Craig Wiseman

A number of different threads have been running together for me.

The scout troop went to the National WWII Museum recently, and it was a profoundly moving experience.

Between that and all the references to the "Great Depression", my thoughts have spent a lot of time in the '30s and 40s lately.

My Nana passed away coming up on two years ago now. I was a number of states away at out first scout summer camp at the time and could not be there - something I will regret forever. But, my wife and oldest son stood up and filled in well for us.

Nana was born in 1914, and these all come together because I've often thought of the world-wrenching changes she saw during her life. She was born in the horse and buggy era and live through the post-space age internet era. The Titanic sank. The Great War. The Great Depression. World War II, The Korean War. McCarthy. Desegregation. Hurricanes Betsy, Camille, et al. The Civil Rights movement. Vietnam. 9/11. Katrina. I'm sure that the evacuating from NOLA for Katrina took 5 years or more from her/us.

And now we've borrowed from our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren more than $2,500 for each US taxpayer, and that's just on this particular bailout. That doesn't count the TARP or the huge general deficit we're running. I heard that this year, the Treasury will have to borrow over 2 TRILLION dollars.

Sacrifice.

Another thread that folded in is the video below. One of my sons has gotten into Guns n' Roses lately, and while I really like them, for some reason I'd never seen the video for Civil War. Even if you hate them, turn off the sound and watch.

Even with wars in Iraq & Afghanistan, pain, effort, and loss is almost completely focused on those few, proud families that have sent family members "over there". The vast majority of America has not been asked to sacrifice anything. Current generations really have no clue what sacrifice means.
I'm not arguing if we need the bail out or not - that bail out is a done deal. Now we need to buck up and fix things. Let's get rid of the deficit and get the national debt 'down' to 1.5 Trillion. There's nothing wrong with us that we can't fix ourselves. We have the time. We have the capability. We just need the will.

Comments (2)
Craig Wiseman February 10th, 2009 05:53:55 PM