And So It Begins...A New Presidency for 2016-2020...

In just a few days, the United States of America will see the dawning of a new era.  January 21st will usher in the Republican Presidency of Donald J. Trump.  The past year has been one of so many upheavals in our Government that it has made this old lady's head spin.  Never in MY life have I ever seen such wild shenanigans, displays of ugly tempers, outrageous lies about and within both parties, and outbreaks of fights and name-calling like seen only in the movies!

If I were an historian of any merit, I would say that the past 100 years have slowly been leading up to just what we are witnessing today.  The world is in chaos and so is the United States of America.  I don't recognize my country anymore.  I don't think the new generations coming up, who certainly don't remember a thing about "the good old days," if there really were such a thing, really have anything tangible to compare what we see today.

The youngsters of today don't remember Nickel ice cream cones or Penny candy.  They don't remember the newsboys standing on the corner calling out the latest headlines that were selling papers, like "Japanese Bomb Pearl Harbor," or "WWII breaks out in Europe."  They don't remember playing out until after dark in the streets of their neighborhoods games like kick the can or tag or hide-'n-seek.  They don't remember walking a mile to school...and home again in the afternoon, because there were no school buses and mom's didn't have 2 cars in the family to pick them up.

Even then, though, our world was not perfect.  Government was always scheming about how to pinch the very last Nickel out of our parents.  Savings accounts were unheard of, but that coffee can on top of the Frigidaire held all mom could save out of her grocery money so she could send the kids to the movies on Saturday for a Quarter.

I remember!  I was born when WWII broke out and a toddler when Pearl Harbor was bombed, but I remember the '40's and '50's.  If you asked my mom, she would say those were hard times, but if you asked me, I would say they were the best of days.  It's because I was a kid!  Responsibility hadn't set in yet!

Today's kids have a lot of Technology at their fingertips, but I remember our first radio, telephone and television!  Why, they opened up a whole new world to us!  I would fall asleep on the floor in front of the radio, listening to my favorite mystery programs and when TV came along, I would fall asleep in front of it...on the floor!  After all, my first communication gadget was the radio, and I didn't need a picture to hear what was going on!  Those were the days of imagination!  Those were the days when Disney created Mickey Mouse and gave children wonderful tales to imagine, hear and see.

Presidents have come and Presidents have gone.  We have had some good ones and a few bad ones and a few really, really bad ones.  But, we always manage to survive.  My parents survived the Great Depression, the Crash of Wall Street, The Roaring Twenties, and the uncertain thirties.  They managed to get through two Great Wars and have lived to go from Horse and Buggies to Jet Plane travel.  Me?  I've just come from cars to trains to Airplanes to Jets to Rocket Ships and putting our American Flag on the Moon.

If we have survived all of those old Presidents, we will survive yet another.  We are seeing changes, sure...but every generation has seen their fair share.  I remember my mom and dad saying they didn't think they would survive Harry Truman...but they did.  I didn't think we would survive Richard Nixon, but we did.  And I didn't think we would survive Barack Obama, but we did.

And every new President coming into office has a boatload of messes to clean up from his predecessor!  Donald Trump will be no different.  I must say, however, it will be a pretty unusual "picture show" to watch.  But I think we will survive this one, too, we always do!  After all, it is "We The People" who actually keep this great experiment called a Republic afloat.  Roll up your sleeves, America, we have work to do.