I creep downstairs at 5:45 a.m., put on a pot of coffee, and open my front door. I smile. The newspaper (The Philadelphia Inquirer) has arrived. My coffee (Bucks County French Roast; Starbucks has yet to reach the east coast) is through percolating. I pour two mugs and transport them and the newspaper to the back patio, where the scent of spring flowers is in the air and the sun is rising. Before long, a woman, radiant and well rested, shall join me, wrap her appreciative hands around her hot mug, and request her favorite section of the newspaper. We’ll read, sip, bird watch, and discuss the expectations of a new day. Then we’ll venture off into the world to perform tasks that will take us far apart from one another. We will have no contact throughout the day. All that has transpired in the world, locally, nationally, and abroad, will be matters we discuss over a dinner we made collaboratively. Next, we’ll move on to lighter topics, like weekend plans and who and what it might include. After dinner we might visit a neighbor for coffee and a few innings of baseball before hunkering down to watch Seinfeld. The year is 1994. We are a vital couple, young boomers in our mid-thirties, working, building, persevering, and growing. Little did we know of the world awaiting us on the horizon.
Adjusted to the Present but Longing for the Past
2 responses to “Adjusted to the Present but Longing for the Past”
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I would have to say August of 1990. I was in the best shape of my life having been in the Army for 5 months with orders sending me to Berlin Germany. There were no wide spread riots, no athletes taking a knee, blatant, unchecked corruption within the Federal government, no social media to fan the flames of division, news media for the most part reported on truthful stories, neighbors cared for one another, and America was a shining example of consumerism while supporting local jobs. Cities across America had yet to be set ablaze by fools destroying their own towns and neighborhoods in response to a violent career criminal dying in the custody of law enforcement. In 1990, the World Trade Center still stood, we had not invaded Iraq, university students were not blindly backing the Palestinian’s war to push Israel into the sea, the drug cartels were not attacking our southern border, nor had our government officials sold us completely out to foreign interests.
Today, I worry when I wake up in the morning, the next widespread riot and violence has begun. I worry about going to areas with large groups of people that an attack will happen. I worry when the next peaceful speaker is assassinated for speaking in public. I worry about the next Presidential administration that will take office and Christianity and conservative values will once again have a bullseye placed on them and are criminalized. I worry about the day, thought police begin to arrest and jail people for their thoughts and beliefs. I worry when the day comes that the stock market crashes, the dollar becomes worthless, food riots begin, and foreign UN “peace keepers” are deployed to our streets.
In America, we do not live with missiles being fired at us, enemy militaries are not noticeably invading, nor martial law has yet to be enacted. Social media has been the means to divide us and keep us from coming together as a nation. We have been divided into age brackets, gender groups, ethnic backgrounds, political ideology, and moral beliefs. There doesn’t seem to be a light at the end of this tunnel without a major conflict. President Reagan once said the world would unite if alien invasion were to occur and I believe that. It seems the only way to unite the nation would be through some blatant military invasion or attack. Otherwise, we will continue to tear ourselves apart and allow the powers that be to divide and conquer us. We are losing this nation to an invasion that isn’t firing a shot and the majority of the people do not see it. People do not come to this country to be Americans, they come here to work and/ or receive federal welfare, depleting our already taxed economy, while the natural born Americans have to support them and their ever growing families. Where will it stop?
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The only way to take down a nation as powerful as the U.S. is to get it declare war on itself. The tools are available, some use them adeptly, and the sheep have aligned.
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