I SPY

     Remember the game, how it chewed up the miles on the car trips? There were even versions in books that forced one to look carefully at details. So let's play another game of I Spy in today's world. Could be fun - or not.
     I spy a disaster of a lake when I look out my porch windows. For months and months I have spoken about the algae, about the ever worsening state of our waterways, of the clog and gunk building up and I would bet that aside from some back area canals, that Wellington Lake, both parts and the canals leading into and out of them are the worst waterways of the Village, The mats of algae are growing, increasing in size, covering more of the surface area of the lake, building up until the entire shores of my lake are algae infested. This is an algae that looks like the dead remains of lawn cuttings, but is not so benign. This did not have to be, not at all. Shame on UCO, shame on WPRF for ignoring this situation, allowing it to worsen even as more and more money was spent on the Clubhouse lake and on other non necessities in the Village. So UCO will sit in an expensively rehabbed building but we here in Wellington will watch, are watching, as our lake disappears under the algae. By the way, to the fool who accused Gary of writing this posting - I wrote it so leave him alone and as far as calling UCO into fault for the algae - no, they did not cause it, not here nor in Florida, though bringing in the water from the County contributed to it, but they are at fault for mishandling the situation. Try to understand this though I know it is difficult for one with half a scoop. Do not accuse others of having your problem!
     I have just yesterday been told that someone was here looking and stated that there was a bid out on it. About time, but till this goes to fruition, if it takes as long as getting the nearby bus stop fixed, then I am not optimistic. Too little too late? I hope not.
     I spy the habitual use of this too little too late and misplaced areas of concern almost perpetually here in the Village. Now we are looking for a contract to redo the walkways!!! After spending tens of thousands of dollars on piecemeal repairs?! Why was it not done in its entirety as we asked for, as we showed the necessity for? Why? Because this UCO, this David Israel and henchmen are blind in their discernment of needs and priorities here in the Village and are obsessively focused, sickly so, on Broadband first and foremost to the detriment of all else including post Millennium and other areas that are going begging. And who drives this blind UCO with no seeing eye dog, no white cane, no guide - why, David Israel. And for added spice, check out the Rag that masquerades as a paper, the one that no one reads anymore other than to check meeting schedules or perhaps if one is addicted to ads or the same information over and over again or of course one of Lanny's so scintillating stories of his trips. I spy a paper that needs to be interred and resurrected ASAP or why not just build on the CV Messenger that has built up a circulation and a reputation for telling it all.
     I spy a state that is in a state of confusion, headed by a governor who is emphatically not good for the state. I see a state that takes some truly dumb actions or does not take action when needed and the people of the state are suffering.
    I spy a country that has slid backwards in time to the 60's and 70's, a time rife with racial divides, with violence, with a burning anger of one to the other. I thought we had grown past that and yet here we are again, horrifically so. And the depths of these events are truly murky. There is a fear amongst law officers that no one cares about them, that they put their lives on the line, yet no one cares and their every move is hashed and rehashed by arm chair cops, by those who are never in a situation where split second decisions are necessary. Who is carrying a gun? Who will pull that gun on them? And yet - when the violence erupts, when the crowd runs away from the violence - there go the police running towards it - and then here we go again - questioning the ending of the event, should they have done this or that? Well, it needed to end before more officers and more civilians were hurt - and so they ended it. And yet, I spy the ever increasing divide between groups of people, and as the suspicion grows on both sides the violence will get worse and we will lose all that we have gained. I even found myself telling one of my children not to use a certain route home for fear of the retro violence recurring. This is beyond sad. I spy tears in my eyes, a despair in my heart at the state of affairs here in our country.
     And this miasma of hate, of not listening or not hearing the plaints of the other side, whoever and whatever they might be, extends to other issues and people become entrenched in their ideas and our government stalls. Social programs are cut by the Republicans and the Democrats have become wimpish in their foreign policy. Sanders has the nerve to have an attempt made to install highly critical language of Israel in the Democratic National Committee platform, but Clinton says no and manages to beat the attempt back, but the fact that this political party has begun to fall victim to the growing resurgence of anti Semitism and its sister in disguise, anti Israelism or Zionism isn't so much sad but ever so much more frightening, particularly to students of history and victims of history. Just a most recent summing up of the activities in Israel - Since the start of the wave of violence in mid-September 40 people have been killed by Palestinians and 511 people were injured in attacks that occurred on both sides of the Green Line. There have been 79 stabbings, 76 attempted stabbings, 96 shootings, 45 vehicular attacks and one bus bomb.
     Need more be said?
   I spy a world that is tearing itself apart. The civil wars, the religious wars, even internal religious wars, the hatred that abounds and results in mass murders, in attempts at genocide, the ever increasing pace and use of violence as a legitimate tool for political advancement, as a means of settling differences  -  what are to do? It is a game of I spy that is not such a game after all. Would that we could return to the books and games of finding Waldo or some such similar character rather than us playing an ever losing game of I spy, looking for peacemakers, for true leaders in every level of government and not finding them. I can only hope that this election season finds us choosing the right candidates for offices and vote with sense and not hate, hate and more hate.