The Way I See It

Thoughts, opinions, and musings from a "Seasoned Citizen" I may need to apologize to all my readers (both of them) for seeming to be flailing around with font size and style to find something with which I'm comfortable.  Right now this looks pretty good to me but we'll see by the end of this little piece of nonsense how I feel about it. 

My intention was to meander through 4th of July thoughts in this blog, but looking at the clock and knowing how far I've got to go, by the time I push the "publish" button it will be the 5th.  Oh well, so much for deadlines.

As I reminisced with a couple of my grand kids about the "good old days" and the Roman candle wars and bottle rocket shoot outs we used to have in the prairie town I spent every summer in, it brought home the fact of how much things have changed. And just for the record I don't automatically equate "change" with "good."  Momma wasn't  there to yell at us about putting out someone's  eye (we never did) , and the town Constable was a discreet moderating factor to make sure things didn't too far out of hand.  For entertainment the Volunteer Firemen would suit up in teams of two, separated by thirty or forty yards, armed with fully charged fire hoses, and slowly advance on the other team. One team member would walk backwards acting as a shield and taking the brunt of the water stream. The second member would be hiding back of the first, his job being to aim the water stream. The first team knocked to the ground, and rolled along in the gravel by that powerful stream obviously lost and another pair would come out to challenge. The women's groups from the two churches in town, one Roman Catholic, and the other Evangelical Reformed, met in the basement of the Catholic church since it was bigger and had a better kitchen to fix the noon meal for the town. (Population 260) Roast beef, fresh veggies, mashed potatoes and gravy, all the salads you could imagine and  an abundance of apple and mince meat pies.  Fast forward to our present era.  As I made a quick trip up and down my block I counted a few more than two dozen homes and only three of them were flying our nations flag.  That's a pretty sad commentary.  Do I think these people are disloyal Americans, closet anarchists, or just too lazy to hang a flag out?  Of course not.  Are they too poor to afford a flag kit from Orchard Hardware? Not in this neighborhood. So then, what's the problem?  Could it be the state of politics in our country at the present time is so putrid and the philosophy of "a pox on all your houses" so prevalent, it has caused us to blur the lines between supporting our elected representatives and supporting our country?  Someone took the time to figure out there are a few more than 500 people in the three branches of the Federal Government directly responsible for the condition of our country.  If taxes are too high, it is because congress voted them, if we are in debt, it is because congress and the President pass and sign the bills creating the debt.  If our laws are weak, diluted or prostituted, it's because the Supreme courts has sanctioned it.  But all of this should not stop us from saying it's my country, established, fought for and passed on by all our ancestors and I think enough of it to at least fly her flag, if not regularly, at least on her birthday. There was also a time when every merchant had a flag flying in front of their business. Perhaps the Scouts could refocus on somethings besides picking up Christmas trees and food drives, as important as that is, and try to get a few downtown merchants to dust off that tradition.  We should remember our newest memorial to Vets downtown was brought to life kicking and screaming by one young lady as her senior project. At least that's the way I see it.