Have a great New Year!

 

By Joseph Walther

 

Since beginning this column, I’ve taken off one week a year, which has typically been the week prior to Christmas. Even before I retired, the week leading up to Christmas was always hectic for me. I thought that after retiring things would slow down a bit. They have not. I’m busier now than I ever was.

 

            Count me among the lucky ones. I found my life’s passion early on. I’ve never looked at my livelihood as a “job.” Monday mornings have never been a chore for me; nor have Friday afternoons necessarily triggered the end of a workweek. During my thirty-five plus year career, I have not always been ecstatic over the way things sometimes turned out, but I loved every second of it.

 

            Retirement and this column have opened new vistas for me. I find myself sometimes regretting that I didn’t “retire” a little sooner than I did. This isn’t due to the discovery of any retrospective professional regrets, but because I’ve found a brand new mountain to climb. Since beginning the climb, the journey has become irresistible. And, the most fantastic part of it lies in the fact that I have an opportunity to advocate for people who have had no one to speak for them for a very long time.

 

            My family, friends, and colleagues have always described me as being “naturally quantitative.” Cute handle. It has an air of sophistication to it. Bullshit, but sophisticated. In fact, let me compromise and call it sophisticated bullshit. Of course, if they’ve meant this in the mathematical/logical sense, I plead guilty. I’ve always been comfortable around natural law, because natural law is something that’s always been easy for me to get my arms around.

 

            Of course, there is another interpretation for “naturally quantitative.” It can also be a more stylish way of calling me a hardheaded prick. I don’t have a problem with this handle, either, because I’m also guilty as charged. I think it’s OK to trust God. Everyone else, however, gets audited. Just because legends find ways of becoming facts, has never compelled me to buy into them as such. And, unlike the writers in the original quote, I’m not about to print the legend!

 

            I wrote a column three years ago about factoids. People love to quote factoids as facts. This is because factoids have the look and feel of facts. Even though factoids are not facts, people accept them as such because many of them contain hard numbers and statistical inferences—their most likely source being the quoter’s butt. My parents and teachers were experts at using them.

 

            There is nothing wrong with this, per se, unless their usage irreparably damages vulnerable people’s lives. Over the past three months, I’ve seen too many examples of how devastating it becomes when helpless people fall prey to power-hungry Neanderthals interested in nothing more than saving face and proving a point. The only way to stop it is to expose it. The only effective way to expose it is for people with financial, legal, and intellectual resources to document it and write about it. I vow to start doing it in 2007.

 

            Whether people consider me “naturally quantitative” or a hardheaded prick is irrelevant. Like it or not, stupid is, STILL, as stupid does. My attorney is a stickler for me keeping real names out of accusatory print unless I have direct evidence to back things up. On the other hand, I’m very good—outstanding some people have told me—at investigative research. I not only know how to find the evidence; I’ll use it, including names, places, dates, and victims. Oh, and I’ll do it humorously, of course, especially when it makes morons look like morons.

 

            I wish each of you a happy, safe, and prosperous New Year. I’ll be back next week. Same time. Same channel.

 

Joseph Walther is a freelance writer and publisher of The True Facts. Copyright laws apply to all material on this site. Send your comments. Just click here.