Two of my readers have taken me to task this week. One of them said my column is supposed to be about common sense, not “invented drivel about Bigfoot and Amelia Earhart.” The other said I am turning this “serious platform” into “something else altogether.”

Ouch. This is all news to me.

In these essays or postings or ramblings, I’ve tried to stay away from the subjects that divide us, or at the very least, treat them lightly and with reasonably good humor. At times I’ve tried to give readers something to laugh about; they say it’s the best medicine.   Maybe I’ve also said some things that you wanted to say. This blog has been available to the public for quite a while now, and I’ve failed and succeeded at all three objectives. So, in other words, I ain’t that good and I ain’t that bad.

So why write these things? English literary critic and writer Cyril Connolly once wrote “better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.” Larry David, co-creator of Seinfeld, says “You write about what you know.” French essayist Joseph Joubert said “Never write anything that does not give you great pleasure.” But maybe my favorite inspiration is novelist D.H. Lawrence, who said “I like to write when I feel spiteful. It is like having a good sneeze.”

That having been said, I’ll defer to my critics and tackle a subject sure to touch all the hot spots. My instinct is shouting Trump! Trump! Trump!

Here are some things I’ve recently read about the President:

“The [President] has continued during the last week to make a fool of himself and to mortify and shame the intelligent people of this great nation.”

“His…efforts, imbecile in matter, disgusting in manner, have made us the laughing stock of the whole world.”

“[He] may live a hundred years without having so good a chance to die.”

“Obscene ape, idiot, tyrant, teller of dirty jokes and…an incompetent commander-in-chief.”

Oh, wait. Those things weren’t said about Trump. They were said about Abraham Lincoln. My mistake.

All right, well, here’s another hot topic: the uproar over Robert E. Lee’s statue in Charlottesville. I read where somebody said the monument offered “little to be proud of.”

No, that’s not right.  It wasn’t Robert E. Lee’s monument. It was the Washington Monument. My bad.  Some people didn’t want to have Washington’s example or memory used to legitimize a symbol of strong central power.” Can you believe it? They let a silly monument develop into a political issue. Somebody else said it would look like “a stalk of asparagus,” and several people thought it would look “like a chimney.”

Saint Mary and I had family here last week.  We were sitting in my living room, talking about the craziness of the world today.  My niece sat quietly and finally said, “I think everybody needs to just calm down.”  Out of the mouths of babes.

Well, now. I feel as though I’ve had a good sneeze and I’m going to enjoy the day.  It sure seems like people are liable to just say anything about anybody or any thing at any time and it’s all about as relevant as bumps on a board.  Everybody needs to just calm down. That’s just common sense.