A Tranquil Time In Northern New Hampshire

A Tranquil Time In Northern New Hampshire

By John Gilmore

A small town, almost a village in northern New Hampshire near Conway, the prime time tourist location in the winter for skiing, sledding, snowshoeing and winter sports, and in the summer hiking the many trails and pine forests, sits quietly and tranquil today.

It is rainy today, in Tamworth. I sit looking out the window in the wooded area from a small cabin in a community of people who seem to have found a way to live with all of the modern amenities, but be in a small, quiet community surrounding Moore’s Pond. No need to go to a park to walk the trails for the visitor. This small community is full of many dirt roads with beautiful cabins, all uniquely designed, close enough to see from the road.

It is rainy now. It just enhances the sleep ability factor here from the rain and most importantly, the quiet. Sometimes it is good just to be in a quiet place. To be away from the city and the roar of cars and blazing sirens, and the lawn mowers and weed wackers constantly going in the suburbs and immersed in the sounds of birds singing, wind blowing through the trees and the natural noises that we often don’t hear or even pay attention to anymore is both fulfilling and enlightening.

It is just life in it’s rawness and in its fullness instead of the hustle and bustle of living according to the wishes and demands of others and the great machine-like culture we often find in US American overcrowded cities . It is what is needed for the healing of the human soul. The human soul needs quiet, it needs solitude as well as community. The human soul thrives while immersed in nature with other human beings, not in avoidance.

As I sit and listen to the sound of distant conversation in the house in which I am staying, and look outside of windows and off of the balcony surrounded by the beauty of nature, I find that I am more relaxed and more at rest than I have been for quite some time. This seems more the real world than my small suburban town.

A Visit To White’s Lake

White’s Lake is a very large lake about two miles from Tamworth. There is a beautiful beach with a cordoned off area for swimming, many picnic tables, and a small store and rental shop where you can rent one and two people kayaks, paddle boats, and canoes. The water is warm. A lot of activity is going on.

A Tranquil Day In Northern New Hampshire

Instead of going in the water we decided to hike the two mile trail around the lake, noticing the beautiful landscape, and resting along the edge, every so often, looking out over the beauty of the pristine looking, yet well utilized lake. The lake is large enough for people to swim in a very small section without disturbing the fisherman and people in boats and canoes, and large enough so people doing the boating don’t usually cross paths unless they want. The best part–no motor boats, or jet skis.

I realize those things must be fun, considering that almost every quiet lake where people swim, canoe, or kayak eventually gets overrun with someone loudly running up and down with a wake following so large that it can sometimes swamp a kayak if the paddler is not careful. Though it may be exciting for the few grinning speed lovers on those vehicles it usually ruins the atmosphere for everyone else. This doesn’t seem to be a problem at White’s Lake.

The major problem for me is the steep entrance fee of five dollars per person for out of state visitors compared to three dollars a car for state residents. Despite all of the fun, the water, the friendly atmosphere with music, picnic tables and children laughing and playing, I doubt that we will return there with only one day left to explore more of his fascinating area when we can for free elsewhere.

The trees, the trails, the quiet, the friendly atmosphere, all of these things add to the charm of the area. I marvel at how few African Americans and People of Color are located here, yet again, I lived in NH for several years so I shouldn’t be surprised. The greatest thing that I notice, and noticed back then, was that it is more comfortable for a black person here than it is in many of the suburban towns surrounding Philadelphia, or Boston. I think many of the people in NH believe in minding their own business and giving people the space they need.

On some issues they are quite conservative. On some they are quite progressive. They are, however, by no means moderate. I kind of like that to be truthful. Stand up for what you want, don’t hate people who don’t agree with what you want has always been my motto. Don’t water down everything that you want or need to the point that it is useless. I think we can all learn something from the state of NH. It isn’t perfect, but what is? And we can make what we learn from it perfect if we have the nerve to stop driving down the middle of the road and get to one side or the other appreciating the fact that we may need to go in the other direction sometimes if we want to get back home.

A Tranquil Time In Northern New Hampshire

A Tranquil Time In Northern New Hampshire

Rabbits And The Rhythm of Jazz In A City That Never Sleeps

Rabbits And The Rhythm of Jazz In A City That Never Sleeps

John W. Gilmore

The City that never sleeps awakes despite being bruised, beaten and injured by the Covid 19 Pandemic.  With fewer people in the streets some of the businesses have shut down as you walk up and down Broadway and along the streets of the upper west side.  Some of the restaurants have set up small seating areas open to the elements so people can sit in and eat.  Things are diminished.  The subway is on a different schedule The crowds aren’t as heavy, but life still goes on.

Rabbits And The Rhythm of Jazz In A City That Never Sleeps
View From Central Park River Walk by John Gilmore

People are walking the streets and picking up food to go most of the time.  Every so often a few people will pass you on a City Bike or bicycles of their own.  There seems to be more E-bikes flowing up and down bike lanes set aside solely for their use.  Some even have street lights set up for bicycles and the small, electric scooters that pass by every so often as people make it to their destinations. 

Everyone is wearing a mask.  Living together in the proximity of a city and caring about one’s neighbor has caught on as part of the milieu of the city and this city, where people are presented to the world as having citizens who are cold and uncaring, has proven itself, yet again, to care more for each other than groups of people located in many smaller cities, towns and rural communities when it comes to protecting them from the virus.  

Walking down 107th street passing many people wearing various types of face covers we come to the entrance of Central Park, one of the largest urban parks in the US.  We walk up a ramp and enter in.  A jazz band is playing funky tunes close to, but not quite, the type of music you would hear on the streets of New Orleans.  People are standing around tapping their feet, clapping.  Some are moved to dance.

A couple whirls and twirls touch dancing.  A few people find secluded corners where they dance with glee on this beautiful Easter Weekend. People are moved to share their time together to the beat of the saxophone, trumpet, trombone and a set of drums.  It is a light shining into the darkness and the fear of a pandemic bringing hope and majesty back to this dynamic world class city.

The park is grand and beautiful.  No matter what tragedy befalls the city and this nation, nature still stands out wonderfully with all of it’s winding trails, streams and rivers, birds and squirrels running free and doing the same things they have been doing for thousands or perhaps even millions of years.  One man stands still holding seeds in his hand as the bravest of the birds fly down and pluck them up and as the squirrels approach them.  People stand their watching, spell bound at the display of trust and comfort he had cultivated with these animals over a period of time.  The city is masked, but not dead, as one might expect.  People aren’t cowering in their homes.

Perhaps we all can learn a lesson from New York City.  Many people are leaving the city.  The Covid virus is still spiking.  The city has been devastated, but there is still a vital energy and power that exists at the core of this city.  In a class I took once at University of Creation Spirituality a teacher named Carl Anthony described it in a class on Urban Spirituality.  He explained it as the power of humanity and the power of possibility that existed in every city because of the diversity, the history, the closeness, and the ability of people all living so close to create the atmosphere they wanted to provide experiences that will take every person to a higher understanding of what it means to be human and to learn the true meaning of joyful living.

This spirit–this spirit of life and resiliency in the face of pandemic, was what we experienced during this weekend trip to the city that never sleeps.  It awakened the realization that no matter how dark and battered, no matter what experiences that we go through as we pass through the fire together, if we want to and if we will stay together, we will not only survive, but prosper.  Like the Easter Egg that promises the hope of new life, or the empty tomb that represents the power of life over death, new life coming forth out of desperate circumstances is always a possibility.  

Out of the egg, the shell of pain, suffering, and desperation holding the city in a tight grip of fear and despondency a new city can arise.  A new people can arise, but we need to nurture ourselves and our society and protect the shell that surrounds it, the very thing that holds it altogether, until what is inside is ready to crack through into a new world and new way of being.  That is what we need now, and that is what is happening as many people stand around a small jazz band in one of the largest urban parks in the country wearing masks, singing, dancing and remembering what the beautiful part of life really is.  Togetherness.  

Rabbits And The Rhythm of Jazz In A City That Never Sleeps
Rabbits And The Rhythm of Jazz In A City That Never Sleeps

Rabbits And The Rhythm of Jazz In A City That Never Sleeps

The Day The Town Stood Still

The Day The Town Stood Still

Dr. John W. Gilmore

The streets are almost empty where I live.  They call it being sheltered.  I walk the streets just for exercise.  In the air of  uneasy quietness I pass neighbors walking their dogs every so often .  We wear masks and spread out just a little farther to keep our distance, unlike the walks in the parks I have gone on where bicyclists come rushing down narrow paths and people without masks stroll rapidly toward you never giving way.  

The Day The Town Stood Still
Wyndmoore, Pa. in the time of Covid

Like everything else, spring seems to be frozen waiting for the corona virus to pass.   But the animals are active, as usual on the cool, sunny day.   Even they seem to be wondering what is going on as I walk past and they look at me strangely.  They move more boldly than usual, probably wondering why things are so quiet and where the humans are.  I suppose if I were an animal I would be delighted, and I think they are.

Most of the streets on the main drag here, on Willow Grove Avenue in Wyndmoor are closed.  Only a sandwich shop, a gas station and pizza shop and Rita’s Ice Cream are open for pick up, but not going in or sitting down, just grab and go.  There’s a small grocery store open where people are standing in the street; only a certain number at a time are allowed in. I ordered a hoagie today.  I drove a little way up the street and went to a window with the top slid down to pick it up, which was new.  It was like being in a high crime area where you pay for your food through a slot in a thick plexiglass window.  I had on my mask and a masked man from inside asked what I would like.  It all seemed a bit silly as I paid for my order and waited.  A stranger masked like I was approached and waited, making sure to fulfill the six foot mandatory distance.  I sat in my car and waited relieving myself of my green, homemade mask while listening to my Nothing Like the Sun Sting CD for just a few moments.   

Upon receiving the signal I paid for my sandwich and tossed it in the front seat.  I took a quick look again at the Twilight Zone like environment and began to drive home.   I passed the neighborhood coffee shop, closed, and looked at several very small stores that looked closed, even if they weren’t.  The 711, which is open all the time, looked lonely with very few cars sitting in the parking lot.  The whole place is on lockdown.  It is strange to live in a place where humans have been removed from the equation.

Even so, the animals seemed just a bit happier.  The air seemed just a bit purer and the place quieter.  I thought I could get used to it.  A teenager popping a wheelie on a bike came shooting by right down the middle of the street in all of his teenage arrogance shattering the magic of the moment.  Had I pulled out one second earlier he would have been dead.  Thanks to him I could definitely understand why the animals were so happy and  could actually see a positive side to being without humans. 

Wyndmoor Going Upscale

Wyndmoor Going Upscale

By Dr. John W. Gilmore

My little town of Wyndmoor, Pa. nuzzled against Mount Airy and Chestnut Hill is changing at Traymore and Willowgrove avenues.   New shops and buildings are popping up while others, old stores, small business, and gas stations that served the neighborhood well, are disappearing under the shovel and hammer of progress.  The most recent change is a large condo unit replacing our gas station, our small but convenient hardware store, and a few houses and small businesses. Some of the condos cost as much as $400,000.  Rumor has it they have already been sold.

Wyndmoor Going Upscale
You can tell a town by its coffee shop.A view of Wyndmoor from Locals Coffee & Eatery

On the bottom floor there are new businesses. Captain Andy’s Market where a Tanning Salon used to be; Enza wine and Pizza where a house once stood; Toni’s Pizza (the only neighborhood shop left standing) surrounded by and having to compete with it’s new Pizza selling neighbor; Lash Lounge; Pure Barre (an upscale clothing store); and across the street Skin Smart Dermatology are just a few new shops, and at the very corner of the building Locals Coffee shop.

Locals is a coffee shop with a large open space and polished concrete floors.  The ceiling is painted black with a large fan and silver ducts and pipes running along it giving it a polished, industrial look. Blond wood tables–some large and long with a raw rustic look, but well polished and varnished, others small and square with padded benches provide comfortable seating.  There are four leather chairs seated in front of a small fireplace embedded in the wall below a large screen TV.  The music is pleasing.    

There are various items placed artfully around the room that attract the eye:  old wooden  baskets of fruit, potato chips, various types of food.  A dark metal case with sodas, orange juices, water, and various drinks for those who may want something other than coffee sits close to the counter.  Pastries, sandwiches, and many variations of the  main ingredient–coffee and even tea are sold.

I always thought that one could tell the quality of the town by its coffee shop or lack thereof.  Now we have one we can compare. I sit in a large leather chair next to the fire place.  Is it real fire?  It looks as though it is a fire sealed behind glass and plastic, yet I don’t feel the heat.  The atmosphere is relaxed.  Soft jazz is playing.  It can be crowded sometimes, but due to the openness of the space the voices seem muffled and absorbed. It is good to have a coffee shop so close to my home that I can walk. 

Wyndmoor is changing.  It is the closest town to Chestnut Hill and Mount Airy.  Upscale houses, mansions and estates line the streets directly behind it.  Real estate prices are high in Mt. Airy and Chestnut Hill.  Perhaps this is the next hot spot for gentrification and housing prices will rise.  I really don’t know if that is a good thing.  What has the world come to when even middle class neighborhoods are unsafe from the shovel and hammer? 

Wyndmoor Going Upscale

Walking Media Pa With John Gilmore

Walking Media Pa With John Gilmore

By John W. Gilmore

Media, a quiet little town just north of Chester, Pa., didn’t have much going on in the ’80s. The major hang out spot near where I lived was the Old State Tavern on Old State Road. It featured various local rock bands playing rock music, dance music, and pop music accompanied by drinking, dancing, and outright partying.

Walking Media Pa With John Gilmore
The Seven Stones Gallery in Media, Pa.

People often visited the most popular restaurant, the Plumstead, located downtown at the center of everything. That’s not true anymore. When I arrived to take my walk 2020 and explore the new happenings I almost got lost because the landscape had changed so much and so much more was going on. I parked my car on East State St. and headed toward downtown not even knowing if I were headed in the right direction.

I passed large buildings encircling a large flat park near State and Manchester. It didn’t look the same as I remembered. Several sets of old concrete steps led up to the large open space dotted tastefully with just a touch of trees and greenery. Upon further inspection I realized that there had been houses in that field. They had been knocked down, only leaving the stairways for the continued use of the new residents.

The town had been subjected to major construction. As I got back in my car circling for some familiar reference point I noticed several large buildings and a very large number of banks for such a small town. I finally found a free parking place next to a clump of churches on Church and Franklyn Sts. in front of the Media Presbyterian Church. Near the churches and in the downtown section there was not a spot of dirt or piece of trash anywhere. The building’s were even clean, showing very few signs of wear and tear.

I parked my car, since there was no no-parking sign, and headed north toward the center of town walking past a Citizens Bank. I was perplexed for a moment. I thought it was a TD bank when I drove in. I noticed a TD Bank to the right of the Citizens Bank touching it, and a large WFSC Bank right across the street with a United Savings Bank nearby.

There were many thriving local businesses: JP Cleaning; Baker Printshop; Media Fellowship; and the House Restaurant in large two and three story buildings–some with bevelled roofs and old fashion fire escapes.

Walking down the street reminds you of the old times in the ’50s and ’60s when people didn’t spend their time shopping in enclosed spaces, but took themselves out into the natural elements scurrying from one store to the next during winter months and strolling, slowly during beautiful spring days doing their weekly shopping.

On the left you’ll find an old fashioned hardware store, on the right, Deals, not a dollar store, but something resembling a 5 and 10 cent store. A myriad of restaurants and shops all under matching green awnings along with the Media Town Mall located at State and Orange stand out. The old Plumstead is now replaced with an upscale bar named Brick and Brew. I can see the dark brown stools bolted to the floor with customers eating, drinking, and cavorting in the middle of the Friday afternoon. It is surprisingly full, located next to a large, open courtyard overlaid with dark brown bricks and benches where people can pass through down to Baltimore Pike, or just sit and look at some of the other shops or watch people passing by in this small downtown section within a downtown section. Several shops are closed waiting for the weekend onslaught, but the open ones have plenty customers.

The choices of shops to visit are many for such a small strip of road and the parallel block of Bethlehem Pike just around the corner. Everything from bookstores to nail salons, from 7 Stones Store, which sells spirituality odds and ends to juice bars, from gyms to Massage Therapy and Healing Centers all right there, within a few blocks, along with a variety of food and restaurants.

Making my way to the end of the street I retrace my steps looking for a quick lunch spot.

I finally stop at Jaco’s Taco and Juice Bar, order a large orange juice and two Tijuana Style tacos. I take the last open table. The places at the bar fill completely as I watch people pouring in and wonder where all of these people are coming from during the middle of the day. Seems that this lazy, little town has become a hotspot in the Delaware County.

Walking Media Pa With John Gilmore

Old City Makes Philly A New City

Old City Makes Philly A New City

By John W. Gilmore

As children living outside of Philadelphia in the ’60s and ’70s we thought of it as a large, dirty old useless city.  As far as we knew there was violence everywhere; every street had a gang associated with it; the Mafia would often fight it out on the streets of South Philly; and the prostitutes, drug dealers and organized crime was known to reside at 13th and Locust streets — the Red Light District, right in Center City.  The main train station (30th Street Station) was filled with empty holes and caverns where businesses used to be some time in the distant past.  The most viable station we often saw in transit was the 69th Street Terminal, which had many dirty, shabby shops and restaurants and slimy, slippery floors.  Philadelphia was a place to be avoided at all costs.

Even so, I remember visiting every so often on hot summer’s nights later as a young adult.  I remember taking the Elevated line from 69th Street, getting off on Market Street, and walking down to Penn’s Landing for free concerts.  Penn’s Landing was always extraordinarily hot.  There were bleachers, more like stair steps made of stone and concrete, and not a tree or piece of shade in sight.  Now, on the waterfront, there are free summer concerts at Spruce Harbor Park.  

Multi-colored lights hang from the trees, and people swing in the breeze in hammocks in the shaded areas underneath.  Picnic benches surround the stage where the band plays.  The music can be heard from everywhere, even the lounge chairs looking out over the ice-cream parlors, snack bars, and restaurants on the long boardwalk that runs along the river.  From the boardwalk you look out on the water and see small boats, large ships, and even naval vessels harbored there.  Someone goes by on a goose shaped paddle boat straight out of a Snow White Disney Cartoon, as people are walking, eating, or sitting and talking.

Several docks are set together in a square configuration that resembles a manmade lake or very deep pool enclosing floating gardens.  Large stores and museums are at one end of the Harbor Park portion of the boardwalk and a Hilton Hotel is nearby, while giant ships turned into high class restaurants are moored at the other end.  You can enjoy walking on the boardwalk or through the shady park, maybe even stop for lunch in one of the luxury restaurants.  Whatever is your choice. 

The band plays.  This time a Cuban Band, maybe something else next time.  Cuban Jazz and Salsa music fills the space as we sit trying to eat our ice cream before it melts in the 90 degree heat.  It is good to be in the shade listening to music and watching a few people dance, moving to the Latin beat.  

We walk out of the park and go a few blocks down Columbus Avenue.  We climb the stairs to the bridge leading over this six lane road to find a cross-over with a stone and brick slab designs on the floor and not a scrap of paper in sight.  Large, red-brick flower-box gardens line the sides full of echinacea, daisies, sunflowers and gardenias creating an elevated urban garden.

Descending from this garden, we make our way down the cobblestone streets.  We walk down Dock Street, make a hook around many large, stone buildings and monuments to find a Chinese restaurant where we have an early dinner.  We are in no hurry.  Spot Hero, an internet parking app,  gives us more than 20 hours of nearby parking for $14 in a lot that usually costs $16 per hour.  But we will not stay that long.  

We end the day on a pleasant note. The day has been good.  I begin to reimagine Philadelphia.  The whole riverfront has been redeveloped.  The little broken down, dirty city that I remembered doesn’t exist any more.  I want to explore the new, lively version of the city more fully.  Old City seems to have come back to life, near the riverfront anyway, and the stations.  I would like to see the rest.

Old City Makes Philly A New City

Ambler Tranquility Off The Beaten Path

Ambler Tranquility Off The Beaten Path

By John W. Gilmore

Since the invention of the internet and better technology, small towns with a lot of activities are the places that offer the best of both worlds — the excitement of the city and the warmth of a small community.  Many of the small towns in Montgomery county and other areas, like some of the sections of Philadelphia, are beginning to blossom and offer the type of community people want.  The borough of Ambler in Montgomery County, Pa. offers the tranquility of a small town with a lot of activity.  It is easy to walk the streets instead of driving, while taking full advantage of the many amenities.  There is a building boom taking place.  Houses and condos are being built rapidly, or renovated, in this town that has been recognized as the best small town in PA by Thrillist Travel in 2017.  The infrastructure that suits the millennial population’s need has developed. 

Ambler Tranquility Off The Beaten Path

There is no need to drive all the way to the next city or even downtown.  You can easily walk or bike.  Even so, if you want to drive or are a visitor you can.  There are meters in the downtown section.  During lunchtime hours, after six, and Sundays they are all free.  If you cannot find parking on the street there is a large municipal parking lot right at the center of all of the activity.  You can also find parking in the nearby residential areas on the street.  No need to drive all the way to the city anymore.  You can find the activities right there and not bring the car.  You can walk if you’re a resident, or bike, if you would like, to get to the exciting, hot spots.

Just down Main Street you see two coffee shops plus other places that sell coffee,  ice cream parlors, Gelato bars, Indian Mexican food restaurants, and even large Yoga studios, dance classes, hardware stores, and pizza shops.  On week nights the trees are lit up in a girdle of bright, white lights, along the main street that gives adds to the festive atmosphere.  Crowds of people mill around traveling to various places.  The crowds are not overwhelming and hard to navigate.  There is a feeling of excitement in the air.  One can get around easily looking at the various shops.  Music is pouring out of some of the restaurants. People are talking — some are eating water ice and others are going in and out of Limon’s Mexican Restaurant.   Everything is alive and buzzing.

You hear a band playing at the Lucky Well, right across the street from the Ambler Theater, a Non-Profit 501c3 membership theater that plays both first run and alternative movies.  Want live theater?  In the same block Act ll theater offers live performances of plays and musical performances.  Just at the end of the Main Street you walk into the Sweet Briar Cafe, famous for its many flavors of ice cream and deserts.  It serves you a variety of meals.  Breakfast lunch and dinner served in a warm setting with friendly waitstaff.  Several booths located close together permit the unplanned conversation between residents of the community while dining and relaxing.   It is a small town where people know each other.  

If you want more you can explore the many other shops and stores off the beaten path, but close to Main Street.  You can enjoy many festivals during the summer including a Restaurant Week Festival, The Annual Ambler Bike Race, and just south of the town a trail that is an extension of Wissahickon Park Trail. Very close by in the town of Gwyned, celebrate the coming of autumn by sampling many types of beer at the Oktoberfest. These are just a few things happening that you can take advantage of  in this small, but growing, exciting town.    

Ambler Tranquility Off The Beaten Path

John Gilmore, Peaceful Warrior Reflections

John Gilmore Peaceful Warrior ReflectionsDr. John Gilmore, who has written for us at times and is one of our favorite people, has his own internet radio show, Peaceful Warrior Reflections that can be found at this link.

While we suspect many of our readers may not be necessarily find it their cup of tea, we say you can never have too many peaceful warriors.

John Gilmore, Peaceful Warrior Reflections

Hostage Taking Postponed to ML King Day

The government is open for business again.  How nice.  Too bad it wasn’t open before we, as a nation, made fools of ourselves in front of every other nation in the world.  Or before several people lost money because of not being able to pay for student loans, which kicked their payment percentage all the way up ton 19%, or before billions of dollars of other costs incurred from loses due to programming and research that had to be done time, but was cut short, or ended, because of no funding for the scientists involved.  I even read that some people mortgages were foreclosed on during that short period of time.

I’m sure those farmers who had thousands of cattle freeze to death during the ice storm in South Dakota and who couldn’t call anyone to help with their costs through their federal insurance when their whole economic futures crashed are happy.  They would have been more happy if the Republicans in the House had done their jobs. No one knows what is happening with them now.

We at least know that there will be money until Martin Luther King Day.  On that day they will begin to hold us all hostage again.  Perhaps they will try to get us to stop celebrating Martin Luther King Day.  That would be something that is important.  Think of all of the money spent allowing us a weekend off where we can spend time with our families and loved ones.
We will see what our government will do then, but I have lost total confidence in them.  Whether you are a Democrat, Republican, Conservative, or Liberal, or Libertarian, or a Socialist, I am sure you know a nut when you see one.  It seems, unfortunately, that we have many, many nuts running the government now and woe are we.  The congress is full of people who are more incapable than the least among us.  When that happens in a country it is on the way to the bottom like a sinking ship.

Anything To Stop Healthcare

According to Democracy Now,
Republicans in the House are quite upset because the Senate Leader
refuses to call a session to vote on the idea put forward by
Republicans, that threatens to shut down the government if
Obama-care, a health care system that would give the opportunity to
those who were cut out because of pre-existing conditions, the poor,
the lower middle class and working class and millions of working
poor, to purchase insurance, and would make it almost impossible for
bankruptcy to result from large hospital bills.

I must say, during my lifetime, I have
never before seen one part of the government resort to extortion and
holding the citizens hostage, or using them as human shields, to
overturn an initiative voted for and passed by the House and Senate
and signed into law by the President of the United States. This
great turn around, in fact, is after most of the Republican
Representatives and Senators signed onto the bill on the condition
that it would slowly fade in beginning 2014.

Now the U.S. has become the laughing
stock of most of the world. Everything that we stood for in the past
has been turned upside down. We work to export democracy and the
democratic process throughout the world as those who tout democracy,
and who claim to be Christians, do whatever they want to against the
will of the people to keep people poor and destitute without the type
of healthcare that almost every industrial nation (I can’t think of
any that doesn’t), has.

We are being pushed backward and the
heritage of the United States…the True Heritage, is being stolen by
the ones who have pledged to preserve it. This heritage can be seen
in the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution of the United
States, the Gettysburg Address, and on the plaque on the Statue of
Liberty. The belief and application of these values are the only
thing that ever made us exceptional. They are the only things that
differentiated us from most of the western world. They will soon be
gone.

I just pray for our children and their
children as this country erodes into Neo-feudalism and all of those
who wasted their time and energy fighting against true exceptionalism
by trying to push us back to a time of Pre-civil War mentality and
block others from partaking of the opportunities afforded us by this
great nation. For this is what will ultimately bring about the
destruction of this nation and will garner curses and hatred from our
descendents because we didn’t stand up when it was the time and
protect the heritage of our own. Who are our own. Every citizen is
our own.