Callaio
Well, in this week’s column, I was going to write about rainbows, sunsets, beaches, and my love for chocolate, but this past week was pretty depressing.
We had another school shooting, the 24th anniversary of 9/11, the senseless murders of a political activist, and an innocent girl on a bus getting stabbed to death.
I don’t care what your political affiliation is; this type of violence is totally unacceptable.
It’s 2025, but it feels more like 1881 and we are at O.K. Corral. What’s next? Do we all gear up and wear pistol belts with bullets?
There is not much that makes sense these days and, I for one, do not have the answers but one — we have to stop the hatred.
It’s okay to disagree, it’s okay to debate, but it’s rare when it happens civilly. When we live in a society where you can flippantly say anything that you can spew out of your mouth without recourse, there’s bound to be hatred to follow.
Seriously, what ever happened to thinking about what you are about to say instead of just saying it?
Realistically, we can’t do a darn thing on the national level except vote twice a year to be heard, but in the meantime, can’t we just bring civility back and just be reasonable?
Our country isn’t the NFL where we chose our teams and then hope we get to beat the brains, literally, out of our opponent. Our love for sports teams and hatred for any other team has spilled into our daily lives, our social conscience, and our politics.
We are living in a world that would be so foreign to me as a child. The world of leaving your car doors unlocked and even your house, a world of ‘yes sir’ and ‘yes ma’am,’ a world of keeping your political and religious beliefs to yourself. It wasn’t so bad back then.
This past Friday was my birthday, and my childhood friend Rob Seeley took me out to lunch. We had a discussion about the week’s activities and we both agreed that, growing up, there was no better time or place than being in Greater Pittston — West Pittston, in particular.
I’m sure our parents would have stated when they were young that theirs was the best time and place to grow up, and perhaps it was.
Not having the internet, 400 news channels, and the easy access social media to influence us back then made life so much simpler than today. You didn’t find the social divide and the rhetoric.
With that said, in my early lifetime, there was the assassinations of JFK, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, and Robert Kennedy.
Even with all that tragedy of the 1960s, you felt insulated from what was going on at the national level.
Everyone talks about cooling the political climate, yet nobody is doing anything about it. Someone needs to take the first step.
Fingers are always pointing to each other saying, “They are the problem.”
News flash: neither party is better than the other and that’s the truth. Granted, each party has something to bring to the table and each party has their share of failures.
I liked it better when you just didn’t know how one felt about politics. I liked it better when entering a polling booth was like entering sacred land.
There is no respect for our fellow man anymore. It’s always me versus you, or us versus them, and there’s no common ground.
I’ll tell you what the common ground should be… we are all Americans. Remember when America stood out as the greatest nation? So much for all of us being on the same team, so much for us being the United States of America… there is nothing united about us.
What will it take for our country to live in harmony and with respect for each other? Would the U.S. being involved in a world war bring us together? Maybe, but I hope that never happens. The world temperature seems to be climbing, and I don’t mean the weather.
The Middle East is a mess, Russia is out of control, and now it looks like China, North Korea, and Russia are joining forces. What’s next?
Yes, I wish I could write about another birthday for me as well as my 19th anniversary of being cancer free this past Sept. 8, and how happy I am to still be here and having the freedom to write a newspaper column, cover the Greater Pittston area, and still have many friends from childhood to present.
I’m thrilled to have my family, but I miss my parents dearly. I’m so glad they don’t have to witness the political and social climate of today.
Being free from cancer is something I don’t take for granted. I hear so many people being stricken and it pains me.
The benchmark, I was told, if you can reach five-years cancer free, you’d have a great chance of remaining that way for the rest of your life. So naturally, I hoped and prayed I could reach the five-year mark.
Let me tell you, the first five years after surgery felt like 20 years.
Yes, I wish I had a chance to write about sugar-coated candy, ice cream and cake, but life isn’t always that way.
When will we really try to help ourselves and be respectful again?
Quote of the Week
“Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
Thought of the Week
“Civility is the art of living together with respect, even amid our differences.” – Richard Mouw
Bumper Sticker
“Civility costs nothing and buys everything.” – Mary Wortley Montagu
