40 Stories High, Jerry Gaines

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"Let no feeling of discouragement prey upon you, and in the end, you are sure to succeed." -- Abraham Lincoln

"Treat a man as he appears to be and you make him worse. But treat a man as if he already were what he potentially could be, and you make him what he should be." --Goethe

Just think, in the last century or so, it has been France, Germany, Italy, North Africa, England, Japan and the Pacific, Korea, Viet Nam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and so many other others. To me, NOTHING is more heart-rending than the sight of family that "just got the news" -- the sharply dressed officer at the door, the ceremony, the "detail" with the telltale echo of the rifle shots in the distance, the flag folding, all those from-the-HEART tears. In my years on this Earth, I have seen a few, and I have learned to hate war. Oh, I know full well that it is absolutely necessary sometimes, but I hate it anyway. It destroys or hurts sooo many lives, and I hate it. Honor our fallen in whatever way you can; it is the least...

When I consider the chaos that is the American political scene today, we can point fingers in a multitude of directions, but I think it is the result of just a few key decisions by a few key individuals. Throughout each presidential administration in American history, there has been "division" -- hence, different "parties": Republican, Democrat, Independent, Libertarian, Whig. We are a nation of different viewpoints because each of us IS "different" (even identical twins -- same DNA -- have different thumbprints). Successful human beings find a way to work TOGETHER. The foundation of this country's "GREATNESS" has forever been in its willingness, despite obvious (and sometimes STRONG) differences, to WORK TOGETHER -- to compromise -- to find a way to do what's best for that "sacred majority." Shortly after the inauguration of this nation's first black president, a small group of Republican Congressmen met at a D.C. restaurant with two goals in mind: 1.) to make sure he would be a ONE-TERM president, and 2.) to make sure ANY of his proposed policies fail. It wasn't just Obamacare. That line of thinking caused further unexpected divisions within the Republican party that, today, threaten to destroy it all together. The signs have been quite evident for some time -- the Speaker's (Boehner's) sudden resignation, the presidential front-runner (Trump) actually being attacked by the "establishment" segment of his own party. I think it all started in that restaurant. Since GEORGE WASHINGTON, there have been a total of 168 attempts to block presidential appointments. Nearly HALF (82) have been OBAMA appointments, and many appointee's credentials, reputations (even if he/she was Republican) did not matter at all. Think about that. What was the "ultimate motive?" Today, to that list of 82, we can now add Merrick Garland, the most recent Supreme Court Justice nominee -- 83. If the general attitude has been one of "Sink the ship to drown the captain," PEOPLE suffer, emotions naturally run high, and when people make choices for their leadership based on the instability of "emotion," can we be surprised that the leadership becomes what it has? Who do you trust now? Those congressmen in that restaurant that night (if we must "point fingers") are the ones I think are to blame for this "mess." It was THEY who went contrary to everything that has made this country as great as it IS (not WAS). It was THEY who broke the "unwritten code." It was THEY who made it simply the "_____ STATES OF AMERICA" -- causing all this "polarization" that we see -- that everyone is talking about. It was inevitable. The "historical icons" of each party -- Reagan, Kennedy, and others -- all had their "enemies," BUT they were willing to sit down and discuss their differences -- to compromise -- FOR THE SAKE OF THE PEOPLE. Any attempt to "interrupt" that process, is an attempt to bring down America and all the "wonderful dreams" it has come to represent in this world. Isn't THAT the main reason why so many from all over the globe, to this day, still flock to our shores? ANYONE who promotes a policy of "US vs. THEM" will, by default, guarantee continued conflict, turmoil, chaos. I urge you to open your eyes, so that your HEARTS may follow suit.

"When we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change."

(This especially applies when we look at..................................ourselves.)