

In Commentary

Biblical:

In the beginning was the word. The word was with God. It was good. The people were pleased.

Political:

In the beginning was the word. The word was changed. The change was revised. The revision was amended. The amendment was edited. The edit was deleted. The deletion was suspended. The suspension was removed. The removal was superseded. It was confusing. The people were not pleased.

Take what you will from the insights of The Grumpy Doc.

Coffee and Cars

By John Turley

On May 4, 2021

In Commentary

Can it get any better than this?

My daughter shared this with me after my last two posts. I initially thought this was some type of clever photoshop product. But, after some admittedly superficial research, it appears that this was a actual option offered by VW in Europe in 1959. I don’t know how many they actually sold, but I sure would have bought one.

Take that Tesla. You think you’re so high tech. Elon, with a self driving car it would be a lot easier to brew coffee.

What happened to my coffee?

By John Turley

On April 24, 2021

In Commentary

I’d like an extra-large, soy, fat free, sugar free, decaf macchiato with no whip, extra cinnamon and two pumps of caramel syrup. Did I miss something there? Coffee was never even mentioned. It’s come to the point when I go into a coffee shop and order a coffee, I’m asked what flavor I want. Well, I’ll tell you what flavor I want, I want coffee flavored coffee.

I’ve been thinking back to the day when the only questions asked about coffee were cream or sugar. Coffee was strong and hot and generally served in a large, heavy china mug. I started drinking coffee when I was a sophomore in high school. The first coffee I ever bought was at Leonard’s drugstore. This was back in the days when pharmacies had soda fountains and lunch counters. They had a sign behind the counter that said, “Our coffee may not be very good, but it is only 5 cents”. But they were wrong though, their coffee was great. It tasted just like being a grown up.

I had to join the Navy to find out how really dreadful coffee could be while at the same time being absolutely necessary. I checked onto my first ship as the junior corpsman assigned to the dispensary. My first job was making coffee. We had one of the old fashioned 30 cup percolators so that our Chief Petty Officer wouldn’t have to walk down to the Chiefs’ galley to get his coffee.

I got up early, went into the dispensary, and got the coffee urn. When I opened it up to start making coffee, I discovered it was really dirty. So, I set to scrubbing it until it shined. I then made the coffee exactly like the instructions that were given to me.

The Chief came in and got a cup of coffee. He stopped midway through his first sip and a strange look came over his face. He looked at me and said, “What the hell did you do to this coffee?” I was stunned, I just looked at him and said, “Well, I started out washing the pot“. He cut me off right there and said with dismay, “You did what? You ruined it! You never wash the coffee pot!”

At first, I thought it was some type of practical joke. Then I discovered that Navy Chiefs do not joke about coffee. He was deadly serious that washing the pot would ruin the coffee. And it wasn’t just the pot that was never washed. Those heavy mugs that every Chief Petty Officer constantly carried were never washed and hardly ever even rinsed out. The inside of his mug was stained a deep black. I’m sure he could have brewed a cup of coffee simply by pouring boiling water into the empty mug.

But for truly bad coffee, nothing could hold a candle to the thick black liquid brewed in the crew’s galley. I’m not sure exactly how large those coffee urns were but they looked like they must have held at least 20 gallons. They weren’t emptied until all the coffee had been drunk and that might take hours. If you were drawing the last of the coffee from the bottom of the urn it oozed into your cup. You could stand your spoon in it. But when you had the midnight watch it would keep you awake. This was the only time that I’ve ever drunk sugar in my coffee. I think that it actually turned it into molasses given the consistency of it.

After college I discovered that the Marine Corps also ran on coffee. A Marine Corps breakfast was a cigarette and a cup of black coffee. However, for those of us in the infantry, most of our coffee was instant and made in a canteen cup. We often added some powdered cocoa to it to make it palatable. I guess you could have called that Marine Corps mocha. Now more than 40 years later I still cannot abide instant coffee.

I remember once seeing a poster of a Marine Sergeant holding a cup of coffee and saying, “Latte is French for you paid too damn much for that cup of coffee.” Although I have to admit, at times I venture to the dark side. I still avoid syrups and flavors, but I do like my Cafe Americano, a double shot of espresso with an equal amount of hot water. And it does taste like coffee, a whole lot like coffee. It would certainly keep me awake on the midnight watch, and probably for another two days as well.

Remembering the Service Station

By John Turley

On April 16, 2021

In Commentary

One sure sign of getting old is the frequent use of “When I was a kid”. This is part of that golden mist of age that makes everything from your youth seem better, and the longer ago it was, the better it was. While things may be much better in my memory than they actually were, I’m not so far gone as to think that my memories are a true reflection of the past. Let’s start with the thing that men love above all others, cars.

Even the most nostalgically oriented of us must recognize cars have never been better than they are today. The engineering is fantastic. Cars handle better, are safer, more comfortable and are more efficient than they ever have been. I only have to look back at my first car to feel an affection for the past. It was a 1957 Ford Fairlane with a 6-cylinder engine, a 1 barrel carburetor and a two speed automatic transmission. (if you even know what a carburetor is, then you’re in the nostalgia zone.)

I loved that car, but it was certainly mechanically challenged. It had power nothing, and that included the motor. It had a zero to 60 speed that was best timed in minutes not seconds. If I stepped on the gas pedal the windshield wipers would stop. If the brakes got wet I was lucky if the car would stop. It had hand rolled windows, no air conditioning, and no radio. A sound system, you must be kidding.

The first thing I did when I got that car was take off the hubcaps and paint the wheels metallic silver and the lug nuts black. Then I drilled a couple of holes in the muffler and advanced the timing just a little bit to make it rumble like a race car (at least in my imagination). But even I’m not so naïve as to believe that it comes close to anything like the vehicles we have now.

As much of a mechanical marvel as today’s cars are, they are in large part boring. Particularly with the rise of the SUV’s, they are not much more stylish than a box on wheels. The 1950s and 60s were the heyday of car design. What car made today has the style and the elegance of a Cadillac El Dorado convertible or has the stunning beauty of the Jaguar XKE? OK, so maybe we do have to overlook tailfins, but then no one is perfect.

But there is one thing that I do miss, and there is nothing now that can compare to it. And that is the service station. Of course, now we have mini marts and convenience stores with gas pumps out front. While you’re pumping your gas, you can get an overpriced coffee, a hot dog, a Slurpee, and any variety of snacks, beer or soft drinks. But the one thing you can’t get is service.

For those of you not old enough to have experienced the service station I’ll give you a brief synopsis of a visit at a top service station. You would pull up to the pump and the service station attendant would come out to your car. He would clean your windshield, check the oil, check the water in your radiator, check the air in your tires and pump your gas. You never had to leave your car.

Now I know what some of you are thinking; my new car never has to have the oil or the water checked and it also has self-monitoring for my tire pressure. But I just have to tell you, there’s nothing like sitting back and having someone else take care of your car. For the cost of a tank of gas you felt like you were getting top line treatment. I’ve never seen a mini mart that can give me that.

Learning is never easy

By John Turley

On March 17, 2021

In Commentary

It is a generally believed that one way to keep your mind active and to forestall Alzheimer’s to become actively involved mentally in learning new things. A lot of people do this using crossword puzzles and other forms of problem-solving. I tried crossword puzzles, but they didn’t work for me. I usually know the word, but my spelling is so horrible I can’t quite get them to fit. I downloaded a crossword puzzle app onto my iPad that has spellcheck build in, but that just seemed like cheating.

One of the things I decided to do was to start this blog. I thought all of the learning would be involved in creating content. Doing research, structuring the content and the editing the results. I didn’t realize how wrong I was.

The real learning has been in trying to figure out the technical aspects of creating this website. There is a whole lot more to it than I ever expected. Beginning with the fact that you need to have a web host. I have always been more of a user than a tech guy and I guess I just assumed that you would go online and start typing.

The web host gives you my structure or foundation upon which to build your website. In essence programs like Facebook or Twitter might be considered Web hosts where someone else created the structure. I was just never familiar with that term. One of the problems I faced is that the instructions assume a level of familiarity with social media and other online functions that I don’t have. But, for better or worse, I’m plowing on.

I haven’t quite figured out yet how to structure this site to leave feedback. Twice I thought I had it set up and neither time did my posts allow for feedback. Hopefully, when I post this one, I’ve gotten it figured out. If so, I would love to hear from you.

“Study the past if you would define the future.” ~Confucius

By John Turley

On March 10, 2021

In Commentary, History

I particularly like this quotation. It is similar to the more modern version: Those who don’t learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. However, I much prefer the former because it seems to be more in the form of advice or instruction. The latter seems to be more of a dire warning. Though I suspect, given the current state of the world, a dire warning is in order.

But regardless of whether it comes in the form of advice or warning, people today do not seem to heed the importance of studying the past. The knowledge of history in our country is woeful. The lack of emphasis on the teaching of history in general and specifically American history, is shameful. While it is tempting to blame it on the lack of interest on the part of the younger generation, I find people my own age also have very little appreciation of the events that shaped our nation, the world and their lives. Without this understanding, how can we evaluate what is currently happening and understand what we must do to come together as a nation and as a world.

I have always found history to be a fascinating subject. Biographies and nonfiction historical books remain among my favorite reading. In college I always added one or two history courses every semester to raise my grade point average. Even in college I found it strange that many of my friends hated history courses and took only the minimum. At the time, I didn’t realize just how serious this lack of historical perspective was to become.

Until just a few years ago I was unaware of just how little historical knowledge most people possessed. At the time Jay Leno was still doing his late-night show and he had a segment called jaywalking. During that segment he would ask people in the street questions that were somewhat esoteric and to which he could expect to get unusual and generally humorous answers. On one show, on the 4th of July, he asked people “From what country did the United States declare independence on the 4th of July?” and of course no one knew the answer.

My first response was he must have gone through dozens of people to find the four or five people who did not know the answer to his question. The next day at work, the 5th of July, I decided to ask several people, all of whom were college graduates, the same question. I got not one single correct answer. Although, one person at least realized “I think I should know this”. When I told my wife, a retired teacher, she wasn’t surprised. For a long time, she had been concerned about the lack of emphasis on social studies and the arts in school curriculums. I was becoming seriously concerned about the direction of education in our country.

A lot of people are probably thinking “So what, who really cares what a bunch of dead people did 200 years ago?” If we don’t know what they did and why they did it how can we understand its relevance today? We have no way to judge what actions may support the best interests of society and what will ultimately be detrimental.

Failure to learn from and understand the past results in a me-centric view of everything. If you fail to understand how things have developed, then you certainly cannot understand what the best course is to go forward. Attempting to judge all people and events of the past through your own personal prejudices leads only to continued and worsening conflict.

If you study the past you will see that there has never general agreement on anything. There were many disagreements, debates and even a civil war over differences of opinion. It helps us to understand that there are no perfect people who always do everything the right way and at the right time. It helps us to appreciate the good that people do while understanding the human weaknesses that led to the things that we consider faults today. In other words, we cannot expect anyone to be a 100% perfect person. They may have accomplished many good and meaningful things and those good and meaningful things should not be discarded because the person was also a human being with human flaws.

Understanding the past does not mean approving of everything that occurred but it also means not condemning everything that does not fit into twenty-first century mores. Only by recognizing this and seeing what led to the disasters of the past can we hope to avoid repetition of the worst aspects of our history. History teaches lessons in compromise, involvement and understanding. Failure to recognize that leads to strident argument and an unwillingness to cooperate with those who may differ in even the slightest way. Rather than creating the hoped-for perfect society, it simply leads to a new set of problems and a new group of grievances.

In sum, failure to study history is a failure to prepare for the future. We owe it to ourselves and future generations to understand where we came from and how we can best prepare our country and the world for them. They deserve nothing less than a full understanding of the past and a rational way forward.

I want to close this post with a special thanks to my good friend Jane who gave me the idea for this blog and encouraged me until I finally got around to doing it.