10/26/2024
MY FELLOW AMERICANS
As we near this election I would like for us to all pause
and take a moment to s***k our children. Something has
gone terribly wrong in our upbringing of this country. On November 4 we will have one of two seriously flawed candidates be our next president. My hope is we can be a strong country by being a good people and steering our future America to be what we want. Growing up I remember saying the pledge of allegiance and being taught to be proud about being an American. My parents taught me the value of money and hard work put in to earn it. I wanted to go outside and play and learn about all the laws of nature, internal combustion engines, electricity, physics, and social interaction with neighborhood kids who were sometimes from a different planet. I venture to say we were more educated with real life by fifth grade than some college graduates are today. I could go on for hours, but in writing this, I remembered a writing from one of my favorite advocates of common sense and wisdom, Paul Harvey, and I will leave it with you as I feel it sums up my feelings, except my kids did experience most of what is below.
These Things I Wish for You
by Paul Harvey
We tried so hard to make things better for our kids that we made them worse.
For my grandchildren, I'd know better.
I'd really like for them to know about hand-me-down clothes and homemade ice cream and leftover meat loaf. I really would.
My cherished grandson, I hope you learn humility by being humiliated and that you learn honesty by being cheated.
I hope you learn to make your bed and mow the lawn and wash the car-and I hope nobody gives you a brand-new car when you are 16. And I hope you have a job by then.
It will be good if at least one time you can see a baby calf born and see your old dog put to sleep.
I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in.
I hope you have to share a bedroom with your younger brother. And it is alright to draw a line down the middle of the room, but when he wants to crawl under the covers with you because he's scared - I hope you'll let him.
And when you want to see a Disney movie and your kid brother wants to tag along, I hope you take him.
I hope you have to walk uphill with your friends and that you live in a town where you can do it safely. And rainy days when you have to hitch a ride...
I hope your driver doesn't have to drop you two blocks away so you won't be seen riding with somebody as uncool as your mom.
If you want a slingshot I hope your father teaches you how to make one instead of buy one.
I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books, and when you learn to use those new-fangled computers, you also learn how to add and subtract in your head.
I hope you get razzed by friends when you have your first crush on a girl, and that when you talk back to your mother, I hope you learn what Ivory soap tastes like.
May you skin your knee climbing a mountain, burn your hand on the stove and stick your tongue on a frozen flagpole.
I hope you get sick when some stupid old person blows cigar smoke in your face.
I don't care if you try beer once, but I hope you won't like it. And if a friend offers you a joint or any dope, I hope you are smart enough to realize he is not your friend.
I sure hope you make time to sit on a porch with your grandpa or go fishing with your uncle.
May you feel sorrow at a funeral and the joy of holidays. I hope your mother punishes you when you throw a baseball through a neighbor's window and that she hugs you and kisses you at Christmas time when you give her a plaster of Paris mold of your hand.
These things I wish for you - tough times and disappointment, hard work, and happiness.
