I am horrified by the recent incident in Lancaster County, PA. And I also wonder how things could have gotten so bad. But are they necessarily getting worse?
Folks, we've had four presidents assasinated, all prior to 1963. We've also had eight unsuccessful assassination attempts, three of which happened before 1933.
Does anybody remember the guy in the Texas tower?
I'm old enough to remember the Cuban Missile Crisis. We were all taught to duck under our desks if the air raid warning sounded. And we all realized that it would not really have been much protection from nuclear weapons.
Anybody remember fallout shelters? How about CONELRAD?
I also remember my mother bundling myself and my little sister and dragging us in the middle of the winter to get innoculated with that new miracle medicine, Salk vaccine. Just about every family we knew had at least one person touched by polio.
Both my mother and my father had siblings who died in childhood. This was not uncommon prior to the 1950's.
My home was quarantined when I came down with Scarlet Fever back in
1956. Do you know of any homes that have been quarantined lately?
Things are not getting worse. We have never had it better. We live in an age where child mortality is not just part of everyday life, but a rare and unacceptable event. We live in an age where cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and an ever-growing list of maladies are not an automatic death sentance. And we live in an age where events like the tragedy in Lancaster County cannot get swept under the rug, but are exposed to the unwavering light of public scrutiny.
It is estimated that there are about 2 million people residing in America illegally. If this is such a bad place, why do so many people risk imprisonment or worse to get here?
Bill Sullivan Proud and grateful to be an American today and in the future.