Albert Einstein was the world’s genius. He discovered the theory of relativity, E=mc2. It changed the way we look at the universe. Its impact can’t be overstated. He was the Man of the Century.  He was an icon. Everyone recognized the wild gray hair and mustache. He came to the United States in 1933 as a refugee from Germany to escape the Nazis. He went to work at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University. So, the smartest man in the world was living, in of all places, New Jersey.

Monday, March 14, 1955 was Einstein’s 76th birthday. That drew reporters, film crews, and photographers to his house on Mercer Street in Princeton. They were hoping for an interview or, at least, a picture.

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There are not many places you can go where you can put your complete trust in total strangers to the point of being completely vulnerable. One such place is a place no one wants to visit. Of course, I’m talking about a hospital. I recently had to go in for an out patient procedure. It’s not important what it was. Let’s just say, it was a man issue in a sensitive area. It starts when you arrive at 6am. It’s always good to be the first on the schedule. The doctor should be fresh after a good night’s sleep, assuming he got to bed early. He also won’t be tired and distracted from having done this all day, and be in a hurry to get home. You walk into a grand atrium reception room. It’s bright and open, and has clusters of comfortable chairs where it would be nice to sit and have coffee. But, I was under instructions of no food or drink after midnight. You fill out a basic information sheet for the receptionist who sits under a digital board that lists five digit numbers next to the word “surgery”. My wife Maureen and I sit and wait to be called. After a couple of minutes in those comfortable chairs, and the nurse came out, “Mr. Archer?”

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Just when we thought it couldn’t get worse. It did. Supporters of Donald Trump, including disillusioned voters, as well as, Republican party leaders, could tolerate the verbal abuse of women, but new revelations of actual alleged sexual assault is apparently too much. Trump calling women “pigs” and “slobs”, and even the audio tape from 11 years ago of Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women was okay for a candidate for president of the United States. Now, leaders of the Republican Party, who have shown no guts or back bone in standing up to Trump, say we can’t support him. They can’t vote for him. Some, like Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, are not quite outraged enough to formally pull their endorsement of Trump. He will no longer campaign or appear with Trump, but will focus on preserving the Republican majority in Congress. In other words, save his job. (more…)

It began in the early morning hours of April 6, 2002 when the phone woke me shortly after one o’clock. It was my mother. She said, “I’m at the hospital. Your father died.” What I didn’t realize at that moment was that it was the beginning of my mother’s years of a long time dying. My father’s death was sudden. He woke up with a pain in his back. He told my mother to call an ambulance. He was rushed to the hospital. The doctor said he probably died in the ambulance. He had some minor heart issues, but seemed perfectly healthy. He was 74. After 53 years, my mother was alone.

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Its name says exactly what it is, “The Hardware Store”. It’s in Wildwood Crest, New Jersey. It’s a throwback to a small town hardware store. There are four or five pull in parking spots that allow you to park just feet from the door. They have some big stuff outside like the trash cans and the propane tanks. But when you walk inside, you are enveloped into a close, orderly world of narrow aisles and perfectly organized items on selves and hooks. There is a little white fluffy dog that greets you. It approaches calmly, and accepts some friendly pats on the head. The counter sets right in the middle of the store. The man and women who work there will help you find anything, and they seem to have everything. Nails, screws, tools, paint, cleaning supplies, hoses, tarps. It’s like the clown car in the circus. Stuff just keeps coming at you. I’ve even bought a door stop and a three foot wooden stake to support a leaning bush. You might be thinking, “What’s the big deal? This guy needs to get a life.”

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Atta: “We have some planes. Just stay quiet and we’ll be ok. We are returning to the airport.”

Boston Sector: “American 11 are you trying to call?”

Atta: “Nobody move, everything will be ok. If you try to make any moves, you will injure yourself and the airplane. Just stay quiet.”

This is the audio tape of 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta speaking with an air traffic controller in Boston on that terrible morning. Atta and four others, armed with just box cutters, had taken over American Airlines flight 11 from Boston to Los Angeles. Air traffic controllers knew there a was problem on board after losing contact with the plane shortly after takeoff. They had gotten a call from American Airlines saying they were on the phone with a flight attendant who was telling them the plane had been hijacked and people were stabbed and bleeding. These were the first moments that changed everything.

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“Why do you want to be president?” It sounds like a very basic question of someone who is thinking of running for president. CBS correspondent Roger Mudd asked Senator Ted Kennedy that question on a CBS Reports on November 4, 1979. Kennedy paused, then said,”Well, I…um…” he continued with a long rambling answer that gave the distinct impression that he really didn’t know why he wanted the job. Most people believe that question, and that answer, doomed Kennedy’s chances of ever becoming president. It showed the power of a simple question that went right to the heart of the matter. I don’t think many reporters would have asked that direct question to one of the most famous politicians of our time. Mudd knew Kennedy carried much personal baggage, having seen his two brothers assassinated, and having to live up to their accomplishments. Mudd forced Kennedy to make a case for himself, and Kennedy failed.

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“He has no decency.” The words of Khizr Khan talking about Donald Trump at the Democratic National Convention. Khan is the father of Captain Humayun Khan who was killed in Iraq in 2004. Khan was calling out Trump for his discrimination and ranting against Muslims. He accused Trump of never sacrificing anything for his country, and being a bigoted bully. With the passion that can only can come from the soul of a parent who has lost a child, Khan had the courage to stand up to the man who has appealed to our worst instincts. Khan said Trump has “a dark heart”.

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The song says “Summertime and the livin’ is easy”. August is the height of summer vacation season. We call it the “Dog Days” because the dog star Sirius rises at the same time as the sun. The ancient Greeks figured it out. August used to be called “Sextilis” because it was originally the sixth month on the Roman calendar. Then the Romans added January and February pushing August to the eighth month, and it only had 29 days. Julius Caesar decided to create his own calendar, the Julian, of course. He did give August two extra days. Maybe to try to make up for the push back, or maybe to give us two more days before we have to go back to school. It finally got the name Augustus from the first Roman emperor Caesar Augustus. Emperors can do that. We use the term to mean the hot, humid, let’s jump in the pool days before we have to go back to work and school. Even presidents go on vacation in August.

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The two weeks of Republicans and Democrats telling us what’s wrong with the country, who is to blame, and how they are going to fix it have left us with the tale of two countries. As the two gladiators climb into the ring for the ultimate prize, they will be fighting not only for our votes, but they will be making us look at ourselves to determine what kind of a society we want. We have never had two candidates for president like Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Both are the first of a kind with dramatically different views of what it means to be an American, and how we should view ourselves and our role in the world. Their showdown comes after the first 16 years of a new century where our national sense of self has been shaken to the core.

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