HOW DO YOU SAY GOODBYE?

As I have grown older, I have been trying to come to grips with the loss of close friends and relatives. I have long said that one of the penalties of aging is having to say goodbye to loved ones. I just turned 81 this month. A lot of people close to me never reached that age. I know that I am richer for having had them in my life, though. 

 

This column, however, is far more personal. We just learned some more friends of ours are dealing with a serious disease. They have decided to refuse available treatments. I guess I understand. It can be very difficult. But I am thinking now about the wife. How does she say goodbye? How do you say goodbye to a lifelong partner? How do you just go on? I know intellectually, that you can and do, but wow, how do you do that?

 

I decided that because of this news and the fact that my wife and I are both in our senior years, I would try to come up with a plan. This December will mark our fifty-ninth year of marriage. The rules seem to be that the man goes first, but that isn't always the case. But assuming I do go first, how do I think my wife would handle it?

 

First, my wife is a Christian and a very spiritual person and I believe she would get along without me. I think she would miss me, but she believes as I do that we will be together again in our next life. In the meantime, there is the loneliness that would be a part of her life. 

 

So then, here is my primer on dealing with the loss. Number one, we have our memories. If your life is anything like ours, those memories are rich and delightful. We produced two beautiful children who have grown up to become talented and productive adults. Like most couples we have had our ups and downs. Mostly ups. But we participated in and saw things neither of us had ever imagined we would. We have traveled the world and lived in many parts of this country. 

 

My wife is a city girl, but when I decided I wanted to be a hog farmer, without a complaint, she went with me and became a hog farmer's wife. We lived in the country. She helped me butcher chickens. She helped with the garden and she canned vegetables. I would go deer hunting and she helped cut up our deer. We picked wild berries and she made jam. She even learned how to fish. In every way she became a country girl. 

 

Then we moved back to the city. She once again became a city girl. All of this has been our life together. I believe today she would have a difficult time deciding whether city or country life was better. 

 

Yes, she could say goodbye, but she says she would prefer "see you later".  And I am proud to believe that. 

 

But if the shoe falls on the other foot and I am the one left behind, that becomes another issue entirely.

 

While I am physically strong, emotionally I may not fare so well. As an example, I suffered a broken leg a while back. While dealing with that accident my wife was my constant nurse. Some might say that one could hire a nurse. Yes but, what my wife does for me could not be bought. Love cannot be bought. She has been my constant companion for our lifetime. I have grown to depend on her being there. I cannot imagine what life would be without her. And I don't want to. I'll continue to ask God to be kind to us both as He has been in the past. He will know best.

 

Ron Scarbro October 26, 2021

 

IT DIDN'T HAVE TO HAPPEN THIS WAY

It didn't have to be this way. There are places in this country where gasoline has gone up to over $5.00 a gallon. Now mind you, that is an increase of almost 300% over the previous year. What happened? Last year we were energy independent and actually selling oil to other countries. This year we are facing huge price increases and massive shortages. There is also a shortage of trucks and drivers to haul the oil.   Before you bring up covid, I contend the virus is not the problem here. No. The problem is, what in sporting events is called, an "unforced error". Our energy problem was created by a stupid move on the part of the new Presidential Administration. Biden cancelled the Keystone Pipeline and halted many other energy producing activities. He failed at one of the most important duties. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Trump had a handle on our energy production. He created our energy independence. With a stroke of his pen, Biden destroyed all of that and now we see the result.

 

The next big mistake was putting into place a plan to pay people not to work. They liked it. They got used to it. They didn't want to go back to work. Driving a truck, flipping a hamburger, or anything. It was just better to sit on the couch and get that government money. Remember, it didn't have to be that way.

 

Before Biden decided to fix the border, things were working. Drugs were being stopped. Illegal aliens were being held in Mexico. Deportations were handled and the law was being enforced. Again, with the stroke of his pen, Biden destroyed it all. Today we are being overrun with people from all over the world and our own government is scattering them all over our country where they are bringing their problems, their diseases, and their poverty with them. They are unvetted. We don't know anything about them except they broke our law to get here and could very easily break more. They send their children to our schools without the ability to speak or understand our language. They tax our welfare systems and our health care facilities. It didn't have to be this way. 

 

Our reputation in the world has suffered unbelievable harm because of Biden's ridiculous pull out from Afghanistan. He abandoned who knows how many American citizens as well as a lot of Afghan allies. He also left millions of dollars’ worth of weaponry, helicopters, and vehicles in the hands of a terrorist organization. He proved to the world that we are not a reliable ally and cannot be trusted. He set an arbitrary withdrawal date and defied his own military advisors who told him to leave some forces there to protect our interests. Obviously it didn't have to happen the way it did.

 

Because of these and other moronic moves by our elected "leadership", we now have run-away inflation. Everything is more expensive. Normal grocery bills have gone through the roof. Forget bacon or beef. Automobile prices are up. Medical costs are exorbitant and not going down any time soon. Small business owners are being forced to raise prices just to try and stay alive.

 

The maddening part of all this is, it didn't have to happen. Elections definitely have their consequences. This is what happens in a free country when the wrong people get elected.   

 

Ron Scarbro October 19, 2021

 

LEAVING FANTASY TO THE LIBERALS

You may remember back when Barack Obama announced that he intended to fundamentally change America forever. He thought he would just flip a switch and we would become a socialist country like European countries. That apparently was his plan. He even selected a complete moron as his Vice President so that he wouldn't be kicked out of office before he got his job done. 

 

Well, it didn't work. Normal, sane, Americans just said no. Donald Trump was elected to try to fix the mess Obama caused. It was necessary to break a few eggs in order to make an omelet. That upset some people, especially the media, so Trump wasn't allowed to finish fixing the mess. The voters of this country turned back to idiot government and elected Joe Biden. Biden selected Kamala Harris as his VP to make sure he could stay in office. He then set about fundamentally changing America into some big government socialist country where American citizens cede their citizenship in favor of dependency. It's a marriage made in socialist Heaven. 

 

In some cases it is working. There are some people who prefer a government control system. Fortunately they are in the minority. Americans generally prefer freedom over tyranny. Sadly there are many who cannot connect the dots and therefore do not realize socialism equals tyranny. Just ask Venezuelans how they feel now. This once-great country is now a wasteland with people trying to escape to other places to live.

 

Currently the Democrats are trying to garner enough votes in Congress to pass a bill euphemistically called an "infrastructure" bill. In actuality it is more a "green new deal" bill which would go a long way toward bankrupting this country. By the way, the green in this new deal is the unbelievable amount of money this liberal pipedream would cost the country. When this green new deal was first brought up by the "squad" I, like most sane people, thought it was a joke. Well it isn't a joke anymore. There are people who actually believe we could survive this nonsense.

 

Let's see now. No fossil fuels of any kind. That means no automobiles, no trucks to bring cargo, no air planes, no power plants, and no generators to recharge cell phones or anything electric. There would be very little food production because it's tough plowing fields with horse drawn plows. If you would like to travel to Europe, you would have to sail and it could take a few months. Most medicines would disappear. Of course meat would be gone. That's okay because these morons all seem to prefer the vegan diet anyway, not just for them but for everyone. So forget cheeseburgers or steak. 

 

Here is another thing I can assure you of. Judgement day is coming. The direction of this country under Democrat rule, is unsustainable. The more we knuckle under to this global warming nonsense, and other man-created crises, the sooner we will see that judgement, and it isn't going to be pretty. We have millions of people in this country to feed and house. If they are unable to get that food or housing, they probably would get a little upset. We need a return to reality and we need to leave fantasy to the liberals. 

 

Ron Scarbro October 11, 2021

 

AMERICANS DON'T HANDLE MANDATES VERY WELL

What does freedom look like? When a government agency issues "mandates" requiring obedience by free citizens, does that look like freedom to you? Is a mandate to wear a face mask legitimate?  Can you do that to a free people? Is a mandate to get a vaccination an act of free choice? What about when that mandate includes a fine for non-compliance? 

 

Our government has issued just such a requirement of employers over a certain size. Otherwise the employee has to be terminated. 

 

For the record I want to say that I am fully vaccinated. I consulted my doctor, who himself had just gotten his shots, before I made the decision to get the shots. Now, mind you, I consulted my doctor, not my Congressman, not my Senator, and certainly not my President. I paid very little attention to political organizations like the WHO or the CDC. No, I decided that my medical advice should come from a medical professional, not a politician. I further plan to continue to get my medical counsel from the medical profession, not a bunch of power-hungry would-be dictators. I recommend the same for you.

 

Reacting obediently to mandates from dictators is not something we Americans do well. In fact, you don't have to study a lot of history to see how we have handled it in the past. Consider the verbiage in the Declaration of Independence. We decided that the best choice for us was to just say no. This reminder to would-be dictators today; the same blood that ran through those early patriots still flows in today's. We have humored you for a while, but time is running out. If you think mandates are good government, you had best find a country where freedom doesn't and hasn't reigned.

 

Again for the record, I definitely recommend getting the shot. Neither my wife nor I had any ill effects. And no, I do not wear a mask when I leave my house and only would where it was absolutely required like at the hospital. I see people wearing them driving their car. Whatever. In the majority of those cases you will see a Biden bumper sticker on that car. If somebody wants to wear a mask, that is and should be their choice. 

 

We have covered at length how Covid 19 has become the crisis the liberals have wanted so long. To cause a disease to become a political weapon is a sickness too. And, whether they like it or not, the disease is coming to an end which also ends their manufactured crisis. 

 

Between vaccinations and natural immunity, this virus will soon have no place to land. Then the liberals will have to find something else. Some things are certain. We will have an election next year. People like Schumer, Pelosi, and their ilk may well have to find new jobs. Voters will have their say and it's not looking very good for the Democrats.

 

For the sake of this country, we must never again allow tin horn politicians to issue edicts, mandates, or any other illegal orders. We are not an empire and we have no emperors. Laws are enacted by the people's representatives in the Congress, not by any other means. Unelected bureaucrats are not lawmakers. We don't handle mandates very well.

 

Ron Scarbro October 4, 2021