Dear Friends,

All things must come to an end. Everything that is born must die, and the saddest thing is that some people think America’s end is here. With rising crisis around the world, a debt of unimaginable proportion, and coupled with politicians that can’t think farther than their next campaign speech we have our selves in a pickle, up a creek without a paddle, and trapped in a pit with lions.

We’ve dug ourselves a hole, and the only way to get out is by one shovel at a time. Times will get harder, people will get upset, and we won’t be the once shining place of hope and dreams we were. Nothing is perfect, and to allow a false pretense of who we are to be put forth for a world to see isn’t what they need. We give millions to help others, and with that knowledge comes a satisfaction of something deep within a heart. We owe billions in dept, and that leaves a sick feeling in the back of my throat.

In fifth grade I had a teacher who said it straight, and didn’t care what you thought. She was the first person to inform me of the debt, and the fact that China held a lot of property in the U.S.A. Ever since then I’ve feared the necessity of having to sit in a class room, and suddenly be handed a new curriculum written in a new language.

I have dreams of growing up, and living in a house with my husband and two to possibly three kids. I want a nice simple car, and a nice simple life.

America needs to stop dreaming in the clouds of mist, and come back to the ground of solidity. We cannot live outside our means. Not everyone pays taxes, and not everyone has taken full advantage of the opportunities in their lives. People here don’t always belong, and in the end who do we have to blame but ourselves.

Someone once said, “I remember when I was in college. You’ll like it better than high school. Great times. Just sitting in the dorm room with friends, and we’d solve all the world’s problems one at a time.”

Well, something to think about is that, that was just another ordinary person like anyone you’d see on the streets. She was a lovely woman, and probably had a thousand simple stories to impress you. We who talk about the problems don’t always fully understand them. With this age of knowledge available at the simplest touch of a finger, you’d think that we’d know everything, and understand it to the tenth degree. The truth remains that nothing is told without another thousand renditions through the grape vine.

The media manipulates, bias people tell their stories. “To see with eyes unclouded.” That is a virtue greatly sought after.

It doesn’t take a politician to know what the right decision is. George Washington wasn’t a politician. He was a great leader, and set up what needed to be done, but he has a lesson that has been over looked by those today. He was offered kingship, and denied it without looking back. He died on a farm from a cold he caught while riding his horse.

A politician’s job is NOT to be a Politian.

A politician’s job IS to be the advocate of their people. It doesn’t matter what your money backers think. To be elected as an official should not be sought after as a job. It should be looked on as an opportunity to serve. To go to congress and sit there and make decisions should be like jury duty. When you see that little white envelope come in the mail you feel the dread of being chosen.

At any political appointment the pay of what you get should never be an issue. You get paid minimum wage just like all the other hard working Americans. Which leads to the misconception of what the American dream is.

To come to America, or be privileged enough to be born into it, you can become great even if you were small. You could be poor, and live to be a millionaire. Though nothing is ever handed to you. Living off the dreams of winning the lottery is the best way to die young. When in a pit of ever growing disappear find an elder who has had more experience, and with their help make a plan.

In the immortal words of my father: “You can skip a car payment because then you just buy a bike. It’ll take longer but you’ll still get there. You can live off peanut butter, and jelly for three months. Take cold showers, and read by the light of the sun. But you NEVER miss a mortgage payment. Don’t listen to what anyone tells you. If they say skip it, you skip them. Because, listen to me YOU NEVER miss a mortgage payment.”

With all this in mind we are left with one final image. A bird and a plane. More precisely the bird of hope, and the plane of destruction. Both are headed towards each other. For now we can’t tell whether the bird will miss the engines and fly on, or whether it’ll hit right into it, and make the whole operation go down in flames.

As of now the bird can still make the decision to pull up. It can avoid that plane and fly on the other side with the words, “What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger.”

But for those who stand delicately on those wings, they must remember to stand.

You were brought up with morals. You know right from wrong. To be a politician there must actually be a country to govern. To fight is only to resort to what isn’t necessary. Life is made up of compromises. When the wife wants the walls painted white, and the husband wants them black they both compromise on the shade of grey that best compliments the room.

“To be or not to be? That is the question.”

So who will you be?

From,
The concerned individual at the family dinner table.