Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Year End Thoughts...

As this strange year winds to a close, I found myself pondering a few questions...
  • Remember when planes that took off landed where they were supposed to and didn't get shot down or lost at sea?
  • Remember when the police were thought of as investigators and protectors from injustices, and we trusted that when they arrived on scene, everything would be okay? People would do what they were told, the police would respond accordingly...
  • Remember when you thought of Robin Williams, and you just couldn't help smile because he was always just so darn funny?
  • Remember when no matter which news channel you watched, you got an unbiased, non-partisan account of what was going on?
  • Remember when Matthew Shepherd tried to hold a boy's hand in Wyoming, it got him killed, and we thought, Gay people will never have any equality in this country? 
  • Remember after 9-11, when we as Americans came together, and we thought we were overcoming the racial inequality within our nation?
  • Remember when Ebola was a topic of a sci-fi movie starring Dustin Hoffman or Gwyneth Paltrow? 
  • Remember when the majority of professional athletes were thought of as "the good guys"? 
  • Remember when the chasm between the rich and poor didn't seem like the Mississippi cubed? 
  • Remember when we thought the Cold War was over and the Ukraine was just an ally of Russia?
  • Remember when the weather was a topic of conversation over coffee and not a potential for disaster? 
  • Remember when we celebrated our soldiers coming home, no matter how that needed to happen, no matter who we exchanged for them? Remember the parades we would throw for our veterans who provided the very freedoms that allow this blog to be posted?
  • Remember when the favorite princess in England was Diana and the adorable kids were William and Harry? 
  • Remember when getting hacked made you think of Matthew Broderick or someone accessing your email and not causing a potential airstrike from North Korea? 
  • Remember when pouring ice over your head was simply a way to wake up?  
  • Remember when college sports were amateurs playing for their schools and not a business paying its leaders (coaches) millions to teach our youth what it means to be a student-athlete?
  • Remember when women in the Middle East stayed silent and would not even be considered for a Nobel Peace Prize for doing just the opposite? 

  • Remember when being an American meant other people looked on in reverence and wanted to be just like us? 

Yeah, me neither...