Why am I worried?

Why am I worried?

I was born on April 13^th 1948 in Maryland in a suburb of Washington, D.C., so I am aged 66 today and think I have seen it all. My working career was as a US Marine, and I have literally lived around the world and also on ships. I presently live in rural east Tennessee on around a square mile of land. Maintenance of this land does keep me busy. Even as a child, I remember having what is now called a “cruiser” fat tire single speed bicycle. Later the fads were English 3 speed bicycles; later racing bicycles with folded down handlebars and narrow hard seats and no fenders to keep the mud off my back; then mountain bikes with many speeds with derailleur gears; then composite bicycles; and now back to “cruiser” bikes again as the latest fad. What goes around comes around as always, at least it seems so to me.

Now I am not so much worried for myself as I’ve had a good life all in all, but I am worried for my Family and my loved ones.  That is even how you often torture someone…..you don’t threaten them but rather threaten their Family and their loved ones. Even today it still happens all the time, including killing an entire generation of a Family or even a village of people.  Most of us have heard of genocide. And if my Family and loved ones are threatened with torture or death, I would probably “sing like a canary”.  I don’t know for sure since that has not happened to me, at least so far.

And of course there are lies within lies, so a properly constructed security program builds that into the whole construct. Said another way, if I “sing like a canary” I might be honestly spreading false information to those “interviewing” me. Now is this a new world USA invention…..I doubt it? Our ancestors probably brought this idea over from the Old World with their own immigration.

So why I am worried in the new world USA in 2015 which is very soon to develop.

Mostly I am worried about a possible Civil War, or whatever we choose to call it.  We seem so divided these days with little adult leadership guiding us otherwise.  It seems like our present leadership is even guiding us towards divisiveness while they rip off the system we have and they enjoy the “as always” temporary perks they earned by getting elected by we the people.  Many of them even hired and paid for their own help with our money. What is happening around me seems almost biblical in a sort of historical perspective.

I am also worried that charlatans seem to have such influence well beyond what most people think is normal, at least normal to me. Now charlatans have always existed, but their influence in the new world USA has never been so great, or so is my perception.

I worry about the unilateral disarmament going on in the new world USA today. I’ve noticed the Navy’s carrier battle group deployments are now up to 10 months away from home, and that is a long time to be away from your Family. What usually happens is that eventually the home based spouses say enough is enough, and the military will then naturally shrink some more as people get out vice put up with this stuff. Ten months away for home is a long time, at least to me. Add in all the manning up time and then work up time before the deployment, and we are talking around 30 months of volunteer hard labor, so to speak. And I worry about the moral degradation of our USA military’s integrity after years of “a death by a thousand slices”.

As a result, I am worried because wars often start from mistakes made by the existing rulers from whatever political system exists that they came from. That’s it. Now most, including me, believe in using diplomacy, but diplomacy and words usually work best if backed up with a “big stick”, like the threat of a military action. Well if there is no military force readily available, then even diplomacy usually suffers. That’s often when a war starts. And then the existing politicians start up a forced military draft and demands for sacrifice and here we go again. We did it to ourselves in this kind of worry. It seems like we are on this worrisome path right now. And when the politicians try take our children to fight using a draft for their own causes and past politician mistakes, then a civil war often results.  Again, this idea worries me. `

Of course there is the other side, too. Often megalomaniac dictators are a big factor, too.

Fighting two wars at the same time is tough, like fighting a home civil war and a foreign war. Most of us can’t do it very well.

And I am worried that the present Federal President is a “lightweight” of sorts, and has surrounded himself with similar type people who will also make lightweight decisions and recommendations that affect our lives. Some of the consequences could be pretty severe. Now if you believe these kind of people are somewhat ignorant, immoral, and also generally hard working and well educated because of their Family connections, then that is a formula for future disaster. Now no one is a reliable predictor of what will happen, but I still prefer having faith that heavy weights are in charge. “Heavy weight” usually equates to experience, and not intelligence or education, though all three are obviously best in ruling any country.

There is some good news, too. As bad as the “slide” into divineness and war seems to be occurring “in front of us”, living in the new world USA is still not a bad situation to be in. Said another way, there are worse places to be on our Earth if any of these worries comes to pass.  That millions may now die unnecessarily early and often miserably is a “given” in my worry. So be it.  The new world USA is still a bright shining place to me that I will even fight for it if need be (and maybe even die during the fighting), even in my present old age. And whether that kind of fighting is domestic or foreign, only time will tell in this kind of worry. The fighting in my mind is more defensive than offensive, by the way. I just choose to protect what we have, at least in my mind.

Heck, even I am now becoming more religious. I would rather say “Golden Rule”, but the two ideas of religious beliefs and the Golden Rule are pretty close, at least to me. Even my old ideas of pantheism (God is nature basically) are becoming too sophisticated for even me. I always prefer the KISS idea (keep it simple stupid). And rehearsals count, too. After all, we have wedding rehearsals, so the idea is still valid. A wedding rehearsal is much more than a “tradition”.

And I never thought much about our new world USA Constitution until recently, like the last few years. Now I am beginning to believe it has a lot of advantages to we the people. Said another way, there can be “bad” people in the world who have other objectives to rule us, and we benefit by checking them as best we can. The Constitution is such a way to “check them”, and rule us, too. Even our oaths these days are still to support and defend the Constitution, not some present individual, elected politicians, or their appointed minions. Of course one must still believe in the idea of oaths, mostly being more than simple words or ceremonies.

And can you say “soup kitchen” anyone? Now soup kitchens are more practical things than worries. My worry is about the one out of four that don’t have and can’t get jobs these days, but still have a Family to support, like feed food and water and other such sundries. Now some may turn to criminal activity, but I can defend myself, too. So even going to eat Ethiopian food and using Ethiopian finger eating methods with the food wrapped in a cooked bread vicinity of the National Zoo in DC is a something that is now passé to this now rural American in east Tennessee.

I don’t think life as we know it is like the “Hunger Games” movie, at least not just yet. We still have better alternatives.