Previous posts-Are you better off

[Don G]

I feel a need to just voice my position on some issues. This, by no means, is a political statement.

A couple of posts have asked the question " are you better off than 6 years ago"--Question, in what way? In some ways I'm not better off than I was 50 years ago.

I was born and raised in MS until I left after college. That was 45 years ago and that puts me in the class of "the old & uneducated" as stated in a previous post. In the schools I attended there was Pledge Allegiance to the Flag & Prayer allowed in school. For those that like to do research, Jackson, MS was voted the cleanest city of its size in America. Along with that, Jackson had the lowest crime rate for a city its size. This was in the 50's. Then came the 60's and enter John & Robert Kennedy. Take a look at Jackson now. You have to have a gun in your hand to take out the trash. Are they better off? In this matter I feel worse off today than years back.

Schools--We had a new school 2 1/2 blocks from our house. New laws came in and our 6 year old daughter was bussed 50 miles, one way, to another school. She left home at 6:45 am & returned at 5:30 pm. Thanks to the people in Boston & other cities for putting a stop to this even though it was a long time in the making...In this matter I feel better off today.

Gas prices-I paid more for gas, percentage wise, years ago than I do now. In this matter I feel that I am better off today and yes my wife & I are on fixed incomes.

I have a big painting of the USS Intrepid-CVS 11 above my desk here at home. I look at it each morning to remind myself where I came from. My views have changed some from those years but not much.

I ask my friend Blackie, each day, " how's it going"? He answers "great shape Grid ". He has a positive attitude even after bouts with back surgery & cancer surgery..........HIS GLASS IS HALF FULL......... Think about it.

[GABoy]

I guess I don't really spend a whole lot of time thinking about if I was better off....because really there isn't too much that can be done....I understand your point completely....but, I try to be a Half Full Glass kind of guy too.....

[LakeHardingSpirit]

Can things get worse. Just heard on the news that this is the first time in 14 years that minimum wage hasn't been raised to go along with "inflation", I suppose we are lucky that we aren't on the west coast where gas was outrageous, when we had it for a buck fifty over here in Georgia. I'd imply that we are better off then we were in past years, as a country in comparison to other countries, to say the least. Life is tough and then we die.

[Hoot]

If you ask my parents 90 and 93 years young if they are better off today than they were when they were young, their answer is not so straight forward.

Yes, they have things they never dreamed about except maybe after reading a Buck Rogers comic book.

They don't worry about the same things they did when they were young. They're lucky. But even still they didn't prepare to live this long. Today they need the kids help to make ends meet.

However, not too far down the road are a couple in their late 80's that struggle. Each month they are making decisions about how much food to buy VS paying their medicine and utility bills. Each month in their golden years they are faced with decisions that are real life threating. Are they better off today than 6,40,50 years ago?

Yep, today when we pick up the parents for a drive or grocery shop we must spend 15 minutes checking every window and door twice to make sure they are secure to ease their minds. They worry about something they never had to worry about when they were young...that somebody is going to break in and steal everything they have left.

The neighbor down the street required home visits by a state supported traveling nurse program when the man was too ill to get up and the wife too fragile to care for him. The state sent them a bill last month saying they owned 13,000 bucks for the care and it would be taken out of their estate when they passed on. They worked all their life, prepared the best they could and now in their late years, with all their other concerns, they worry because they owe the government.

It's all relative, the question are you better off today than 6 years ago or 50 years ago.

I was sitting with my grandchildren watching TV a few months ago. I was surfing the channels and regardless if is was major news on CNN, Fox or the local networks the stories were the same.

Terrorist alert has gone up, people are trying to sneak in our borders, are you realy safe in your home town, children killing children in schools, our men and women being killed in Iraq, people getting their heads cut off in Iraq, drug related killings in town, corruption and corporate leaders being convicted of stealing money from their stock holders, priests molesting children, gas prices going up, health care going up and up, budgets being cut in schools, the environment be attacked on all fronts, inflation, recession, is it more dangerous to fly these days?, are there chemicals in our milk that will harm us?. On and on.

I look over at the old man and he's just shaking his head in dismay. Then I think about my grandchildren sitting next to me and wonder what's going through their heads. Hell, it can seem pretty overwhelming.

So you ask if your better off today than 6, 40, 50 years ago? In the end it's all relative I'd say. Our problems today are not any more worriesome than the problems our parents and grandparents faced relative to the time. But our problems are different and more complicated in a much smaller and more complicated world.

While we are off liberating and bringing "democracy" to a 5,000 year old society in the desert, it has got to be obvious that we face problems here at home that are not being addressed and compounding with time.

If you read the paper, watch the TV news, believe and don't question what your being told.... your gonna be scared to go to the damn grocery store.

What I mean about "old and uneducated" is that there are many old people today that are at the mercy of our goverment, state and federal. My parents never questioned their government, nor do many others. And there are many young and old who watch and/or read but most important, believe the headlines only. They don't bother to read more or don't have the time to learn more about what's gong on or why.

I'm not comfortable allowing elected officials to go unchecked. Even I elect them, I'm not going to bury my head in the sand and allow them to go unsupervised. The same as when I hire a new staff member. Although I don't stand over their shoulder observing them day to day, I keep an eye on what they are doing. I hired them and got to trust them to do the job. But I'd be an idiot if I didn't keep an eye on them. It's my business. It's my country too.

[Big Zig]

Well said Hoot.

[fishingpox]

I
Pledge of Allegiance

Me; an individual; a committee of one.

Pledge
Dedicate all of my worldly goods to give without self-pity.

Allegiance
My love and my devotion.

To the Flag
Our standard; Old Glory ; a symbol of Freedom; wherever she waves there is respect, because your loyalty has given her a dignity that shouts, Freedom is everybody's job.

of the United
That means that we have all come together.

States
Individual communities that have united into forty-eight great states. Forty-eight individual communities with pride and dignity and purpose. All divided with imaginary boundaries, yet united to a common purpose, and that is love for country.

And to the Republic
Republic -- a state in which sovereign power is invested in representatives chosen by the people to govern. And government is the people; and it's from the people to the leaders, not from the leaders to the people.

For which it stands
One Nation
One Nation -- meaning, so blessed by God.

Indivisible
Incapable of being divided.


And Justice
The principle, or quality, of dealing fairly with others.

For All
For All -- which means, boys and girls, it's as much your country as it is mine. And now, boys and girls, let me hear you recite the Pledge of Allegiance:

I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic, for which it stands; one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Since I was a small boy, two states have been added to our country, and two words have been added to the Pledge of Allegiance: Under God. Wouldn't it be a pity if someone said that is a prayer, and that would be eliminated from schools, too?"

Editor's note: sadly, Red Skelton was prescient - the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals (the most overturned court in the United States of America) has done exactly that -- click here for more information.


Bibliography for Red Skelton
Books about Red Skelton