Thursday, January 15, 2015

Volume 86: 2015 Outlook as 2014 passes in rearview mirror

Every writer of every genre has something to say about the great events, deaths, and crises of 2014 and the expectations of the New Year 2015 whereas I have much more concern for the trends involving Freedom, Failure, Success and Responsibility during this coming year.

It only took us less than seventy years to go from ‘simple flight’ to landing on the moon yet our high school graduation rates continues to worsen as well as our educational systems as compared to the rest of the world. Since 1961 the amount of food we produce has increased 25% and now we produce enough food to fill the bellies of every single person on earth with 2800 calories per day yet we have millions of people within our great country going to bed hungry. Our ‘athletic high school superstars’ are admitted into prestigious universities with ‘adjusted’ ACT scores while “A-B” students struggle to get acceptance. Respect levels for grandparents are at a all time low with teenagers today not being educated with respectful understandings to those that would move the earth for their success...and the oceans continue to wash ashore as if all is well.....

Maybe I just yearn for the days when kids played till dark, rode bikes and played ball in the street. Where actions were our own and consequences were expected. Where not everyone made the ‘team’ and therefore learned to deal with disappointment. Where third, fourth and fifth place teams weren’t given trophies. Where parents baling us out for our bad choices were unheard of as they took the side of the teacher, the police officer and others in supervision. Somewhere after the ‘greatest of generations’ and present generation a serious gap has emerged within our society. With each passing year the number of Americans jumping on board ‘the safety net’ continues to grow rapidly, and a great many of these people should be able to take care of themselves; today, the American people collectively receive more money from the government than they pay in taxes. The ‘Great Society’ social programs have in effect enslaved generations of black men, women and children on urban poverty plantations. The race hustlers and race baiters like Sharpton, Farrakhan and Jackson only reinforces the fact that the dreams of Mr. King will only remain a dream.

Globally it is even worse as new data reveal that China finally overtook the United States as the world’s top economic powerhouse. This marks the first time America has relinquished this ranking since Ulysses S. Grant occupied the Oval Office. Barack Obama and his colleges have fundamentally changed America as well as our international standing. We unfortunately are no longer a world leader but follower incited and motivated by 'spin' and reaction rather than leadership. Nevertheless, and regardless of the professional politics of the beltway, the responsibility of Freedom Failure Success and Responsibility rests solely on the proper parenting of parents today without which this decay continues.

Love has no color AND Life has responsibilities and consequences. Race will not be the issue of 2015 regardless of the last few months (and, bless our men and women in Blue) but ill-conceived notions of Religion will, and the senseless slaughter in the name of a ‘God’ will be our year forward....