The Next Four Years ... Lessons From My Parents

 
The election is over and in my view, America won. We always do.

Self government is a wonderful blessing and living in America is a special privilege. At least that's my take.

Some people are happy today about the election results and some are not so happy. Count me among the happy.

The people have spoken and that's good enough for me. As long as we live in a free and self governing country like ours, there's reason to be highly optimistic about our nation's future and the prosperity and well being of its citizens, too.

Along those lines, Notable & Quotable captures my feelings very well:

"The apogee of American Power was the 1969 moon landing. Since then, we, the most successful empire in history, affording the greatest access to prosperity, happiness, public life, in history, have been in decline. This, as Gibbon told us, is inevitable. Nothing lasts forever.

This period, of diminishing American Hegemony, however, may be one of healthy age. We citizens are the owners of the country, and its board of directors. We may find the strength to reasonably consider the options open to us in this confusing time. None of them is perfect. . . .

It is not a brave announcement that our country is imperfect. None of the works of Man is perfect. But it is our country, to govern, to defend, and to enjoy as long as we choose to set our minds to it."

Summing Up ... What Being an American Means to Me

My Dad was an hourly paid union member and a wonderful Dad. He was an FDR Democrat, having graduated from high school during the Depression.

My equally wonderful Mom worked in the local small town school cafeteria so that my older brother and I could go to college. Mom didn't get to finish tenth grade in high school. After her Dad died, she had to drop out of school, and help out on the farm.

Dad and Mom wanted my older brother and me to have the opportunity for "a better life," as they put it. So they sacrificed much to give us that opportunity.

Even more important, my Dad always told me that I could do anything I wanted to do and achieve anything I was willing to work hard to get. No limits, in other words.

As a lover of sports, he also liked to remind me that I could compete with anyone and that we all put our pants on one leg at a time. Don't be scared and don't be awed, in other words.

Dad and Mom loved this wonderful country of ours. So do I.

They wasted no time dwelling on what could have, should have, or might have been. Not a minute.

They were too busy working to make things better for themselves, their children and their community. I'm trying to live up to the example they set.

And a little election won't change that --- not even a little bit. Enjoy the day, my fellow Americans. I will, too.

Thanks. Bob.