OPINION: I hope I’m not like him when I am 80 years old
Published 7:30 am Monday, October 19, 2026
It was hard as a kid to accept life when I didn’t get what I wanted, when my parents did not think my behavior was worthy of high praise and honors, when I did not receive the rewards that I thought I was due.
Like many teens, I would stomp around, blame everyone but myself, maybe kick the door for good measure in a bad outburst.
But, grudgingly, I grew older and even a bit wiser. I matured. At least I don’t kick the door anymore, though sometimes I still find it hard to accept that the entire world doesn’t see everything my way.
I turned 75 this month, accepting birthday well wishes, a chocolate bar and a book about punctuation (my brother knows me well). No prizes in the mail, no special honors, other than being in good health and knowing friends cared enough not to send me a second book about punctuation.
I have mostly learned to do the right things for the right reasons, not for rewards. Besides, what trophy could compete with the engraved bowling pin in my living room from the winning team in the 1993 legislative league in Juneau. Everyone should get one big reward in their life, and that was mine. I’m satisfied.
Too bad one of my elders sets a bad example by wanting — demanding — the highest praise, the biggest rewards even when he doesn’t deserve them.
President Donald Trump, who is five years older than me and should know better, stomped around and threw a tantrum on social media the day before my birthday when once again the Nobel Committee did not award him the peace prize.
In his so-called Truth Social posts, the president whined that he should have won “8 Nobel Peace Prizes” because he ended eight wars, or so he claims. I assume he did not deduct for the wars he started, or the war that he now supports by approving the purchase of diesel fuel from Russia, which will provide more money for Russian President Valdimir Putin to kill more Ukrainian civilians.
The president kicked the wall, blaming Norway for the fact that he can’t add the Nobel Prize to the gold ornaments he is accumulating for his office.
Early in his Friday wailing, at a political rally in Syracuse, New York, the award-seeking president proclaimed: “We will not forget, Norway, that you didn’t give this prize.”
He continued his tantrum later that day with his social media posts: “This is an indelible stain on the country of Norway and those people that made such a disgraceful and embarrassing decision.” If “those people” had any thoughts about Trump last week, I suspect they’re thinking about the diesel fuel they can’t afford because of how much of a mess he has made of world energy supplies.
And, like most sore losers, not only did he blame the judges but he also dissed the winner, calling her a “mystery person” he had never heard of. As if he is an expert on peace.
If Trump wants a coveted award, maybe he should take up bowling. If I could win a league, so could he. Besides, it’d be better for his health — he’d get more exercise than posting to social media.
Larry Persily is a longtime Alaska journalist, with breaks for federal, state and municipal public policy work in Alaska and Washington, D.C. He lives in Anchorage and is publisher of the Wrangell Sentinel weekly newspaper.
This originally appeared in the Wrangell Sentinel.
