A Superb Public Servant Decides to Step Down

Elected officials are a variegated lot.  Some do well. Some do poorly.  I have seen them come.  I have seen them go.  And then, there are those who seem to want to hang onto their posts as if for dear life.

 

Dr. Mathur at last night's Board of Education meeting.

However, there are other types, some, who, with a large dose of common sense and wisdom, choose to exercise what I term “walkaway power.”

It’s what a person will do when the recognition sets in that it is time to move on.  You have made your contribution, you have accomplished your job, you are satisfied with your achievements.  In the end, you realize that your energies need to be focused in another direction.

Such, in my opinion, is the rationale behind the decision that Arvind Mathur employed when, after eleven years in office, he decided not to seek another three-year term to the Bridgewater-Raritan Regional School District.

I’ve known Dr. Mathur from the time that he first called me years ago to comment upon a blog post that I wrote concerning American values.  Something about his reading of that short essay resonated with him and, during our conversation, a bond set in.

New Jersey Color

Along the Delaware River, near Stockton, New Jersey.

Weather conditions this year seem to have prepared the way for one of the best seasonal viewing conditions in memory.

Within the last week, a metamorphosis of autumnal color from the trees and shrubs of northern New Jersey has resulted in living scenes of brilliant change for everyone to enjoy.

 

When prompted by such beauty, I’m unable to resist the urge to pick up a camera.  Both photos in this post were taken during the latter part of the afternoon when the sun’s light grows softer and makes it much easier to obtain a good shot.

 

Subsequent software processing of digitized images significantly helps to correct exposure mistakes made while shooting.  As most of you may already know, it’s almost impossible to record an image as accurately as the human eye sees it.

A Touch of Stealth

Against an uncamouflaged background, this mantis soaks in the sun.

Pretty-looking things are not always what they seem to be:  In this case, nature’s innocent-looking praying mantis fits the bill.
 
With a long and slender body, twig-like legs, a triangular head that can rotate 180° with its two large compound eyes; the beguiling appearance of this bug-eating little monster is very deceptive to humans
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The mantis gets its name from the way that it can place its forelegs together in a mock-praying position.  Even its formal name, Mantis Religiosa, attests to that.
 
But the mantis does not pray.  Au contraire, it preys, and it is very good at it.  When the mantis assumes its professed “praying” stance, it remains perfectly still, with no movements at all for what can amount to tens of minutes at a time, shifting its posture ever slightly to a different stealth position so that it can strike out, hold, and disable its target.

A Fictional Tale as Authentic as Reality

Richard North Patterson is one of my favorite writers.  Although he is technically a fictional novelist, some of his books are so close to reality that they nearly cancel out the imaginary nature of his tales.

One of Patterson's best, a real thriller.

“The Devil’s Light,” written in 2011, three years after one of America’s greatest crises, is a story of intrigue, deception and terrorism – a tale of cunning and espionage so realistic in its depiction of events that it becomes credible:  a nuclear attack upon . . . . Well, I don’t want to give away Patterson’s very intricate, can’t-put-down-the-book, spider web of a plot.

Patterson is not a mere weaver of stories.  Like many of his other books, this one is suffused with the result of in-depth research and prior consultation with prominent persons who have walked the talk.  His writing resonates with reality.

In some ways, he is a prophet – but then again, who listens to prophets?

Here are a few quotations from “The Devil’s Light,” thoughts ascribed to the book’s characters as the story swiftly progresses:

“As a nation we’re addicted to wishful thinking, staggering from crisis to crisis with the foresight of a two-year old.