I am a dreamer, always have been and always will be. When times are bad I dream of better times. When times are good I thank the Lord. I have always dreamed that every citizen of our country has at least an ounce of empathy and two ounces of brains. I have come to doubt that belief, especially since the person in the Oval Office doesn’t even seem to pass the bill. I guess this particular dream will have to wait a while before it can be realized.
Now don’t misunderstand me, I don’t expect everyone to be overflowing with empathy, but another way to describe it is “brother’s keeper” and since that is a Christian term coming from the mouth of its founder I would hope that all of us who call ourselves Christians strive to get a little more empathy each day. But sadly then I see so many so-called Evangelicals who seem to be totally ignorant of caring for others and that is almost devastating.
As far as brains are concerned I am talking about intelligence, not particularly the amount of grey matter you have. Where intelligence is concerned I follow another axiom and that is “If you don’t use it you lose it”. Each one of us should strive to become just a little more intelligent today than we were yesterday. But then I see so many of us who seemed to be ignorant on just how flawed the person is who they voted for president it dashes my dream in this area also. With a minimal amount of study it was obvious to me just how deficient the one who they voted for was from the get go. How could so many be confused about what was totally obvious to the rest of us?
As a final thought, maybe even those born in the country need to pass a test to be citizens. As Thomas Jefferson said a democracy cannot succeed without an informed electorate. I don’t enjoy saying “I TOLD YOU SO” after only 1/8 of his time in office but I told you so.
This past weekend I traveled to Elwood Indiana for a visit to the Elwood Glass Festival. While there were some bright points to the trip it was generally disappointing in that the “Glass” part of the festival has been for the most part forgotten. In 1886 the Ball brothers were looking to build a factory for their Mason Jars and they chose Indiana. Most of you rural folks like me who can some of their garden produce use Mason jars which were originally produced in or near Elwood/Muncie. The Ball Corporation was a big deal to Elwood and the surrounding area for until the 1990s when it moved it headquarters to Colorado and sold off what little remained of its glass canning business. Here is a little about its hay days from Wikipedia:
Almost ten years ago I started my first blog called 
I don’t know how many readers ever look at the quotes I rotate through the header of RJsCorner. I try to change them weekly but sometimes that task falls in the proverbial crack. In the current header is a quote from Thomas Jefferson about staying too long that seems especially relative to the folks in Washington DC.
How do we broaden our horizons? That question seems to be plaguing me lately. How do you make people come out beyond themselves? I have termed this condition as “Meitus”, that is people who have their heads stuck up the own rear ends so far that they can only see themselves. I know it is impossible for me to come up with a solution to this problem but because I am a fixer by nature I have to think about this kind of stuff.
My fellow blogger as cited above is not by any means the worst example of Internet anonymity. All you have to do is go to any news source or just about anyplace where someone says anything and view the comments to see anonymity at its worst. People plainly feel they can verbally abuse others anonymously. Some like our current president do it even with their name attached. They say civility is quickly being lost in our times. Too many people just seem to have no respect for others or any opposing views. To many people have seemingly lost the ability to empathize with others. Maybe that is true to an extent but I really don’t believe it is a long term thing. I believe that the core of citizens, perhaps even the majority, that still cling to treating others as you want them to treat you. We just have to wait for the time when they take our country back.
Yes, I recognize that without the white supremacists vote he would likely not be president. I recognize that it is an important part of his base that he doesn’t want to offend since there is a slight chance that he may need them again. But even with his massive ego he needs to realize that his base made up of a WILDLY hodgepodge groups of voters has no chance of staying intact for another go around.
Think of all the ways the Republicans have tried to trim entitlements like Medicaid or cut government. Name a signal victory. There’s not a victory. They haven’t been able to trim one agency, cut back one entitlement. They failed every single time.