Do you hear what I hear?

Do you see what I see?

Do you know what I know?

If Jesus was real, and I believe that He was, I guess I wonder why He came to earth when He did.  And, also, why He had not come before then or why He has not come since then. 

Surely if there was a time when He was needed it would have been sometime in the last 100 or so years.  Right?  Like, we could really use Him don’t you think?

Has He come again only to be ignored?

If He was killed by the Romans as history indicates, is it possible that He has indeed been back and was killed, like back then, before He had a chance to make His presence known? 

Is it possible that He is here now among us today or has been here over the last millennia, simply biding His time until the time is truly right?  And if He is God why would He have to show up ahead of time?   In fact, why would He have to come here at all?  Couldn’t He just fix things remotely?

It is a wonderful story and it has inspired not a simple few but millions, probably billions, to believe over the last two millennia.  Who am I to question any of it?  And why would I do so?

Don’t get me wrong, I do so want to believe- and I do believe, in something- but the story is so simple as to not be believed.  I just have too many questions and, therefore, too many doubts.

I guess that I have always felt this way but did not really express it. 

I know that true faith is the ability to overcome your doubts and reservations about things, about people.  I know that it exists even when we say we trust those who have proven themselves not to be trustworthy.  It is faith and faith alone that prevails in such cases.

Where is my faith?  Have I lost it?  Why?

I envy those who believe without reservation.  At least they say they do and who am I to doubt them?

I want to believe because if I don’t then what is it that I really have left when all else is gone, my life included?  I don’t want to be damned for doubting but I have to be honest.

I do so want to believe that this is not all there is but, if there is more, then when does it ever end?  Never?

When I was a young child in a Catholic grade school the nuns taught us about the Holy Trinity.  But why are there three Gods needed and which one has the final vote?  Those types of questions always messed me up.

They also taught us that God is like a circle- He has no beginning and has no end.  I would try to fall asleep with my mind running around that circle, endlessly, never finding the start or finish.  And man did that ever mess me up.

Guess I am just forever messed up.

So please believe and pray for me that one day I too, again, may do the same. 

I love You Jesus.  And Merry Christmas.

This time of year always reminds me of Mr. Priestly from the old neighborhood where I grew up and lived until I went to high school.  Christmas, the church, and the Priestly’s.

The Priestly’s were an older couple who had three grown kids who had moved out but still visited quite often.  They lived about three houses down from us so I had known them all of my young life.  We liked them and they seemed to like us though my dad would sometimes make fun of Mr. Priestly and the fact that he always kept his summer lawn in tip-top, manicured shape.  Ours wasn’t quite so nice looking given all the neighborhood kids we always had playing on it.  It seemed a happy lawn though while the one down at the Priestly’s sometimes seemed a bit sad and lonely to me.  It is hard to determine such things when it comes to grass though.

Mr. and Mrs. Priestly were religious church-goers, attending every Sunday and, after he retired, attending every morning of the week as well.  Mrs. Priestly had gotten a job after the last kid left so she only attended on Sundays and all necessary holy days, the days of obligation I think they used to call them.  They both attended Tuesday night novenas- I know, because I used to go with my mom before she died.  I think she was hoping for a last minute divine intervention that never came because she did die when I was in the sixth grade.

The Priestly’s also did a lot of work at the church- he being an usher and her helping with the choir and in the rectory on weekends.  After my mom died we still went to church but my dad did not.  I think he was mad about unanswered prayers or something like that.

Not long after my mom died the neighborhood began to change.  A few black families had moved in a mile or so to our north and it seemed to be a major topic of conversation among the neighbors, on the street, as well as outside the church, after mass.  I hardly took much notice as I was spending too much time being a kid and trying to make sure my dad never knew the full extent of some of my youthful activities.  I was just a bit wild but managed to steer clear of officially significant trouble.

The message in church was loud and clear- we were all to love and respect our brother man (and woman) no matter his or her color.  They never mentioned religion or any other distinguishing identifier.  Just color.

I remember hearing Mr. Priestly preaching a similar thing many times on the street outside of his house as the neighbors would gather to talk on a summer’s eve.  He seemed pretty solidly opinionated that we should all “hold our ground” and “not sell just because of the Negroes moving in.”  Somehow it didn’t seem to sound much like brotherly love- more like brotherly exclusion or avoidance.  Still, I was young.  What could I possibly have known?

The fall after my mom died we were away for the weekend.  Funny, though we hardly ever went away for the weekend, we did that weekend and I’ll be darned if I can remember where we went.  When we came back we saw the For Sale sign up on the beautiful front lawn at the Priestly’s and not a sign of anyone around.  We heard that Sunday night from the Ablesons that the Priestly’s had moved out late that Saturday night without as much as a word to anyone.  The Ablesons had been away that day and arrived back home near midnight, just in time to see the large, unmarked moving truck pull away.  There was no sign of the Priestly’s then either so they must have left before the truck.  No other neighbors had seen either Mr. or Mrs. Priestly since Friday afternoon and they had not been in church on Sunday either.  They were just simply gone.  We didn’t find out until weeks later that they had moved to a far south suburb, into a small home that someone said they had purchased earlier in the year.  Imagine that.

Well the church and some good neighbors continued to preach the good word and suggested we all stay put and welcome the growing number of our new neighbors.  But the Priestly move seemed to light a spark under a lot of folks and within a year and a half we were pretty much the last white family left on our entire block.  Me and my sisters were getting harassed more and more as time passed so my dad finally decided it was best and safest for us if we moved as well.  It was the end of the summer just before I started high school. 

We took a huge loss on our house (guess my dad wasn’t the best financial head) and I said goodbye to the few friends I still had a few miles to the south.  They were starting to move as well.  All fleeing south along with the Priestly’s I guess.

We moved a bit north and further west.  We moved in with my grandmother.  I thought about the Priestly’s just a few times after that and wondered what they were preaching in their new neighborhood. 

The last time I ever gave much thought to the Priestly’s I wasn’t sure what Mr. Priestly was saying to his new neighbors but I was pretty darn sure that he and his wife were heavily involved with their new church, wherever that might have been.

Do you know much about the Constitution of the United States of America?  Do you know anything about the founding of this country?

Do you know who your representatives and senators are?  Do you know that there are different offices held by ELECTED SERVANTS OF THE PUBLIC for state and federal governments?

Do you know who your local, county and smaller, public servants are?

Do you know who your local school board members are?

In any of these cases, assuming that you know who these people are, do you know what they stand for and how they have voted, IF they have voted…not like in the case of certain officials who may simply vote “present” (as in “yeah, I am here but I don’t want to leave any evidence of what I am really all about”)…eh?

Do you know that you have not just the right but, as originally envisioned, the duty to make your own opinions and positions known?  That you should work to change the things that you do not believe in and, at the very least, vote in all elections to let your small voice be added to the chorus?

I have known many of these things but have not acted often enough to prevent what I see as a drifting away from the things I hold most important to the lives of me and my family, of my friends and neighbors.  I need to do more, much more.  And I will.

Do you know your history?  Do you know what has happened to people and countries when things went south?  Do you think it could never happen here, to me, to you?

How much time do you spend watching mindless TV shows or playing video games or watching sports or drinking at the local watering hole?  Would it be correct to guess that we all spend anywhere from 3-5 hours a day doing these things and others?  That’s somewhere around 30 hours a week on average.

When did our need for personal entertainment surpass our responsibilities of being good citizens, of being sufficiently informed to make informed decisions on as much as we possibly can, of spending time helping or gently coercing our kids to learn, of being good neighbors (of even knowing our neighbors), or of pushing back on all the not-so-good things that are constantly being pressed upon us?

Is it all that hard to reserve a few of those 30 hours for such important things?

When did we shirk all of our personal responsibilities for our personal pleasures?

You know it’s true.  If you disagree then just keep a simple log that tracks how you spend your time during a typical week.  You would be amazed I think.

Do you know your governments?  Do you really know the schools your kids attend and what they are being taught?  Do you know enough math, science, language, reading, history to help your kids with their homework?  Do you know enough about finances to make sure that you plan well and stay out of trouble?  Do you know how to clean up your front yard, dress a little nicer when you go out, conduct yourself with class and composure, wash your car, comb your hair, perform proper personal hygiene, paint your house, vacuum your floor, clean your windows, display decent manners in public?  Do you know how to be kind and gracious to a stranger, regardless of his or her color, ethnicity, religion, or apparent appearance?  Do you know how to put down and ignore your phone when in a crowd, on a plane, in a restaurant, or driving your car?  Can you learn to lay off your car horn just because you are in a hurry or in a bad mood?  Do you know how to forget and forgive enough to make the future a potentially better place to be?  Have you ever listened to (really) good music with a positive message or tried to play an instrument and express what is inside of you?  Have you ever kept a diary that allows you to review your experiences and search your soul a little bit, looking perhaps for a way to be a better you?  Have you done anything in the last 6 months to improve yourself?  Have you recently made a personal sacrifice for a family member, a friend, or someone you don’t even know?  Have you tried acting kind instead of tough, understanding instead of demanding, listening instead of talking, caring instead of being aloof, thinking just a little bit longer before acting, hugging instead of hitting, walking instead of sitting, getting away from your dependencies, loving your kids or your parents or even yourself just a little more?

Maybe you have but if you haven’t are you strong enough to at least try?  We can’t change things alone as much as we can together and if we all move in a positive direction a little bit more each day we might be able to improve our lot and get back just a little bit closer to being real Americans as originally envisioned not just by our founders but also by a lot of good folks who have lived and died in search of the very same vision along the way.  Perhaps here you have your own personal hero who you can emulate.

If you’re happy with where we are at and where we are going absent anything, or anyone, standing in the way, then I cannot reach you.  But if not, then wise up, and rise up.  Learn and be heard.  Learn and take action.  Learn and live better and be proud.  Learn and help those around you to do the same.  Learn.  Learn.  Learn.

Learn and maybe we can all stay free.

Let me delve into current events a bit.

I entitled this site “Socially Misfitted” because 1) it was available & 2) it kind of described the type of entries and writing I wanted to include here, at least from time to time. 

I feel so misfitted to our present society in America, so unimpressed and often downright disgusted by where the culture has gone and what it produces these days.  Age?  Yeah, okay.

Abortion?  Legalized, protected, and done.  What would the sound of 57 million crying babies sound like?

Affordable housing?  Implemented in the 1990’s with its chickens finally coming home to roost in 2008.

Welfare?  I hear that almost half the country is on some sort of it, maybe more, I lost count. 

Taxes?  Half the country doesn’t pay any (wonder if it’s the same 50% as above?).  The top 10% of wage earners pay something like 80%.  Why don’t I know the exact numbers?  Not sure anyone really does so I’ll round off what I remember but I do know that they continue to grow and grow in the wrong direction. 

When the needs of the takers outgrow the resources of the givers what do you think will happen? 

Music?  Songs about rape and murder and offing cops and knockin’ down the crackers and dissin the hos…  Yeah, those are all good messages that the youth of America can use for inspiration.  Despicable.

Movies?  Hollywood hypocrisy, simply put.  How dare those who spend their entire lives in pretendland try to tell me what to do.  Perhaps they could move Hollywood and all those wonderfully liberal and super-intelligent folks to a place they like to promote, somewhere deep in IslamLand- maybe Tehran.  Let’s see what movies they would produce then.

TV?  Is there a normal family with a regular, stable and guiding father figure on television anymore?  I understand that there are many types of families out there but when did it become necessary to move a normal family with a non-idiot dad completely off the air?  Probably just ratings eh?  Must be what most of us want, or don’t want.  The Simpsons are funny and the show is well-written but it hasn’t done much to teach my kids respect for me.  Lots of examples like that folks whether you accept that or not.

Dress & personal upkeep?  Been to a supermarket or Walmart lately?  When did so many Americans get so fat, decide to always go to the store in pajamas, and adorn their entire bodies with tattoos and body piercings?  When did able-bodied folks with necessary means just decide to let their homes look like hell?  When did slobbery come into vogue?  Sorry again but it’s rather pitiful when you just sit back and observe.  Drive around, walk around, look around- you’ll be amazed at what you might see.

Manners?  Simple courtesies seem more and more a thing of the past.  When my kids hold a door open for an older person they get a rather surprised look and a heartfelt thank you.  When they do the same for younger people they typically get a not-too-friendly look and rarely a thank you.  Am I alone in believing that having more people practice and teach good manners and random acts of kindness might just help make us all slightly better human beings?  Maybe…

Gay marriage and general sexual mores?  You don’t have a right to an opinion on either.  Just shut up and accept whatever is promoted as being acceptable.

Healthcare?  It’s become a natural right somehow when the real reason it is being pursued is as a means for more control over all of us.  Go ahead, think differently, but try to smile as the noose tightens.  And it will.

And then there is Pajama Boy.  And he is not my son, thank God.

He is just another control point for the government. 

They have the elderly covered with Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid; they have our very youngest covered with aid programs for the increasingly number of unwed mothers and they are fairly well entrenched with federally-dictated school requirements; they continue to more actively control what we are allowed to eat; regulations regarding our activities and businesses become more pervasive with each passing year; taxes eat away at those not quite poor enough or not quite rich enough to somehow escape them; what used to be the “anti-Man” indoctrinations in our higher institutions of so-called learning are now “pro-BigBro” in terms of how they support and promote more government control, being consistent only in the fact that they are still lightly cloaked as indoctrinations; and who owes who when it comes down to young people getting the money to attend these way overpriced institutions and receive increasingly useless degrees; free speech is no longer allowed unless it is pre-approved by a lot of so-called concerns; “isms” have been way overplayed but still serve to keep the herd in control; and in order to extend control further let’s keep our kids on our health policies until they are well into adulthood (why not 30 or older?) and let’s draw it up and present it in mock Rockwellian fashion as warm and comfy Pajama Boy.

Wise up America; wise up and rise up.  And teach your children well…while you still can, while you are still allowed to…sort of…

How often in life we say that it is only “a month until”, or “a week until”, or “just a day until”…  And it seems sometimes to take forever to finally get here but then just a flash of time until it is gone.

It is only a week until Christmas.

What have you accomplished this past year?  Are you ready for the holidays?  Do you celebrate the birth of Jesus of Nazareth or do you simply exchange gifts, eat food, and watch sports on TV?  Or maybe you watch “It’s a Wonderful Life” or “A Christmas Story”.  Both are wonderful movies and I don’t recall that either mentions the birth of Christ- isn’t that the reason for the season, the event and moment Christmas is supposed to commemorate?

Even “A Charlie Brown Christmas” talks of Jesus and the event of his birth.

It has been, what now, 25 years since I have spoken with my long-ago brother and almost 13 years since my long-ago sister and I have had contact.  My other sister and I are still somewhat close.  She has no contact with either of the other two either.  Our parents are long ago deceased.

I hope that wherever the other two are that they have a wonderful Christmas and, maybe for just a moment, remember some happy event we all shared from long ago.  Those seemingly wonderful and forever Christmastimes we had on the far south side of Chicago; when we had a real tree, not very many presents, but what we received always seemed so wonderful to us; when we walked through the cold and maybe the snow to celebrate Christmas mass at St. Catherine’s.  I do remember the walks and I do remember the feeling in church and the hymns, those wonderfully moving Christmas hymns.  And the walk home to breakfast and presents.

Those memories linger with me but fade.  Sometimes they flash back from somewhere deep within an aging memory.  They always make me feel good and are always most welcome.  Please come by and stay awhile.

I remember putting out reindeer dust for my niece but never did that for my own kids- why not?

I remember putting out cookies for Santa and carrots for his reindeer from my own kids- and the letters to and from Santa.  Who ate the cookies?  Who ate the carrots?

I remember traveling back north from Florida at Christmas- it sure felt like the season, in contrast.

I remember the first Christmas with my boys and the first, now longer ago, with my wife.

I remember midnight mass with my long-ago sister and her family.  I hear she’s divorced now.

I remember going to get the real tree with my dad and long-ago brother.  We walked to the lot and returned with a tree resting partly in my Hi-Low Flyer wagon.  It always seemed to be snowing at Christmastime back then.  My mom and sisters stayed home and prepared the small living room for the tree.

I remember watching Charlie Brown with my dad when I was a kid; and with my kids now that I am a dad.

I don’t especially remember my mom’s last Christmas- we did not know she was going to die but she knew it.  I wonder if she knew it would be her last…

I remember putting up icicle lights on the house, as a dad, in the snow, in the cold.  Those ladders could be dangerous.

I remember the Christmas flood in my grandmother’s basement when I was a teen.  All that fast-melting snow..

Still as a teen, I remember putting tinsel on the tree while listening to “Midnight Rider” on the radio.

I remember sneaking out to the tree when I was a kid to see if that distinctive cylindrical package, the one my favorite building blocks came in, was there under the tree.  I think I got a hand-me-down gift or two- we were not well-off people but had a lot nevertheless.

I remember when my boys were younger my wife and I would wake up to the sound of them whispering out on the catwalk as they stared down at the tree and marveled at what Santa had left there.  I hope I always remember their little, excited voices.

I remember believing in Santa and I remember my boys doing so as well.  None of us do anymore.

I remember serving Christmas mass.  And the bells and the celebration.

I remember the Christmas parties with my co-workers in Florida.  Plantation much more than Boynton and definitely more than up here in Libertyville.

I remember driving up to Illinois with my girlfriend at the time- we went through a few minor blizzards both up and back.  Tricky driving in Indiana.

I remember decorating with my sisters at my grandmother’s house where we lived.  Hanging the cards and the “Noel Bell” and wrapping those little fake presents for that little sleigh.

I remember getting off the city bus at Western Avenue to meet my long-ago sister so we could go the long-ago mall and do some long-ago Christmas shopping.

I remember being one of the last ones out of my dorm to head home for Christmas.  I was waiting for my long-ago sister who was working at the time.

I remember doing laundry in that Laundromat at Christmas.

I remember shopping at the art supply store on Western Avenue for art supplies for my dad.

I remember the Christmas play at St. Catherine’s but do not remember if I was ever in it.  Probably was.  I remember the nativity scene to the right and in front of the church and all those huge, beautiful poinsettias within.

I remember buying a 45 record of a love song for my first real girlfriend.  Gulp.

I remember going downtown on the train with my grandmother and having lunch in the Walnut Room at Field’s at the base of their huge and beautiful tree.  And Wimpy’s of course.

I remember Dennis and going out to cut down and bring home that huge tree to my grandmother’s.  My dad really joked about that with us.  It took us so long to cut it down.

I guess I could go on but I won’t.  Seems that the more I recall the more I remember and most of those memories are very good ones.  I am saddened of course that many were so long ago and that many of the people are no longer around but, still, I was able to have the moment or moments and I am still able to recall…

So it is a week until Christmas and I am not really ready yet but I hope that it will come and perhaps stay awhile and bring moments that may one day down the road turn themselves into pleasant memories.

Darkness persists this early, early morn.  It is black through my windows and somewhat gray in my heart, this morn, this early, early morn. 

This house is quiet for now and the Christmas tree unlit and in slumber.  The kids, the wife, the dogs- they all still slumber.  It is still and it is dark this early, early morn.

Sometimes it seems that not much you do turns out right, have you ever felt that way?  No matter how you spin it, turn it, approach it, prepare, wish, hope, or dream it just seems to not go the way that you had planned.  Do you know what I mean?

I suppose that I expect too much from people, especially my family.  I have accomplished some things in life but not anywhere near what I think I could have had I been directed or even pushed a bit more.  I don’t really blame anyone for that other than myself. 

I try to change, I try to get things done that I have never done but time and age seem set against me.  I am sometimes too set in my ways I fear and too weak to break out.  How many good years do I even have left?  Could be a few (or even less) or could be many more than a few. 

I am tired this dark and early morn.  I did not sleep well and I am tired but trying to write something here. 

It is Tuesday and Christmas is in just over a week.  When was the last time that I felt really in a good Christmas mood?  Sometimes I even feel like I somehow missed those early Christmastimes with my kids.  Maybe I was just too old or just too disconnected.

Even the birth of Jesus does not brighten my heart.

So many are no longer in our lives.  Not departed from this earth but departed nonetheless.  Where have you all gone?  What happened? 

There are so very few Christmas cards anymore and we had so many when I was young.  Hung them all around the trimwork at my grandmother’s house.  Maybe we re-used a few.  Maybe we did that.

Why does time run against us?  It just doesn’t stop.  Even now as I stare out into the darkness of this early morn, within the quiet of this slumbering house, I realize that the darkness will begin to fade with the flowing time of the morning. 

Darkness will not persist and the light will follow but it, too, will not last forever.

“You know the day destroys the night, night divides the day; try to run, try to hide, break on through to the other side, break on through to the other side…”

She was young once.  She was young and beautiful and likely loved and desired by one or even more.  And she was bright and beautiful and her face shone with brightness, inviting all to smile in return.  Life had come to her and blessed her in many ways that grew brighter with time.

But then time brought the darkness and life faded away until she was bright and beautiful no longer.  Just a memory.

And even that fades and sinks into time.

Why is it that some (most?) people in power, no matter how they gained that power, eventually begin to feel as if that power, their own particular position, is unassailable?  They become as those who in knowing me least act as if they know me best.

It is often the parent who will not listen; or the teacher who will not be questioned; or the law enforcement officer who will give no quarter; or the state official at the DMV who targets his power toward the poor and simple wretches awaiting his most-welcomed nod to move on to the next of many lines; or the coach who tells everyone he is there for the kids and then manages to keep a number of them on the bench as he seeks that much-needed victory over another team of 9-year olds;  maybe it’s the abusive spouse who leverages his or her own power, however manifested, to gain control of all within their small but totally controlled worlds; or maybe the boss who cares not about what is best for his underlings but, rather, manages to claim all of their own individual efforts and achievements as his own in his own concerted effort to usurp the power of the one above him; or the aggressive, oversized 10 year old who discovers that if he presses his will with a threat of some act, violent or otherwise, can gain all he desires with his classmates and who has his behavior excused by his parents and often as well his teachers because he is a child with a difficult past or has special circumstances that need to be considered; or the knowledgeable auto mechanic who utilizes that knowledge against the lack of such in his customers so that he can perform maintenance or repairs that are not needed or warranted; or the preacher who will tell you in no uncertain terms all that you are doing that is bad and also what you must be doing to be good and gain access to the final kingdom, that you cannot take your material goods with you when you go so you might as well leave them with him and his church, giving up what he has defined as your fair share, so that they, and especially he, can better help others; could also be the tax man who has set all the rules so that they cannot be understood, has set the tax rates so that they serve to cripple personal financial advancement, and holds the arbitrary ability to audit at will anyone at any time without much if any justification; or the principal who punishes the poor child who was only responding to the constant provocations of another, who treats the perpetrator as the victim and the victim as the one to be punished, just to make things fair; or the big brother who defends his little brother against others when he feels it necessary but who still reserves the right to pummel the helpless lad whenever he so chooses; or the college admissions administrator who holds sway over who gets in and who does not and has at her disposal a plethora of approved justifications, disguised as fair policy, for a particular acception or rejection; or the man who decides to stop delivering my mail or picking up my trash, or the company who decides to stop providing power or natural gas to my home, or the dog who chases the cat who stalks the bird who attacks the mouse who is just simply trying to get along.

Or maybe, just maybe, it’s a government who decides that they know best what is best for me in just about every aspect of my life. And, in addition, all that comes before and all that comes after.

Day by day my friends your personal freedoms are becoming a good bit less of each, of both.

To answer yesterday’s musing I would say that, no, pessimism does not rule me.  It merely pervades me and seeks a permanent home.

Sorry pessimism- I cannot be ruled, least of all by you.

I don’t worry so much for myself, really.  I have had a lot of years on this planet and most of them have been good ones, some even great.  I owe so much to so many; I owe so much to this country.  And I wish I could repay it, I really want to do that.

Just pay more taxes.

Okay, do you really think that helps?  No more so than giving a drink to a drunkard.  You know that’s true.

More money hasn’t helped education.  It hasn’t helped reduce poverty.  It hasn’t helped to erase the animosity between the races.  Perhaps it has helped in our national defense and against terrorist attacks here at home.  They say it will help in the care of our health- only with the end result of better, more accessible care and more and better doctors.  Think that will be happening?

No, I think that more money only leads to the need for more of the same.  Where does it go?  Where do you think?

If you are, well, what’s the right, proper word- oh yeah, stupid; if you are stupid enough to believe that it goes to where they tell you it goes then you are also likely to overdraw regularly on your checking account; hold a high balance on your credit cards; give money to anyone holding an old, gross piece of cardboard; give gobs of money to your church just because they tell you that you should; send a lot of donation dollars out of your own country (who sends it here to us?); and you also are likely to lend blindly and often to relatives and friends who will never pay you back.

Okay, maybe stupid is harsh.  Maybe it’s just more naiveté.  Okay, maybe it’s all either, some of each or some of both.  If this is the way you want to handle your own finances, fine.  But please make sure it doesn’t have an affect on me and especially not on my family.  And don’t ever tell me what my fair share is unless it’s a family matter.  You just don’t have that right- how dare you.

I don’t worry so much for me as I said as I do for the youth of our country- my kids and their friends.

Just as we never imagined we would suffer the responsibilities placed upon us by our grandparents (social security for example), or parents (Medicare, Medicaid), or even ourselves (bailouts and stimulus and social programs and healthcare)- we were not wise enough to wake up in time- so too are you young folks likely to ignore it as well.

But the heaviest weighted end of this load will not fall to us- it will fall to you my young friends.  And maybe that isn’t fair since you didn’t directly approve of any of this or maybe you “just didn’t realize.”  Sorry, those are excuses that, while true perhaps, will not serve any purpose in the future, in YOUR future.  Ignorance is not bliss and it is certainly no longer a valid excuse if you want to survive.

The only power you have is with whom you put into elected office when you vote- and you should vote and know who and what you are voting for, without fail and without excuse.  You need to wake up and wise up.

And then you need to rise up and be heard.  Yours can be the greatest generation and, actually, it needs to be because ours, certainly, has not been that.

For that I am truly and forever sorry.  We have no excuse for what we have done or allowed to be done to us, none at all.

Okay, okay, so a good bit of what I write sounds negative.  You may see it as negative but I see it more as being critical, as being vigilant and being wary of what lies ahead.  Not nearly so much for me, though I would be lying if I said that worries for me and my wife do not figure into these myriad concerns, but much more so for my kids…and as well for their friends and their generation.

We aren’t headed in a good direction folks.  Period.

We have a mountain of debt and, worse still, no plan to deal with that.  Have you had any relatives or friends who were in that same situation?  How did it work out?  Maybe they filed bankruptcy and laid the problem elsewhere, escaping responsibility yet again.  Think an entire country can do the same?  Hah.

Our culture continues to slide away from fundamentally solid virtues.  True dat.  Music, movies, social mores and manners, video games, internet content, and more still.  Yes, some of that opinion comes with age.  But, still, even if I were still just out of my teens, I would feel that a lot of what confronts us on a daily basis is or should be very concerning.  Many societies have unraveled right along with their moral and social fabrics.  It’s true, you can look it up.

Our politicians, all of them, grow seemingly more and more distant and separated from the rest of us.  What is good for us is seldom, if ever, good for them as well.  That also has historical equivalents that you can research if you care to do so.  Ever heard of Chicago?  Or, wait, ever heard of Detroit?

Gaps continue to grow- between rich and poor, black and white, young and old, Democrat and Republican, city and state, state and federal, men and women, citizen and immigrant (illegal or not)…  Why are there so many dividers and so few uniters out there these days?

We get more and more lazy and ambivalent with each passing year.

Our schools continue to underperform and blame it on a lack of funds that even when given, which they really have been and in an enormous amount, do not wind up going directly toward actual teaching and learning, not into helping our kids and schools to improve and our country as a final result.

Our churches grow more empty as their call or demand for money to worship grows.  If it just takes tithing to get to heaven just let me know the final bill and I will pay it directly to the Lord.  I can pay by card, check or cash.  Not sure if He takes PayPal but the churches probably do.

Our youth seem to be less informed as to the real problems and the real truths than ever before but, again, maybe that is just age speaking.  Ever talk to them?

We enjoy safety and privacy less and less as our societies crumble and our government and its supervisory power grows.  Each and every day.  Deny that as well?

I could go on.  You could as well.

On the whole are we better off?  Those who want to continue to change things in a very left or liberal, if you will, direction say no and use that as an excuse to continue to drive for change in that very direction.  They do this because they do not realize what they are doing- this has been said.  Those of us on the other side may realize but then do nothing.

We are Americans, we live in America, and so many out there have never been exposed to anything less than a safe and insulated existence.  Perhaps locked forever at university or maybe in the basement of the house where they grew up- and never plan to leave.

Security blankets.  Once they are provided they are extremely difficult to take away.  And those who have them will not slowly feel their removal but more likely will one day face total shock and disbelief when they are abruptly yanked away.  Ever had a kid with a blankey?

Wake up America.  Wake up and rise up and stand for what is good and pure and right.  We were not formed to come to this point.  I will never believe that.  We were formed for far better things.  Things got a bit hijacked along the way.

Do you disagree?  Are we in a good place or headed in the right direction?  Yes?  Really?  You really believe that?  Wow.

Guess it’s hard to see with that blanket pulled over your head.

72 years ago, still, today.  72 years.

The day after.  Those who managed to remember yesterday have all almost most likely forgotten already by today.  Our flag still flies this very cold and gray morning.

Today we will try to finish decorating for Christmas.  Today many of us will shop for Christmas presents.  Today we will likely watch at least some football on television.  Today some might even attend a mass somewhere.  Today a child will be born and an old man will die.  The earth will spin and the weather will change or stay the same.  Today is the day after the day before and we rise to greet it in way not very like some of those that have come before.

Were you alive on 9-11-2001?  Do you remember what it felt like to be alive on 9-12-2011?  The world had changed and we weren’t exactly sure what it would then be like thereater.  But were you scared?

Were you alive on 12-14-2012?  Or maybe on 12-1-1958?  Do you know these dates?   Do you remember what it felt like to be alive on 12-15-2012 or 12-2-1958?  Again, the world had changed.  I became more fearful for my children after that first date and only have read about the other but still it brought me fear.  Were you scared after either or maybe both?

There are still those who were alive on both 12-7-1941 and also the day after.  We declared war on Japan and the world was not going to be the same.  It was a Monday and folks were off to work, off to school.  Millions of young men, I’m sure, felt the urge to do something and many enlisted in the military soon after the declaration.  Millions of families, mothers, likely began to worry about their sons and were fearful of what might lie ahead for them.  The world had changed and people were angry…and, I’m sure, very scared.

Those fears were all new fears.  All felt the day after an unforeseen and very tragic event.  Who had seen any of these, or others, coming?  And it was obvious to most, directly after, what the basis was of the fear that was felt and even what the likely response was likely to be. 

When a person is struck by another that person assumes a protective response and maybe even strikes back.  It’s a reflex action.

These days we have not arrived yet at a new day after.  What is happening now to us (to all of us whether you will admit it or not) is not sudden, it is not like a heart attack or personal attack from another.  It is more like a slow and spreading cancer and it has been that way for a very, very long time.

And how successful are we at ever recovering from such affliction?  How do we feel the day after we first learn that we are so afflicted?

And how do we feel the day before the day on which we die? 

It is a thing to consider for, in that event, there will be no day after.  No day after my friends. 

Wise up America; rise up America.