WHAT IS?

  "It is what it is, and you just prepare accordingly." 

A south Florida resident said that re the storm Elsa and its hit on Florida, but how apt is it to these fractured days and time of ours. So much is up in the air, so much uncertainty, that people are still jittery, confused, despairing, yet hopeful, for optimism in the face of disaster or giant sized problems has been a trait of Americans since the first voices were raised against the rule of George III over the colonies and the first gun was raised in a desperate fight to find independence, to construct, build, a work in progress - these here United States of America.

As Con Ed said, "Dig we must," we say, remind all that Build We Must. We have come through tough times before and can do so again, so why the pessimism, the bitterness, the antagonism of our current state of affairs? Why is it that we have laid aside that optimism, forgotten the fact that GOP, Democratic, liberal or conservative, the first and most important principle should be that we are, at the end of it all, Americans. We had better replace that feeling, reinstate it, within  the mix that is America today or we will lose it all.

Yet another Hollywood figure toys with rumors of running for office and I cannot figure out yet where he stands on the issues. "I'm interested in building something that will last," . That statement is one I can easily support, but what is behind that, what are the policies and the plans? Gotta' wait and see. In the meanwhile, we have those who in other, saner days, would have been called political Bozos, hacks, not worth of any consideration, yet today, sad to say, they are among the admired, the mimicked.

Ted Cruz is still engaged in rhetoric of yesteryear, Abbot of Texas is absurd to the point of insanity, JS Vance apologizes for his criticism of Trump, stating that he now realizes that Trump was a "good President". Uh, where was this dude for all those years. This is the man whom his own aides said  would never run for Congressional office as that was a "real job" and would require "real 'work" and Trump would never, never take that on!!! Wonder how come he thought the Presidency was not a real job! And that, my friends, speaks to the mess we are in now. Crooked thinking, crooked morals, crooked behavior, and it all was contagious, as people freed themselves from the restraints of adult societal behavior and toddler like, behaved their emotions, rather than their adulthood. Sad. So sad.

The "human infrastructure" of this nation has been badly damaged. The question is, can it be fixed, repaired to an extent that would expand the hope that is America, the optimism, the welcome, all that is America, back into the nation's psyche? Can we, do we, have the inner guts, the strength, to remember that people count. People need to be cared for, to have their basic needs met, in any civilized society. While many Americans have stood up and helped pantries, distributed goods, too many of our residents continue to remain without food, without shelter, without education for their kids, without retraining so they can now apply for the jobs going begging.

We need to spend money to make money. A robust plan to rebuild America, literally, almost, as so much of our roads and  collateral hardware, shall we say, are rusting and crumbling away. Our housing has been neglected, and we joined the Third World as we watched a building crumble, taking along with it so many residents. What has happened to us? How have we allowed this slide in our quality?

How? We began to concentrate on that which should never have been. We had a President and a political Party that grew into a cult, a loyalty to a man that replaced loyalty to a country, even as the members of this group waved their flags, even as so many substituted Trump flags for American flags, even as the very foundation of our country began to shake, as our right to vote, its acceptance in our elections, was challenged, as restrictions worthy of a fascist country were installed, as we lost America somewhere in that mess.

We are still looking for members of that crowd of rebels from Jan. 6, even as the GOP struggles to replay and redefine it. Take your choice- antifa, or tourists going a bit wild, or tourists enthusiastic at being at the Capitol, or whatever ridiculous falsehood tickles the fancy. The truth - it was a rebellion, aimed at overthrowing the legitimate government of this country, of committing acts of violence on leaders of this country, and installing the rejected former president even as he incited and invoked this treasonous rebellion.

On top of that we now have confusion at the very basic building block of society. Can we trust that we are protected, secure? Can we trust, have faith, that our protective needs are being met, yet how can that be assured when we now have a growing plague with no Pfizer vaccine in sight. That is ransomware, and Kaseya became a household term as it was hacked, affecting five continents. We received many warnings from sites we visit and/or belong to, to reset passwords, that  passwords were pre-empted and we spent several hours figuring out passwords we could remember, yet would prove difficult to divine, and then spent a huge chunk of time on the installation.

Yes, there is much to be concerned about and with these days in the United States of America. But we must also remember, that even in our first steps towards independence, we were not united, not at all. Yet we persevered, and we built one of the best countries of the world, became a world leader, an example of a country knowing it must always improve, strive for better days for all, failing at times, yet always coming back at it.

I close with the words of that same Hollywood figure. Hopefully, he can make those words true with competent, honest programs. We will see.

 "...just reflect just a minute, take a little bit of inventory on where we've come from, where we are, and how and where we want to go from here on the way to being the best we can be,"

And amen to that.