Dear Voter: I’m sure you consider yourself a good human being. You are fair-minded and don’t judge people on their skin color or sexual orientation. You support abortion and science, and would never vote for a Republican. You’re an idealist. You think that Black people have had a raw deal in America and it’s time for some reparative justice. You agree with Bobby Kennedy: “Some people see things as they are and say, 'why?' I dream things that never were and say, 'why not?' "

The most outrageous thing I heard yesterday was when Cat Brooks was interviewed on TV about the stunning announcement that “The California Highway Patrol has recovered 414 stolen vehicles, made 181 arrests, and seized over 30 crime-linked firearms in the East Bay as part of undercover sting operations and law enforcement surges over the past 8 weeks.”

When the pandemic shut down my gym, for exercise I took to taking 6 or 7 mile walks around town. One of my favorite hikes was down to Jack London Square from Uptown, from where I’d head south, along the Bay Trail past KTVU, then turn inland toward Lake Merritt and home. Along the way, on the Estuary, behind the Jack London Aquatic Center, were five or six big sailboats moored at the foot of a dock.

Sometimes I write this blog because I feel very strongly about something and I want to share it with friends. But sometimes, I write because I don’t know what I feel, and writing can clarify my thoughts.

The Chinese philosopher Mencius (371-289 BC), who lived shortly after Confucius, observed that “…when the personal life is cultivated, the family will be regulated. When the family is regulated, the state will be in order. And when the state is in order, there will be peace throughout the world. From the Son of Heaven down to the common people, all must regard cultivation of the personal life as the root or foundation.”