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OPINIONOPINION

Mountain View News Saturday, January 18, 2025

MOUNTAIN 
VIEWS

NEWS

PUBLISHER/ EDITOR

Susan Henderson

PASADENA CITY 
EDITOR

Dean Lee 

SALES

Patricia Colonello

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John Aveny 

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"The time is always right to do what is right."

- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

HONOR THE DAY WITH SERVICE & CIVILITY 

JANUARY 20, 2024


RICH JOHNSON 

NOW THAT’S RICH

STUART TOLCHIN

PUT THE LIGHTS ON


INADEQUACY OF WORDS


A ROCK, A HARD PLACE, AND A 
BEAR NAMED POOH

Rarely do I have no idea what to say. This week, I find myself in a tough 
spot. With the fires, so many of my friends and readers have found themselves 
in a tragic, or at the least, difficult place. To my dear friends who have lost their 
homes to the recent fires, my heart goes out to all of you. 

I can say with relative certainty (and experience) there is no right or wrong way to grieve 
loss. We know a few truths to be true (P.S. I am going to find some humor to end this 
week’s column. I promise. I’ll alert you when the seriousness stops.) Back to the truths:

Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross introduced what came to be known as the “Five 
Stages of Grief”: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance. (The steps are not 
mandatory). Just rules of thumb.

Don’t ignore or bury the pain. Let your friends gather around you and support you (Hint 
to friends: Don’t try to fix. Talk less).

Don’t try to “be strong”. As your friends, we want to see what’s really going on (Hint to 
friends: Don’t try to fix. Still talk less).

Looking for the perfect expert in these type of occasions I stumbled upon…of course, 
Winnie the Pooh. Winnie is known for his gentle nature and insightful observations (A 
little help no doubt from A. A. Milne.) Share with us Pooh!

“How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”

“Some people care too much. I think it’s called love.”

“Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart.”

“A hug is always the right size.”

“The things that make me different are the things that make me, me.”

“If there ever comes a day when we can’t be together, keep me in your heart, I’ll stay there 
forever.”

“Those who are clever, who have a brain, never understand anything.”

And my favorite Winnie the Pooh quote: “What could be more important than a little 
something to eat.”

If you, good friend, are suffering loss, there is no timetable. As friends, we want to be 
there for you. Tell us how you want us to work. You want a peanut butter sandwich at 
3:00am? Call us.

This column may go down in history as my shortest. What remains to be seen is how it’s 
received. I am so thankful for the compliments I receive regarding this column. Special 
thanks to Ms. Henderson for being my enabler.

If you can, be meaningful to someone who could use it. And that includes yourself.

 Right now, I am thinking about the word “wind.” This is 
not surprising since it was the raging winds last week that my 
wife and I first noticed as we learned about the fire that was 
racing up-above us in Altadena. We were forced to evacuate 
our home for a week. Now we are back in our home, vigilant 
about potentially high winds affecting the continuing nearby 
fires which would require us to evacuate again. Of course, 
that’s not the worst thing that could happen. Homes of 
our friends, including the home where my wife and I were 
married, Foxes one of our favorite restaurants, and golf course where my son 
worked, are all no more!

 Of course, my words do not really describe the feelings of loss behind 
the words. They are just labels which frequently obscure more than they reveal. 
I first thought of this feature of words when my wife and I were prevented from 
returning home by National Guardsmen standing in their combat uniforms 
next to their tanks preventing us from returning. Finally, the next day after we 
returned my wife walked around the area and told me that she saw a firetruck 
from Tahoe at the top of our hill in front of an empty house. She asked the 
firefighters why they were gathered there and was told that they had been 
directed to stand in front of all fire stations. 

 It is true that the house has an old sign in front that says “Fire Station” 
but this is a remnant of long ago. Many years ago, this house operated as 
a volunteer fire station but since then the city built its own fire Station on 
Sierra Madre Boulevard in the middle of town. (The whole town has only ten 
thousand people). The old sign is still in front of the place now converted into 
a house and the words misled the firecrew.

 When my wife told me of her encounter, I was immediately reminded of 
a chapter I had just read in the book, “THE THINGS THEY CARRIED” by 
Tim O’Brien which is one hell of a book. It is described as a book of literary 
imagination that combines fiction with non-fiction. The incident I recalled 
was the story of Mary Anne Belle, described initially as a typical seventeen-
year-old attractive girl who had managed to wrangle her way to Viet Nam 
to join her soldier boyfriend whom she planned to marry. She looked like 
a cheerleader, perky, and fresh-faced. Already she and her boyfriend had 
talked of getting married when he was able to return. A house had already 
been selected in respectable Cleveland Heights where it was assumed they 
would soon live together. In a remarkably brief time Mary Anne’s values and 
expectations completely changed.

 Soon she stopped wearing jewelry and hygiene became a matter of small 
concern. In not too long a time she disappeared and was gone for different 
periods of time. Before disappearing, she began the questioning of her values 
and plans after being exposed to the different world of War in Viet Nam. 
Eventually she reappeared and “at the girl’s throat was a necklace of human 
tongues. In her own words she explained that now “I feel close to my own 
body-----because I know exactly who I am.” This language resonates with 
me. 

 Perhaps facing the destruction of my own home and everything else I 
value has made me aware of how little I know of myself or of anything else. 
The necklace of human tongues wordlessly speaks of the distrust of language 
and accepted values. Going back to the word ‘wind” I think of the word 
“windbag” described by Wikipedia as a person who talks a lot without saying 
anything interesting or important. As my experiences of the last week have 
demonstrated the “wind” is something interesting and important the meaning 
of which is obscured by the word. A moment ago, I received an emergency call 
from Kaiser directing me to come to the facility for an “ultrasound”. I have 
little understanding of the procedure, but I am now faced with a lot I don’t 
know, and the words don’t help.

Let it be that it is only the “wind” that soon must die down. (I don’t want to be 
morbid, but I am over 80 and a bit scared or scarred. Despite the inadequacy 
of my “words” you might understand what I am feeling even though I, myself, 
am unsure and don’t like to talk about it) WORDS DON’T HELP.

Now it is the next morning and I wish I could say I feel guilty that our house 
is still standing while so many others have lost everything but the truth is 
while I feel sad about all the loss I am immensely grateful that my house is still 
standing and at least I am well enough to still play golf even if I have to find a 
new course.


HOWARD Hays As I See It

“How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Loved You When You Know I’ve Been a Liar All My Life?” – Burton Lane song 
title from the film “Royal Wedding” (1951)

Donald Trump just makes stuff up. The big deal here is not any particular falsehood, but that our incoming president habitually making stuff 
up is no longer treated as a big deal.

Trump complained flags would be flying at half-staff (in honor of Jimmy Carter) “for the first time ever during an Inauguration of a future President”. During 
Nixon’s Inauguration in 1973, flags were at half-staff in honor of Harry Truman (who’d passed a few weeks before). Had President Biden made a similar 
misstatement, it’d be conclusive evidence of mental incapacity. If it were Vice President Harris, it’d be intentional lying. But with Trump, it’s just Trump. 

On New Year’s Day, the attacker in New Orleans who rammed his F-150 into a Bourbon Street crowd was an Army vet from Texas. He went over the edge 
with online ISIS indoctrination. An Army Special Forces member from Colorado shot himself before explosives ignited in the back of his Cybertruck parked 
in Las Vegas. He called this a “wake up call”, urging “military and vets” to “be prepared to fight to get the Dems out of the fed government and military by 
any means necessary”.

Both were American citizens, born and raised here. Both had Army service with deployments overseas. Both had messy personal lives and were driven by 
extremist ideologies.

Trump jumped right in and made stuff up, reacting to the New Orleans attack: "When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals 
we have in our country, that statement was constantly refuted by Democrats and the Fake News Media, but it turned out to be true.” No one recalled Trump 
ever having made such a statement, nor of anyone refuting it if he had. The perpetrator was not “coming in”, but had been here all along. Trump followed 
that with, “This is what happens when you have OPEN BORDERS”. The idea we have “open borders” is itself made up.

Fox News reported early-on that the truck used in the attack was seen coming across our Southern border, but corrected itself an hour later - this sighting 
was weeks before the truck was rented by the perpetrator and with a different driver. But at the end of the day, long after retractions had been made and 
facts became more clear, Trump posted to his Truth Social platform: “TRUMP WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING!” This is a post from someone about 
to become President of the United States. Let that sink in.

At his Mar-a-Lago press conference earlier this month, Trump claimed that among rioters at the January 6 insurrection, “there wasn’t one gun that they 
found.” At least eight individuals have been prosecuted for illegal possession of firearms at the Capitol on that day. Regarding trade with Europe, he complained 
“they don’t take our cars”. The EU is our second-largest market for vehicle exports. As for aid to Ukraine, “Europe is in for a tiny fraction of the 
money that we’re in.” Through October 2024, Europe has committed twice as much ($250 billion) as we have ($123 billion).

As the catastrophe of our Palisades and Eaton fires was unfolding, Trump posted about “Governor Gavin Newscum”. Again, let that sink in - this was not 
coming from some bratty, name-calling third-grader but from one who in a few days will be inaugurated as our 47th president.

Trump complained Gov. Newsom “refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water. . 
. to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning”. There wasn’t any “water restoration declaration”. Trump just 
made that up. Whatever it was he was referring to, it didn’t involve water flowing to “areas that are currently burning”, but mainly to Central Valley farmers.

He continued, “no water for fire hydrants, not firefighting planes.” According to our Department of Water Resources, most reservoirs were “at or above” average 
levels the day before the fires broke out. Fire hydrants were intended to take care of an occasional house fire, not infernos engulfing entire communities. 
Aircraft were grounded because of high winds.

Trump claimed there’s “no money in FEMA”. The agency has nearly $30 billion in its Disaster Relief Fund and has agreed to reimburse California for its 
firefighting costs.

There’s nothing illegal about a politician lying, exaggerating or simply making stuff up – but there’s no First Amendment protection when it’s done “in furtherance 
of a crime”. In his report released last week on Trump’s efforts to overturn an election, Special Counsel Jack Smith made clear, "The throughline of 
all of Mr. Trump's criminal efforts was deceit -- knowingly false claims of election fraud -- and the evidence shows that Mr. Trump used these lies as a weapon 
to defeat a federal government function foundational to the United States' democratic process". 

The Washington Post logged over thirty thousand falsehoods during Trump’s first term in office. The lying has continued since, and will over the next four 
years. To paraphrase the great songwriter Burton Lane, “How can we believe him when he says whatever, when we know he’s been a liar all his life?”

Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com