Finneran: Your Yearly Bonus

Friday, October 05, 2018

Tom Finneran, GoLocalWorcester MINDSETTER™

The Red Sox are in the playoffs

Bonus—defined in the Finneran dictionary as a little something extra, somewhat unexpected, usually but not always of a financial nature.

So here’s your bonus for 2018, in multiple parts:

The Red Sox are in the playoffs. And this year they have a very good team. My advice is don’t bet the house on these guys because, as good as they are, so is the competition. My further advice is to simply enjoy October baseball. These are all short series and any team with a hot pitcher can seize the prize. Same deal for any team with a couple of hot hitters. These games can go in any direction. Enjoy the drama.
Swimming in Cape waters into October. Heaven on earth. Last Monday morning, Coast Guard Beach in the National Seashore........clean green water, bodysurfing on the Atlantic’s endless waves for hours, no seals in sight, sharks elsewhere (I hope). Praying to have such fun for at least two more weeks.
Fried fisherman’s platters. Whole belly clams, scallops, shrimp, oysters, cod, French fries, and cole slaw. Tartar sauce and ketchup. Sure it all goes straight to your waistline. Big deal. Why do you think God gave us the winter and Planet Fitness? January, February, and March are the perfect months for flattening your tummy.
Bruins and Celtics open their seasons. Two interesting and entertaining teams. I worry a bit about the high expectations being heaped on a young Celtics team. Given those expectations and the national buzz, every single team will bring their “A” game against the Celts. The veterans—Irving, Horford, and Hayward—will have to help the young guys to prepare and endure.
A strong economy. Be grateful. Do not take things for granted. There will be a reckoning......there always is. Don’t fall for the bs of a “new economy” or the nonsense that “this time it’s different”. It’s all hogwash. Prepare for a rainy day. At least for today, anyone looking for work can find a job pretty quickly. That’s good news. Cherish it. Savor it. Enjoy it. That will not always be true..........Indeed, today’s challenge is finding enough skilled workers to fill many vacant positions. We might gripe about the daily traffic but those are all workers next to you on the expressway or on the train. They’re supporting themselves and their families. Be happy for them and for yourself. Neither the roads nor the trains are crowded in many other states. And the people are in despair. Our problems are the problems of prosperity. I’ll take those problems any day of the week.
Tonight you’ll go to bed as a free American citizen. You are blessed and privileged beyond measure. Billions of folks from around the world would immediately swap places with you. No government agents will be knocking at your door to ascertain your political beliefs. Your property will not be seized by corrupt political bullies. You will not disappear into a Cuban dungeon, a Soviet gulag, or a Chinese concentration camp. You are a free American citizen.

Enjoy your bonus.

Tom Finneran is the former Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, served as the head the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, and was a longstanding radio voice in Boston radio.