I Miss the Old Ways

I miss the old ways. I admit it. I am a traditionalist. Remember The old saying of " American as baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet"? No it is "as American as soccer, sushi, low fat yogurt and Toyota". Wow, it just does not sound the same. I miss the old ways.

What happened to us? I remember when it was being said that we were no longer an industrial nation, but an information nation. I remember when it was being said that were becoming a world wide economy instead of a national economy. Who the hell changed the rules,and who decided that we were not an industrial nation anymore? Who decided that we had to be part of a world wide conglomerate? I don't remember getting to vote on it. If I had my way, we would start building factories again, and become a self reliant nation.

I remember when people were self reliant instead of government reliant.You bought your own insurance, or had it provided by your employer. You saved money for retirement, and the banks had programs encouraging you to save. Now, go into a bank and all that you see is "spend, spend, spend."

I remember when the government did not try ot tell you if you could smoke or not, eat trans fat, or greasy hamburgers. I miss the old days when you , the citizen, could make the choice. What has happened to us? I miss the old days, and I want my country back. I don't like this new country, and I can't believe that the people have become so stupid as to endorse the new way.
Stand up. Take back the USA before it is gone. Gosh, I miss the old ways.

Cash For Crappers

Today, the Obama Administration announced in a news conference a new program to help stimulate the economy, promote the "green" movement, and at the same time enable the public to get rid of their old crappers.

Obama said" there has been a large downturn in the sales of new crappers since the recession began, and the crapper folks are being flushed down the toilet in this downturn. We feel that crapper suppliers and makers are a vital link to the future of America and the international market place.We are please to announce that starting today, the Federal Government will begin offering cash for your old crapper. Just bring in your old crapper to any crapper retailer and get an instant rebate of $10.00 towards the purchase of a new one.

We feel that this program will eliminate waste and at the same time time promote more sanitary health choices, and will aide in keeping the economy from further plunging in to a deeper cesspool of financial muck."



Environmentalists quickly applauded the program adding that the new crappers would dump directly into a national cesspool, which would be paid for by adding more debt to the taxpayers who are already in the tank, but all would benefit because the accumulated waste would be used to fertilize the fields, and would help Congress by adding more manure to their words. Overall, it would be great for the crapper retailers, makers, the environment, and other wasteful policies.

Final Thoughts

It has been 26 days since my Mom's passing, and slowly things are returning to "normal"I can now take a deep breath, and do some of the things that needed done with final paper work, calls, thank-yous. and so on. Amazing how many details remain when someone leaves this earth that must be taken care of because it is the "law"







But what is really weird are the phone calls and cards from distant relatives that you don't even know. Evidently, Mom has a lot of cousins still living in the old home state of Missouri. I have been getting cards from them because they saw the obit. in the Joplin Globe , the local paper in Joplin, Missouri where both of my parents were born and raised.





I have been doing a lot of thinking about my own mortality and what the meaning of life is. One of the things that struck me the most was something that we read in every Obit everyday, and probably don't pay much attention to. " She is survived by"---- and the name and relationships are then listed. Survived by-hm, interesting thought. We who are still living are the survivors, just like the television show. We are the lucky ones, the ones who are still living in a fleshly body, who still walk on the earth, and who go about our menial tasks each day.



Just how did we survive? Was it something that we did special that made us the winners?

Is it just luck of the draw? Several years ago my son and I were talking in a Seattle bar, and we were discussing how all of his grandparents were past the average life expectancy. His maternal grandfather had just passed away a the age of 94. My son said it like this. " It is if all the grandparents names on on a roulette wheel, and god spins the wheel, and the name i lands on is the next to go. I laughed and laughed, because it was a good analogy.

So, I am a survivor this time around, but my name, too, is on that roulette wheel in the sky. How I spend my time is really important, because at any time that wheel may land on my name.