Louis Roney: Thinking out loud

“Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream …” Blessed are those who help turn the nightmares of others’ lives into peaceful dreams.

Mid-winter in Florida: I always disliked winter in Florida, riding my bicycle two miles to school with my legs bare. We had no heat in our house, and it was my job to chop wood and make fires in two downstairs fireplaces. At nights after dinner I would lie down on the floor in front of the fire and read the out-spread newspaper. My dog was jealous and used to lie down on the paper exactly where I was trying to read.

Is all this furious “to do” about guns producing any positive results?

When everybody who has a gun is required to identify himself on a list, we will end up only with a list of all the “good guys” who have guns. This seems so obvious it is hardly worth pointing out. If you think the bad guys are going to buy guns legally and end up on a list, I’ll give you a special price on a bridge I own …

Is it not incredibly dangerous for the U.S. to do nothing to prevent North

Korea from building a missile with atomic warheads that they have stated long ago will be used against the U.S.? Our military certainly has the means at this time to destroy their missile building capability. Are we waiting until we are attacked with atomic weapons?

My mother harped upon my never feeling jealousy about anything. I was raised to wish everyone well, and to try through my own accomplishments to achieve my fair share of attention. Mother told me, “If you don’t do what you’re capable of, you’ll be the subject of adverse criticism. If you do what you are capable of successfully, you’ll be accused of vanity and showing off. Take your choice, but be a winner!”

In 1984 my b.w. and I founded the Orlando Celebrity Concert Association (OCCA), which later became Festival of Orchestras in our living room with Ruth Zlotoff and a few other music lovers. I announced that I would retire on my 80th birthday, and I did so after 17 years. Those who took over Festival of Orchestras and ran it for some years eventually proved unable to keep the concerts going and ended the organization.

Meanwhile the Orlando Opera also terminated its operations. Music lovers here have a smaller menu these days. I wonder whom, if anybody in this community, will dare to follow in our founding footsteps…

President Barack Obama impresses me as a guy who speaks well and often, but who rarely conveys anything subjective of weight or importance.

President Richard Nixon, save for the Watergate incident, which was inflated and blasted beyond its realities, was a very bright mind in the White House.

Would you rather have a Nixon or Obama at the helm if we were attacked by an enemy power? There is no question in my mind as to which guy would protect us better. Obama’s reign seems to be an extended campaign for office, and his distancing himself from decisions is his solution to evading presidential responsibility for making them. “Outside forces” are, in Obama’s mind, causing all the problems that face us – and even they remain hard to identify or cope with.

I think often of my close friends who were classmates in Winter Park High School. They are, alas, all gone except for me. Why me? – The unanswerable question …