Daily Archives: March 5, 2009

I don’t know what is going on in the world.  I know that things are bad, millions of people losing  jobs and homes in this country, while millions of others around the world suffer disease, war, famine and a plethora of plagues.  But it seems to me  that people, especially in the media, a lot of politicians and pundits are just miserable people.  They inflict their misery on everyone else by taking a bad situation and spinning it to whatever horrible end that they envision, mostly bordering apocalyptic be they religious people or not.

There are some people who in their misery long for a time in the past when things were supposedly better.  It almost seems to be that some folks want the world to return to some pristine form that it once was. For some that is the 1940s or 1950s, some the 1550s.  I understand that, there is a certain amount of comfort that we derive from the past; yet nothing stays the same, at least not in the created realm.  Yet trying to recreate a past that often is mythologized we fail to live in the real world.   The Leisure Suit will never come back.

We visited Washington DC today and will as well tomorrow.  Today my Congressman, Nick Rahall (D-WV) helped set up a wonderful time at the Capitol, that included special courtesy by his staff who helped get us around.  It was wonderful, people were genuinely friendly.  I ran into Congressional Staffers, rode an elevater with someone I recognized as a Congressman but couldn’t think of the name, a General or two, tour guides and other citizens like us who were touring the Capitol and riding around on the Metro.  I was in my Service Dress Blues and people were complimentary and thanked me for my service.  A group of Vietnam Vets and their wives who had just been to Walter Reed to visit wounded service men and women were especially nice. People were courteous everywhere, when my 86 year old aunt tripped getting on a Metro a bunch of people came to her aid.    In spite of all the hate and discontent being spewed everywhere, people were overwhelmingly friendly.  As we toured the Capitol I got a sense of the specialness of our country.  We’ve survived invasions, a terrible Civil War, racism and segragation, good and bad economic times including a Great World Wide Depression and a couple of World Wars,  the threat of nuclear devastation in the Cold War.  We;ve survived some terrible Presidents, ineffective Congressess, bad Supreme Court Decisions, Robber Barons past and present, and we still go on.

I believe now that somehow we and the world will get through these times. Our visit to DC has reinforced that belief.  I believe that because I see good people who go about doing good.  Despite our flaws we are still a great country.  Yes things change and we are changing too, the USA has been changing for well over 200 years.   This was pretty cool, may God Bless and keep our country at peace.