REALISIM

                                                           

I have known some optimistic people in my life and generally they are more fun to be around then pessimistic ones. They tend to be happier and attitude is always half the battle when it comes to being successful. Happy, versus crabby, isn’t even a sensible choice. I used to interview a lot of people for jobs where I worked and attitude ranked high on my list. You see skills were something that you could teach people-- but attitude---They either had it or they didn’t. My wife was a very optimistic person but sometimes it was to a fault. She tended to suppress the truth.

Some where between optimism and pessimism there is realism. Realism is a state of mind that lets you see things for what they really are. It’s also a state of mind that helps you make good decisions by gathering the truth and facing your problems. People, who base their decisions on just their feelings, good or bad, tend to make some mistakes. It’s what makes you think when your in a swamp full of alligators, “Yes, I do believe I am smarter than the alligators and if I use my head I should be okay. But those guys will eat me, if I’m not careful.” This versus “I can’t believe an alligator would hurt me so I’m just going to ignore them.” Or “Who gives a crap if they eat me, because the world sucks anyway.”

When it comes to problem solving the pessimist has no answers, only criticism. The optimist has all kinds of answers because there is no such thing as a problem in their life. Don’t worry, be happy and it will go away. Worry is good and it is natural and when managed right it helps you work through things but it is a tool we need to put to good use.

As we listen to the candidates campaigning for office we get a touch of both optimism and pessimism. An inflated view of how good it’s going to be when they are elected and a dark view on how bad it’s been under the present administration. Both of them are nowhere near the truth. The truth is our country is broke, partly because of all the entitlement programs and wars sucking the treasury dry. We spent it and we should pay for it, not our kids. The truth is we just can’t stop the entitlement programs cold turkey but we better start weaning people off of them and now. The truth is we need to raise some taxes and pay our bills and not leave it for others to pay.  The truth is we need to mind our own business more in world politics. The truth is a war in Iran, Iraq or take your choice in the Middle East, could lead toward world war III. Maybe even a nuclear war. The planet is a tinderbox. You think oil is expensive now? The truth is unless we get people running this country, that are wiling to be realistic about our problems, and willing to work with each other to solve our problems and not worrying about getting reelected or helping their friends, we will be writing the final chapters. Yes, as Lily Tomlin use to say on ‘Laugh In’ as she sat in her big old rocking chair. “And that’s the truth.”

What makes me able to say this? Because I’m a realist and I want my country back.

THOUGHTS FOR AFTER THE 4TH OF JULY

                                   

Whenever I am with a group of people, be at a church, a school or any kind of social gathering my attention often gets drawn to the young people. I see them in this care free world they are in and then I think of where they will be in a few a short years, when they will inherit this messy world we have left them. I think to myself ‘It wasn’t like this when we got it. Oh maybe a little bit but not like it is today.” I think also, “We failed them terribly and now they will have to suffer for it.”

We failed them because we took what was working so well and let it slip away and somehow called it progress. In many cases, letting things exist. or come into being that have no socially redeeming value. That isn’t progress but only change, for the sake of change. It all happened because we thought we were being progressive but in all actuality we were letting it happen, just to get them off our backs. Every great society that has failed-- and truth be told that’s most of them-- went down the tube this same way. They all thought it wouldn’t happen to them ---but it did and it will, to us too or should I say not us, but our kids.

I’m no clairvoyant. I have no special powers or insight. I’m just a common guy who somehow managed to hold on to the God given common sense we all are born with. We all know what’s good and what’s bad for this country. The problem is, not all of us give a hoot and it’s showing big time.

Let’s look at some facts and figures. Right now, today, our kids are going to inherit 17 trillion dollars of government debt. It is a financial hole that only a miracle can get us out of and you know what is the worst part? We have nothing to show for it. Nothing but failed wars and social programs that were doomed from the start. I’m not talking about all of the social programs. I’m talking about the ones that are filled with graft and corruption that did nothing but make people who were already rich, richer. Social disparity gets worse every day in this country. How do you go forward,  how do you reconcile this country when there is no level of trust amongst the classes.

When you have no moral conscience, and that is the way we are heading, that’s how things like this get started. The opposite of love is hate. The opposite of sharing is greed. The opposite of humbleness is narcissism. The opposite of power sharing and leadership is power grabbing and control. All of these bad things are the opposite of what our founding fathers had in mind for this country. They knew they wouldn’t live forever but they wanted this country to carry on and be a bastion for freedom for century’s to come. But in one short century we made it all crash. I hope and pray it’s not too late but it’s going to take a herculean effort to get back on track and give those kids, I talked about at the start of this, something to work with. If we can’t do that, then all of the upcoming 4^th of Julys in the world are only going to be lip service every year when they come around and todays and yesterdays generation will only be remembered for one thing. They were the people who ruined our country.

AND THEN THERE WERE SEVEN

Being the oldest in a family of eight kids, there is a luxury you receive that the others don’t get. You get to watch them all grow up. Today, many people in our society place great emphasis on making money or gaining power or notoriety. Our father placed that same emphasis on raising kids. He used to say “He wouldn’t sell any of us for a million dollars” but in the same breath, he would mutter, “I wouldn’t give a nickel for another one.” In the first part of that statement he was being truthful, as he always was. In the last part he was being the entertainer he also was. Truth be told—Dad loved his family.

Somewhere in the middle of that family was Ken. I was only six when he came home from the hospital, after he was born, but I remember it to this day. I remember that little white-haired baby who grew up to be my brother, Ken. I’m not sure “misfit” would be the right word, but from the start it was evident that Ken was marching to his own drummer. He was this little sandy-haired boy who refused to run with the pack, even though he loved all of us very much. This became even more evident in Ken as the years went by. Don’t get me wrong, he was a good kid, he just wanted to chart his own course in life.

Growing up, Ken seemed to always be on the outside looking in. Four of us boys shared a bedroom on the upper floor of that old house on 114 3rd Ave N. It was a cold unheated room. Three of us shared a big bed for warmth, but Ken always slept by himself in a little cot in the corner of the room. He never complained—it was almost like he wanted it that way. Whenever we played in the yard, he would be off doing his own thing. Later in life he got a job at a local gas station. He would be conspicuously absent at mealtime—preferring to go to a café and be by himself.

Then came graduation and Vietnam. Ken was afraid of being drafted because he wanted no part of that war, so he enlisted. The army promised him he wouldn’t be sent there, but they lied, and he was. I will always be proud he served his country but will hate what happened to him. He came home a far different person than when he left. I tried to talk with him about what went on over there, but he never would, preferring to hide his demons with alcohol until it ruled and ruined his life. It overshadowed a lot of the good in him, and believe me, there was a lot of good.

Ken was a talented carpenter and built many beautiful things, both at home and at work. He would come and help you any time, any place. He loved his daughters so much, and even though his family split up, he remained in their lives as much as he could. At our house we would always include him in holiday dinners, but you could see the hurt in those dark blue eyes that was there from being away from his family. He knew and understood why he couldn’t be with them, and blamed no one for it but himself, but it did hurt him deeply. Even though it was so difficult to talk about it. As time went on, we often did.

In the middle seventies we started having family reunions every summer. No one loved those get-together’s more than Ken— especially after the folks died. It was the one time of the year when he was surrounded by the people he loved, and who loved him. For a few short days he could come out of his lonely existence and be one of us, and he loved it. He was always the first one there and the last to leave. That’s one of the memories of Ken I will always cherish. I will forget about the dark times we went through together, and instead, remember the love we shared.

We were brought up in a Christian environment. Our parents were God-fearing people who wanted their children to be believers, too. I know Ken wasn’t good at expressing his feelings about being a believer, but last year especially, I heard him mention prayer and the need for it. I knew then he was still a believer.

We have this circle of life that we are all a part of, and right now that chain has been broken, and there is a hole in our circle. It’s up to us to step forward, close that circle up, and clasp hands once more. It takes a lot to heal a broken heart, and I have been there and done that, so I know. Now I need to do it again, as do all of us. It’s a never-ending circle, you see, because once someone leaves, new family members come to join the circle, and those who left us step into the middle. It’s there in that middle where there is all of that love and wonderful memories, from those who left us, and that continues on for as long as we live—until it’s our time to go.

Rest in Peace my little brother. I loved you.………..Mike

            

TTHE FOURTH OF JULY

                                                

What does the fourth of July really mean to you? Do you know-- or even care about what we are celebrating-- or is it just a great day for a party and a parade? Every time you shoot off one of those bottle rockets, do you think about the freedoms we enjoy in this country or are you maybe hoping the neighbors won’t call the cops on you for your illegal fireworks. Then again maybe, its just a little civil disobedience-- meant to show your hearts in the right place-- but remember you have the freedom to do that in this country. Or maybe, just maybe, you do recall what it’s all about and you don’t want to ever forget. I hope and pray your hearts in the right place.

Yes I know, it’s hard to work up that patriotic fervor we once had in this country. It’s been a long time since we signed the rules of surrender with a country that had tried to conquer us. I personally stood on the deck of that battle ship where it happened last spring in Pearl Harbor, and it was a solemn moment for me. I could feel the presence of General Douglas MacArthur as he accepted the Japanese surrender on that day of Sept 2^nd 1945.That great battleship, the Missouri, is now moored over-looking the watery, oily grave of the crew of the battleship Arizona where it all had started. Symbolically it’s the alpha and the omega. Big Mo’s huge guns, now silent; cast a solemn shadow over that sacred spot as if to say to those brave men interred there, “We taught them a lesson not to mess with us.” There have been many wars since that day in this world; that we have participated in, but none ended like this, with a final resolution. The ranks of those World War II veterans, from this country that fought their way across the pacific and into Germany, on their way to the fall of Hitler and Berlin, are fast disappearing; as is their countries pride they fought so hard for, earned and paid such a heavy price for.

We don’t fight wars to win anymore. We fight politician’s wars with rules that are crafted to prevent anything more then a tie, tip toeing around in the world’s court of public opinion. Truth be told, a couple of them weren’t even a tie and we got the short end of the stick. Yet, our brave soldiers go fight in these countries with one hand tied behind their backs and come home either dead or physically and mentally maimed, never tasting victory and more often then not, scorned by the people who never wanted them there in the first place. I think before we go to war again---unless we are attacked---the rules should be, we raise taxes and pay for it right now and the gloves are off. If were going to commit to sending our soldiers off to war we should pay for it, not our grand kids and we should fight to win it, or stay out of it.

I really believe that the freedoms we celebrate on the 4^th of July are in jeopardy but not by other countries so much. This country is on the way to ruination and it’s not going to be a war that does us in. It’s going to be us that will do us in. For you see those rules we once had drawn up, as the blueprint for a great society, are being manipulated and litigated to pieces by greedy people who have the money to buy off greedy politicians who have the power to change the rules and they are fast doing that. As we celebrate this 4^th, lets remember those who stood for what was right in this nation and let’s not desecrate their efforts-- their memory-- by allowing our country to fade away, just another great society, torn apart by greed and selfishness.