Timeless advice sadly ignored

In Oliver Stone's 1995 biopic film about President Richard Nixon, there's a memorable passage attributed to H. R. Haldeman.  Haldeman is lamenting the fact that Nixon's key advisors including himself, failed to give Nixon pivotal advice about the Watergate scandal before it consumed Nixon's presidency.  The Haldeman character portrayed by actor James Woods says,

"Eight words back in '72.  'I covered up. I was wrong. I'm sorry'. The American public would have forgiven him." 

Flash forward to our present day controversy about Trump senior team members' use of the encrypted messaging app Signal -- an issue the Left has cheerily dubbed "Signalgate"-- and some historical parallels emerge.  Let's dismiss one immediately though, this embarrassing episode will not engulf the Trump administration, although NSA chief Mike Waltz may take a fall.  To his credit, Mr. Waltz recently took the Haldemanesque approach with a straightforward admission on Laura Ingraham's show when he stated, "I take full responsibility. I built the group," "It's embarrassing. We're going to get to the bottom of it."  Smart.  If only the whole administration had followed suit.

I don't know what sort of reputation The Atlantic Editor in Chief Jeffrey Goldberg enjoys in media circles, but the Trump team has little to gain by trashing him now.  The Atlantic juts wildly to the Left and slanted reporting is their norm, but they didn't create this mess.  As we now know, Goldberg was mystifyingly added to the chat group by Mike Waltz or Mr. Waltz's proxy.  Blaming the technology, or Goldberg for Goldberg's errant invitation to a sensitive high level government session doesn't hold water.  All of this inspires a personal recollection...

Years ago, a colleague and I attended a competitors' financial conference in Chicago.  From a business development perspective, it was a target-rich affair with several prospective clients in tow.  After soliciting one of the organizer's clients, my colleague and I were thoroughly berated at breaktime by a competing executive because he learned that I had had the temerity to approach his client at "their" event.  The executive wanted us to leave immediately.  (We did not).  I protested by pointing out that his own marketing team had invited us.  We'd been mistakenly invited; but we hadn't crashed the party.  Moreover, being direct competitors; the enraged sponsor shouldn't have reasonably expected us to confine conversations with attendees to benign issues like the weather.

image by freepik

What stands out about the recent Signal chat circus, is that the administration's protestations can do more damage than the original mishap itself and fuel more unwanted media attention.  There didn't have to be enduring fallout from "the chat" other than embarrassment.  No significant secrets were compromised, no duplicity was revealed and the military action at the core of the issue -- was by all accounts -- effective.  So, own up to the error and don't extend the drama the way Defense Secretary Hegseth chose to do so recently.  

Let's instead get on to the business of the American people: apprehending and deporting illegal migrants and stopping waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer funds and doing clawbacks.  Those are winning endeavors that enjoy broad support and require no public excuses.

A golf lesson for life itself

This morning, I attended a seminar about the "Psychology of Golf".  The topic intrigued me because all of my personal golf instruction -- and that which I've observed for other golfers -- focuses upon the physical aspects of the game.  The swing, the grip, addressing the ball, the stance, club selection, etc.

Image by drobotdean on Freepik

At one point during this session on golf psychology, the speaker drew on his chalkboard a less than or equal sign and the words "three feet". 

Then he stated that professional golfers on average, will sink a putt 96% of the time when the hole is three feet or less away from their ball.

Not sure where he was going with this factoid, I wrote down the figures from the chalkboard anyway.  Then he explained what happens after the 4% of the time when they miss those short putts.  Again, he was talking about the pros, not average golfers.

He went on to say that on the very next hole, about 80% of the time, their tee shot will actually miss the fairway.  Why?  

Instead of letting the missed putt go from their consciousness, they'll often mentally 'carry' that negative experience from the previous hole -- to their drive on the next hole.  His point was all about not letting the past, which is unchangeable, influence one's present frame of mind.  

Even the finest golfers in the world hit bad shots.  Past moments of failure shouldn't degrade our present experience.  Above all else, he wanted others to remember that the game should be enjoyed.  Life presents enough obstacles without our help.