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With hard times come lessons that you just cannot
learn when things are good. Some may say that they
really don't want to learn "lessons" when the discomfort
of easy life becomes increasingly deficient and the worry
and fears that are associated with down economies are
just that - a "down" type of existence.
If you know anyone who had lived through the Great
Depression or possibly some relatives talk about the
things that Grandma and Grandpa had to do just to
survive - there is one fact that comes very boldly to
light. There was a "meeting of the minds." In that I
mean, since all people were adversely affected by the
economy, they learned that if they came together things
were a bit easier, safer, and more possible. My grand-
parents were from, what used to be referred to as the
"old country." They spoke of it often and many times
with tears in their eyes. They longed for the comfort the
"old country" gave them, if now only a memory to be
cherished and relived. However, there out of the flames
of pain and misery came a blessing that you just can't
find in today's world. There was a genuine, soul searching
need to embrace others, help where you can, and share
what little you may have. It was a time that family and children
meant the price of the world, and CEO's were not applauded
for getting more in severance packages then the average
family could make in a lifetime. It was an equalizing factor -
many with money and stock committed suicide because they
did not believe that there was life without the comforts and
amenities that millions can bring. These were the true
tragedies.
Family meal times may have been plain and meager, surely
without drawn butter for the steamed lobster or the French
creme desserts that melted in your mouth - why - because
these types of food were not an accepted way of life - in
many cases they were unheard of if not disbelieved. Wives
and mothers cooked with recipes handed down to them and
husbands and fathers were rejuvenated with simple soups
and stews, instead of haute cuisine foods that in many cases
would not satisfy a hungry squirrel. They may be beautiful to
the eye but sustaining they are not. Work was honest, and time
was not spent in an office building trying to figure out how to
leave with all the perks and not have to face the pensions and
retirement funds of the other workers. The gist of this was that
greed was there, of course, but not in the proportions that exist
today.
Government was not all that great either in the past. The FBI under
Hoover was more like the Gestapo than the American ideal. There
were black lists and racism. Crime did not vanish, but it was not
tolerated because it hurt more than the parties involved. It caused
examples of behavior with consequences to future generations.
By no means was it idyllic but it was more earth bound. It was basic
and it was in the grasp of all. The rich in the penthouses faced
financial disaster and the poor in the complexes did not fare better
but they clung to ideals, beliefs, and the American Way.
While some may say that this is Pollyanna dreams, it made the
people stronger than they were before. It gave them more of an
incentive to dream and reach out and, most importantly, it evened
out to some degree the playing field. There was and always will be
a gap between those who have and those who don't. But there was
not an intense battle to do away with the middle class and make a
royalty of the White House and governmental officials. Elections were
loud, and moving. Citizens discussed, argued, and demanded
results. Candidates did more than fend off attacks of why their
pastor said this or that and why a flag lapel button is a yes or no
vote to a voter. It was issues, results, and solutions. This current
campaign hedges on back fence gossiping and it is fueled by
the media. Misstatements are repeated and driven into the ground,
but issues - the meat of any election - there is no time because
candidates spend time debating minimal, childishly repeated
questions by the media. Health care, the economy, and war -
these are the bulk of what needs to be ironed out, and fixed. I
don't really care if a button is worn or not - that will not prove a
man or make him less of a meaningful and vibrant President. Nor,
does the issue of using past mistakes to make future claims a
way to go. If it didn't work in the past, now is not the time to carry
it until the wheels no longer turn and the country is on its knees -
not to pray but to beg. That is not who we are and what we are
about - so as voters, as citizens, we take the mean times with the
good times and we demand, not politely ask, or coyly debate, we
demand changes, answers, and accountability. We take away the
rights of those whose powers have grown into the disease and
therefore are not the remedy. Torture has only one definition and
no matter how you slice and dice it - it is beneath us. Lies and
deception are not games because lives are lost because of them.
Crossing your fingers behind your back so your constituents
feel you are on their side is ludicrous and war crimes are crimes
and deserve to be addressed. Earmarks are wasted money that
could be used to relieve many citizens of hardships. Gas prices
are not locked in and therefore there is a way to bring them
down. We can't point our collective finger at other countries
as always in the wrong, because if even one of them did anything
to us like Abu Graib, the killing of untold thousands of civilians
or even not curtailing the looting of priceless and irreplaceable
treasures when it could have been stopped, our nation would
arise in untold horror and our leaders would not be hiding behind
the curtain of deception.
Being open to foreign countries is one thing, but caring for every
man, woman, and child who are American citizens is front and
center. That should be priority one and lo and behold, all the rest
would fall into place. If the people are cared for with health care,
jobs, and peace, then there is no end to the possibilities of what a
nation can do. Then the tendrils of a nation that works would
reach and entwine the entire planet. We are citizens of the world
that is true, but we are citizens of the U.S. first. Our land, our growth,
and our way of life is not on the back burner, it is up front and
boiling - thereby demanding immediate attention. The world won't
go away and we certainly don't want it to. But when trouble
strikes a family like the United States, then the problem is para-
mount. Government officials are flying all over the world, every
day of the week and "grandeur" is not skimped by the few.
Costs and budgets to other nations and countries are literally
in the billions of dollars, yet our President does not feel the need
to extend unemployment or curtail activities to be the example
of "its the right thing to do." Bridges do collapse, and hurricanes
did occur, but these are not discussed because the "world"
problems of overtaking regimes and interfering in elections so
that the result is of our choosing takes time, money, and manpower.
Turn it around and we would
not stand for this type of activity from other nations. It would not
be tolerated and it would be abhorred. No man is an island but
neither is any man above the law. We use money to sway
political positions and to buy friends, but can't seem to figure
out how to do it the old-fashioned way - to earn it by being a
friend. We use Old West language and media events instead
of pride and style when we seek results and assurances. We
don't have a coalition of the willing because in many cases if
the money stops so does "the willing." We don't have the right
to give names to an Axis of Evil because we are not the
world's judge and jury, and would not want to face a court of
peers because we are not "squeaky clean." We are intelligent
enough to use diplomacy and can lay down the ammunition
and be the first to extend a hand in fairness and sincerity. War
is never an answer but adds to the problems of the future.
No one wins a war or a battle, for both lose in lives, money,
and prestige.
Now, the rank and file must come out of the doldrums, the sleep of
apathy and then and only then will we move forward enough to
care for our part of the world so we can then care for the rest.
It is not harsh or unfriendly, it is basic and is has been made to
feel like a crime. You can't make rainbows when the clouds are
over your own head, and you can't teach what you don't know.
If we treasured the American worker, there would be no need for
Cayman Island fake offices, and if corporations realized that the
people make or break them, then oversees jobs would not have the
audacity to come back with their products for the workers who
were laid off to buy. The respect of every man, woman, and child
would be a God-Given right and no man would even think of
doing away with that. "In God We Trust" is not an issue for a court
room, it is a banner of realizing we are human and our leaders
are not mandated to do as they please even though it hurts
the masses. This would just not be acceptable and the "righteous
fear" of the voters by those placed in office would not be a
means of control, but a means to insure.
The time is now and if you feel that tomorrow would be a better
time, your are counting on a roll of the dice. As my grandmother
would say, "Tomorrow will have its own problems" so why wait and
then try to climb a mountain when right now the hill is in sight.
Something to think about
Thank you
© Arleen M. Kaptur
April, 2008
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