“Steady Eddie” Keeps Off The Devil

With malice toward none, with charity for all… (Abraham Lincoln, 1865)

Eddie always prided himself on staying cool in the face of crisis. His challenging career as an urban educator had always called for steady calmness in the face of confrontation. So it surprised Eddie in retirement when insomnia fueled his anger and anxiety every night now. Since the election, he noticed that a raging monster often ranted thoughtlessly in his conscious mind to disrupt his sleep. On many of these occasions, the demon would seemingly brainwash him to avoid being soft and give in to matters of the heart. Who could this diabolical figure be?

On Sunday night, Eddie hoped a remedy to his inner dilemma might be found in this Sunday’s Super Bowl. Surely, the clutch passing mastery of Tom Brady, the ballhawking New England secondary, or the scheming genius of Bill Belichick would provide for him a meaningful mind diversion. As the game proceeded, it became apparent to him that the Patriots seemingly willed their way to overcome a certain loss and win their fifth Super Bowl championship. Restful sleep seemed possible tonight as he relished how such a success story could be positively reflected in his mind tonight

Eddie awoke earlier than expected on Monday morning feeling completely rested. He immediately realized that his long dreams that night about the “big game” proved that he had slept soundly for a change. What had he also learned from this game to calm his troubled mind in the future? Marquee athletes on both sides had individually made “clutch” demonstrations of speed, strength, and agility in violent battle without losing sight of their commitment to the team” itself. In this sense then, both teams had won this tightly contested game although the final score did not reflect this equally satisfying outcome.

Digging deeper into these Super Bowl moments, Eddie now realized the opposite analogy that many of his country’s citizenry had lost hope in “Team Democracy” in fear of the authoritative  disfunctioning of its new, executive leader. As a result, the symbolic meaning of having an angry demagogue as President had been tormenting his mind at night. Now was the time to release his mental anguish of this man’s presence and continue to trust his belief in restoring democracy’s greatness.

There would be plenty of beautiful dreams now to savor in keeping Eddie’s mind at peace. He would visualize the happy time when he brought smiles to the faces of starving children in Kenya by giving away his pencils to them on an African safari. He might recall comforting images when simply writing his American name on an index card near Beijing Square drew a crowd of curious Chinese students nearby. Yes, sleep would no longer be a problem for Steady Eddie He had done his part to impart peaceful coexistence in the world and he would continue this personal crusade to defeat the angry devil.