Has feeling the pain of our citizens who lost SNAP benefits during the government shutdown and didn’t know how they would feed their families continued to gnaw away at you? How about seeing images of ICE agents pulling people out of cars or being rounded up at workplaces and put into detention just because the agent judged the shade of their skin to be too ‘non-white’?
It gnaws at me and I needed a remedy, at least short term. Perhaps something funny on the telly would work.
Then for some inexplicable reason, I thought of Jackie Gleason. Don’t ask me why.
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| Jackie as Ralph Kramden (Etsy photos) |
During his illustrious television and film career, Gleason’s signature line was, “how sweet it is!” In his 1950s Hollywood heydays he brought joy and awe to viewing audiences by portrayals of busdriver Ralph Kramden on the ‘Honeymooners’ TV series and as the gentleman pool aficionado Minnesota Fats in ‘The Hustler’, just to name two.
Temporarily putting aside what I, what we, can do about the tsunami of heartless, hurtful policies emanating from Washington on a daily basis, I needed some of Gleason’s ‘sweetness’, something to warm my insides, brighten my horizon, and put a smile on my face.
Maybe you need that too.
In pondering a ‘one size fits all’ fix I conjured up a sure-fire winner, baby faces - pure and innocent. Just the idea of it immediately began to work. Unless you’re made of stone, maybe it will work for you.
So, to bath our ailing psyches with a short term soothing salve, check out this collection of babes and see if you won’t start thinking, ‘how sweet it is!”
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| photo credit - Jonathan Dunn and Emily Jewel |
