Some thoughts on America
Over the last few years, I’ve become more interested in politics as I get older. The last two years I have become a political junkie. People have said they’ve had enough, they’re sick of it; they are glad the campaign and election are over. I go from C-SPAN, to NPR, to CNN, to FOX, to MSNBC — to all of them and the printed press to hear and read what the news folks and journalists think. Then I form my own thoughts and opinions.
It saddens me to hear people say they are ashamed to be American or they are going to leave my country. I am proud to be an American. Always have been and always will be. I’m not going anywhere. My plan is to make it better. I’ve supported my presidents in the past and I will support them now and in the future. I have not agreed with them on issues of concern and have been wrong more times than right. But, because of our great system of government, we have checks and balances. We will never have a Hitler or Mussolini. Regardless of what the pundits say, there are good people in Washington and our state governments. With more humility and less ego, though, credibility will greatly improve. “Not a sermon, just a thought.”
For those who say they are leaving, don’t let the door hit you on the way out. Perhaps your vacancy will open a spot for a refugee who has lost his parents in a bombed out village, lost his home to an ISIS suicide bomber, lost a brother who drowned trying to get to safety on a boat carrying 300 people designed for 10. Seems to me there are millions of people trying to get in our country but not many choosing to leave. The ones who are leaving are airmen, soldiers, sailors and marines. But their absence is temporary. They leave to defend this great country. Take from someone who knows … they can’t wait to get back home to the good ol’ U.S.A.
I am not a racist. Never have been. I was raised by parents who despised racism. My best friends are of different races and cultures. I learn from their examples of peace, justice and human rights. I have no use for those who use their power and the cameras to incite riots and encourage burning their own communities. Nor do my friends.
The campaign commercial showing our next president using the “F” word, mocking a special needs person and belittling a female journalist is unacceptable. It depicted children watching it. That was a powerful ad. But let’s be honest here folks. There is trash like that on family hour T.V. every night. Is “The Walking Dead” the number one show on T.V.? We have become naive to heads being chopped off, blood gushing on the screen. Every other commercial touts a new drug that can make a man a fourhour love machine; two people sitting in a bathtub looking out at a mountain. Our 4 and 5 year olds are watching this every night.
Our children are encouraged to buy all these “macho” videos of some guy jumping out of a helicopter shooting 20 people with a 100 pound machine gun. This is not reality, folks. I wonder if the tragedy of mass killings in our world is influenced by video games as violent as some advertised. We have come a long way from “Leave it to Beaver,” “Father Knows Best,” “Donna Reed” or “Marcus Welby.”
My plan is to shoot basketballs in a hoop with my grandson, throw a baseball or football with him, not a grenade. Help him learn to play guitar or piano, not video games. Jump in a swimming pool or a pile of leaves, not out of a chopper, unless it is to defend this great country of ours. That I will encourage, as hard as it will be.
I love my God, my country, my family. If necessary, I would take a bullet for anyone of them. In the meantime, I’m staying here in small-town America and continue to leave it better than I found it. For those who choose to leave, I hear North Korea is nice this time of year.