July 4th Celebration

For the first time in many, many years, I took the time to read the history of our country's Independence Day. It was a fascinating read and I encourage you to click above and go back to Independence Day 101!

With the hustle and bustle of everyday life, uncertainties about our future, worries about money, the health of our people and planet, and God only knows what else, we sometimes forget about our nation's struggle for independence.

We think things are hard now? What about how hard it must have been during the American Revolution. Just living to the ripe old age of forty was a challenge. No modern conveniences and I mean none, zilch, zip! Good grief, what do you mean there were no flush toilets or running water? It was not unusual to have a venomous critter bite your butt while doing number two in the outhouse and die a week later! Let alone, getting yourself killed by a British solder, or freezing to death trying to fight the Red Coats in the middle of winter.

Come to think of it; how did Washington cross the mighty Delaware River in the dead of winter with row boats, not much food, few warm clothes, inferior weapons, and little ammo and powder? They did it with faith, courage and hope. No one sniveled, cried or complained. They had a job to do and did it. They crossed the Delaware, surprised the enemy, and won the day.

Try putting yourself back in the day when there was no electricity, batteries, lights, phones, radios, television, cars, paved roads, trains, train tracks, air travel, modern medicines, air conditioners, heaters, fans, refrigerators, curlers, hair dryers, clothes dryers, perm-press clothes, steel-toed boots, body armor, freeze-dried foods, soda, or safe bottled water, to name just a few modern conveniences our fore-fathers did not have. Life was hard folks....very, very hard.

Moral of the story? Get some faith, courage and hope; together we can accomplish anything we set our minds to. I'll be damned if I am going to let the Red Coats of today's modern world beat my ass. Onward, forward, and damn the torpedoes!

Write on,

Mittster

In The Day

I really like the History Channel show, "American Pickers." It's hard to believe that we are living in the 21st century, yet there are people all over the world that still cling to old stuff in barns, garages and basements.

Why is that?

Well, first of all, keepers of old stuff are usually seniors. As a senior myself, I too have old stuff in the shed and nic-nac cabinet. We long for the good old days when life was simple and uncomplicated. Like The Old Man in Pawn Stars puts it, "We like to think about in the day, because it makes us feel good."

In the day was about honesty, truthfulness, being law abiding, a day's work for a day's pay, In God We Trust, children, Christmas with handmade presents, Easter egg hunts, Memorial Day parades with the United States flag flying everywhere, Fourth of July picnics at the park, Labor Day swimming at the pond, and Thanksgiving dinner with family from all four corners of the country.

Greed in the day was stealing a few cookies, while they were cooling, from the kitchen window. You could maybe tell a little white lie once in a blue moon and still feel good about yourself. Partying was snitching a little bottle of tequila from the camp trailer that was used for summer vacation and waking up with a horrible hangover, which kept you from doing it again. Marriage was for a lifetime and making love was for after you got married. Being neighborly and generous was normal, and saying the word God in the Pledge of Allegiance was not embarrassing.

I guess it all boils down to one thing. The past is gone, but we can still respect one another and our planet. It's not too late to get our standards back up to where they were when our forefathers brought forth this great country. Let's practice the Golden Rule and live today like the In The Day.

Write on, brother, write on....

Mittster