Interest or not

Category: A story to tell

  • I miss my friends

    This sounds cheesy but cheese is good. I miss my friends I met in Elementary School who I grew up with and attended middle school and high school with. I miss seeing my friends almost every day and spending time with them. I moved far away from my home town where I was brought up far from my friends who stayed.

    People grow up and start families and build careers and have less time for friends when raising their own family and working to pay their mortgage and save money for their children’s college education and to have for their retirement. That’s life.

    I moved half way across the country to Medford Oregon not knowing anyone other than some of my family who have since moved very far away from Southern Oregon. It’s just me here. Me and my pet dog. A good thing about being in Medford is every day I see people I’ve never met for the first time and have opportunities to make new friends.

    I’m 47 and it seems as the years go by the harder it is to meet new people and make new friends. I haven’t been in College for nearly 30 years and meeting people outside of school is not as easy. Good friends don’t come easy.

    I’ve never been married and am not a father. I could still bring children into the world with a good woman and that would be a challenge for the ages. challenges are good to have and build strength and resilience to adversity.

    A good thing about being in Medford is I’m very far away from people I once called friends who did not look out for me and did not have my best interest in their minds. Some of the people I once called friends were bad influences, self destructive and reckless. They needed healing, correction and recovery. They are far away in space and time and of the distant past.

    It’s better this way. I want to make new friends here in Medford who look out for me and have healthy habits and are of good character. I want to make new friends that are not in trouble with the law and have learned from mistakes either their own or from others. That’s a good thing about living in Medford. I don’t know trouble makers in Medford and I don’t know people in Medford who are in trouble with the law.

    When it comes to making new friends in Medford I’m on a new page to fill with good habits that strengthen community. While there’s no reason for me to detail past troubles I’ve experienced I don’t shy from talking about mistakes I’ve made with people I know. When meeting someone for the first time I don’t talk about past troubles. Speaking to someone I just met about past mistakes would be awkward and out of context given the healthy positive situations I find strength in every day.

    In Journal entries posted below are more details that include my successes and struggles.

    I’m glad I had the opportunity to leave my home town for many reasons and took it. Many people never move far from where they are born. I’ve travelled to many cities and states, some for work and mostly on vacation and visited a large handful of foreign countries over the years. I’ve always come back home to United States. The U.S. is where I’m from and is my home.

    I’m proud to be an American. The United States has many strengths and has many problems regardless of who POTUS is and how he or she goes about leading Americans and the role they play in the world. Responsible citizens work to make this country and the world a better place to live in. I believe that immigrants have many reasons to migrate out of the country where they were born. Most immigrants migrate for good reasons, are hard working and law abiding. That’s not the case in every situation, it never was. I’ve written more on the topic of migration in the posts below.

    Living in Medford Oregon is much different than my home town in Colorado. Oregon became a state 17 years before Colorado became a state. That seems odd to me. Some of my distant family members on my mom’s side of our family very long ago were Pioneers from Europe and settlers who arrived in Virginia on the Atlantic Ocean’s East Coast.

    On my dad’s side of our family my great great great Grandfather ( honestly it’s not clear to me how many generations ago) arrived in Ellis Island New York. Gradually over many generations our family settled further out west.

    Colorado is smack dab in the middle center of US and Oregon is on the farther North on the West Coast of the Pacific ocean. I’m not a history expert but it seems that when Pioneers moved out west in carriages on horseback they would have arrived on the land that is Colorado long before they arrived on the land that is Oregon.

    Good friends don’t come easy. Wish me luck.

  • My mom turned 81 years old near the middle of August. On the same day she wrote me and my sisters about her down the road preparations for entering hospice. It was sad for me to read the message and not a big surprise. My mom has good health and lives almost independently in an elderly community with warm weather year round.

    A team of property managers lives in my mom’s community who help look after the residents. Sometimes my mom borrows her friends car to do local errands and for the most part rides an adult size electric trike that has a basket for holding the things she shops for when she’s out riding around.

    My mom cooks for herself and is healthy and strong. And my mom is not as strong as she once was. My mom moves slower than she used to. That’s aging and it is good to age. My mom has a sharp memory and quick wit and her ability to communicate is not what it used to be. That’s aging and it’s good to age. My mom lives in her own apartment in the elderly community and enjoys socializing with the men and women in her community.

    I hope my mom lives many more years in good health and strength. My mom has comforted people volunteering at hospices and talked about hospice for years. My mom asked that me and my sisters “pull the plug” when she gets to a point where she is in overwhelming pain or discomfort. She has made it clear to me and my sisters that she would rather have us “pull the plug” than to keep her living in a vegetative state.

    My mom is alive and well and just got home a few days ago from traveling on her own over the summer visiting family and friends in Oregon and Vermont.

    I wish I had more money to visit my mom more often. I live across the country from my mom and can take time off work and fly to visit her. It’s expensive to take time off work and to save money to travel across the country. Family is very important to me. I will always make time for my family to be there with them and to support them when they are in need.

    When I visited my mom last year we went to the beach. It was so much fun. The water was warm and we both went swimming in the ocean. It was a great visit and good to be there.

    My mom has told me and my sisters that when she passes away she wants to be cremated. The topic of death is serious and a topic I don’t often write about or talk about much. It’s good to write about the topic of death the more relevant it becomes.

    Life is good. Life is precious. Hug your loved ones and tell them you love them while they are here.

  • Sometimes I believe it is difficult to make small talk with people I meet because I want to know if we share the same or similar political opinions. I want to know right away if their politics align with mine so I’ll know if a conversation will be agreeable or confrontive. I don’t like confrontation. I’m trying to make small talk with people I encounter more and more. I live alone and am here at home with my thoughts. No one else is here with me to agree with or confront. The matter at home is the physical matter that makes up the floor and walls and ceiling, the apartment I rent keeps me safe and secure.

    Outside is adventure and life and opportunity and meaning. Outside there are people with similar interests and values. Outside are people from every walk of life. Rich, poor, highly educated and laborers. Outside are people scraping by in poverty and people who are homeless.

    A neighborhood store I shop in often has snacks on the shelves and a soda machine. At the store I usually buy beer and cigarettes. I’ve been shopping at the store for several years. I am cordial with the salespeople who work in the store. All and all like most customers I go to the store to buy products then leave.

    I don’t like that they sell pipes and bongs but I don’t make their rules. Smoking marijuana is legal in this community. It’s not the America I grew up in. In the America I grew up in Marijuana was illegal and criminal and suspect. Marijuana was dangerous. Eventually marijuana was available for medicinal purposes to people with health problems and authorized to buy it in the few places where it was sold. Most Marijuana for sale back then was sold illegally on the black market in back alleys.

    Times have changed. Marijuana is legal for adults to buy and posses in small quantities and consume for recreational purposes on private land. Marijuana stores are in almost every commercial neighborhood in town.

    When I was a teenager we spoke about how marijuana would one day become legal and sold like cigarettes.

    Those days are here. Marijuana is addictive and smoking it harms the lungs. Marijuana is a controlled drug. Consuming too much marijuana in one session is dangerous. Some marijuana is more potent than other strains.

    In the news marijuana farmers have been reported to be influenced by cartels and people working on marijuana farms have been mistreated and exploited. All in all the news reports of cartels infiltrating the marijuana industry is not a daily occurrence. I believe the marijuana industry needs more regulations to protect people who work tending the plants from cartels.

    It is good that marijuana is legal. People can buy marijuana legally for personal consumption. People can buy marijuana in a safe and secure well lit store where there is no rush and no reason to hide. A marijuana store has to maintain quality standards. A consumer can buy marijuana today and pay with a credit card if they choose and get a printed receipt. For these reasons marijuana is safer to grow, sell and consume now that it is a controlled drug sold for personal use. I’m glad marijuana stores with similarities to liquor stores can not operate businesses in school zones.

    I respect your right to sell marijuana in an authorized store to adults. I respect your right to consume marijuana. Please be safe and help keep marijuana away from young people.

    Beyond cigarettes and beer going to a neighborhood store often to buy their goods feels good. I’d rather buy at a store in person than have products delivered to my door. Making a transaction with someone at work in person face to face is a part of living in community. It’s not the same as meeting with people when volunteering. Human interactions are valuable to me.

  • I’m very glad that Barack Obama was POTUS for eight consecutive years. The fact goes to show that Americans can and do show humanity. While before Obama was president there were many successful Black Americans in business, with US Government careers and in entertainment it was Obama who rose to the highest office in the nation. For the first time an official representing the Black minority led the country. Before Obama was POTUS there was more intimidation minorities experienced when it came to leadership roles in the US Government and business. Black entertainers have had a solid foothold in American culture for many generations but the farther you look back in history, Black people and people of many other minorities working in entertainment were subjugated to smaller roles and reduced pay and often received roles that portrayed the individual as uneducated and unintelligent.

     I am Generation X and grew up learning how Martin Luther King united Americans around US and was a humanitarian leader people around the world celebrated. MLK is no longer with us. MLK has been no longer with us for many years. It was good news for Americans and for humanity when Barack Obama was elected POTUS. Barack Obama became not only a leader of Black people but a leader of Americans and a global leader for humanity. America and US has done a lot of healing since Obama’s Presidency from 2008-2016. For the first time minorities around US looked to a leader that represented everyone.

    While there were many Americans and US Citizens who did not vote for Obama and did not want him to be POTUS and were discouraged with Obama leading US and America, more US Citizens voted for him and were glad he was leading the country. Power struggles are part of life. There are always people and groups and individuals trying to have the most power and control. That is human nature and that is an aspect of humanity.

     The current POTUS Donald Trump is unique and original like every POTUS throughout history. Donald Trump leads Americans and the US and appeals more to white people. White people are the cultural majority in United States. Having a white American as POTUS is not new. Every POTUS throughout US history was white accept Obama. More and more over time white US Citizens make up less of the population.

     I grew up in a predominately white community in US. That was normal to me. At 26 I moved to Los Angeles California where I experienced for the first time living in a very culturally diverse city. I was excited, and I was challenged. It was challenging to be around and meet people from different cultures most of the time. White people are a minority in Los Angeles. I was not used to residing in the community as a minority and living as a minority when I was in public. Deep down inside I felt threatened. I felt threatened that most of the people I saw and met skin color was darker than mine. I felt uncomfortable when I passed through a largely gay neighborhood.

    In truth what I perceived as threats were not threats at all and were challenges of living in a community new to me and very different than where I am from and very far away from the community I was born into. I moved far away from Los Angeles since and am grateful for the challenges I experienced living in Southern California. Overcoming challenges makes an individual stronger. While living in a culturally diverse community could present challenges for people from smaller communities with less diversity, cities are a part of life on Earth and civilization as we know it. Cities tend to be more culturally diverse than towns.

     I would not trade my past living in the city for the world. Living in the city has to do with who I am today. Moving far away from where you were brought up is challenging for everyone who embarks on the adventure. Every adventure does not end in success. What’s normal in one place is considered strange and unheard of in another place. The financially wealthiest people on Earth are challenged when moving to live and reside in a community far away from where they were brought up. Many people never move far from where they were brought up. Often when someone moves away into a community that is new to them it is for a work opportunity that did not exist where they are from.

     Other times the reason to move is greater than a new work opportunity. The reason to move might involve romance, adventure, being in a new place and meeting people in a community beyond the same faces and places where a person is brought up. Be careful out there.

  • I recently went to an appointment I scheduled at the local US Post Office where I applied for a Passport. I brought my application already filled out. The meeting went well and the employee I met asked me if I had any questions. I did not. He also asked me if I am a US Citizen. I confirmed that I am a US Citizen. That was it. He kept my birth certificate which will be mailed to me when my application is done being processed. I was done with my meeting within 10 minutes.

    The first time I applied for a Passport was exciting. I was in my early 20’s and preparing to travel to islands in the Caribbean and French West Indies. Since then my Passport expired and I legally changed my name. I received an email from the US Passport Agency stating that they need more information from me. I need to provide my certified legal change of name document to complete my application. Since my last Passport expired I became homeless and lost all my possessions other than the clothes I wore and a backpack of supplies for living outdoors. I lost the documentation I received from the Court when my legal change of name was finalized. Since then I’ve got back into stable and secure housing thank God and thanks to the support of many professional men and women at work helping troubled Americans every day of the year.

    I was relieved when I called the Clerk of Court in the County where I was living when I changed my name for a record request and learned that I could fill out the record request at their website. It took less than five minutes to fill out the record request and only charged me $20 for a certified copy of my legal change of name decree issued by the Judge who granted me my name change.

    I was also relieved to learn that I should receive the documentation within one week. I don’t currently have plans to travel internationally although I want to be ready to travel. My Passport application might take as long as 90 days to process because I didn’t ask for it to be expedited. That’s fine by me.

    When I was younger I traveled to Mexico and to Canada and only needed my Gov issued photo ID card to cross those international borders. Times have changed and my current Drivers License is not Real ID certified. New Passports are Real ID certified so I’ll be able to use it to fly domestically and internationally.

    I flew last year before the Real ID policy was in effect and was able to fly domestically using my Drivers License. Like I said, times have changed. Gov issued Real ID have improved security features and tie a person to their digital identity, online habits, online behavior and biometrics. I think this is good business and will improve safety for generations to come.

    I love to travel and I love to fly. Although flying can be somewhat nerve racking I’ve always arrived safe and sound at my intended destination. I’m fortunate that most of my flights were on schedule. And flights I’ve taken that were delayed did not take too long. Once when I was flying home from Costa Rica to Denver I flew into Miami where my connecting flight to Denver was delayed for over 10 hours. The airline paid for a Hotel room for me for the night and drove me to the Hotel. It was a fancy Hotel near a pier off the Atlantic Coast. The next morning I took a taxi cab to the Airport and my connecting flight to Denver departed on schedule. All’s well that ends well.

    The scariest flight I took was from Alamosa Colorado to Denver’s Stapleton Airport on a winter day sometime in the late 1980’s. The airplane was small and held maybe one dozen passengers. When there was turbulence the airplane altitude seemed to raise and dip a lot. We landed safe and sound at Stapleton Airport and that’s what’s most important.

    Here’s to many more safe travels! Well planned vacations! Safe roadways, safe railroads, safe waterways and friendly skies. Wishing safe travels to you and your loved ones.

    Jason A. Greenwood

  • I’m scared to talk to people. It’s a fear. I don’t often make small talk. I don’t chat with people I meet usually. I’m polite and appropriate when speaking with people I meet. At work I usually have little to share in a conversation and few words to add to topics of discussion. My work is manual labor and while communicating clearly is very important, verbal communication is limited in nature where I work. I’m not a boss, a supervisor and I don’t lead a team of workers. Other workers don’t usually look to me with most work related questions.

    I would like to be more talkative when I meet people. Almost every day I come in contact with people whether it is at work or shopping paying for products. Communication comes natural to me with people I know. People I know and care about are the individuals I speak to most. My family live very far away and when we speak it is usually over a phone call. I meet with a therapist regularly and speak to her in volumes and in depth conversations. The community I live in is new to me. I’m not from here. I live here for nearly nine years. I’ve met many people at work, though my temp to hire work makes opportunities to build relations with the same co-workers limited.

    I consider myself to be serious in most situations. I am a realist. I do offer light hearted comments to people that are more about sharing the moment than conveying a serious attitude. When I say something funny I make a point to convey that it is a joke and not to be considered too seriously. I’ve met many people while volunteering in the community. I’ve been active in many conversations with other volunteers and people in the community I’ve met while volunteering.

    I speak to my neighbors often. Speaking to neighbors is a good way to pass the time with people who have similar interests.

    speaking to a stranger is a challenge. Sometimes I’ll say hello to a stranger on the same path as me when I’m walking in public. There are challenges in life and life is worth living. Many challenges involve limited physical requirements. Speaking challenges require my voice and breath and lungs and mouth and jaw and lips and tongue. My body is strong and in good health. I have strong lungs. I move my mouth and lips and tongue and jaw with ease from moment to moment. Challenges meeting individuals who are new to me I’ve never met, and come in contact with for the first time are worth having.

    There is no reason to speak to most people I come in contact with in public. People I come in direct contact with happen most of the time when I’m walking in public, most often in a store or at a cafe.

    Meeting a person who is new to me for the first time I experience almost every day. This is often when I’m buying a product in a store from a person at work at a cash register. I enjoy the exchange of purchasing products and services on sale face to face in person with my money handing over to individuals at work.

    When I have the choice to pay for products at self checkout or with an individual working with a cash register nine out of ten times I make my purchase with the person. I enjoy the opportunity to look into someone’s eyes and watch their facial expression and listen to their voice while I speak to the person, in person.

    I like living in society apposed to living in solitude. I like living around people. I like seeing people every day in public. I want to instigate more conversations more often with strangers when I shop. Not just to the person at work with a cash register, also to persons shopping at the same time as me.

  • Things sometimes taken for granted

    I just turned on the heat in my home for the first time this Fall. After adjusting the thermostat to the desired temperature heat began flowing through the floor vents within two minutes where air conditioning flowed in the summer. I am so grateful and fortunate to have a home. It’s an apartment and I lease it. I was homeless for six years of my adult life. Most nights of those six years homeless I slept outside under the stars. I knew many cold nights. Cold snowy, icy winter Colorado nights. Nights where I kept moving to stave off the cold, stopping just long enough to rest and then walking through the night to keep from freezing to death until a bus station opened or a cafe when I could afford a cup of coffee. Some of those nights I was welcomed into warming centers for the homeless. Some nights I had a cot reserved in a homeless shelter. Some of those nights a Church and a Synagogue opened their doors as warming centers for homeless people where I stayed. Without the volunteers and donations that afforded me shelter on some of the coldest nights I would not be alive. Volunteers providing free health care and free meals helped to keep me alive and pushing through while I was homeless.

    I had stopped taking my prescribed medication for schizophrenia several years before my debilitated mental health forced me from the home I rented, onto the streets. While I was homeless I didn’t take medication. My refusal to take medication was a major contributing factor why I was homeless for six years.

    I lost all my belongings while I was homeless other than the clothes I wore and a backpack with supplies for living outside.

    Since then I started over. I was placed in a psychiatric hospital where I started taking medication and my recovery began. Recovery has been a long process. I still feel paranoia sometimes that makes no logical sense though through taking my medication every day my mental health has improved very much.

    It is perhaps simple for a person who has always lived in their home to take air conditioning and heat for granted. As people age they eventually start paying their own bills including utilities and might not take heat and air conditioning for granted the way they could have as a child.

    Growing up my home was always warm enough in the winter and if we didn’t have air conditioning we opened the windows to cool the place. That was normal to me. I took the warmth of home when it was cold outside for granted.

    At 18 I was working full time and moved into my own place, and began to pay all my bills. Paying my bills was an accomplishment. The feeling of independence from my family felt good.

    I had stable housing from when I was born until I was 27 when I became bipolar.

    I became homeless because I was using illegal drugs, stopped taking my medication and was emotionally strung out about a relationship with a woman that did not go the way I wanted it to.

    I had very little money when I was homeless and stopped using illegal drugs. I was single and not very eligible giving the conditions I was living in. My behavior was irrational and ability to communicate deteriorated significantly.

    I am very fortunate that my medication is affordable. Taking my medication every day has helped my recovery to this day. I can hold down intellectual conversations. I understand what people say when speaking to me. I regained control of my behavior.

    I lease my apartment. I have a job working as a laborer. I pay all my bills on time. I have a car and a pet dog. I live in a safe neighborhood and thriving community.

    My life is far from perfect and I have many things to be grateful and thankful for. I receive S.S.D.I. and I can go back to work full time and get off S.S.D.I. one day. Receiving S.S.D.I. is a blessing. Very many Americans are to thank for Social Security. You’ve probably paid into Social Security in your taxes and so have I.

    It’s good to be an American and a U.S. Citizen living in United States. I disagree with much of the current Administration in the White House in D.C. decisions they’ve made and policies and that is my right to disagree with politics I don’t believe in. Remember to vote.

    Many Americans become homeless for reasons outside of their control. I am lucky and fortunate that I was given the opportunity to recover in a safe and stable environment. I have many blessings and am a lucky man. I am a success story. While living in low income housing and working as a laborer at 47 years old might not look successful to many people, I am living the life I dreamed of when I was living on the streets.

  • It’s a peaceful life in the North West. Early Fall and the days are warm and nights are cold. It’s not much of a city here with the country side just down the road. From here, and this is the biggest city for many miles. From far away and this feels like a town. All-nighter clubs and bars don’t exist. Most go home before dark. The community is quiet at night. The highway through town brings travelers from across the country and their haul. Timber, pears and seafood from the west coast.

    I worry about illegal hauls, drug runners from south of the border poisoning the community with addiction. It’s a fierce battle for peoples health and safety, freedom and livelihood. The addiction is real, young kids get hooked on a drug growing up making bad decisions and risking it all. Keep your eyes open and nose clean. Word to the wise.

    I grew up one day, made better decisions than when I was a young man. Still the scars are on peoples lips at work, scars from bad decisions made they’re paying for to this day. Work is labor, it’s not the office kind. Work is controlling traffic at a construction zone. Good for a young man not in college trying to get by. Good for an older man who didn’t graduate college and still has the strength to stand for eight hours on the side of a road for a days pay.

    No hi paying salary here, that’s for a career at a desk. Sometimes I wonder what will become of me when I no longer have the strength to work on my feet laboring day by day. I hope to live long and in peace, one day with caretakers who keep me housed and fed. Keep your chin up.

    It’s a different kind of look into the future living paycheck to paycheck. Used to laboring for pay will come to an end one day. It’s not a future where all needs are met and then some. Being thrifty goes a long way. Limited money speaks for itself. It is worth living. Making the most of every day.

  • Charlie Kirk might be a martyr to you, that’s your reality. It is pointless to compare Charlie Kirk to Martin Luther King. Martin Luther King and Charlie Kirk lived many generations apart. The issues Americans experience today have many differences than what Americans were going through when Martin Luther King was giving speeches and marching for justice. If they lived at the same time they would have been at odds.

    Children in the 1980’s including myself growing up in America at public school learned that Martin Luther King was a great man who led many people, black and white away from oppression. Martin Luther King led with words of love, care and respect for Americans. Martin Luther King was considered an enemy to a smaller number of Americans who were focused on racism and segregating white and black communities in United States. MLK was assassinated and the assassin was never caught. It is a mystery to this day who the assassin was.

    Charlie Kirk’s messages were controversial in that they were considered divisive to many Americans. While Charlie Kirk certainly had a following of Americans that included Americans who support the current POTUS Trump, many Americans were troubled and disturbed by the messages Charlie Kirk shared. The person who assassinated Charlie Kirk was brought to justice within several days. The assassin acted alone and had psychotic tendencies. The assassin was not left or right in the political spectrum. He was a deranged individual and danger to others.

    It’s early in the days after Charlie Kirk was assassinated. It’s early to tell what impression Charlie Kirk’s legacy will leave on Americans. Certainly, there will be Americans who praise what Charlie Kirk said as well as Americans who saw Charlie Kirk a hate filled racist bigot. The records of Charlie Kirk’s debates are online for you to peruse and come to your own decision about who he was based on what his words make you think or feel.

     Recently the Government hosted a large memorial ceremony for Charlie Kirk in a stadium in Arizona. While many Americans attended and tuned in, many Americans purposely avoided the memorial. Charlie Kirk was that divisive in the sense that many Americans felt threatened by the words he said, and many Americans felt encouraged. Charlie Kirk is deceased; his words are available to listen to in history records that won’t be forgotten any time soon.

    I never went to Charlie Kirk’s debates. I watched several minutes of his debates when I scrolled to his platform unknowingly. Charlie Kirk’s messages didn’t motivate me. Charlie Kirk’s words in debate irked me and made me feel uncomfortable. I stopped watching his debates after a few minutes. I don’t mourn Charlie Kirk. I do respect the right for the deceased to rest in peace and for his widow and children to live in peace.

  • This is a first

    I’ve never done this before. I want to thank United States President Donald Trump. I was raised in Democratic homes. And in Democratic neighborhoods. I was taught that us Democrats were correct in many more ways and Republicans were wrong in many ways. I’ve always voted Democrat and don’t anticipate that changing.

    A truth is. There are two sides to a coin and two sides to a story. In a boxing match there are two fighters. In a boxing arena each fighter needs their opponent to fight. In politics words are what are used to win a debate, a campaign, an election.

    In the worst case men and women turn to violence, and is something I condemn. I’ve never seen Trump speak live at a rally. That’s ok. Rhetoric is a word usually referred to with a negative tone. The truth is that both Democrats and Republicans use rhetoric in their speeches and my guy or gals rhetoric sounds a lot better to me than the opposition’s rhetoric.

    There have always been either a Democrat POTUS or a Republican POTUS in charge of the white house in Washington DC since I was born. And this is how it is today. While many Americans are weary of the two party system, it has worked long before I was born and through the years. It makes sense to me that there are two parties continually jockeying for power. Right, wrong. Left, right. True, false. Fact, fiction. Here, there. Then, now. These are opposites and while it is said that opposites attract they also repel.

    I am open to a different political party coming into power in DC and I don’t anticipate that happening anytime soon. Donald Trump has managed to keep war away from United States. Sometimes it takes a physically strong man to show strength and shake off threats from a foreign adversary. Was United States threatened by foreign adversaries before Donald Trump began his second term? The answer is yes and no. In general no and there are terrorists in the world that would harm Americans and American interests if they could.

    Is terrorism a threat to United States? Yes and no. In general no and it is very important for Americans to stay vigilant to protect our interests domestically and around the world from terrorists that would otherwise take advantage of us if we let our guard down.

    I think Trump is doing well in these regards. A Change of power of leadership in United States at the top happens every four to eight years. It has been this way since long before I was born, through the years and currently on schedule. Some percentage of Americans have expressed concern that Trump will remain president after 2028. I for one have not bought into that rhetoric. Were not there. It’s 2025. I don’t see that happening and I don’t see many US citizens concerned with the topic.

    America has changed a whole lot from when I was a young boy. The Cold War ended. The Cold War was something I learned that ended when I was a young boy. Donald Trump is older and lived through more of the Cold War until it ended. The Cold War was a long lasting and pervasive threat to Americans for many years. I grew up at the tail end of the Cold War and I’m sure Baby Boomers have their own take as to what the Cold War meant to them.

    From what I’ve learned there were no casualties in the Cold War. No bombs dropped, no missiles launched, and no fighter jets deployed. From what I’ve learned the Cold War was a build up of tension and verbal hostility between U.S.A. and Russia what was known as U.S.S.R. at the time and a build up of weapons of war. Eventually the tension dissipated, and verbal hostility cooled and the stockpiles of weapons of war were reduced. It was a victory for U.S.A. and for U.S.S.R. both. A win win.

    United States is at peace on our soil. We are protected by our military domestically and the brave men and women of the US military are stationed around the world protecting our interests abroad. It is a blessing US is at peace on our soil and that’s not to say there is not crime on our streets. Crime is a problem in every city in the US and in smaller communities to some extent. Counteracting crime is not my work and is not my call.

    The conservative approach is different than the liberal approach not just when it comes to crime but also economics. There are many topics I disagree with Donald Trump about. I can leave it at that.

    I’m better off not defining liberals and conservatives something younger generations will surely do as they grow and choose who to stand up and vote for and sink their teeth into details of specific causes they believe in and build their opinions including everything worth fighting for, hopefully in a civilly and in debate.

    God bless America