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Getting from Here to there: July 2019 –November 2020 Commenting on the pace of play in golf, Bruce Koepka, one of the top golfers in the world, noted that choosing between two clubs, depended on what could go wrong with each. Getting from where the golf ball was to where he wanted it to land was a balancing act- neither alternative was just right. But as any golfer will tell you, there are swings that feel just right. Although it takes work, more often than not what feels good gets the golf ball from here to just where it should be. In golf as in life, choosing how to get from here to there requires attending to bodily feelings, the lay of the land and past experience. Our minds are anchored in our bodily feelings and our awareness of what surrounds us. We use our bodily feelings to navigate and to own our actions. We use our minds to sift through the information coming from within and from without. Sometimes as I fall asleep I imagine myself playing golf on one of several courses. Nothing ever goes wrong in that imaginary play. How chagrining it is to compare the wonderful feelings of imaginary play with what actually happens the next day playing golf on a real course. Imagining is a gift but it is not real life- there are unintended consequences, unanticipated roadblocks and others who imagine differently. I know for sure that the perfect golf I play as I fall asleep on my pillow is not real- it has none of the complexities of navigating the real course sifting information from what’s inside me and what’s outside. The challenge of real golf- respecting the obstructions and what they teach me is what gets me back. As we as nation plan to get from July 2019 to Election Day in November 2020- we hear plans that are products of candidates imagining a better America. Some of these plans we agree with, some we find exhilarating and others we hate. But what I don’t hear or read is that candidates are respecting their differences, talking to each other, learning from each other and publically acknowledging their opponents points of view. I don’t see candidates of either party working to forge a realistic way to get from here to there. Rather I see candidates promulgating plans that distinguish them from their colleagues promoting self over party and country. Maybe it is the age of “selfies” and the best “selfie’ will go viral and capture the White House. That will short circuit what we might learn as we get for July 2019 to November 2020. Herb Gross July 2019 Parsonsfield, Maine