in 2016 I started a blog when I didn’t even know what a blog was. It didn’t last long, however I am going to try again. If you read the first two blogs from back then you will know what the content and concept is going to be. For my English teacher classmates, please don’t grade me, I know I will dangle a participle on occasion.

Growing up in the fifties and sixties was so much different than today that I have trouble understanding what is happening with the world today. As I stated previously family was everything to us. Besides my parents my Aunts, Uncles and Grandparents had a huge role in raising all of cousins. My older male cousins became role modes and that was not a bad thing. A absolute highlight of my teenage years was cousin Dennis letting me drive his new 1966 Chevy Corvette down the road for a short trip. Can you even imagine?

Saw a news story a while ago about an American girl in Russia catching a ride with a stranger and ending up dead. Got me thinking about how we got from place to place in the Sixties. I started playing sports in junior high. My Dad worked 12 hours a day for years, Mom had the younger kids to take care of so getting home from practice was up to me. Easy, I stuck out my thumb, worked just fine. Most of the time. There was one afternoon when standing on the best corner in Romeo for a ride that one of the older guys wanted the corner. Bob was about 3 feet taller than me and an upper classman, he was in a hurry and suggested I wait so I waited my turn. Back then picking up a kid was not a big deal, today most people think 6 times about stopping and then drive on.

Many things are hard for my generation to understand. See we lived through the civil rights movement. In fact, in Romeo as far as I know we were always integrated. We had several black families that lived in town, went to school with us, played sports and lived normal lives like everyone else. Now, I’m not naïve, of course we had our share of racist. They just kept their hate to a lower level than a lot of the country. Over the years this country has come a very long way. All minorities not just blacks hold every political office you can think of, CEOs of major corporations, business owners, educators. Yet there is a very vocal minority today working to drive a wedge between people of all races and ethnic groups. Hatred is becoming a problem that only the silent majority can fix. Every day Americans must start to stand up and be heard, we can’t let a few tear down the respect and advances Americans have made in race relations over the last 60 years.

I am not going to write about today’s politics. Facebook and every news station are full of political commentarys. Reporting news is a thing of the past. Mr. Mowry taught us who, what where and when, why is left to the columist.

Patriotism is under attact today and we all need to defend the America where we grew up .