Monday Musings...
What a difference a year makes.
Sure, it's only 365 days, but so much can happen within a year, or for that matter, ANY given year. Hell, a lot of things happen within SECONDS , or even MINUTES that can become life-altering. Take a look at the robberies in our city, or the shootings across the nation, committed by all these punk-ass thugs.
Life is like that....it will deal you things you never dreamed of, and yet, show you things you would never imagine.
And a lot of it comes at you when you're least expecting it.
It is the sum of all these moments in our lives to which we become a part of.
Year after year, we are storing those moments, good or bad, evaluating them, learning from them...making it all part of our own human experience.
Just one year ago, the missus and I were cleaning up the mess left by an ice storm that smacked our city right in the kisser.
Although we had a downed power line (FWFD came by to tape off the area), the power was never interrupted (but the street lights were out...go figure).
We couldn't get out of the garage with the line across it (I have a VERY healthy respect for electricity), but thankfully, we always stock up on provisions, so no worries there.
Many others had it worse (no power for the better part of a week), but after all was said and done, we shelled out about $1000 to have trees pruned (in freezing weather), drains cleared, and a new fence put up (the old one took a few too many licks and was wobblier than a drunken sailor on the last night of liberty).
Just last year, our nation wasn't in nearly as bad a shape as it is today.
It might have been not so good, but today, it's a helluva lot worse.
This time last year, we weren't looking at the gross potential for a busted future for our children, thanks to political intervention...now we are. Last year, we might have been looking AT the cliff...now, we're being nudged the hell over it's edge, financially-speaking, thanks in no small part to our ever-growing government.
In one short year, this nation has, with cavalier abandon, used the word TRILLIONS as if it were the word MILLIONS when talking about the national debt...or a health care bill...or a stimulus package to bail out companies, when it was the PEOPLE who needed it more, as was evidenced by the failed mortgage industry (another federal boondoogle if ever there was one).
Yes...a lot can change within a year...and not always for the better.
Our neighborhood is always in a state of flux...it's changing daily, and not for the better.
If anything, it's become static at best.
And in my mind, NO growth is stagnation. NO change is stagnation. NO improvement is stagnation.
But the locals around here apparently LOVE stagnation.
Now, you could say I'm fortunate in that I only have a "neighbor" on ONE side of our house (directly across the street, and they are dubious on a good day).
The house behind us is vacant (again).
The 2 houses directly north of us are vacant (again).
The 2 houses directly south of us are vacant (first time since we moved here).
So, we're basically an ISLAND in this sea of apathy.
Yep, we stand out like a sore thumb now.
When you look about this city and notice which neighborhoods have already been trashed beyond any hope of redemption or reclamation, and then see which OTHER neighborhoods are now beginning to mimic such "amenities", it doesn't take someone with a lot of initials after their name to figure out what (or who) is headed where...
And all this can occur within the span of one year.
With a highly "mobile" part of the population available, thanks to all the rentals (and a lack of personal responsibility by the tenants), it's small wonder that what used to be a neighborhood on the edge of decline soon becomes a neighborhood fully entrenched IN that decline.
In some areas, it's like the city sprayed TEFLON coating on it...to allow the decline to speed itself along.
Trouble is, the city should be concerned that with EVERY SINGLE neighborhood that become blighted, the TAX revenue it used to provide for the city GOES AWAY, usually replaced with entitlement-driven, welfare-sucking leeches.
But, it's not like the city DOESN'T know about this...it DOES. It just falsely thinks that *if* it IGNORES the problem...it will simply GO AWAY. Doesn't work quite like that.
Didn't work in Gary, Indiana, didn't work in Detroit, or hasn't worked in any other major city with growing areas of urban blight.
Think of this as a macrocosm of our educational system.
The government tries to "understand" our kids, stroke their self-esteem, and fore go much of the accountability that USED to be demanded by educators (and even parents).
The government has done likewise to parts of the populace...giving them everything, and in doing so, given them ONE THING they DO NOT need...absolutely NO INCENTIVE to get off their asses and be RESPONSIBLE.
Face it, if you're given food, housing, money...why the hell do YOU need to do anything FOR YOURSELF...the government is doing it all FOR YOU.
(talk about another form of slavery)
Granted there are some that CAN benefit from this...and DO, but we're not talking about any success stories. People that succeed usually get the hell AWAY from the rest of the lazy-asses soon enough, and get back with the rest of the normals in our society.
And sometimes, that can occur within a year, too.
So much can happen in one small year...
So much can change in one small year...
Why, just last year, my wife's aunt and uncle were living in their Portland, Indiana home...enjoying the autumn of their lives. They had a beautiful tree in their living room, a quaint Christmas village on the dining room table, and the entire house was done up nicely for the holidays...
And in just one, short year...it all changed.
Aunt Wanda passed away on the very day (19 December) we had the ice storm LAST year. Uncle Leo is in the same nursing home, doing OK so far.
This year, there is no nicely decorated home...no village...no beautiful tree...none of that.
This year, there is a funeral instead...a reminder of how quickly things CAN change for any one of us.
Life is precious, but life is short, even if you live well into your eighties.
We never ask to be brought into the world...never ask to take this journey, but take it we do.
We attempt to make the most of what time we have allotted to each of us.
We take the good WITH the bad.
We make mistakes along the way, and we learn from those mistakes.
And we end it all with a hope that somehow, we made a difference along the way...to someone...or something.
The people whose lives we touched will be a testament to our reason for being here.
I'd like to think that...and in some respects I have to believe that.
As should we all.
Remember, only four days to make the season bright for one another...
Do well to others...make a difference...and as always,
Stay safe out there, America.