For the Good

 My intentions were to have my semi-traditional end of the year blog post and then my (again) semi-traditional beginning of the New Year, blog post. As you can see though, we are eight days into the new year and so I am combining. I guess this makes sense though in the big scheme of things, since nothing in 2020 was traditional (semi or otherwise), and thus here you have it. 

If I am honest, 2020 was a year that made me feel a whole lot of emotions and actually changed me a great deal. In fact, this past year probably changed me more than any year I have ever lived through. Perhaps it made me realize that we are no longer strong resilient people like I know we once were. Instead, we seem to have become weaker. We are a country of people who would rather talk than act, would rather be safe than free, and who would rather be taken care of than stand on our own two feet and earn what we have by the sweat of our brow. 

No, I am not going to get political per se, but I can't ignore politics completely if, in fact, I want to honestly speak about this past year, as in many ways, politics were behind much of what made 2020 what it was. 

Not to rehash the last couple of decades, I will simply say that who we were as a country in 2001 and who we are now, is a night and day difference in everything from our patriotism to our core beliefs, to our morality. And while many of us who are older and blame it on the youth, we need to keep in mind that these newer generations hardly remember 9/11 and are so far removed from the threat of real war and the truths of communism that they can hardly be blamed for their beliefs and much of this is our faults. 

We rallied with patriotism after 9/11, because our parents and grandparents had fought in wars. They had been bomb-shelter babies, who knew the realities of losing their rights and their freedoms to those with dollar signs in their eyes and complete submissive rule over others in their hearts. Today's younger generations know none of this and because we sheltered them, they see the world much differently. If they really understood the dangers of the world, do you think they would put themselves or their future children in danger? Of course not, but they are young and as my mom always used to say, "youth is wasted on the young." They do not have the foresight to see what age and wisdom tend to bring. 

So 2020. It started with an attempted political coup and low and behold, 2021 started with the same, with sides reversed. Weird right? Last year also gave us a pandemic, a toilet paper and sanitizer shortage (and I still have no understanding of the toilet paper thing). Then we had the "14-day" lockdown, which was designed to help us get through "the worst" of the pandemic, which turned into months. People were out of work, out of money, and quickly growing out of patience. Kids were not allowed to finish the school year at school, so teachers, parents, and kids did their best to finish the year with as little issue as possible, but truthfully there was "a lot" of issue. 

We learned that the CDC could give hope and take hope all in the same newscast. Doctors and medical professionals could not agree on the best course of action to avoid the disease and people were panicking as worst-case scenarios were constantly barraging both social media and mainstream media. People became paranoid, fearful, and angry as we went into late spring and early summer.

Many milestones and events were either postponed or canceled altogether and graduations, funerals, and events both big and small had to either be changed or completely disregarded. People were working from home if they were working at all, and cabin fever was becoming something very real and very debilitating. People were starting to rebel as neighbors began to turn on each other and "tattle" to the police about gatherings or those that refused to wear masks. That's right! Who would have thought that "masks" would be the new accessory of 2020? 

If politics had not divided us enough at the end of 2019 going into 2020, then the maskers vs. non-maskers wedged itself into that divide even further and people were actually getting into fights in public over......you guessed it....masks. 

Then began the summer of BLM. Like many issues that start with good solid reasoning, when you get humans involved, the issue often takes a sharp turn onto a path that neither is positive nor productive. This was the resurgence of the BLM and their summer of destruction and rioting. It started with a need to look into police departments where racial injustice reared its ugly head. We all knew it was there and that in some areas it was a huge issue, but with our new world of CCTV and a cell phone in every hand, as well as a very high strung media, it was a recipe for disaster. 

People who had been trapped inside for months, who were already frustrated and angry, clung on to the movement like it was the air they breathed. Every city was rioting, destroying, and killing over the movement without a thought to the fact that many times they were destroying their own neighborhoods, businesses, and homes, nor that many of the faces on the front lines were white ANTIFA members whose agenda had nothing to do with black lives and everything to do with anarchy and destruction. Many lives were lost before people started to realize that maybe these riots and destruction were not so much about getting rid of bad cops and racial injustice and more about politics and agendas that really didn't even care about black lives. 

As fall rolled in, many schools refused to open back up full time and students were either left with online learning or a hybrid of both in school and online education. Kids that had been apart since spring break and who had been looking forward to returning to something that was normal were highly disappointed. So were parents and grandparents who ended up having to brush off math and science skills long ago forgotten in the cobwebs of their minds. Many a learning situation has been peppered with the tears of both the instructor and the instructed as both students and "their adults" have suffered through the 2020-2021 school year. 

The holidays this year were hardly festive for many. Between being out of work, having many normal festivities canceled and being limited on financial resources, limited on the ability to socialize (even with family), and the constant droning on of the media of worst-case scenarios.......suicides, domestic violence, and mental health issues sky-rocketed. Drug addiction and drug relapses have been at an all-time high and added to that, it was a presidential election year. None of us was in a good place by Thanksgiving. 

This was the worst election year in my memory. People were sure they were right about EVERYTHING and almost all civil conversation on the topic of just about anything became contentious. No one was listening, everyone was talking and very few had enough facts to even back up their opinions. We were a hateful, hate-filled people, who were turning on each other and constantly going out of our way to cause issue with each other because of how miserable we all were about EVERYTHING! Most of us couldn't wait for the date to change and for it to become 2021. Unfortunately, it takes more than a calendar date change, for a real change to happen and when you drag the baggage of 2020 into the New Year, you are likely not going to see a lot of change. We dragged it and we got exactly what anyone with an ounce of common sense would expect.......more of the same. 

So in bursts 2021, and suddenly those that had supported a coup in early 2020, were now condemning the current coup and all those involved and wondering why everyone can't just get behind the president-elect. Regardless of which side you are on, if you have been watching all this time, you have to understand the ridiculousness of the whole situation and the hypocrisy that oozes from every pore of the American people. Personally, I rolled my eyes so long and so hard, I was afraid they might stick that way. 

For me personally, 2020 was a year of great loss and great sadness, and none of it had to do with COVID. We also had COVID go through our house, and yes, we took normal precautions, wore masks, and washed our hands, but common sense told me that catching COVID was a possibility, just like catching the flu, and that nothing was 100%. I blamed no one (mask wearers or non-mask wearers) and was fully aware that if God chose my death to be by COVID, then I had very little say in the matter. Was it fun? No. Did we all survive? Yes. From the beginning though, I never really feared it. I refused to quit living over a possibility. I guess I would rather die while I am living free than die of fear. 

I can't say that 2020 was all bad. I learned a great deal about people and my relationships with them and I learned about what I will accept and won't accept or tolerate in my life. I found that while an amusing distraction while sitting in a doctor's office, Facebook for the most part is about as non-essential in my life as kale. Trust me, kale is very non-essential. I also found that there is no longer anything remotely ethical about the news media and rather than lose my mind listening to biased and altogether unfactual news reports, that if I want to know about something, I will research it myself and get as close to first-hand information as I can. I don't want to be told how to think. I choose to think for myself. 

I was told in 2020 that because I was a white woman, I was automatically racist. I was also told that I was entitled, for the same reason. On further thought, I realized that we are all a bit racist and prejudice regardless of color or ethnicity. Of course, there is a bias depending on where and how we grew up. It is natural and yes, there are people that take it to extremes in every race, but our differences are what makes us beautiful, unique, and interesting, and as a white woman, I have every right to be proud of who I am, without taking a thing away from any other race or culture. As far as entitlement goes, I feel each of us is entitled to get what we want from life, as long as we are willing to work hard, face obstacles head-on, and yes, fight for it. So if that makes me entitled, then so be it. 

I also learned this year, that to start something and set a goal, does not have to coincide with a calendar date. I started some really interesting things, way before the new year, and some even with a mid-week date. I realized that the date didn't matter. What mattered was that I started. No big goals, just small attainable projects, and so far, all are still in play and I am still succeeding. 

Finally, I learned that even though I am a fairly positive person, being inundated with negativity day in and day out is debilitating. I was beginning to be a hateful and hate-filled person and I really didn't like myself much. Once I stepped away from social media, the mainstream media, and quite a few people, I found myself to be happier, more joy-filled, more productive, and a lot less stressed. Sadly, a few people I love and have no issue with have also fallen into the abyss, since I have socially distanced myself from people (not for COVID reasons at all) but slowly, I will add them back in, if and when I feel social. 

I have taken this time to educate myself, learning to do new things and different projects. I have looked inside myself to see who I really am as a person and what I like and don't like about myself and I have learned to enjoy what I have and to realize that what I want and what I need are two completely different things. 

So there you have it. I have said good-bye to 2020 and hello to 2021 with no real expectations and no desire to make any changes that aren't healthy for me both mentally and physically and positive for my own little piece of the world. Maybe this year I will take up a hobby, take a new path, or find something else new and exciting about my own little world. Whatever happens though, I can pretty much say that 2020 changed me for good and quite possibly for the good, and in the end, that is all we can hope for in any year....right?

The Impeachment End Game

Well it has been awhile. I decided though that today was the day to write a blog. TRIGGER WARNING*****It is political and there is every possibility it will be long, but cut me some slack.....I haven't really posted in awhile.

Yep, we are going political today. I thought since Nancy Pelosi, staunchly and soberly (most likely figuratively) announced that they had two articles of impeachment charging President Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, that her announcement deserved a blog. So here it is.

Since the 2000's began, politically we have been dazed and confused in this country. From 9/11 straight on through to today, we have run the gambit between being ultra patriotic, to angry, to sending race relations back to the 60's, and finally we arrive at unadulteratedly insane. Rod Serlings imagination couldn't even keep up with what is going on in congress and Washington D.C.

So today two articles of impeachment have been decided on to carry on the impeachment process of the president. I say "decided on," because in the last couple of weeks leading up to this, time and again we have watched as the impeachment hearings have overtaken our networks, media and social media, that there was no real evidence that Trump did anything wrong. Therefore Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and their democratic lynch mob ignored the facts and "decided" on these articles. Yeah....you can't make this stuff up.

It does make you wonder though, what is Pelosis true end game. I've been playing that one out in my head and I have some suspicions, but before we go forward, perhaps we should go back a ways to 2000 and recap a little of what got us here.

After 9/11, we saw a resurgence of patriotism in this country, the likes that hadn't been seen in decades. We had been invaded, wounded and devastated and our own died on our own soil, at the hands of terrorism. We were going to fight for our country and we were going to send a message that you don't mess with the USA! This patriotism lasted until we all began to realize that the war we went into wasn't just a quick in and out war, but that it was going to literally last years. As our soldiers continued to die and we continued to send more over and many were serving tour after tour, the American people began to forget the devastation of 9/11 and started feeling the devastation of losing sons and daughters and mothers and fathers day after day. Our patriotism turned to anger and it became directed at the president who started the war.....George W. Bush.

Bush became the fall guy for every loss, for every military misstep and for the fact that people were no longer supporting the war nor the lives lost because of it. The 2008 election was fast approaching and Bush had already served two terms. The country was ready for someone to bring our soldiers home and help this country start rebuilding body, mind and soul. This is when a charismatic black man, who happened to be the governor of Illinois came into the picture.Barack Obama was younger than most of the candidates running and he was handsome and had a way of speaking that gave many hope that our days of war and discontent might come to an end if he were to be elected. The fact that he was black, someone this country had never seen as president made him a viable and interesting candidate in the 2008 election. He intrigued this country and won the 2008 election against John McCain.

In my opinion, Obama won in great part due to his race. Many felt that after years of white men, it was time for a black man who understood the plight of the black man (after all, Chicago was his home). He also at the time, was taking a stand against same-sex marriage (which is 2008 was a hot topic), he promised to end the war and bring our soldiers home and he was going to reform healthcare and make us one big happy family. Okay....he didn't say that, but the inference was that he could truly make a difference and even those who voted against him, held hope after he was elected that this man really would make a difference and give this country something it needed at that moment.

What ended up happening is that he changed his convictions on same sex marriage before his second term election which at one point was insulting to both sides and left the LGBTQ community wondering if his change of heart was sincere or a means to their communities vote. We still have soldiers in Afghanistan so that should tell you how ending the war and bringing the soldiers turned out and then of course.....our healthcare.

I think it is safe to say that healthcare became his focal point after the election. Granted, healthcare and pharmaceuticals are a huge problem in this country, but forced healthcare nor free healthcare are the answer. Obama and his people drew up the Affordable Care Act (better known as Obama Care). The ACA was nearly 11,000 pages of rules and regulations that was drawn up and congress was to vote on. From the time congress was given all 11,000 pages until the time to vote, life in congress became insane. There was no time to read the act and have a working knowledge of what was in the document and many senators were very against voting for something that they had no idea about. Pelosi had the perfect solution though....she simply said, "We'll find out what's in it when we pass it."
What a great idea....said no one ever. One thing we did know was that if passed, this ACA would make it mandatory for EVERYONE to carry the insurance and if they didn't, they would be fined. Again, what a great plan. Force someone who can't afford insurance to either pay for insurance or pay a fine for not having insurance. Let's just make sure that the under served stay that way. I think though the most interesting thing about the ACA was the ginormous lie told as an incentive to the American people to get it passed. "You can KEEP your current insurance if you like it!" This turned out to be true for a small fraction of those already insured. The rest found that the plans they had and liked were often done away with because their insurance providers could no longer afford to offer those plans. Many ended up with far inferior insurance plans that covered much less and in a lot of cases were really no cheaper. The ACA did pass, after much deliberation, arguing, bribing and tantruming by both sides and most of us still aren't completely sure what the whole document says.

Amidst all of the ACA turmoil, something very sad and disturbing was starting to happen while we were all focused on healthcare. Race relations in this country were starting to break down. Riots, shootings and anger were all on the rise. There was white on black crime, black on white crime, black on black crime and rioting over police shootings. In inner cities, black residents were destroying their own communities and protests over racial injustice, shootings and police were now an everyday occurrence. As the first black president, you would have thought that this would have been an ideal time for Obama to step in and step up and start working on unity of race, unity of police and citizens and simply unity of our country. This did not happen. Instead he took an "us vs. them" attitude and often made a bad situation worse with the police and the public and between whites and blacks. When good police were gunned down in the streets, Obama seldom if ever mentioned it or attended the funerals. He did however put the spotlight on police if  a black person was shot by them, even if that person was a criminal.

Obama managed a second term based mostly on race at this point. He claimed he had not done all that he had promised in his first term but what he had done was starting to have a negative affect on the entire country. Race relations by this time were almost as poor as they had been in the 60's. Everyone was super sensitive and offended by everything. Suddenly, people were actually voicing the thought that if you didn't vote for Obama in his second term, you were a racist. I heard that so many times and I was dumbfounded. When did we start voting for the leader of our country based on their skin color? Weren't we supposed to vote on their qualifications or what they could bring to the table? We saw what Obama brought and I and many others were ready to give it all back to him especially after incidents like the Fast and Furious and Benghazi. Then when he began referring to Christian conservatives as right wing extremists....I was done. Sadly though, in 2012, for fear of not being called a racist many voted yet again for Obama and he beat Romney. I did not.

By the end of Obama's second term, even many that had voted for him were ready for something else. Our country was hemorrhaging money, jobs were at an all time low and many jobs we did have were being relocated to other countries. What was worse is that it seemed like we weren't getting all the facts about what was going on through our mainstream media. Suddenly smaller and more partisan media outlets were posting stories that we weren't getting from the mainstream. It was appearing that CNN, MSNBC, CBS and ABC had all sold their souls to the liberals and anything positive in the conservative world was either down played, ignored or completely fabricated to fit whatever their agenda at the time was. The country was starting to feel beat down both spiritually and physically and extremely divided. It seemed that the worst was coming out of everyone and the negativity was at an all time high.

It was about two years into Obama's second term that the name Donald Trump kept popping up. He seemed to have a rather strong opinion about what was going on in our country, with the news media and about Obama's leadership and he wasn't afraid to tweet about it or speak out about it.

Prior to this time, Trump was a well known business man. He had property, tv shows, multiple marriages and kids and he was a hob knobber with the rich and famous. While his fidelity issues were public knowledge as well as the fact that he had lost and rebuilt his fortune, it was generally believed that he was a good businessman. No one seemed to hate the Donald....back then.

The rich and famous stood in line to be on his tv show the Apprentice to get some celebrity time, to test their business acumen and to try and avoid Trumps famous, "you're fired!" Trump seemed to get along with people regardless of race, income level or celebrity. Even those in Washington D.C. would jump at the chance to have a photo op with the multi-millionaire when he was in their hemisphere. Even then though, Trump was a maverick. He never minced words and spoke his mind with little or no political correctness. It was all part of what made Trump.....Trump.

So when Trump started being vocal about the state of our country, people began to talk about Trump for President. They liked his no nonsense, politically incorrect attitude and speech, 
as everyone was sick of pandering to the emotionally fragile psyche of the modern day liberal.  Soon, even Trump liked that idea and he said he was thinking of running. For the American people who were over the last eight years with Obama, Trumps attitude was kind of a refreshing change they could get behind. Still, no one really thought he would do it, especially not Pelosi and Hillary Clinton who had her eye on the presidency. The next thing we know, Trump is campaigning.

As Trump began his campaign to get the Republican vote for 2016, people were still amused but again, the general consensus was that he would never win the primaries. He did. People were starting to take notice and the democrats began to see that he might just be a contender. This is when Trumps past crudeness and "boys will be boys," indiscretions started to become BIG news. You couldn't turn on the TV without hearing about p@$$y grabbing and locker room conversations. You would have thought that after Bill Clintons exploits in the oval office under his desk with an intern, that Trumps personal life from years ago would have been less than news worthy, but Pelosi had her media minions making mountains out of mole hills just as fast as their little bought and sold fingers could type. You know, I can't help but see Pelosi as the dark queen sitting on her throne with her little CNN and MSNBC minions kneeling on either side of  her. She rubs them behind the ears, throws them treats and they tell any lie she wants them too. It is quite the picture and really closer to fact than we like to admit.

Amazingly, even after the smear campaign and even with Hillary's over inflated sense of self, Trump won the 2016 election and his life has not been the same since.

Within days of Trumps election, Pelosi was already planning his impeachment and her media minions were running stories of presumed improprieties and underhanded goings on with the election. The dark queen would not stand to have someone as president who she couldn't manipulate and control.

The inauguration for Trump was nothing short of embarrassing for the American people as we saw our elected officials disrespect and snub the new president and his first lady and this became the status quo for all events, funerals and other functions that Trump and congress would attend.

It has been three years now since Trump was elected. In that three years, the market is up as is the economy. Jobs are coming back to the US and jobs are available for all that want to work. He has signed bills to protect abused women, special needs and veterans. He is focused on  our soldiers and the safety of our country. In many ways though, he is merely carrying out what previous presidents started. He did away with Obama's version of healthcare and is trying to implement a different version that is non-mandatory. Also in these three years, Trump has been made fun of, disrespected and he has had to stand by and watch while his wife and kids have been treated in a way that no other president or first family have ever had to endure.

Anything positive Trump does is either down played or ignored, but the lies, the misconceptions and the hate towards him make headlines everyday. Through it all though, Trump has never let any of this get in the way of the job he was elected to. He has taken more abuse than anyone should ever have to and yet every day it is business as usual. What's more, he has never let go of his ideals or his beliefs. Most of us could not be that strong.

So the Evil Queens end game? Let's get back to that. Pelosi has been a senator for well over 30 years and many of her fellow democratic senators have also been in the game for about the same time. If  they have been in congress this long, why are things in this country not better? Why is her own state a financial and physical mess? Why is it okay for these lifetime senators who are millionaires in their own right to pass the buck on the sad shape of this country onto someone who has been in office three years and yet accept no responsibility for their own actions?

Here's what I think. Pelosi is a woman of many secrets and skeletons as are her fellow villians such as Schumer and Schiff. In the past, other presidents have had political backgrounds and they knew how to play the political game, which ensured Pelosi kept control of her secrets. Now though, we have someone who not only doesn't play by the rules of the political game, but he came along and changed the game altogether. Pelosi has no control and at the rate things were going, she was losing ground trying to keep the American people so snowed by fabricated stories and fake news, that she feared there would be a real chance Trump could win a second term.

No matter what Pelosi did, the bottom line was that the numbers don't lie and people were starting to see jobs and the up turn in the economy and I truly think she fears that after saying that democrats no longer want old white men running the country.....all the democrats have as front runners, are old white men. So, rather than take a chance of losing to Trump again, she had to eliminate him. What better way than her original plan.....impeach him.

I rarely watch news, but I have watched these impeachment hearings. What I have seen is accusations made by the democrats and both democrats and republicans refuting them. I have seen facts laid out and democrats ignore them. I have heard time and time again that there is nothing to impeach him on and still Pelosi carries on. She is like a pit bull on crack, determined that she will rid herself of Trump at all costs. She doesn't even try to pretend anymore, she is after Trump and it doesn't matter if he is guilty or not, he will be impeached. She is not interested in the law,she is not interested in what is best for the American people and she is sure as heck not interested in the truth. She is interested in ridding herself of Trump and showing the American people that she is above the law, the Constitution and that she can make null and void what the American people voted for by whatever means she deems necessary.

As Americans, this whole fiasco should scare the crap out of each of us. This is one rich white woman taking power out of the hands of the people and giving it to herself for her own agenda. This is a woman who is abusing the power of her office and demonstrating in plain view that she does not work for the people, she is in charge of the people. In this power play, she is trying to destroy all that this country was built on and all that thousands of men and women have fought and died for. Her end game is control over the American people. She is not hiding this, she is not even pretending to be following the law anymore. She is doing this out in the open where every one can see. If she is allowed to succeed, then we all deserve exactly what we get. 

The Beginning of the End

If you look the word "racism" up, the definition is: the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races. The definition goes on to say: prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race, culture, ideal or religion based on the belief that ones own is superior. Hmmm.....so by this very definition(s) who among us is NOT racist or at the very least....prejudice? Put your hand down. You are lying!

To be quite honest with you, I am really tired of hearing that because I am white....I am somehow privileged. There is absolutely nothing about my life that would lead anyone to believe that I am privileged. In fact, contrary to what you might choose to believe, I too have been on the receiving end of prejudice more times than I would like to think about. First there was that whole....being born a woman thing. Do you know in the era I was brought up, women were viewed more as possessions than people?! From our first breath outside the womb, we were taught to be housewives and mothers while our brothers were taught to go to college, get a degree and be the bread winners with the jobs and the paychecks. In fact, when I went to college back in the early 1980's, it was still widely believed that if a woman went to college, it was only to get her Mrs. degree and that for a woman to go to college, was a waste of good money.

In my family, my father still believes in the superiority of man over woman and to this day, at my age, even with all the life experience I have had and all I have done on my own since my husband died, my father still believes that I know nothing and am capable of nothing more than cooking and cleaning. I am being seen as inferior both mentally and physically because of my gender. That is prejudice in its ugliest form.

Then of course there is the whole being a Catholic thing. I don't think people truly realize the prejudice there is towards Catholics in this country. In this enlightened age where there is suppose to be tolerance and respect for all religious beliefs in this country, I have been called a heretic, told that I worship idols and have even had parents not let there kids come to my house because they didn't know what kind of "devil worship" was going on in our home. Imagine, I belong to the religion that Jesus Himself created. He in fact ordained the first Pope...St. Peter, and yet my religion has been the source of prejudice my entire life.

And how about those Irish? I am 3/4 Irish and if we are going to look at past hurts, let's look at this. When the Irish first came to this country, they were treated not much better than slaves. We were a disposable race that were given the worst and most dangerous jobs, because quite frankly.....Irish lives DID NOT matter. Add to that the fact that most Irish immigrants were Catholic, and by our very existence we had created one of the most hated races in this country. Funny how no one makes THAT relevant in 2016!

Finally, how about politics? From the moment we state our political beliefs (Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Conservative, Liberal, etc), someone out there is forming an opinion about us. If our political stance is not theirs, likely their beliefs of superiority are taking over and suddenly we somehow become less in their eyes because we do not believe as they do. You know you do this! We ALL do this! You look at that person and say to yourself, "I thought they were intelligent. How can they believe like that?" It is a judgment and quite frankly, most of the time we don't ask them how they believe like that and listen to the answer, we just mentally shut them down and put them in an imaginary box labeled "faulty." If that is not prejudice, then I don't know what is.

To be honest, every person alive has likely dealt with some form of racism or prejudice at some point in their lives whether it was the color of their skin, their ethnicity, their religion or their beliefs. More over, I would also venture to say that every person alive has also been racist and/or prejudice in their lives. Some comes from the way we were raised, some comes from ego and a majority comes from the fact that we assume things about others without knowing the facts. It is the old "Judging a book by it's cover," scenario.

While there has always been racism and prejudice in this country, there have been times when it has been especially bad. Contrary to what you might believe, as I have said, it has not always been just a black racism. There has been prejudice towards Native Americans, Irish, Asians, Christians, Non-Christians, smokers, gays, women, disabled, and the list goes on and on and on. People have been run out of towns, lost their homes, their jobs and even their lives over racism and prejudice and unfortunately instead of learning from our mistakes, we as country just keep the fire burning. Never has this been more prevalent than in the last eight years.

When Barack Obama took office, this world could have been a much different place. Instead, we ended up with a country in more racist and prejudicial turmoil than we have seen since the 1960's. The fact was that many voted for Obama because he was black, which if you think about it, was racist in itself and speaks volumes about where we as a country were at in 2008. You don't vote for someone because of the color of their skin, you vote for them because of their qualifications. In a way though, I understood the excitement of having the first black president ever. People felt it was time that a black person was president. It would finally be the key to showing the world and proving to ourselves that racism was no longer a factor in this country. I understood people voting for him because of the color of his skin. He was a dynamic speaker with a lot of charm and he was black and in this new millennium perhaps it was time. However, he was not the most qualified person for the job and at that moment in time, if we were looking at what was best for the country, his job experience did not yet give him the credentials to be our president. It was because of his background and not his skin color that I did not vote for him, but.....I had hopes that his time in office would season him and he truly might be the hope and change we were looking for. Let's face it, we were in the middle of  a very long war and we were due for something good.

After his first four years, it was evident that like many presidents before him, he had his failings. He was not as effective as people had hoped and there was change, but hope was dying out fast. Had Barack Obama been a white man, I have no doubt he would not have been re-elected in 2012. However, because he was black, he HAD to be re-elected. In fact, the cry was....if you don't vote for Obama....you are racist. Hollywood elite were screaming it, democrats were screaming it and the black community was screaming it. There were people literally afraid NOT to vote for him for fear of some sort of retaliation. He was re-elected, but again it had little to do with what his qualifications. Racism began to rise like a rocket. Riots were breaking out, people were dying in the streets and it was at this time, that the man who was elected for hope and change could have done so much to unite all races and this country as a whole. Instead he chose to divide us. There was no diplomacy, no respect for humans in general, just the constant trench digging of us against them mentality. 

So today, at the end of this long eight years, we have a divide of racism and prejudice in this country that has not been seen in decades. Those who were not voting because of race in 2008 might never be persuaded to vote for a black person again. Instead of looking at each others as human beings, the color of skin is now in the forefront of everyone's minds. The black communities are angry because their anger has been stoked and fueled and words like "death to all white people, " "Black lives matter,"and sentiments of segregation are once again cultural and current topics. It is tragic and if Martin Luther King Jr. were alive today, I am sure it would literally make him weep to see how his dream has turned into such a nightmare.

Has prejudice ever been non-existant in this country? Sadly no. But it was getting better. We were uniting more and more, but the last eight years have set us back to an ugly time with a resurgence of the KKK, the Black Panthers and hate in the heart of many.

Am I prejudice? I would be lying if I said I weren't. I am sure it comes out in little ways, here and there, but truthfully.....I try very hard to never judge anyone by skin color or ethnicity. Judgement is not my job. I look to peoples character; their honesty, kindness, work ethic and how they treat others. I am very prejudice towards someone who hurts their spouse, kids or animals, I have no respect for someone who can work, but refuses and instead chooses to live off the government or others. If you lie to me, I don't care who you are or what color your skin is, we will have a problem. Basically, if you are kind to me.....I will be kind to you. It is just that simple. Race is not important to me.....character is.

So my hope for 2016 and the upcoming election? I hope, no I pray, that whoever takes office be it man or woman, regardless of their skin color or ethnicity, that they are for the people. Not just the white people or the black people but ALL the people. That their goal is to unite us as a country and as a people. I want gone the slogan....."Black lives matter." I want it replaced with, "All lives matter," and with the sentiment that we are all equal under God and our flag. Is this too much to ask? Who knows, but I pray with my whole heart and soul that we come out of these last eight years, wiser and with a desire to be the wonderful country we have always been regardless of race, creed or color....otherwise....we may be looking at the beginning of the end.