When someone joins the Army, Navy, Air Force or Marines they are in effect, signing a blank check made payable to the United States Federal Government that basically says the check is for any amount up to and including their life. I want you to think about all the service men and women that were drafted and or volunteered to serve their country and never came home. Their check included the cost of their life.

By way of example, there were 320,518 men and women in World War I and 1,076245 in World War II and 211,454 in Vietnam that never got the chance to come home. Most were so young, and they never got the chance to have families, live in peace and grow old in America. They put it all on the line so that you and I could live in a free country today. When you see those numbers, it may not register what those numbers means, therefore here is another number. There are 35,000+/- cities and towns across America. Using the World War II death toll, it would mean that in my hometown of McDonough GA there was an average of 31 funerals of young men that left for war and did not come home alive. Using the three towns closest to McDonough (15 miles apart) there were 100+/- funerals in our area just from World War II. That is 100 young men and women that went to school, church, went on dates and played on ball teams that were killed in action and were laid to rest in our home town.

There are many people today that do not respect the American flag or the national anthem and have no regard and no thankfulness for what these people did to save our way of life. So, when you see people disrespecting our military, our history and our country, let us be careful to not identify them as heroes. The heroes are the ones that died on foreign soil and gave up their chance at life, so you and I could have ours. So, the next time you see the American flag or hear the national anthem, stop, listen, reflect on history and be thankful. KT

If someone ask you, over the last 100 years, what started the change in the social fabric of America, what would you say?  Last week several of us at the office started talking about this question. Clearly the various wars changed the outlook of America and forever changed the men and women that served, but the question I am asking is different. What changed neighbors from knowing each other and kids playing in the yard, children riding bicycles to their friend’s house and stick ball in the streets etc. The list could go on for pages, but you get the idea. I am asking when the simplicity of life as we once knew it in America, began to shift.

There are many significant events and inventions throughout the 1900’s and early 2000’s that impacted life, but (in my opinion) none was as social changing as the television. Before television, people would sit on the porch in the spring and summer months to get out of the house along with their neighbors and watch their children play in the yard until bath time when the temperature cooled off. They would talk over the fence to friends and they would cruise with the windows down to the local ice cream stand and there were kids outside playing every sport that used a ball.

The TV was invented in the 1927 but became main stream to the public in the mid to late 1950’ s. TV became the main source of information and influence of American citizens. By the late 50’s early 60’s, a large percentage of American homes had more than one TV. This is when (in my opinion) the social fabric of America began to shift. People stayed indoors, and kids found more entertainment through watching shows than playing with their friends outside.

During those years, winter was the time when most people stayed indoors but spring, summer and fall was when all the neighborhood activities were rekindled, and kids were ready for school to start back after three months off. Indoor air conditioning (window units) became main stream about the same time as TV (give or take a few years) and after that there was less desire for people (parents and children) to go outside.

Fast forward 50-60 years and you have the internet and in 2007 the iPhone came out with its mobile accessibility to the internet and America began to shift socially again just as significant as it did in the 50’s and early 60’s. Now, very few children play in the yard and run through the sprinkler, very few boys are playing football in the yard and older children cannot go a day without their phone/iPad and its connectivity. Neighbors today, many times do not even know who lives next door. It is interesting that both the TV and iPhone/iPad have the same pull. They combine voice and visual entertainment.

Are we better or worse off today? It is an interesting question. The real question is what the next social shift in America will be and if you figure that out, please let me know. KT

In this political climate we current have in America, I find it increasingly hard to trust the opinions of politicians (except our military) that have only ever signed a paycheck on the back. Signing a paycheck on the front is what employers do and signing a paycheck on the back is what employees do. Most of the people running for political office today, only know what it is like being on someone else’s payroll.

Most of the people running for political positions in 2020 have never employed one person and have never started a business and sweated to create something. They have never had to meet a payroll on Friday when they didn’t have the money. They have never had people with families depending on them. All they know is to criticize and cast blame and tear the other person down.

I think it is important to choose who you listen to. I loved the movie with Robin Williams when he ran for President and he said that every politician should be like a NASCAR driver and have to wear a jacket that shows who all their sponsors are. ha. Wouldn’t that be a hoot to really see who is contributing large dollars to their election campaigns and receiving in exchange promises that the American public would not agree to?

So, if you ask me, the ones I want to really hear from are the ones who have actually done something, accomplished something and actually have been in the arena and not just the stands.

I think the following quote from Teddy Roosevelt could be one of the greatest of all time.

Theodore Roosevelt said the following quote, “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” KT

Everyone has some things that irritate them that may not even faze other people. Three of the most common (ha) irritants for me are the following. (1) getting behind someone in line at the convenience store that insists on buying 20 lottery tickets with different numbers for each one. (2) Getting behind a construction truck in the fast food drive through when the driver wants to order for his whole crew and pay separately. (3) the one I encounter the most is at the local Starbucks. We are near a hospital and if you see someone in line wearing scrubs, just go ahead and leave.

The scrub wearers generally want to order for their other nursing staff members and each order is paid for separately and each order usually consists of at least, five adjectives that I don’t even understand. If we looked up the word adjective, it means, a word or phrase related to a noun (the word coffee) to modify or describe it. As a side note, the word coffee is really a very simple noun that needs no elaboration or adjective to describe it. It’s just coffee.

Ok back to Starbucks. Examples of Starbucks adjectives are the following: The size (tall, grande, venti or trenta), hot or iced, decaf or regular, type of milk, the degree of hotness, one-two or three shots, extra mo’ whip, upside down, two or three pumps of whatever, double cupped then you have to tell them if you want a latte, mocha, frap or expresso. So,,,,,, when I see the aforementioned scrub wearing people in line, I just leave and come to the office and make my own. If you see several people in the line wearing scrubs, you might as well pay your quarterly tax return before coming back. Ha

If I were to add a fourth irritant, ok, I think I will. It would be at the bank teller line. If you see person in line with stack of papers or five deposit bags that jingle (full of change) you might as well postpone your banking for the next 30 minutes.

If I really want to humor myself, I look at the common denominator of all four of these irritants and, wait for it,,,, it’s me and my impatience. So, I am giving my fellow Americans a few examples of things that when you see them, you will recognize them and then plan your day accordingly. KT