I'll have to say the 2020's thus far have been more than trying. The ravages of Covid, Putin's war in Ukraine that threatens all Western Europe, the Trump Maga movement that threatens our democracy, mudslides, forest fires, immigration woes, the renewed attacks on ethnic American citizens, the shift in how we work, inflation, mass shooting of innocents, police malfeasance. I'm 81 years old, and I have never seen the chaos of this last 4 years. Enough said? Every society in every land mass in the world has risen and fallen from within at one time or another. The Greeks, Romans, Chinese, Japanese, Egyptians, Russians have all fallen and risen again. Personally, I don’t want to experience any fall at my age. I can’t run, and I have nowhere to hide. For centuries, war, civil war, genocides, natural disasters, economic disasters, culture wars, brutal dictators, Mongol Hordes have had their way with our meager bipedal selves, yet we, as a species, have survived. In there demise, they left a legacy of knowledge, art, architecture, food, customs that are still appreciated and the basis for much of how we live and what we know of our world today. I am hopeful we can overcome this latest unpleasantness and divisiveness in this UNITED states of America. My attempt to understand how we have gone to and interconnected world in which every “wrinkle” in one part of the world directly affects the sum of the whole is woefully lacking. I feel a hopelessness I have not felt in my life that the world is truly out of control. Humanity is threatened, natural resources and our planet's weather are migrating to keep us off balance. We are being inundated with climate anomalies that baffle us. There are those who deny we have any part in it. There are those who doubt that anything at all is happening. I don't believe Columbus could have gotten to China through the Northern Passage that will be completely ice free by the summer of 2031. In my mind, our fascination with social media has taken our eyes off the road and are heading for the ditch. Our inability to elect and attract viable political candidates that can govern effectively are evasive We are a nation made of communities, counties, states that have laws that govern how our lives stay between the white lines. There has been a disconnect, an ambivalence, to how we vet those who wish to govern us. I took Civics in high school. I feel dropping it from school curriculums has caused a failure to understand how our Constitution works. We need to revisit that mistake. These two guiding documents are being labeled as old gray and only in the way by our courts and politicians. Interpretation to fit whims of politicians and courts do not change the original intent. The Kingston Trio sang a little ditty that sums up my evaluation of today’s world

Can we save ourselves? Pogo a cartoon character created by Walt Kelley in the 50’s was known to say.” We have met the enemy, and he are us”. I have never been this uneasy about the future of our world, our environment, our fragile ability to "live free". Gun, knives, political unrest, racism, book banning, science bashing, trash mouthing, storming forts of democracy do not bode well for our future. Speaking Chinese or Russian really doesn't appeal to me. Rotting in jail for speaking my mind doesn't appeal to appeal to me. Getting shot by some deranged person with an axe to grind in a grocery store does not appeal to me. Democracy is a noble experiment, a fragile experiment that we have fought for. Don't give it away by allowing it to be turned to the will of those who would be kings, or dictators. These are trying times and demand our best efforts to stay on the course we have been on for 200 + years. It’s worked so far. Come together, people!!!