Why the Beatles would have made great Supreme Court justices, and other musings
August 04, 2003 ~ 6:06 p.m.
BOSTON, MA, U.S.A.�I walked along the Charles River pathway at 5 a.m. this morning, sweaty, itchy and cobwebby. Why? I went for a six-mile run in the steamy mid-summer morning air. I haven�t run that far for at least a couple of months. It felt liberating.
You could say I was inspired into running again. I knew my athletic abilities had not deteriorated when leaving the Starbuck�s on Saturday, I encountered a four-and-a-half foot post by the entrance. I placed my hands on the top of it, and pretended that I would leap it�in a single bound, as it were. I was only mucking about.
The wife turned to me, �Could you?�
It was a challenge that I now had to seriously consider. So I did. I leaped up into the air and cleared it like a gymnast. I have never been so scared as I was when I put my hands on the post intending to actually do it. I pictured myself sprawling to the asphalt, cut and bruised. Instead, I landed right on my feet. Four feet, six inches may not seem like much, but it makes for a hell of a vertical jump. Well, at least when you�re on the short side of average like me, it is. After pulling off that jump, I have never felt more proud.
So, I ran, with my wireless headset radio set to all the rock stations. The morning disc jockeys were discussing the weather yesterday, which was quite noteworthy�rainforest-style humidity, occasional outbreaks of sun, and the even more occasional stormy downpours. We actually reached a dew point of 77� yesterday. For those unfamiliar with what the dew point is, just imagine an air temperature of 77 degrees and the humidity at 100 percent. That is unusually humid even for Massachusetts where we normally average dew points between 68� and 72�.
I also heard the Beatles� �Revolution� on one of the stations. The lyrics after the mid-song solo really made an impact on me:
You say you�ll change the ConstitutionWell, you know, we all want to change your head.
It�s funny because as the wife and I made our way down to Gloucester Road station after work on Friday, on our way to the airport, she asked, why doesn�t the American government alter the Constitution to fit in with modern times? I said that it is not the government�s business changing the Constitution and that while some amendments prove necessary, for issues such as women�s suffrage and compulsory military service, any amendments to the Constitution that we do make had better be well-crafted, have majority backing, and be very few and far between. So, hearing John Lennon singing those lyrics had me thinking, See, even that hippy British dude knew that the Constitution is not something you screw around with. Good for him.
Perhaps the President might consider enacting a mandate that for potential Supreme Court judges, �Revolution� should be compulsory listening. Just a thought. Even the Beatles knew better, so surely our Judicial branch should.
� M.E.M.
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Copyright � 2001-2007 by M.E. Manning. All material is written by me, unless explicitly stated otherwise by use of footnotes or bylines. Do not copy or redistribute without my permission.
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