What Would Jimmy Do?

We attended a “Citizenship” party this past weekend — a friend became a US Citizen, and a number of people got together to celebrate.
As big days go, I suspect this must be one of the biggest for these new citizens — they become eligible to serve on a jury, run for office, vote and lots of other things we take for granted. Cathy was born in Ireland and had to become a US Citizen through a long process called naturalization. First, a person must be at least eighteen years old and must have been a legal resident for at least five years — display good moral character and loyalty to the United States. To become a citizen, people must be able to read, write and speak English, have knowledge and understanding of United States history and government and believe in the US Constitution — and be willing to take an oath of loyalty to the United States. If, and only if, they meet these requirements can they submit an application for citizenship. Then they must take an exam to prove they meet the conditions of becoming a citizen. Finally, they take an oath of allegiance in court. And then they’re Americans — Americans by choice.
Theodore Roosevelt once said, “Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, or difficulty.” I’d bet that naturalized citizens believe that.

Most of us inherited US Citizenship — we didn’t earn it. We have been bequeathed our opportunities and freedom by the deeds, commitments and spilled blood of Americans who came before us. But America is not and never will be a finished project. We have been handed a work in progress that continues evolve in the direction we choose. There is a sense — I think more so among the younger generation, that being an American Citizen is no big deal, with no obligation attached to it.

Most of us “natural born” citizens take our government for granted. If you’ve traveled extensively or lived abroad, you realize how wonderful our government really is. Certainly graft and corruption occurs, but it doesn’t happen on the scale you see in other countries. Government bribes are part of every day business in many, many countries. We have consistent, peaceful transfer of power every few of years — we don’t have coups in the US. How many countries can say that? The US has a well tested, democratic process where power is peacefully handed over to newly elected officials. This has happened consistently over the course of our 200-plus year history.

I’ve been fortunate enough to have traveled to a lot, if not most, places in the world and once you’re out of the country for any extended period of time, you realize all the “stupid” little things that you miss that all of us take for granted every day. We have running water — hot running water, electricity, toilet paper and bathrooms, sidewalks, paved roads, cars, a bed to sleep in, a room, house or space to call our own, public schools, television and freedom — freedom of choice, whether it be in the voting booth or choosing a restaurant or a pair of shoes….
If I want to write this blog, all I have to do is log in, write what’s on my mind and hit the publish button. and you can open it and read it any time you wish — just like you can thousands of other things on the Internet. But that’s a different story in many countries —if I write something the government doesn’t agree with, it’s blocked and you can’t read it. Just another of the many freedoms we take for granted.

So as I think about all these things I’m pretty sure most of us “natural born” citizens don’t fully appreciate what it means to be an American Citizen. It means many things, but the bottom line is that we are all responsible for watching over and protecting our own democracy — making it work for all of us and passing it along to our children better than we inherited it. I think that I accept that responsibility — I’m sure our new citizen Cathy does.
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You’ve probably noticed now that the olympics have ended, that the big olympic news wasn’t about the events, it was about some US swimmers and a late night incident at a gas station. So guess what we’re going to be talking about today — honesty. Honesty is more than just accurately reporting facts — it includes what you say and also what you don’t say. And it includes your actions. Honesty is saying and doing what is true — not false.

I won’t get into the specifics of the gas station incident — you can read the papers and watch TV just like me. If you’ve noticed what’s been going on in the world lately, you’ve heard about auto companies cheating on auto emissions results and banks that have admitted to massive fraud, governors (and other public officials) charged, or convicted, of corruption.

And of course, in this election year, let’s not forget politics… Mark Twain said that politicians would never lie “unless it was absolutely convenient.”
There are currently two candidates running for president (not counting any minority party “candidates.”) Since this blog is about honesty — be honest. Dose either candidate exude honesty as an attribute? They both say, “trust me” but neither provides much, or any, basis for doing so. Just because someone is a “politician” doesn’t give him or her a license to practice situational honesty. Honesty isn’t something that can be turned on or off in different situations. You’re either honest and trustworthy or not.

We have the presidential debates to look forward to — I’ll make a bold prediction right now. Both candidates will lie — a harsh term, maybe, but both will lie. So here’s where we stand: Both candidates are lying. Our job is to decide which one is lying less. Sad state of affairs isn’t it? We’re reduced to weighing the lies and probably wind up voting for, in our opinion, the least deceitful.

So have we reached the point, that honesty is just for suckers? Hope not — we should all remember a Thomas Jefferson quote, “Honesty is the first chapter the the book of wisdom.”
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Just about any way you cut it, I’m a Senior Citizen — pick any criteria you want and I qualify. So I figure today is my day. On August 19, 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed Proclamation 5847 declaring August 21 as National Senior Citizens Day. Prior to 1988, some people celebrated Senior Citizens Day on August 14 because that was the day President Franklin roosevelt signed the Social Security Act (in 1935.)

But in 1988, President Reagan made it official — as he put it, “Throughout our history, older people have achieved much for our families, our communities, and our country. That remains true today and gives us ample reason this year to reserve a special day in honor of the senior citizens who mean so much to our land.” So now, every year you have an opportunity to appreciate my contribution. And — I have an opportunity to take it easy and be celebrated.

When you stop to think about it, it’s a wonder I ever got to be a senior citizen…
I rode in cars with no seat belts, no car seats, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes. And I remember going lots of places riding in the back of a pick-up truck.
I don’t remember childproof lids on medicine bottles in our bathroom, or locks on cabinet doors… I rode my bike wearing a baseball cap, no helmet. I played outside — pretty much all day long in the summer — I didn’t have Play Stations, X-boxes or Nintendo’s — or — computers, DVDs, radios, cell phones — but — I had friends and I usually found them outside. I had a BB gun and, even though I was told many times that it would happen, I didn’t shoot my eye out. I ate dirt and survived.

I had a different kind of freedom than kids have today — I had failures, successes and responsibilities and somehow I learned to deal with it all….
So feel free to have a drink with me today, on my day.
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I’ve watched more of the Olympics that I thought I would. One thing I like about them is there’s only one winner — the top three get medals, but only one wins. I suppose it’s only a matter of time before everyone that participates will be awarded a participation medal. That certainly is the trend with younger children and I’ve noticed that the practice is even spreading to some high schools.

Sports, and other activities, have been awarding trophies, plaques, certificates, etc. for as long as I can remember. No championship is complete without a trophy presentation. An award of this kind is a great way to acknowledge and celebrate victory and achievement. But somewhere along the way something has happened that devalues the impact and and appreciation of receiving these awards.

I think there is a desire to recognize the contributions of everyone that participates in an activity and one way to do that is to increase the number of awards given — even to the point of giving everyone involved an award or trophy just for participating.
Obviously, there are at least two schools of thought on the subject of awards — one side believes that an award is a powerful motivator. Another view is that nonstop recognition doesn’t inspire success. In life, people tend to lose more often than they win, even if they’re really good at something. If you come in last place and get a trophy, then what does that say? It says it’s ok to finish in last place.

Kids today are used to getting rewarded for doing practically nothing. By being rewarded for just participating, they haven’t learned that out in the real world, you don’t get rewarded for trying — even if it’s your best try. You get rewarded for winning or being the best. My thought is that if you don’t come in first, and only get second, it motivates you to try harder next time. Also, if you “lose” you often learn from the mistakes made and that helps you to do better. Any time you make a mistake, you have the chance to learn from it.

All through life you compete with other people — only one person will get that raise or promotion. And who is that? The person who is the best, who produces the best work — not the person who tried the hardest.

I know it’s tough to see kids lose, especially the little ones, but earlier rather than later they must learn that they can’t expect things to be handed to them and they need to learn that if they can’t lose, they shouldn’t play the game.
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I think I’ve mentioned here before that I’m not much of a fan of Facebook. I do have a Facebook page and if you check it you’ll see that it contains my name and not much else… The only reason I have a Facebook account is because just about everyone else in the world does and if I didn’t have it I might miss out on some stuff going on with my kids/grandkids.  I don’t “post” to Facebook. I do, however check it periodically….

Lately, not surprisingly, I’ve noticed that a lot of people can’t post anything without making it political and seem to think that it’s their duty to share every single bit of oversimplified propaganda they come across. As always, this is only my opinion, but I doubt that anyone really logs on to Facebook to see your political views. I don’t remember ever seeing a political post on Facebook that tries to find a common ground. Mostly, it’s just about bashing the “other” side, and pointing out how only retards would believe anything different than their posts. A good many of the things I’ve noticed lately have some form of information that is not only totally skewed, but usually just plain wrong. Obviously these posts are made by people who don’t care to do any fact checking, or research — they just pass along anything that supports their view.

When was the last time you heard people arguing about politics and someone said, “Oh my gosh, you know what? You’re right! You’ve totally convinced me to change my mind!” Oh, let’s see… probably  never! Political discussions with someone who agrees with your point of view evolves into you both just re-iterating the same thing over and over to each other. If you don’t agree, the “discussion” ends up with you both just calling each other ignorant and un-educated. No one is listening — no one is trying to calmly explain their point of view, it’s just a lot of hot air trying to convince the other side that they’re stupid for thinking like they do and believing what they believe.

Debating politics on Facebook is as useless as arguing with a door knob. What people are looking for is validation of their opinion, and if that opinion is challenged then defensiveness and name-calling seem to be in order. If those people really have good intentions and aren’t just talking or cutting and pasting because it’s easy, then they should do something productive like becoming active in the community as a political volunteer or get involved with the party or campaign that hopes to accomplish what they deem as right or correct. Doesn’t make any difference which side of the political spectrum you’re on, arguing on Facebook is pointless and accomplishes nothing.
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I’m not sure why, but it seems like I’ve gotten into the habit of updating this blog every year on, or about, my birthday. If you’ve read the entries in the past, you’ve probably figured out that I’m not a big fan of my birthday. If you go back and check, you’ll probably find phrases like, oh God, my birthday is coming up, wait, how old am I?, whoa, that’s kind of old, ugh, I don’t feel any different, at least it’s only one day out of the year, it’s been another year already? Anyhow, you get the idea —it’s just not my favorite day….

So, if it’s not my favorite day, is it really an appropriate occasion to celebrate? Lots of people I know (probably most) look forward to their birthday and wouldn’t think of not celebrating it. I’m thinking, when one gets real old each year, maybe it would be better to stand back and contemplate rather than celebrate. Contemplate means to look thoughtfully for a long time or think profoundly and at length… so you can contemplate about anything, but as you get really old, contemplation on your birthday usually goes along the lines of, has life been kind to me, or have I lived a life full of happiness and achievements? I think it would be interesting to ask a lot of different people, especially older people, what they thought of their lives. I bet that would make a great paper for a high school or college English class…

Every birthday is a reminder of how time has and continues to pass. Time now seems to fly by at a tremendous speed. When I was young, 10 years seemed like so far into the future it was incomprehensible. Now 10 years…. I’ve heard time compared to a roll of toilet paper. When the roll is new, and you start pulling the paper, you will notice the whole roll is moving and the rate of rolling is very slow. When the roll is almost finished, then the rate of rolling is very fast and if you continue to pull, it will stop in no time because there is no toilet paper anymore… same with life.

As the blog faithful know, I’m somewhat fascinated by a lot of Chinese traditions. According to ancient Chinese tradition, only the elders celebrate birthdays. In the traditional Chinese family structure, the patriarch or matriarch was head of the family hierarchy and only they could celebrate their birthdays. And they had good reason to celebrate — to invite guests and relatives to witness the success and harmony of their family unit. So maybe I should celebrate my “old-age” birthdays…

Each day I thank my good fortune for being healthy and still kicking. The two things I’m most thankful for is my good health and my forever tolerant wife. Ok, three things, my kids, oh, four things my grandkids, and my friends… and living in West Virginia… and ok, I’m thankful for everything. I guess I’ve talked myself into this celebration thing…. only it seems wrong only to celebrate a birthday. I think I’ll try to “celebrate” constantly — not just once a year. If you doubt me, check back here next year, maybe I’ll give you a status report.
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Of course everyone knows that this month is famous because a few famous and admired people were born in August — such as, Alfred Hitchcock, Andy Warhol, Martin Sheen, Koby Bryant, Barack Obama, Madonna, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Williamson, Billy Bob Thornton, Tom Brady, Neil Armstrong… anyhow, you get the idea. The world might be very different without these people, so hooray for August.

August was the 6th month in the early Roman calendar and named after Julius Caesar Augustus. In the original Roman calendar, the month of August was called Sextilis because it was the sixth month of the year. (Later, after January and February were added to the calendar, it became the eighth month of the year.) August in the Northern Hemisphere is similar to February in the Southern Hemisphere.

August was the 55th most common name given to a baby boy in Sweden in 2014 and in 2015, August was the only month beginning on a Saturday. And while we’re on a roll, Warren Harding is the only US President to have died in the month of August. Richard Nixon did, however, resign from the Presidency in August.

Hawaii was admitted to the Union as the 50th state in August and women were granted the right to vote when the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified in August. Thomas Edison invented the phonograph in August and the first atomic bomb was dropped in August. Christopher Columbus set sail on his first voyage across the Atlantic in August and the Lincoln penny was first issued in August.

So let’s hear it for August — look at all the people we wouldn’t have and the things that wouldn’t have happened if there were no August — Hooray for August!!
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We went to brunch with all our kids and grandkids this past weekend. We’ve been attempting to do just that since sometime in June. As is often the case, I’m not sure what my point is, but 50 years ago this outing would have been much simpler.

The world today is not conducive to physically connecting people. People today work more, eat McDonald’s hamburgers or whatever they can, when they can, just to get by — all this leads to losing connection to one another in the process. Most people rarely have friends over and fewer and fewer join community or social clubs or civic organizations.

I was just thinking (like I always do) how things have changed since, say, World War II. People were much more civic-minded than the current generation. They joined more, gave more, voted more and trusted more.
I remember growing up….  downtown (such as it was) was where people met and talked. The businessmen all took “coffee breaks” and met at the local cafe mid-morning and usually in the afternoon. They drank their bottomless cups of 5-cent coffee and talked to each other about everything. If you went to the barber shop for a haircut, the place might be full, but probably no one was getting a haircut — it was a place the guys hung out, to discuss politics, the crops, weather, sports or anything else going on in the community or world. One could get nails and wire, kerosene lamps, rope or just about anything else needed at the hardware store, but its real purpose seemed to be a meeting place. Go in the back and there was always a lively discussion of some important topic like who would win the world series or whether or not to put a stop sign on highway 19…. You went to the post office to get your mail, but more importantly to socialize and find out what was going on with your neighbors.

Today, we spend more and more time in our cars. When I was growing up people lived at home and went to work, but they also went to those “other” places. Today, those other places pretty much don’t exist — the post offices, hardware stores, coffee shops, barbershops, even “main streets.” If you don’t have those other places, you don’t get to know the people around you. The sense of community kind of disappears and we fall into the home-to-work and back again routine.
I’ll admit I grew up in a very small town, but I knew everyone in town, and they knew me. Today I really don’t know some of our closest neighbors.

Not that I’m in any position to place “blame,” but I guess I blame social media for redefining our idea of community. There is now a Facebook community and a Twitter community and we have “friends” in these communities, but if you think about it, when we’re around and with people, a lot, if not most, of what we communicate is nonverbal. It’s really hard to truly understand people if you’re not face-to-face. Kids need hands-on learning experiences to understand some things — like how to be gentle with the dog, or be respectful of older people or even how to ride a bicycle. Those things can’t be learned on an iPad.

My parents didn’t even own a key to our house. People trusted other people, even strangers. My guess is that today most people tend to not trust others. I recently read that a fairly high percentage of people don’t have a single close friend, or someone with whom you can discuss “important matters.” It seems that a good portion of the younger population suffer from social isolation. I say “suffer,” but I’m sure the younger generation doesn’t see it that way at all.

Obviously the Internet has changed the world and how we live — we can get most anything from Amazon so we don’t “need” those other places like the hardware store, or bookstore or drug store. Where I grew up in Maysville, we didn’t know each other just because we chose to be friends, we did know each other as friends, but also as customers, and businessmen. We knew each other’s names, not just as “the guy that runs the drugstore.” Even in this important election campaign, we watch candidates on TV or read their “tweets” and maybe even participate in on-line or telephone polls, but if one of the candidates held a rally locally, I’d bet a high percentage of the people wouldn’t even attend.

The line between our online communities and our real life is blurring…maybe that’s a good thing; we use the Internet to invite people to dinner and probably serve something made from an online recipe instead of one of our grandmother’s favorite recipes. There’s probably no reason that we can’t use the modern technology to make it easier to interact with others, by scheduling face-to-face meetings and maybe even identifying common interests and groups we’l like to participate in. It’s something to think about and maybe even discuss. If you’d like talk about it, send me a text….
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I was looking for something a few days ago and I ran across a pocket knife that belonged to my dad. I remember that my dad always carried a pocket knife, as did both my granddads. I’m not sure it’s still true but in the past I’d say that almost every man always carried a pocket knife. I’ve carried a pocket knife for about as long as I can remember — still do today. It’s a small one but I’d be lost without it and it gets an amazing amount of use for all sorts of things… some things that I’ve actually used my knife for includes: removing a splinter, removing staples, cutting zip ties, sharpening pencils, separating those “stuck together” legos, stripping wire, opening a bottle of wine, tightening/loosening screws, removing stickers, cutting tape, opening letters, scraping excess glue, making a spot for drilling or cutting — so you get the idea, rarely does a day go by that I don’t use my trusty pocket knife.

There is only one federal knife law — the Switchblade Knife Act of 1958 and it only applies to individuals traveling internationally as well as between the states. All other governing powers for knives are state powers. If you reside in a particular state, the federal law only applies if your are traveling to another state or if your are entering federal property, such as a federal courthouse or military base. It is legal to own any type of knife in both Ohio and West Virginia.

The first folding pocket knife was created in the first century by the Romans. By the late 16th century, pocket knives were very popular, especially in the American colonies. Farmers, lawyers, in fact just all men started to carry them. Pocket knives have been an essential  tool for soldiers throughout American history. George Washington carried one and the U.S. Navy began issuing pocket knives to sailors during the Civil War. During WWI, the pocket knife was standard issue for American GIs.

Recently, like a lot of things, it seems, the changing world has led to knives disappearing from men’s pockets. Increased security at airports and many other buildings has made it increasingly difficult and impractical to carry a pocket knife — no matter how small. Years ago, when Kelly got married, I had to lock my knife in a security locker before we could enter the courthouse in Leesburg, even though my pocket knife was only 2 inches long. Just a sign of the times, I suppose, but so far these minor obstacles have not persuaded me to give up that manly tradition of carrying a pocket knife.
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Well, we made it through the Republican convention and the Democratic one is underway.
I intend to give equal time to both the Democrats and Republicans by watching each the same number of hours. As I’ve indicated recently in this blog, they’re just not what they used to be.

I generally don’t talk politics. Politics and religion are personal things and no one should influence your thoughts except yourself and no one should follow any political or religious leader blindly.
This November’s election is a contest between an insider and an outsider. I have no idea how I’ll vote, much less how the election will go. I suspect that a lot of, if not most, people will vote based on how they think the trajectory of their own lives is going. I’m no political analyst, but it seems that each party has fundamentally different views of the way life in the United States has changed. They both (say) they believe the economic system favors powerful interests but they differ on whether life is improving or getting worse for most people. Republicans are more likely to say things are getting worse because every election year the incumbent party argues that things have improved under their watch and the challenging party rallies around a cry for change.

Of course it’s easy to forget this isn’t just a Presidential election — lots of members of congress and local officials will be on the ballot, too. We should all pay attention to who’s running at all levels. Mark Twain said, “No man’s life, liberty or property is safe when the legislature is in session.” That may be truer than you think, so pay attention.

So even though November will be here before you know it, I have a feeling that a lot of us are going to be pretty tired of politics by then….
We’ll see how things go, but I think a “joke” making the rounds unfortunately sums up a lot of people’s thoughts…. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are on a plane. The plane crashed. Who survived? America.
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