Mountain View News Saturday, December 20, 2025 
1313OPINIONOPINION 
Mountain View News Saturday, December 20, 2025 
1313OPINIONOPINION 
MOUNTAIN 

VIEWS 

NEWS 

PUBLISHER/ EDITOR

Susan Henderson 

PASADENA CITY 
EDITOR 

Dean Lee 

SALES 

Patricia Colonello 
626-355-2737 
626-818-2698 

WEBMASTER 

John Aveny 

DISTRIBUTION 

Peter Lamendola 

CONTRIBUTORS 

Lori A. Harris 
Michele Kidd 
Stuart Tolchin 
Harvey HydeAudrey SwansonMeghan MalooleyMary Lou CaldwellKevin McGuire 
Chris Leclerc 
Dinah Chong WatkinsHoward HaysPaul CarpenterKim Clymer-KelleyChristopher NyergesPeter Dills 
Rich Johnson 
Rev. James SnyderKatie HopkinsDeanne Davis 
Despina ArouzmanJeff Brown 
Marc Garlett 
Keely TotenDan Golden 
Rebecca WrightHail Hamilton 
Joan Schmidt 
LaQuetta Shamblee 

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PUT THE LIGHTS ON

STUART TOLCHIN 
CHALLENGES AND VICTORY 

Throughout my life I have not taken much pride in anythingbut have always enjoyed a reasonably good life whatever that 
means. My friend Eric Thiermann’s son, Kyle Thiermann has 
written a book entitled ONE LAST QUESTION BEFORE 
YOU GO subtitled Why You Should Interview Your Parents.
The book is remarkably interesting and details the life of Eric, 
who is an Academy Award nominated film producer and 

cinematographer. Included also are details about Kyle who is a journalist and 
professional big wave surfer and podcast host. Both men have led exciting, varied 
lives completely different from my own, but so what? 

It is true that I have never surfed and never had much interest in ever doing such a 
thing. I have never been involved in filmmaking or hosting podcasts or traveling 
around the world. Today I am retired and don’t do much of anything other than 
complaining that I can’t hear very well and that is a giant problem. I have been 
tested and purchased hearing aids but sadly they have not helped very much. It 
is not the loss of hearing itself that bothers me, but it is the realization that I 
have pretty much become an island unto myself. I cannot follow conversations or 
comprehend much about the news of the world which I still religiously watch and 
always am unsure about what is being said. 

Wait a minute! It’s not just hearing loss that bothers me. It is the resultant loss 
of connection with anything but my own mind. Although I have always been an 
avid reader, I can no longer focus enough to absorb what I read. It is as if I am 
surrounded by food but am still hungry. Speaking of hunger, eating is not the joyit always has been because I have lost much of my sense of taste. This is gettingboring even to me but what I now realize is that these lost faculties can all be 
tolerated if I can forget what I was able to do in the past but notice what I can still 
enjoy in the present. 

What is there to enjoy? That is a question to ask your parents and yourself. I 
have an 80-year-old friend who loves to take on the dissatisfaction of her friends 
who have bought something or gone on vacations or anything where they have 
spent money and were disappointed by the results. She calls companies and 
pretends that she is the dissatisfied person and generally is successful and obtains 
huge discounts or actual refunds of hundreds of dollars. She tells me that she is 
not interested in keeping any of the money for herself but just enjoys the whole 
process. She relishes that feeling of winning. 

I spoke on the phone today to another old friend, a retired successful lawyer. 
He explained to me that what he missed was defeating the other side in difficult 
lengthy trials. In these situations, he found it easy and pleasurable to focus and 
work hard. It is the challenge and the ultimate victory that brought him the 
greatest joy in his fifty-year legal practice. Have I stumbled on something? Is it 
the challenge that gives meaning and brings satisfaction in life? 

By facing the challenge of this article, I have come to the realization that it is 
facing and recognizing the challenges of life that are the underlying sources of 
satisfaction. Old age generally continues without the usual distractions and 
responsibilities and competitions and whatever else occupied one’s life. This is a 
continual challenge. It is the belief and pride in oneself that is being challenged. 
I do not need to produce films or present podcasts or write books to appreciate 
who I am. It is the challenge of being alive and aware of that gift that can sustain 
one in the most difficult times of isolation and irrelevance. 

I feel proud that I fought my way through this article and that is a victory enough 
for right now. The opponent to my challenge is myself, and victory requires that 
I focus on what I have rather than what I have lost. If you have met the challenge 
in reading this whole article and deriving some satisfaction or insight from it, you 
have joined me in Victory. 

HOWARD Hays As I See It 

“An absolute horror . . . it’s beyond belief what happened to him and that 
should not happen to anybody. I don’t care what your political beliefs are . . 
.”. – Rob Reiner on the murder of Charlie Kirk 

When I was a kid, my Dad used an expression I thought kind of weird. 
If somebody cheated him or otherwise caused him harm, and then 
misfortune befell someone that person was close to, Dad might be 
asked if that gave him any sort of satisfaction. He’d say no, because he’s 
“not put together that way”. A good indicator as to how someone’s “put 

together” is the way they respond to misfortune befallen others – and we’ve had horrific 
tragedies this past week. 

With two students killed and nine injured in the school shooting at Brown University, 
student Mia Tretta’s response was to re-dedicate herself working on preventing gun violence, 
as she’d focused before on those untraceable “ghost guns”. She’d taken a bullet to 
the abdomen from a ghost gun six years ago as a student at Saugus High in Santa Clarita. 
Two students were killed, three injured in that attack. 

We have students who’ve experienced multiple school shootings. Tretta’s classmate at 
Brown, Zoe Weissman, was a twelve-year-old middle school student in 2018 when seventeen 
were killed at the high school next door in Parkland, Florida. 

Vice President J.D. Vance responded to the shootings by saying they’re “thinking of and 
praying for the victims”. Weissman calls that response “laughable”. She says, “If they 
actually cared about us . . . they would do something to end the gun violence problem in 
this country . . . We’re fed up with the current administration and Congress’ inaction.” 

As for President Donald Trump, aside from trying to blame Brown University for the 
FBI’s failures, he responded by reminding that “Things can happen”. 

That same weekend, fifteen were killed and over forty injured as gunmen opened fire on 
a gathering celebrating Hannukah on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia. 

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) responded by noting how gun laws even as restrictive as those 
in Australia were unable to prevent the tragedy. This was the second mass shooting – defined 
as four or more victims – in Australia this year. In the United States, we’re nearing400 mass shootings for 2025. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) responded by blaming the 
massacre on former Presidents Biden and Obama. 

The response of Ahmed al-Ahmed was more immediate. Moments before charging the 
gunman, disarming him while suffering multiple gunshots himself, his cousin said he 
told him, “I’m going to die, please see my family and tell them that I went down to save 
people’s lives.” The cousin adds, “He said he thanks God that he was able to do this, to 
help innocent people and to save people from these monsters, these killers.” 

New York’s Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani said of al-Ahmed, “Tonight, as Jewish New 
Yorkers light menorahs and usher in a first night of Hanukkah clouded by grief, let us 
look to his example and confront hatred with the urgency and action it demands.” From 
his hometown in Syria, al-Ahmed’s uncle said his nephew “is a source of pride for us. He 
made all Syrians and Muslims proud.” 

Ahmed al-Ahmed is a shop owner and father of two young girls, a Muslim who emigrated 
to Australia from Syria twenty years ago. His response showed us the way heroes 
are “put together”. Under Trump’s immigration and travel bans, he wouldn’t be allowed 
to cross our border. 

As a filmmaker, it’s been said that when Rob Reiner tackles a genre, he ends up definingit (“This Is Spinal Tap”, “The Princess Bride”, “When Harry Met Sally”). As a political 
activist, he’s never been simply another celebrity offering endorsements or hosting fundraisers 
– he’d be at forums and conferences in the thick of issues he was passionate about;
from ensuring universal preschool availability to gay rights. 

Their 32-year-old son, consumed by years of addiction and mental health problems, has 
been charged with the murders of Reiner and his wife Michele. But Trump couldn’t wait 
to insist this was instead all because of “anger” caused by Reiner’s opposition to Trump, 
along with failure to acknowledge how we’re all now on the cusp of that promised, glorious 
“Golden Age” under President Donald J. Trump. 

What’s remarkable is that even Trump’s most ardent MAGA supporters – pundits and 
podcasters, commentators, celebrities and apologists – have come out in near-unanimous 
revulsion to Trump’s response to the tragedy. The only notable silence has come 
from Republicans in Congress. 

One of the most reliably right-wing, outspoken Trump-supporting celebrities has been 
actor James Woods, cast by Reiner in his 1996 film “Ghosts of Mississippi”, about the 
murder of Medgar Evers. Woods called comments on Reiner “infuriating and distasteful”, 
telling Fox News that “I think Rob Reiner is a great patriot. Do I agree with many of 
his ideas on how that patriotism should be enacted, to celebrate the America that we both 
love? No. But he doesn’t agree with me either, but he also respects my patriotism. We 
had a different path to the same destination, which was a country we both love.” 

Could Donald Trump ever begin to understand what James Woods was saying? To think 
of anything beyond himself? To show the slightest decency? As my Dad would say, he’s 
simply “not put together that way”. 

RICH JOHNSON 
CHRISTMAS WEEK BRILLIANCE 

*The brilliance displayed here, if any, is not the brilliance of 
your incredibly clever and humble writer. Rather the real 
brilliance is the little baby over there in the manger! Say hi!
His name is Jesus. 

Note to parents of young children: Here is an almost 
guarantee you can sleep in on Christmas morning and not be awoken at 
the crack of dawn by your young children. I developed this strategy byhaving experienced my parents annual big mistake committed against my3 siblings and I every Christmas Eve. Pay attention and take notes! 

My parents permitted us to open one present on Christmas Eve. And it was 
always something like a pair of socks or slippers. The net result. My brother 
and two sisters and I were up at 5:00am banging pans in our parent’s 
bedroom and shouting, “Merry Christmas”. Time to open presents. 

Dumb, dumb, dumb. Don’t do that especially if you prefer to open gifts at 
a reasonable hour Christmas morning. Instead, allow your young children 
to open one gift on Christmas Eve. And make sure the gift is a gnarly toy 
they will love and want to play with immediately. Send them to bed WITH 
THE PRESENT and then you go to bed while letting them play with their 
toy in bed. Of course, they will eventually fall asleep. 

Why is this a good idea? Because, if they play until 2:00 or 3:00am they 
ain’t getting up until at least 8:30-9:00am. You and your significant other 
can leisurely sleep in, get up, have coffee and then go wake the children up 
at a decent hour. 

That’s all the motivational brilliance I can muster on my own. So, I did 
further research stumbling upon 8 life quotes designed to improve the 
quality of our lives. Many of life’s problems are the result of something 
someone said that we interpreted negatively and we are still affected by 
today. 

The first life quote is generally attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt who said: 
“What other people think of me is none of my business”. Bravo! 

Other profound quotes over the last 20+ centuries: 

“We suffer more in our imagination than in reality.” Seneca“It’s never too late to be what you might have been.” George Eliot“Our life is what our thoughts make it.” Marcus Aurelius“Thinking is difficult. That’s why most people judge.” Carl Jung“Care about what others think and you’ll always be their prisoner.” Lao Tzu“A fool is known by speech and a wise man by silence.” Pythagoras”If you are the smartest person in the room, you are in the wrong room.” 
Confucious 
“The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear.” Rumi“The wisdom of the ancients isn’t mean to be admired, it’s meant to be 
lived”. Anon (Anon says a lot)
I pray all of you who read my column have a loving, family buildingChristmas holiday. 

FYI, Nano Café is open Christmas Eve up to 7:00pm and they are open 
Christmas Day from 7:00am until 3:00pm. 

My band, JJ Jukebox is performing Saturday night January 3rd at Nano’s. I 
recommend making a reservation. Their phone number is (626) 325-3334Have a wonderful Christmas season. Rich 


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. 

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