Just like other seasons

 
    We are in a political year. Just like other seasons, from Wedding to Fishing or Prom to
Planting, there will be a focus on the details that support a successful year in these agendas.   I find an irony in the fact that seasons that apply to each of us .. meaningful, sacrificial activities ..  that will influence us in all aspects of our lives in one form or another .. must in some way, be compromised,  most of the time.  But, in the end, we’ll succeed and grow to accept the differences in what we wanted and what we got. 
 
     It would be ideal to not have to worry about the weather, the pocketbook, the quality of the tools used or anything else, but the goal  .. and expect nothing less.  Instead, we find ourselves hoping and praying, depending and whining our way to a conclusion.  We do this to the chagrin of others.  Others, not as committed to our ideas and schemes, because .. Katie wants a big wedding with all the trimmings, but Dad isn’t buying it .. or Fred needs another rod, so he can break it in, but his wife won’t hear of it .. not now, maybe never! ..  Elmer White, a farmer, needs to grow a profitable crop, but it’s going to be a dry year.  He may need to rethink a cheaper, more durable planting and take a loss again this year.  Marianne wants the hottest dress at the dance, but Mom is going to have to sew her dress this year, with the help of her friend.  
 
     In any of these scenarios, these people will do whatever it takes to get as close to the truth they’re shooting for.  It’s our natures, in a country as plentiful as we live in, to do more than ‘dream’ of what can be.  We are so diversified and abundant in our resources that anything is possible.   Even, if that isn’t the case, we’re bred to believe it is.   Need money? Go on a game show, play the lottery, abuse the system, steal it; it’s called embezzlement, fraud, blackmail, shoplifting.  
 
     As a people, in this great, grand country we occupy, we’re at war on many fronts. Immigration, religion, ethnic issues,  sexuality, abortion .. oh, to be SO wealthy and free! 
But, we STILL have to make concessions.  We still want more than we can afford.  Mainly, because there’s always someone out there that CAN afford it .. so why not? 
 
     This brings me to the war our country is engaged in. We aren’t suffering everyday.  We have time to get angry and bored enough to kill each other on school campus’ because we won’t stand together on anything, unless a large group of us is cleansed from us violently, threatening all of us.  Even THAT unity is short lived, but for a time, reassuring.
 
     Where did we compromise our value system?  Our sense of country, family, duty.   When did our tolerance become intolerable?  What do we respect now?  Self?..  the mini-nation of ME.   If ideology isn’t a good reason to fight and win, why did we sail thousands of miles, hundreds of years ago to flee one?  Why do we celebrate George and Abe’s birthdays?  What’s the big deal with July fourth on a rainy night?  
 
     If you have the hootspa to finish this entry with this short video, remember that no man is an island.  No one ever became successful at anything without someone’s help. 
A free society remains so, because someone takes out the trash, whether you take your turn doing it or not, because it’s necessary, regardless of peril, so you can have the freedom to seek your own truth in whatever you want.  We still ‘remember the Alamo’, with it’s futile defense .. and haven’t any respectful regard for the memory of the Twin Towers.
We commemorate an island massacre in the middle of the Pacific every December and fought a war to end the idea that we wouldn’t fight to win, if attacked.  But, the lives of more people than Pearl Harbor dying, ON our soil .. IN one of our most prestigious cities, deserves a beautiful park and a short memory  .. along with lives lost in stamping out the threats to our sovereignty (or ANY nation’s), rather than ever having to contend with a vicious political agenda under a religious rant, again.
 
     It’s a political year.  These heroes aren’t all Republicans.  However, they ARE all AMERICANS and they know WHY.  ‘How long’ IS an issue, but not their focus .. like planning a wedding or getting the right dress or feeding your family or catching the big one.    These heroes are each ‘US’, with purpose and a uniform.  Leave your whining (for what you don’t have) at the water’s edge for their sakes and at least, remember what you DO have.   They’re lives depend on it. 
 
        
 http://www.youtube.com/v/ervaMPt4Ha0&autoplay=1