Anniversary

October 5th marked the 15th anniversary of this blog. Originally it started as a strategy for me to avoid placing my opinions in the local newspaper I served as managing editor. The strategy worked very well, and the paper continued to focus on local issues with only a mention to regional and state issues as local concerns.

The blog became my way of unloading thoughts that I had as an aging white guy. Back then I was 67. Today I’m 82 plus a few months. So the blog is now an unfolding journey of thoughts as an elder American continues to age. Gracefully or not!

Looking back to high school and college years, I was anxious to get started on my adult years. I wanted to fix what I saw was wrong with our society. I wanted to leave this country and world a better place than what I found it to be back then. Don’t most of us wish this? I know I was not alone then in these feelings.

And so, I began my career with a view forward. How would my work in any job of the moment make the world better? Oftentimes the answer was not favorable. Eventually, however, opportunities came my way and more and more I was able to build a career momentum that I just knew would make the world better.

Reviewing those jobs and their results, I can say that my contributions were positive, but comparing them with the state of affairs we face today, obviously they were not enough. That said, it doesn’t point a finger of blame to me, but it does point to the need that everyone needs to do their best if the world we want and need is to become so at all.

That means you and I need to work with a lot of other people doing the same. That means we have to educate people, understand them, and thoroughly understand a host of issues that intersect with one another. Only then can we have any certainty that a long-term positive effect can happen at all.

I believe the US Constitution is the backbone of our nation’s strength and promise. It has created and held together a dynamic democracy that has served our country well, and helped others throughout the global community as well. That is our starting point.

The second point of effort, is to understand what matters the most to us and vote candidates into office that mirror our values and understanding. The third action point, is to craft our careers as positive engines of service and adaptability to needed change in the future.

Fourth, frequently analyze results compared with our goals. Are we making a difference? Is that difference stable and constant for the future? If it is, keep doing what we are doing well. If not, study for needed changes and make them.

Each of us has this duty to do. Not just some people. Not just elected people. But you and I have the duty to do the good in the first place. Only then can we expect others to support and follow.

Finally, we need to stand up and declare our displeasure at circumstances and values and people who are not doing what needs to be done. We are in this together and together we can control what we want to happen. It takes vision and hard work. Each of us is capable of that. All we need to do is do it!

Now is a good time to do so.

October 10, 2025

 

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