I really do try to steer away from political stuff during our weekly visits, but when I see the level of silliness that I am currently witnessing out of the "hired help" in Washington D.C., I find it difficult to remain silent. Whenever this group of folks got together to begin their session, a representative from Missouri gave an invocation. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, if anyone is in need of a great deal of divine intervention, especially in the area of wisdom, it's that group of guys and gals up on Capitol Hill. However, when this representative from the "Show-Me State" (who is supposedly a preacher) wrapped up his prayer (couldn't really tell just who he was trying to communicate with by what he was saying – I can just imagine the Good Lord saying, "You talking to me?"), he said "Amen and A-women." That's right, he actually said, "Amen and A-women." I like to think I have a little bit of talent when writing humorous things, but I can't make this kind of thing up! Now, one would think that a preacher would know that the word "Amen" has NOTHING – ZERO – ZIP – NADA – to do with gender; male, female or otherwise (I've heard there are supposed to be more options than that, but I haven't figured them out just yet).
According to the folks over at Merriam-Webster, the word "amen" is an interjection "used to express solemn ratification (as of an expression of faith) or hearty approval (as of an assertion)." Neither Merriam nor Webster said anything about guys and gals in their explanation.
It goes further. These folks that we hired to do the job of representing us up there in Washington spent the first day on the job deciding not to use the words, "mother, father, brother, sister, boy, girl, aunt, uncle" and such, so as not to offend any mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, boys, girls, aunts, uncles and such. This is what this over-paid bunch of folks who are supposed to be working for us decided was the top order of business they had to tackle. Never mind businesses shutting down. Never mind folks still getting sick and the need to get medicine to them or maybe more doses of the vaccine that might keep them from getting sick. Never mind all the Chinese spies running around town, in and out of bedrooms, doing who knows what. Nope. The number one thing these hired hands thought they needed to pay attention to was "How do we say 'mama or daddy' without offending mama or daddy?"
Just when I begin to think we have reached the pinnacle of human idiocy, I am reminded that there are vast expanses of lunacy that have yet to be discovered; and 2021 is only just beginning.