We Are ALL Americans?

Watching the news has become more and more painful with each passing day of the past year.
Who ARE we? WHERE are we? What the heck is going on in what used to be the most welcoming, successful and amazing Country in the world?

In the past week our president referred to other countries as ****hole countries! This is a statement that has NEVER been recorded in the Oval Office in the history of the Nation.  And I don't want to hear "Libtard" or "Republicon" one more time.  People it isn't about PARTY anymore! It is about what made this Country great!

The beautiful Statue of Liberty in the New York Harbor has a plaque stating:  GIVE me your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send THESE, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.

I lift my Lamp beside the GOLDEN DOOR!

Where oh where is THAT Golden Door in 2018?  Our Nation was FOUNDED by immigrants. Our Nation was FOUNDED by individuals coming from poverty, starvation, religious persecution...all searching for a BETTER life for themselves and their families.

When I was in grade school we often talked of the USA as the "melting pot" where people from all over the world came to build lives in a Country which offered, Freedom.  Freedom of choice, Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Speech and a Free Press.

AGAIN IT IS NOT ABOUT PARTY AFFILIATION, what is happening in America today is about GREED, RACISM, RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION and a failure to understand and embrace the values upon which this Nation was built.

Freedom means you can choose which religion you want to follow, or not follow any at all.  Freedom means you are not afraid to speak up when you feel you or someone else has been wronged.  Freedom means that you will not be defined by the color of your skin or the language you speak, or your Country of Origin.  The PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS was promised to ALL, not to just a select few.

Bullies are appearing in every corner of our Country from grade school to senior citizens.  It is being "allowed" as acceptable because we have come to think of it as "normal."  It IS NOT normal.

Social media has fed this frenzy.  People hide behind their computer and telephone screens and call each other names and say unspeakable things to others they know nothing about.  Social bullying is the norm with people calling others "Libtards and Republicons" and "idiots and jerks."  There is no restraint or consequence for this despicable behavior.

Tweeting out hateful remarks instead of learning to share thoughts and feelings, opinions and ideas has become the social norm.  As a result we are no longer a "great" Country.  We are losing the respect of countries and people around the world.  We no longer stand as a "beacon of hope" for the struggling and oppressed peoples of the world.  And please don't say we are a "Christian" nation.  The behavior and language coming out of our own White House is anything BUT Christ like.  Men marching in the streets with torches threatening those whose skin is not the same color as theirs; people marching in AMERICAN streets wearing NAZI symbols and chanting Nazi slogans can not be seen as "good people" or "acceptable."

My greatest fear is what is it going to take for ALL of us, Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindi, Athiest or Agnostic to come together and REBUILD what had been known as the beacon of HOPE for not only those within our own borders, but around the world? WE ARE NOT LIBERALS, REPUBLICANS, LIBERTARIAN OR GREEN PARTY!! We are ALL within these borders AMERICANS first and foremost.  We must revisit the Constitution and Bill of Rights and return to the principles upon which this Country was founded.

We MUST remember to love our fellow Americans and be willing to reach out around the world to help others who are less fortunate than we.  Isolationism, Nationalism and Greed must not be allowed to define this great Country.  WAKE UP AMERICA! Let us reach out to each other and return America to the greatness it was once known for.  We must do this NOW, or our Country will not survive and will disappear into history as a "failed" experiment.

Yard Sale Crazies!

I spent last week getting ready for my first garage sale in more than ten years.  Emptying closets, cabinets, drawers and such and putting prices on each object, I carefully planned even the staging of this sale.  I bought bright neon paper to create my signs to place on the roads around my neighborhood.  My sweet husband cut lengths of stakes and sharpened them so that we could drive them into the hard Georgia clay.  I placed an add in the Macon Telegraph.com.  I thought I had planned for every contingency.  What I hadn't planned for however, was the Yard Sale Crazies!

We placed our brightly colored signs out on the chosen corners Thursday as the sale was Friday and Saturday from 8AM until 3 PM.  Everything was carefully staged in the garage and on tables we planned to slide out onto the driveway in front of the garage.  Fortunately, we had a large crowd the first day.  Have you ever watched people park for a garage sale?  Apparently they lose all sense of rationality when they are shopping for bargains.  They will park ANYWHERE and block everything and everyone without regard of how traffic will get around them.  Then they pick over every item and try to negotiate the absolute best price imaginable.  We actually had people stop in on Thursday when they saw me staging the stuff, and then on Friday morning (remember the sale wasn't starting until 8) they started to arrive at 6:30!  Fortunately we had gotten up at 6 AM and made coffee and were ready for these "early birds."

But one of the craziest things I have ever seen happened when Kevin noticed one of our signs was not up when he was on his way home from work last night at 11 PM.  He parked the truck and went to check and see if the sign had somehow been knocked down.  What he didn't expect was that the sign was GONE, and had been replaced by someone else's sign in the neighborhood next to ours.  Now, my first thought was, did they think people would come to our house first and run out of money?  Did they think we had better stuff?  Did they actually think I was so stupid that I wouldn't notice our signs were not only gone, but replaced by theirs?  Fortunately again, I don't think the loss of our signs hurt us any.  I had record sales for a yard sale. 

I guess I just haven't realized yet just how sad and sorry some of the people in this world have become.  I have commented before on how people are greedy and don't care about other people...but, to actually steal someone's garage sale signs to replace them with your own?!  What's up with that?
I had several people ask me if there were other sales in the area, and I referred them to the one that I knew about in Sardis Plantation right next door to our small community..the people who took our signs and replaced them.  I chose not to return ugly for ugly.  I feel like what goes around comes around, and as an old and dear friend of mine used to say "God don't like ugly!"

I made three times the amount of money that I had expected to at our little garage sale.  I had very little left and plan to donate it to Goodwill as they sell this kind of stuff all the time.  My house is "lighter" by a lot of "stuff" which I really didn't need and really needed to divest myself of in order to downsize to a smaller place.  We sold everything from furniture to bread machines, costume jewelry to Christmas decorations.  STUFF!!

I enjoyed talking with all the people who came by.  There were old, young, crazy and rude people.  They were tall, short, handicapped and clueless in some cases.  I had opportunity to witness to several people about God and what He has done for me.  I had numerous chances to share dietary information to many who are interested in improving their health or the health of their families.  Kevin and I both enjoyed this two days in spite of being bone tired.  It will be at least ten years before I feel like doing another garage/yard sale; and I will probably be too old to bother at that point! 

Just be aware if you decide to have a yard/garage sale.  It is a lot of work.  You can actually make quite a bit of money on things you no longer need.  Garage sales prices have to be CHEAP!  These people who shop garage sales are absolutely "addicted" to it, and won't buy things if they are priced too high..they will just go on to the next street, neighborhood etc.  Have a plan about what you want to do with what is left.  Know that no matter what times you put on those signs (and I hope yours don't get stolen), people will show up EARLY!  Have your coffee and plan to talk.

Good Luck!  God Bless!  Peace, Love and Joy to All

Poop and Politicians

Lovely picture isn't it?  Used to be that looking at this building inspired and awed the people in this Country.  Not so much any more.

The view of this building conjures up negative feelings about what is going on inside those hallowed halls today.  Politicians actually used to be "public servants."  When is the last time you felt like your politican was actually serving you?  It has been a long time. 

I think it is just plain poop that politicians have set it up so that even if they only get elected to ONE term they get LIFETIME benefits, salary and insurance.  Most of us work 30 years or more and are lucky if we have half the benefits we earned after we retire.  We are told to "save" for our retirement.  If you are only making enough money to meet your bills, send your kids to school/college and pay for insurance, then exactly how are you supposed to save?  More and more families in this Country are slipping into poverty each and every day.  More and more families are becoming homeless and children are hungry.  Children are hungry in a land of so much abundance!  This is definitely POOP!

I really don't know if it is possible to force any kind of change in this Country.  I am afraid we may have gone too long and too far to take back our Country and the values upon which it was founded.  We used to care for our fellow citizens. Events in history such as "barn raising" and helping your neighbors harvest their crops have gone by the wayside.  I have heard people make such vitriolic comments about others less fortunate than themselves, that it is heart wrenching.

As we watch the greed and avarice taking place among the so-called "leaders" of our Country, what can we expect from the followers of those leaders but more of the same.  It is time to wake up and put the good of the Nation above the wants of the few.  No, that isn't socialism.  Every man should work, and provide for his/her own family.  But the current inequalities in salary and focus on celebrity whether movies, sports or television versus people putting in long hours, or putting their lives in danger to defend our Country must change. 

I am tired of the bickering, the pork belly programs and the Congress and Senate lining their own pockets at the expense of the Middle Class.  If we don't stand up and take back our Country soon, it will be too late....