Do you ever get the feeling that you're a fish out of water?
A stranger in a strange land? Left behind in the march of time?
Values. Ethics. Truth. Compassion. Morality. All are victims of the times we live in.
In my youth, the office of the president was beyond reproach. Little boys and girls were told they could be the president of the United States if they worked hard.
After Nixon, the prestige of being the president was forever tarnished. I was forced to recognize reality.
That revelation also came with the knowledge that America really needed to know more about its politicians to avoid repeats like Nixon in the Oval Office.
So what happened in 2016 when Trump slithered into office? Did the press go on a holiday? Were we so overwhelmed with fake news that logic no longer played a part in the choice for a new leader?
I wake up each morning hoping Trump's rise to power was all a bad dream. Reality slaps me in the face then.
It's not just that we are living in the era of Trumpism that troubles me. The whole country seems to have broken up into principalities of partisanship. Compromise is now only a 20th century concept.
After 66 years, I find myself looking back and wondering if there were ever any good old days. It was more like the naive days when I think about what I didn't know.
My life education continues. I survived Vietnam. Numerous surgeries. Learned how to cope with my PTSD. In doing so I have come to the conclusion that youth is a big factor for feeling lost in America.
Age strips away illusions. It's harder to be optimistic when your life experiences have taught you to be wary. And that there is no free lunch.
George Bernard Shaw once said; "Youth is wasted upon the young."
One more thought from Curtis Tyrone Jones:
"Some situations are just like bad dreams, they're only unbearable while we're giving them our full attention."
Time for me to walk on down the road...
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