Platypus Thoughts

Every day brings a new pronouncement. Yesterday’s was that our president has decided to reopen a notorious prison that was shut down for many good reasons more than 60 years ago.

Within hours of this pronouncement, of course, the Alcatraz resurrection was walked back. But not before our fearless leader claimed he could have been the world’s best movie producer for thinking up the idea.

It is said that neurotics build castles in the sky, but psychotics live in them. We all have our fantasies. And if you’ve ever been to a family reunion (or a class reunion), you know that we all have different memories of how events went down in our communal past. We can all agree that Fluffy the cat died, even if our recollections of the events leading up to the tragedy differ in the details.

But a person who remembers things that never occurred, who believes others did things that they did themselves, who believes they accomplished things they had no hand in, who believes themselves to be above all others in all ways, is living in a castle in the sky.

There are, of course, other possible causes of a disconnect with reality besides psychosis – dementia, brain damage, post traumatic stress, amnesia and substance abuse, to name a few. But some of us are just born without the filters we associate with normal beliefs and behaviors.

Our president told us that he is superior in all things, that he alone can make our lives better and safer, that he alone can end the wars around the globe, that he alone is the only savior we need. How’s that going so far?

This man is not interested in you or me, he is not interested in our democracy or our country, he is not interested in the world we live in.

This man lives alone. In his castle of mirrors.