Take a moment, and look around you. . . Open your ears and listen. Just for a moment.

Listen to the voices filling the airwaves, the television channels, and the political discourse. Look at the comment section on most any political story. Do you hear the voices of hope and love ? Or do you hear the cries of fear, of loathing, of hatred, of vitriol being spewed towards your fellow man? For years, and years these voices have been ringing out the disdain we show for each other. Can anything good come from all this hatred? All this anger ?

When I was a little boy, my father built a bomb shelter in the basement of our house. We were sure that the Soviets were about to start a nuclear war, and that in order to survive we had to prepare for the worst. Now, as my grandchildren play in the old bomb shelter, I am cleaning it out, and preparing it again for its ultimate reason for existence - - To provide a safe shelter for me and my family in a time of widespread war and desolation.

This anger I hear... This hatred I watch unfold in front of my very eyes, convinces me we are headed to disaster. But disaster NOT from the outside... Not from the Chinese or even the Russians, but from each other... From ourselves. The bad guys could not defeat us from outside, it had to be an inside job.

They practiced their art well, They sewed fear among the population, and drove doubt into our minds about our system of government. They planned well, and took the long course. Now they are near their goal, and this lovely experiment of freedom is closing its doors.

My country is dying, and the only good thing I can say is that I am dying with it...

I, like my country, am dying. . .

It seems to be a natural course of events. People, like countries, emerge into the world in a young and invigorated state. We want to learn new things, and as we grow up we develop an ever increasing sense of 'ourselves'. . . While we are growing we seem nearly invincible, as we become stronger and more sure of ourselves. We take on greater and greater responsibilities and as we grow, so it seems does our worthiness, and perceived grandeur. We graduate from being a learner to that of being a 'player'. . .

As we mature, we find that things are indeed changing, but not always to our liking. As we reach the 'September of our years', we tend to long for the 'good ole days', which only exist in our condensed ideas of what was perceived 'at that time', but in fact was only a dream.

And now, as I approach my death, I find myself surrounded by people who are angry and despise all those others around them who seem (in those closed minds) to have taken advantage of our past generosity.

I am completely (or nearly completely) unable to do anything to change this situation. People age. Countries age. And while they are aging they either grow in wisdom or they do not. As seems the case of the USA, I'd say we have taken a very large step backwards, and perhaps will face yet another challenge to our 'being'. Another test of the idea of being 'United', or divided. A test of our ability to compromise or not, or more exactly, a test to decide if we shall live or die.

This trend to want to 'Make America Great Again', and to return to the 'good old days' of slavery, of no rights for women, of concentration camps for people who don't have the same religious beliefs as us, of jack-boot policemen, and authoritarian politics is a cancer. . . A cancer that eats at the very organs that keep me and my country alive.

I am dying. It's a natural process for humans. Is my country dying also ?