Thinking Back

Everyone has their stories of what happened and where they were on that terrible day ten years ago. Watching these people describe those excruciating experiences they had on that day and for months and months after, hurts our hearts. Even those of us who were fortunate not to lose friends and loved ones and never knew anyone who toiled at Ground Zero,  still grieve.

It is amazing that ten years have passed, and in that time we and our country have changed so much. I think we lost our patriotic innocence that day. Even through the "bubble" time of the spending and greed, we wanted to believe somehow that we were invulnerable. And yet, the edges of our confidence were beginning to fray as we looked the other way.

We stopped asking hard questions. No down payment on those McMansions! Don't think about the inevitable costs of maintaining such a grand place! Get that ginormous SUV on time payments, gas is cheap. Quick! Rack up everything on plastic.

We found out that giant Oil will spill, financial institutions will implode, and that huge house you got on credit will have a roof leak or a sink hole eating away the foundation. If you look the other way for just one second greed will compromise those wonderful natural places where we used to go camping. The bills will come due.

We thought our safety net we relied on would hold us up. Nope. Fully a fourth of us have no health insurance. We worry that as we lose work we'll have no more unemployment checks to put food on the table. Our education funds keep on shrinking. Our roads and transportation need major overhaul.

At least our seniors can count on Social Security and Medicare. But wait! We are in such a financial hole that even these programs we count on are on the cutting table. And who among us is concerned about those other folks who struggle, whose kids sometimes don't have enough to eat, can't get healthcare or dentristry or decent housing?? Lots of folks that I know. But it can't be done without a comitted government, state or national. This is what a civilized country does- "of the people, by the people, for the people". What's so bad about taxes?? The revenue makes that civilization happen.

This is the last decade. Oy vey!