My Anonymous Readers: Thanks

Once in a while most if not all of us get down in the “dump”. Thankfully we pull ourselves up and as the “Brit” would put it “get on with it”.

A couple of days ago, I was there—down in the dump. The unending snow storms, the unsavory cold weather, the wind, the pile after pile of dirty snow finally got to me. When we contemplated a move from D.C. to New England, so many years ago (it seems now like eternity), I was so delighted to see a city blanketed in snow. The sun cast a lovely spell on the City, I basked in the beauty of New England, and hence we stayed. That was ages ago.

Today, like many others in my city I find myself surrounded with “mountains of dirty snow”. And, if you had to depend on someone to plow the driveway for you, you see the money disappearing faster than the ice melting on your roof or on your front door. Mind you, I did not mind then, neither the snow, nor the dirty roads. Once I got to my classrooms, the sun shined on me, my graduate students made my day.

During my carrier as a professor of Economics, I had the good fortune to graduate so many doctoral students (50 PhD), and as their doctoral thesis chairman, I had successfully placed most, if not all in very rewarding positions, a feat that even today I remain thankful for.

A couple of days ago, as the snow kept mounting on the roof, the ice accumulating on windows and glass doors, the water spilling into the house through the glass frames, I felt perhaps for the first time the chill of winter. I asked myself “had I came to the end of the road?”

My Blog “The End of the Road” posted few weeks ago, perhaps articulated how one feels when one reaches the end of the road. As one gets older, as one’s formal supply of labor is depleted, one cannot help but delve in such thoughts. I wondered: “Had I truly reached the end of the road?” Then, I opened my e-mail. There, I found a lovely note from an anonymous reader commenting on my Blog: “Marvelous, what a wonderful site. Keep it up”.

My anonymous reader reminded me of the task that I have dedicated myself to- Economic Education. This simple line lifted the “fog” that had engulfed me for a few days. I knew then, that I have yet to reach the “end of the road”. It is a road that we must travel nonetheless. So to whomever, wrote that short note my sincere thanks. Tomorrow, I start working on a new blog: “Tax Reform: the elusive dream”. Till next week then.