Some Light, Some Dark,

Some Just Plain Crazy

by Tom Anselm

Every once in a while, there are just so many things to talk about. A lot is going on lately and while I could do a piece on each of them, I thought I’d just hit on a few.

You may recall that I came out in full support of the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team in their quest for their 4th World Cup Championship. As it turned out, they showed that they were indeed the top team in the world. Job well done. But I was sorely disappointed at the extent to which several members of the team used their notoriety to

inject politics into the discussion. I still espouse them getting paid equal to the men’s team, but keep the other stuff to yourself.   Left a bad taste… sorry.

On a more personal note, this recently-turned-70-year-old has finally decided to take medication for blood pressure. For the last 20 years or so, I have been able to keep the numbers in good range by following the DASH diet. But lately, things just weren’t looking so good. As the nurse practitioner said, “you can pick your friends and you can pick your nose… but you can’t pick your parents.”

So, genetically, I guess this move was an inevitability, with both mom and dad having had some issues. Funny thing, two days after the med, the numbers were great, so there’s that. I guess time, and blood flow, marches on, right?

Listening to the radio the other day and the discussion turned to the murder rate in the City of St. Louis, especially of the horrific trend of children being killed.

This is incredibly tragic, and there seems to be no end in sight. They talked about solutions, like a massive sweep to find illegal guns, programs to bring people together somehow fostering a cultural sea-change and reducing the violence. One guy said the city and state should jointly deputize the National Guard to go house-to-house in high crime areas, flushing out the weapons. Another said things won’t change until they make serious inroads into eradicating the drug problem. And still another despaired of there being anything that can fix this.

I have to believe there is an answer. But I have no idea what it is. I do know that there is a real problem with kids thinking that shooting is the only answer, but then don’t they hear and see that all the time in the music and videos and films targeted at them?

And I know there is great pressure on youth in economically depressed areas to join gangs, sell drugs, hijack cars, commit robberies and burglaries, and so on. Again, I have no answers. But where are the sociologists and politicians and local community leaders?

I know they have rallies and prayer services and true outrage when a 3-year old is shot on her porch, a 10-year old sitting by his dad, a 14-year old just going out to talk to a friend. But this all comes after the fact. Where is the prevention? Sweeping houses for guns might work for a short term, but the bad actors will catch on and that effort won’t have any staying power. Maybe it’s the drug thing. Will that get better if marijuana is decriminalized, as in some states? I doubt it.

Bottom line, somebody has to figure this out. Otherwise, kids, and adults, will continue to die.

On a less depressing topic, what the heck is going on with Area 51? Are we finally going to find out ‘The Truth’ about that mysterious military base in Nevada? Will there actually be a raid to find the “original ET?” I hope not. I honestly don’t want to know what’s there. And I don’t want to find out that our government leaders have been lying to us for decades. What a shock that would turn out to be, right?

Yeah, right. Like I said, some light stuff, some very dark… some just plain crazy.

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