SeanSumner.blog

 

As I walked out on my porch this morning, coffee in hand, I was greeted by the morning sun as it shined upon the leaves of the trees with pieces of the sun just touching the forest floor. It is the end of July and the temperature is hot and I am reminded that I’m about to turn a year older. The temperature will be close to 100° today and I plan to be out in the sun and in the shade to enjoy the day. With the heat going up to 100° I am reminded of my recent stay in Las Vegas. I think the temperature there outside was around 105°.

What amazed me about Las Vegas is that it is still a busy and thriving business that draws the spectrum of people living in America and beyond. I have made comments in earlier blogs about the age and the sex of the people in my local casinos. In Las Vegas there were people of all ages including children walking through the streets and casinos. One of the first things that caught my eye while I was people watching was the large number of wedding parties. I witnessed the excitement of many young men and women as they were dressed up preparing for a wedding ceremony. Many of these groups walk through the casino floor on their way to the ceremony site. In the entourage that followed the wedding group was the many moms, dads, grandparents and grandchildren. I think that weddings are more for the women than the men. The women wore some beautiful gowns and usually in high heels. The men like the many penguins up in the North and South Pole, usually dressed in a basic black and white with shiny shoes. The grandparent in me just smiled as a group would walk by laughing and smiling without really noticing the many people around them. The man in me noticed that the women of all ages and sizes were wearing high heels. It must be painful to wear those shoes but it makes the women look great. Usually the younger women wore some very high family heal shoes. And it appears that some of the moms and grandmas wore a little bit lower thicker heel shoe. It was entertaining to watch the women who probably don’t wear such high heels to negotiate the long walk through the casino. The traditional white dress for the bride appeared to be the most common selection. And just like in days of old the women would gather in a flock as they walked out in the Promenade of the casino and then the men walked in a group separate from the women. Later in the evening many of those same young men and women were at the casino playing tables. Some of them had changed into different clothing while other seemed to be comfortable still wearing the dress and tuxedo.

I viewed all of this while I was staying at the Paris hotel casino. It is somewhat like a theme park inside Unlike many of the other casinos who were just about the business of gambling. Maybe this is why I also witnessed so many families with children as they walked along the edges of the casino gambling floor. They all seemed to notice the bright lights and noises of the casino floor, just like I do as an adult. I was also impressed that the average age of the person walking by me was probably in its early 30s. My wife and I did walk through several other casinos as we usually do when visiting Las Vegas. The sidewalks and crosswalks of the street of Las Vegas were filled with people going from one point to another. If nothing else this told me that our economy is doing a lot better now than it used to. I do not think that most of the people that I saw worked in Las Vegas, so they were there to visit and spend money. While driving into Las Vegas I could not help but see all the many homes and small businesses that align the outskirts of the strip of Las Vegas. It is the scene like those of any major city. The homes and businesses on the farthest outskirts of the town were new and beautiful. Many look like they were master-planned community which meant many of them look the same from the outside. And the closer you get to the large casinos on the strip the houses get older with many of them having bars on their windows and doors. This seems to be the same type of progression of any community. The newer suburbs are well kept and as you get closer to the center of town the houses are old and usually there are bars on the windows and doors. Usually when I think of Las Vegas my thoughts are concentrated on the many sights and sounds of the business area. But this time because I was driving into town with my truck I could see all those homes and communities. There are still families going to church and playing in the public parks. They’re still grade schools, middle schools, high schools and colleges being attended by the many people who live in the Las Vegas area. I know that when I was retiring from the Los Angeles Police Department, many of my fellow retirees were moving to Las Vegas. One of the reasons is because of the large boom of the economy and the low price of a home compared to those homes in Los Angeles. An there were a lot of golf courses. Second many went to Las Vegas because of the dry air. While living in Los Angeles the air was an orange brownish haze filled with chemicals. The area of Las Vegas seemed to be a clear air which helped the many people with allergies.

My thought this morning was about looking at the complete picture of an area rather than just focusing on one element of the area. No matter where you go there is more to the place you gone to then meets the eye. You may go to Niagara Falls to watch the massive water fall over the edge of the cliff and then find that the falls is both in the United States and Canada and each as a community that supports the falls. Those communities have the same issues of a city that Las Vegas has. When you go to New York City and you seem to be constantly surrounded by people on all sides and you wonder how they even exist in such a way that appears to be chaotic condition. Take the time to look at little deeper at the businesses and the parks, look at the schools and the condition of each section of town. You’ll probably find that there are many common issues and problems that plague big cities. There are certain parts of the city that you probably do not want to walk down by yourself. Sometimes I think the same thing of some of the many small cities or towns that I drive through. They all have traffic congestion, decaying infrastructure, homeless and crime. Yet each one of those areas seems to continue to exist. So I started to focus on the good things that seem to happen. Look at the many attempts to clean up the main street to make it look nice and bring business to the old businesses along the main drive. I people watch looking to see if those walking by are families or senior citizens walking by themselves. This means to me that the area is safe. I now look to see the shapes of the schoolyards in the public parks. Even though I was a policeman I much preferred to see an area that doesn’t require a police cruiser up and down the streets all hours of the day. How do I get to these thoughts from my trip in Las Vegas? Las Vegas is like any other area, it has a decaying infrastructure and its population continues to to grow. I’m sure it does not want to become another Atlantic City where the casinos are closing along with all the small businesses that rely upon those casinos to exist. I see the same issues that confront the small towns and businesses that also confront a giant city like Las Vegas. And in my mind today is that they are all surviving and the economy is turning around to support their existence.

My final thought for today is that when you go to a location, look at all of the location not just an attraction. The economy is doing well and I hope it continues to do so. And as a man I think women of all ages look good in high heels.                                            Pops

 

As I walked out on my front porch this morning, coffee in hand, I watched as the sunlight flowed through the overcast clouds and brightened up the surrounding forest. I always enjoy the start of the day when there is sunshine piercing through the leaves of the trees hitting the forest floor.

I have been home now for a couple days since my three-week journey across the western United States. While on the journey I rarely watched the television or listened to the news. I was focused on just getting from one point to another while enjoying the ride and the changing landscape views. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to go to one of my favorite stores to buy some items I needed to continue work on several of my projects. As I went to the checkout stand I noticed that there was no one at the cash register. Within seconds a young Hispanic woman hurried around to her position at the cash register saying that she was sorry for the delay but she was translating for customer. This young woman seemed so full of life hidden behind a great smile. I responded to her by saying that that was no problem and it reminded me of my time on the Police Department when I had wished I had a translator working with me. I mentioned to her that when responding to a call in the community where the language spoken was not English usually resulted in my using the children of the adults to translate in a conversation. I also mentioned to her that when there is an emergency or some chaos around the situation the language spoken usually is in the native tongue of the person calling the police. This would lead to some poor exchange of hand signs to try to discover what the emergency was. Most police agencies now recruit many different minority language speaking candidates to help with this problem. In Los Angeles there were many different languages that dominated the streets of the city. It went from Mandarin Chinese, Korean, Russian and Spanish. Whole sections of the city, like Chinatown, echoed in the traditional language that represented where those living there came from.

The woman at the register looked at me and asked how I got here from Los Angeles. After my answer I could see that she, like many other people, wish that they could go to the many different places in the United States. Since moving to this area of Texas I’ve noticed a lot of people have been born and raised in just this small area of the world. This was the case of this young woman at the register. I told her that she should at least go to the many major cities in the United States. Places like; New York City, Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas. Each one of those areas has many different cultures that approach the same issues that we approach here in Texas but with a difference. Many times while listening to the news I heard someone talk about the use of common sense. Well it will not take long to find out that common sense in one area is not necessarily common sense in another. If you’re walking down the street in West Hollywood California you would think that is a common sight to see gay couples walking hand-in-hand representing the norm for that area. If you’re walking through the Federal housing section of New Orleans you would see street sales of narcotics being openly conducted and that would seem as the norm for that area. If you walking in certain areas of Los Angeles and you observe multiple spray painting on almost all buildings, whether it was gang related or just tagging, that would seem like the norm for the area. If you are visiting New York City and you would look out the window at the traffic, you would see a sea of yellow cabs and a swarm of bicyclists buzzing in and out of traffic and that would be the norm for that area.

If you are on the East Coast of the United States back in 1800s you might witness the large outpouring of immigrants of the ships from the many different areas of Europe and beyond. They would pour off of the ships and their first year in the United States should be one of the five different neighborhoods developing in the underprivileged areas of New York.

In this year if you live along the southern border of the United States it would seem normal to see the many different immigrants and drug traffickers making their way across the border with little or no difficulty. Unlike the immigrants in the 1800s who were fully documented this new flood of immigrants are undocumented and completely out-of-control.

Does this mean that we want to seal off our borders and stop anyone who is not already here from gaining entry into our country? No, I feel that we still open arms to those who want to enjoy the freedoms that we do here in America. There is a mechanism that allows this to happen, using the existing immigration laws. The current flood of immigrants from Central America, include a large number of children traveling alone. Anytime you put the word children or child in front of an issue many people’s hearts go soft because it is a child. They do not wish to apply the existing laws. And so those areas that are along the border are taxed with balancing the issue of a child versus the overwhelming cost of handling such new immigrants.

I think this issue has not been a very important issue to the rest of the United States because they do not feel the impact of this new immigration of undocumented aliens with so many of them being children. I think that if this was happening along the borders of Virginia, Washington DC, New York City or New Jersey their outrage would find a quick fix to this problem. It is ironic that places like New Jersey take such pride in its different ethnic backgrounds. But when it comes to the issue of illegal immigrants from South American countries, the Eastern states really don’t appreciate the problem.

In this week’s news that focuses more on a civilian airline that was shot down in the Ukraine and Israel’s war in Gaza. I think we should just leave those issues to those people that are involved. The fact that there was one American on the airline shot down, who had dual citizenship, is not a good reason for the United States to get so involved in this incident. If the government thinks that they’re going to somehow shame or push Vladimir Putin to do some kind of apology, they’re wrong. If the government thinks that they can get the Palestinians and Israel into some kind of peace agreement, there are wrong. Let those governments and their people spend their energy and money on their problems. Let’s get focused back on our problems in the United States. The disgrace and mismanagement of the Veterans Administration has not gone away. The issue of increased deaths from heroin and methamphetamine has not diminished. The love ones that we lose every day from diseases, such as cancer, has not diminished. The current issue of children of Central America walking across our open borders to our country has not diminished.

I call for the divided Congress and the President United States to refocus on those issues that are still current and active here in the United States. I’m not concerned with who will run for the presidency in the next election, I am concerned that the current Congress and the President of theUnited States has somehow lost focus on the issues in their country, my country.

America the great is the place of great promise and wealth. A place that promises that the only limitations are those you put on yourself. A place should not try to be the world’s policeman. It is a place that is beginning to run out of patience and understanding. It is a place that on its west side is running out of enough water. It is a place where the natural resources like oil are running out. It is a place such great cities like Chicago that its infrastructure are deteriorating and falling apart. The USA is a place that had such a demanding influence on the rest of the world and is now facing a diminished and dwindling influence.

My thought is that we need to refocus on our own lands and people. We need to spend our energies and intelligence as well as our monies on many issues that affect us directly. The rest of the world does not need the United States to tell it what to do a lot of their lives. I lost faith in the Congress of the United States and the many state and local government agencies that are obliged to follow the lead of the Congress. I think a move back to the states having more power is appropriate at this time. The national government must continue to exist but it is lost his focus and the state governments are more likely to focus on the issues at home.

How did I get to all of this thinking from just going through a checkout line and talking to the person behind the register? Because I see the hope and the wonder of a new generation and in this young woman’s face. I see that she has adjusted to the surrounding community while still paying respect to her culture. I see her desire to leave the comfort of her home town and learn about the many different cultures of this country. She is not consumed with the many issues that I’ve just mentioned. I truly wish that she will not have to be confronted with the issues that I mentioned. I see the nation’s future in this young woman’s face. So I believe it is my part to express my thoughts on the issues I believe will affect the future.

Pops

 

 

As I walked out on my front porch this morning, coffee in hand, I gazed upon the site that I have not seen in three weeks. Although the skies were overcast with clouds stopping the sun from shining through the forest, a recent rain increased the green appearance of the forest. My wife and I have just returned from an 18 day trip through the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona, New Mexico, California and Nevada. The trip was designed to stop at the many different casinos on our way to and from California. We attended the 80th birthday party of my wife’s father, which was in Southern California. We then traveled to Northern California to visit our son and his family and then into Central California to visit our son and his family. We drove to Lake Tahoe and then to Las Vegas. It was a great trip and a long trip. We drove about 4000 miles mostly along the freeways and highways of the different states. The good news is we enjoyed each other’s company through the whole trip. But in visiting each one of our stops I found some thoughts that I intend to share during the following months.

One of the first things I thought of was the amount of 18 wheelers on the road every day. I found them to be the better drivers on the road and also an irritation on the road. On the freeway where the land is mostly flat the 18 wheelers seem to drive the speed of the posted signs. The irritation was the quick movement of 18 Wheeler into the passing lane to get around another 18 Wheeler. Some of the drivers must think there driving sports cars to make a lane change so quickly and without consideration of the space between an oncoming vehicle and the back of their trucks. It was also irritating to notice when passing the 18 wheelers I saw them texting or looking at a device instead of looking straight ahead at the road. The worst experiences were when I got into the mountains and got behind one slow-moving truck trying to pass another slower moving truck. Other than that I know that this nation depends upon the service of the 18 wheelers to get the goods we need to the many places we buy them at. It seems to me that the size and the shape of 18 Wheeler has not changed much in the many years they been on the road. No matter what the make and model of the 18 Wheeler they all seem to have the same height and width that demands more fuel through the wind. My thought is that the complete redesign of the 18 Wheeler is necessary. Much like the redesign of vehicles for the European market, I think we can redesign the 18 Wheeler. I’m not sure why the height and ground clearance of the vehicle has to be so tall. I realize that many vehicles may have to go on rough roads to pick up their product. But I also believe many of them only drive on pavement. The cab of the 18 Wheeler usually has some kind of resting quarters attached, it seems a little bit too wide. I do not see a lot of vehicles with two people in the cab. Since pushing the big rigs through the wind is such a fuel consumption issue, they sould be shorter and wider. If there has to be a second seat for the cab why can it not be behind the driver much like the attack helicopters and jet plane seating arrangement? I realize that there are height limitations to the trailers. This seems like there’s a lot of wasted space between the set of wheels that can be utilized, much like many of the modern RVs on the road. I noticed a lot of air dynamic add-ons to the bottom of the trailers, so the issue clearance does not seem to be there. By utilizing the space between the wheels you cut down the height of the cab and the trailer and still carry the same amount of product. I also believe that the 18 wheelers in the United States base can be a little wider and a little lower to help avoid the 18 Wheeler from being blown over by the wind on the highway. The last issue is about the 18 wheelers ability to knock down the amount of spray that comes from the wheels during a rain. For me as a driver, when I decide to pass an 18 Wheeler in the rain I realize I’m going into a totally blind situation with the hopes that the road doesn’t change drastically before I pass the 18. I have noticed that commercial transportation buses and large RVs seem to have knocked down this amount of spray considerably. The current day 18 Wheeler should be redesigned to increase in safety and fuel consumption.

Another issue along the road is the availability and the cleanliness of the restrooms. As I get older it gets harder for me to go a long time without needing to use the restroom. And certainly while traveling across I -40 or I- 10 I had to keep a close watch on where there was an off ramp that will provide restroom facilities. I follow some kind of unwritten rule that if you stopped and use the restroom facilities you should spend some money at that facility, either getting gasoline or buying some coffee or food products at that location. To my surprise the rest stops and welcome centers located along the freeway in each of the states were clean and well kept. It was the private gas stations or restaurants that seem to vary widely in their conditions. I did not expect really sanitary or clean conditions in non-major company locations. But I did expect them at the different major brands that were along the highway. Whether be companies like Shell Oil, Exxon Mobil oil, Phillips 66 or TA Love’s stores, the conditions were unpredictable. I know that there are state agencies that check the gas pumps and are not responsible for the restrooms. I think those major brands should use some kind of mechanism that we checked the restrooms especially along the major freeways. There were times that I was under so much pressure to go to the bathroom I ended up walking into the wrong side of the restroom area. Upon quickly realizing I hit the wrong door I turned around and with great embarrassment went to the other side. Then those few seconds that I looked into the front area of the restroom, it seems like the women’s side of the restrooms were cleaner than the men’s side. I did notice some kind of unwritten rule about waiting for an open spot in the men’s restroom. First of all if there are more than two urinals open you never walk into the urinal next to someone else that’s already using one. I walked to the farthest urinal so that there space between me and the other person. Second, if there is a line waiting to use the urinal you, calmly walked to the end of the line and keep from speaking to anyone in line. It seemed like the men’s room was usually out of soap or towels to clean your hands. So there was always that awkward moment after washing your hands you realize that there’s no hand towels to dry them. In those moments your shirt in your pants were used as a towels.

During the journey I used a GPS device and to help direct me from one location to another. This is usually a great help except when the GPS device uses the name of the street rather than the number of the road to give you directions while driving to a city area. I am a typical male that does not like to ask for directions and I use terms like North, South, East and West with I ask wife which way we should go. The problem with that is that I should’ve been asking questions way earlier and my wife has no concept of North, South, East and West. Each time that I seem to get off course (not lost) I would turn the negative feeling into a positive one by claiming they were just on another adventure and would eventually get to our location. One of the scary adventures was while going through the state of New Mexico. The plan was to stop at a local Indian casino off of I- 40. During the preparation for the trip I used the address of the casino that appeared on the Internet site. After hours of driving along I- 40 my GPS device advised to get off of the freeway and use the frontage road to get to the location. As I drove down the frontage road I noticed that there was nothing but wide-open desert on both sides of the freeway. Then in a surprising announcement the GPS device said, you have reached your destination. I looked around and there were no buildings, no information signs and no signs of actual life. This is a scary moment, there was nothing there. I cannot imagine a time before cell phones that I would have any hope of finding the location. But a quick call to the casino discovered that the location that we were at was the Indian nation casino mailing address. I did not see any PO Box or mailbox. There was nothing there but wide-open desert and a pole for an old telephone line. The person on the phone at the casino informed me that this is just a mailing address and that casino was 20 miles down the road. So after returning on the surface road to get back onto the freeway and driving 20 miles down the freeway I found the casino standing alone in the middle of the desert.

In the beginning of our trip my wife and I had decided that we would not just eat fast food. We wanted to experience the different restaurants along the way. But the reality was we did not see what appeared to be a nice restaurant near the exit ramps. And we did not want to spend hours at each exit ramp trying to find one. So we ate at every different brand of fast food restaurant along the way. It was only when we were at casinos that we ate any good food. What I was not prepared for was the effect of so much fast food on my digestive system. This brings me back to the issue of restrooms. To say that I ate fast food it demanded that I paid attention to where the next restroom facility could be.

The other surprise I found along the trip was the different prices for the same products. First of all gasoline that was priced around $3.50 a gallon in Texas cost $4.50 in California. The farther west we went the higher the price of fuel. Another surprise was the price of Dairy Queen ice cream. The price I paid in Texas doubled by the time I got to northern California.

My final thought in this blog was the condition of the areas. I enjoyed the green colors and East Texas as my trip started. As I traveled farther west the green disappeared into a desert setting. By the time I got to California it seemed there was nothing but dried out and brown surroundings. Even while going through Flagstaff where the green pine trees seem to line the road, everywhere the ground below the trees were brown and dry. The condition of the country on the West Coast is in bad shape. Even as the cities grow and the traffic gets more congested, the lack of water would seem to limit that growth.

I’m sure that all of you have experienced the excitement of finally getting to home sweet home. No matter what your home looks like where it is on this earth, home is a special place. To be welcomed by my dogs as I walked in the front door or going to sleep in my own bed home is sweet home. As exciting as the adventure was, coming home was wonderful.

I tried to write a few blogs while I was on my trip but I left my computer at one of the hotels and so that didn’t happen. Now that I am back I intend to express my thoughts on a regular basis and enjoy the freedom of living in this country and the warmth of being at home.

Pops

As I walked out in the hallway of my hotel room after looking out my room window at the parking lot,I finally felt like I was on an adventure. My wife and I have been on the road for two days and we are still in Texas. Yesterday  we stayed at the Winstar Casino,the worlds largest casino. Once again I was amazed at all the people at the casino. There always seems to be more senior women there then senior men. The card tables are busy with more oriental players then anyone group of people. There seems to be an abundant number of wheel chair players, many of who have oxygen bottles with them.  There are players that seem to camp on one machine or one card game. With all the scurrying around and people walking in all direction there seems to be order and an almost coordinated dance. People seem to be nice to each other and follow some unwritten rules. Just like being on a golf course. With all the busy enviroment and adult disney like surrounding, one can get lost in that world. Even though there are many signs asking if you have a gambling problem call this number the effect of the signs are like the warnings on a pack of cigarettes. The owners of the casinos are obviously making money but the casinos also create jobs and and economical boost to the area.  My thought is why it is OK to have a casino in one state and not the other.It is like having the sale of alcohol in some counties of a state and not others.

It is ovious to me that some antiquated established few still control our politics. Is it just the religious organizations (who control games like Bingo) who are so influential that they stop change. Or is it the established gambling and alcohol gaints that want to keep their monopoly. I think it is unrealistic to continue this practtice. If people want to gamble and drink they will, even if they have to travel out of a county or a state to do so. What this means to the states and counties who do not participate are lost tax dollars and lost jobs. When I see all the different states car licenses in the casino lots I know that these people have traveled out of areas that forbid such activities. There of those that will abuse every thing from gambling ,alcohol to sugar and chocolate. Let each person make a choice.

Choice in a free country seems to me to be worth consideration.

Pops

I walked out on my front porch this morning, coffee in hand, and I looked up at the overcast skies. In this part of North East Texas cloudy skies could mean severe whether is on its way or just that the sun won’t shine today. Once again I started my day by watching the national news. Lately it has mainly been about regions in the Middle East such as Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. This week the President of the United States is sending soldiers back to Iraq.

Why are we even going there? It was hard for me to understand why we went to Iraq in the first place. But since that has already happened, my hope was that the United States government would’ve learned its lesson. What is apparent to me is that this is a religious war, Sunnis fighting Shiites over the control of their country. Let them fight over their own country. It is obvious that religious leaders seem to control the countries young fighting men. It is bad enough that the young fighting men have lived through the death and destruction of many of their family members over this issue of religion. I think that by the United States backing one of these religions over the other is simply wrong. Our government is not allowed to do so in the United States. Here we have freedom of religion and the government is forbidden to favor any one religion via our Constitution. So why are we over there backing one government that is totally one-sided in its religious choice? There are some other basic issues that I do not understand. In the United States we speak of freedoms for all people including women and children. It seems that in all the Middle Eastern countries women are truly second-class citizens. They seem to be more of a possession than a human being with rights. It also seems that each time one of the existing governments start to have some severe problems they go back to the big brother, the United States or Russia, to support them and their government.

So why is it so important that we send billions of dollars and our soldiers into the Middle East? Who made such strong promises to these countries that we seem almost mandated to be there. I was amazed and revolted at the Egyptian army and police. Most just gave up their uniforms and walked away. If they are not willing to fight and die for their country, why should we send our people over there to die for their country? If the argument is to honor the death of those who had already served and died in Egypt, I reply that we do honor those who served and died there. Then why should we send more people over there. The cost in lives and the wasted billions of dollars can be used at home. This does not seem necessary to me.

Is it in fear of the price of gasoline going up. The people of the United States of America will adapt to that. Is it fear of losing some kind of control over the Middle East? The Middle East doesn’t even have control over the Middle East. There is so much hate between the different religious groups that it will take many generations before they will forget the atrocities that they’ve already suffered. Is it some kind of obligation to police the world? Let the people and leaders of those countries police themselves. I don’t think that we need those nations to prosper in the United States. I believe those nations need us and all the resources we possess.

What are the reasons and justifications for us to be involved in the Middle East? It is so complicated that we will not understand it? Is there some secret reason that the general public cannot be informed about it?

When I go to vote I vote for leaders. And in the recent past, from the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Iraqi war and Afghanistan war the sitting president and the Congress have voted for us to be involved in those countries struggles. Why, in the released records and papers of the past times, we repeatedly hear the President of the United States struggling with why we are staying in an area and paying the cost of lives. I am reminded of President Johnson and his remarks about not being able to get out of the conflict in Vietnam. I am also reminded of President Bush and his claims of weapons of mass destruction that were not there. Yet we stayed in Iraq for years and lost many lives and spend billions of dollars. My hope was that Pres. Obama was going to get out of Iraq and Afghanistan. But there must be some secret reason that he is compelled to send American lives back to Iraq.

We cannot control or even hope to help the nation that is not willing to help itself. The term” can’t we all just get along” is not currently possible in the religious wars in the Middle East. We are welcomed by some nations when we supply them with money and weapons. But it seems that the minute things are not going their way the United States is once again denounced by the same people we helped. The United States has enough issues of its own. The fields in California are drying up and the borders in the South are being overran my people running away from their own governments and country. Yet if we look we will find that the United States is sending some billion dollars to each one of those countries governments.

We need help in educating our young and managing our existing resources. This is not to say that we should be isolationists and bury our head in the sand as the world evolves. But we don’t have to be the policeman and saviors of the world, especially in the Middle East. It would really be great if the Congress of the United States would move from being dysfunctional to a Congress that would lead and make decisions. Currently it seems like there is just bickering between parties as the United States starts to show some decay. I do not think anyone party has the answer. But I do believe that each party needs to work with the other and experience some compromises to get the job done. I think the job is to focus on the United States and its people, the infrastructure and its resources.

Let the people in the Middle East fight for and find their own answers to their problems. When they are done fighting they will realize that they really need the rest of the world, they will calm down. I witnessed this happen when there was a riot in Los Angeles in 1992. Whatever the reason was that the riots started it took about three days for the people in the areas affected by the riot to realize they were only hurting themselves. It is my thought that these countries and their religious leaders will eventually recognize the need to live together. But as long as large and big governments like the United States, Russia and China continue to support their violent actions they will continue to kill each other.

My thought of today is that the United States should not get involved in Iraq. That we should leave Afghanistan to fight his own battles and let Syria develop into what it citizens want it to be.

Pops

 As I walked out on my porch this morning, coffee in hand, I was greeted by sunshine, blue, skies and puffy white clouds. The bright green of the forest tree leaves were outlined by the shadow of those trees on the ground. I began to think of my journey the other day that started with a hello to my new grandson Aiden and goodbye to an old friend Kenny.

I drove about five hours to the hospital in Houston to see the newest member of the Sumner family. I went to the hospital room and I was greeted by my daughter-in-law, Manisha, and my son Danny. Danny took me to the natal care unit where my grandson Aiden was laying, surrounded by machines and a small baby blanket. As I gazed upon my newest grandson I was once again amazed by the miracle of birth. Before me was a perfectly healthy and beautiful baby. This was Aiden’s first day of life and after counting all the toes and fingers I found him to be perfect. I have had this experience before with some of my other grandchildren. And each time that happens I am amazed at the miracle of childbirth. Selfishly I know that the DNA that I have carried from my forefathers will be carried onto my grandchildren. I’ve experienced the miracle of birth many times. Besides witnessing the birth of my sons, I’ve also witnessed the birth of babies that I was not related to. I remember being a policeman in Los Angeles and assisting in the birth of a child in the backseat of a car. I also remember answering the radio call only to get there in time to watch the newborn come into the world. I do not care how hardened you are, these experiences will make you emotional and amazed. I was able to sit with my son and his newborn son for a while. I was there when Aiden took his first bit of nourishment from a bottle. At this time Aiden was still in a special care unit and his mother was downstairs anxiously waiting to hold her baby. These are the times in my life when I feel very positive about life. I expect that Aiden will grow up and live in a different world than I did. But I also hope that he will live a life as full and wondrous as my life. He will have a great start in the fact that his mother and father are there to help guide him through life, supported by the family around him. It was a thrill, an honor and an emotional moment for me to meet and say hello to Aiden.

The next part of the day was after I left the hospital and was about to begin my trip back up to my home in North Texas. I made a decision to go and say goodbye to an old friend of mine. This is something that I’ve been meaning to do ever since I retired and moved to North Texas. At the time of my retirement I was not a happy person. Whether it was true or not, I felt I was not needed and was not used in my job. The job had recently been merged with another organization. The leadership that I began my job with disappeared and I found myself working in another environment. I was allowed to keep my job but continually felt like an outsider. It was my decision to retire rather than just stay in a place where I was neither wanted nor used. The problem with that is I left without saying goodbye to some really good people. One of those people was Kenny Speight who I considered my friend. The fact that I had not said goodbye really weighed on me for a while. But then I realized that I needed to reach out to those people I considered close and tell them what they meant to me and say goodbye. This void haunted my thoughts for over a year. I had not been down into the Houston area for over year and therefore did not find the opportunity to say goodbye. I found the opportunity this time and before heading back home I went and saw my friend Kenny and said thank you for being my friend. This wasn’t like when somebody knows that they’re going to pass on and are saying their last goodbyes. This was just the opportunity to tell Kenny how much his friendship meant to me and that it was important to me to say goodbye.

Many of you will have had the experience of leaving a job or neighborhood. And during the last days you would go to your friends and neighbors to say goodbye. Most would say they would call and visit you down the road. All of this is done with the greatest intentions. But the reality is after you move or go on you will most likely lose contact with those friends and neighbors. Each time you move to new job or new house you will get involved with new people and they will take the place of the friends you had before. This is not to say that you do not think of your old friends, but life goes on. It is common to lose contact with those friends of the past.

In my case, I had moved on but it haunted me that I never said goodbye to Kenny. So in one day I was able to say hello to my new grandson and goodbye to an old friend.

Pops

As I walked on my front porch this morning, coffee in hand, I was greeted by overcast gray skies. That does not mean that I was unhappy to see the cloud cover. I look forward to the rain and sometimes the excitement of the lightning and thunder that it brings. I have not written any blogs in a while, because of a health issue. Not a health issue of a super serious nature. I had six in my teeth removed about a week ago. When I went to the dentist concerning a toothache I fully expected that a tooth was going to be pulled. Imagine my shock when the dentist showed me the x-rays and stated that I have six really bad teeth than need to come out. After a short time of deliberation I decided to have all six teeth pulled by oral surgeon. The main reason for this choice was that I would be put under an anesthetic and not conscious during the operation. The surgery went well and the dentist explained to me several times that I had some really rotten teeth in there. So with some pain medication in hand my wife drove me home. It took three days for me to start feeling human again. I did watch a lot of daytime television shows and more than my share of commercials. My world as I had been living it took a drastic change in keeping me inside and on medications. My first thought of today was that if is great to be back outside and active again. Your health is the one thing that you can try to control. And as hard as you try your health can take a bad turn. All the things that you’d focus on while feeling good diminish and all you can think about is trying to feel better. I will address on how to proceed with my dentist and the replacement of those teeth in a month. One thing I’m pretty sure of I cannot afford an implant which cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $5000 and up a tooth. But I have to wait until my mouth has healed enough to go any further.

I did get to watch a lot of interesting television channels that cover everything from American Pickers to Tree House Master. I also got to watch a lot of news programs. You can sure tell the difference between a local news station and national broadcasting station. During one of those shows I viewed an interview with an Egyptian talk show host, Bassem Youssef. I was amazed on how positive he was on life and on his ability to remain alive. Even in the face of great personal danger Youssef seem to be full of positive statements. He reminded me of the simple song “don’t worry be happy”. Even though the world around him seemed to be full of death and desperation he seemed to point out a brighter side of life.

While watching the news in the last week I watched the Sec. of Veterans Affairs resigned from his position while the deficiencies in his policies in the VA continue to be discovered. I know that just one person is not responsible for all of the deficiencies, but it’s a good start. I also watched the news coverage of several shootings. These senseless killings only remind reminded me that everyday lives are taken. It can be in an automobile accident, a child’s death from cancer or the falling of another soldier in war. If I looked to find it I will find death around each corner. The recent coverage of D-Day only reminding me of how many people can die in such a short time. I watch as Iraq falls back into the hands of what we call “radical Muslims” after years of America’s soldiers dying in those very cities. I watch to see the Republican Party as it falls apart. All of these things have been experienced by men and women in the past. And yet there is someone out there, actually many of us out there that see a happy and bright future. I cannot enjoy my life by living in fear of death. Everyone dies and I know that I will too.

So even though I listen to the news, which is mostly bad news, I look for and find the happiness that surrounds me. In less than a week my son and his wife will bring into the world a new baby. This is one of the happy moments in life. In several weeks, I will also take a long trip across the country and visit all my children and grandchildren with my wife by my side. As I search for the happy moments, still aware of all the death and danger that lives out there, I know that I can find it. All I have to do is appreciated and live in that moment of time.

Today I really enjoy being able to walk out of my house and view the forest. I was able to enjoy my coffee and even a couple of donuts that my wife so thoughtfully bought for me. I was able to watch my dogs run around in the new backyard that I built and listen to the chickens cluck and clatter as the day begins. Maybe these things are not what make you happy, but they are truly things that make me happy. So my thought at this point is that no matter where you are in life or what is happening in your life, search out and enjoy those things that make you happy.

Finally, I’m going out to my shop and use my brand-new drill. My son bought it for me and as crazy as it might sound, it makes me happy to use my new drill.

Pops

As I walked out onto my front porch this morning, a large cup of coffee in hand, I gazed out at the aftermath of a really hard and good rain. With all the talk about global warming and places like California and Texas running out of water in their cities, I really enjoy looking forward to the rain. And while walking around this morning the ground was still so wet that I was slipping and sliding all over the place. For just a moment it reminded me of my time in Vietnam. During those days I did not look forward to the rain. Monday was Memorial Day and I thought of those faces of the young men who do not return.

Usually around Memorial Day there are parades and events attended by survivors like me. Usually the men and women who represent the armed forces look a little bit old. I know that there are a lot of veterans of recent wars, like my son and his wife. If they are like me, I did not want to participate in any ceremony that was connected to war. But many people around the world in all kinds of different countries feel the need to show their appreciation for the service that was provided by the soldiers. I often watch an interview with a soldier who is now in his 80s and I watch his eyes swell up with emotion when recalling the war and those that died serving their country.

Many men and women while fighting in a war cannot take the time to soak in the entire travesty and the loss of humanity surrounding them. They can’t really take time to honor the fallen while they are engaged in action. There were times after a firefight when I got back to a secured location that I would just sit down in a corner and start shaking. This would last for a short time as I had to get back to the business of protecting the area. It wasn’t until I was about sixty years old and retiring that the gravity and the grossness of what I did hit me. Usually when thinking about my time in war I reflect on it almost like it was a movie. But then there are those days that the reality and the finality of my actions make me very emotional.

I can see recent veterans just trying to work hard and raise a family and get on with life without having to relive their experience in war. It is what you have to do to keep from breaking down. But usually on Memorial Day you cannot avoid remembering those faces that did not make it back from the war. For a lot of years I felt guilty about surviving the war. Why wasn’t I killed rather than the man next to me? I know these thoughts are not unique to me. It seems like mankind’s destiny is to repeatedly get involved in a war.

Last night I watched the show on the History Channel called the World Wars. I am always amazed at the number of casualties during World War I and World War II. Literally millions of men on both sides of the issue were killed in such a short time. During the part on the trench wars I was reminded of how I felt when there was incoming mortar rounds. There were times when I would jump into a previous bomb crater just to take cover from the exploding shrapnel.

I think that mankind will always be involved in a war. Whether it is a civil war like the United States went through or a world war where many countries will serve up their young men and women to fight that war. I think about how I was prepared to go to war. I wasn’t, I watched John Wayne movies where the good guys always won. I had no idea how the reality of actually fighting was so fast, furious and chaotic. Since the Vietnam War, which originally was described as a policing action, I have witnessed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. No matter what you or I think of the reason for going there our young men and women did not hesitate to represent their country. During the last two wars there was no draft, just men women who would volunteer to serve their country. This happens all over the world, not just in the United States.

I think war will always be around and the best that we can do is to find a way to lower the number of casualties, both on the field and after an injury. In looking at the numbers of casualties, starting back with WWI, the numbers have gone down. I do not believe that there will be no casualties in a war. Somebody’s son, daughter, father or mother will die in action as a result a war.

Today, there are drones and aircraft that do not need a human to operate them in the battle field. This will help keep casualty numbers down. But those drones and aircraft are not shooting at other drones and aircraft they are shooting at human beings. The casualties was still exists.

I hope that in the future when the veterans come home that there is a new and better functioning Veterans Administration to greet them. Certainly, those that are physically injured should be taking care of immediately. Those who carry battle scars in their memories will be sought out and taking care of. Physical wounds are much easier to recognize than the PTSD that many of our soldiers bring home. The Veterans Administration should be given sufficient funding to handle the needs of those who we sent to war. The Veterans Administration is a healthcare business and should be run by a professional in the healthcare industry. Maybe it’s a Doctor or healthcare administration professional that should run the VA. War will always be there and cannot be denied. But how we handle and survive war can be improved on.

Normally, I would end this by saying God bless America. But I will add this – God bless the men and woman who become a soldier for their country and are willing to stand up for its ideas even at the cost of their own life.

Pops