This Thursday is Thanksgiving.  For my readers outside the US this holiday, always celebrated on the 4th Thursday in November, seems a little odd.  A quick refresher for the holiday is this.  In early colonial times, 1621, the first settlers in Plymouth Massachusetts, known as pilgrims, were joined by their Native American neighbors to celebrate the bounty of the fall harvest.  It took a few years and some learning about the weather and how European crops grew in the US to get a good harvest.  This was customary in both cultures.  The religious and symbolic meaning was better portrayed by the Berkeley Plantation settlement as the leaders used this time to give thanks to God for a safe journey across the Atlantic ocean in 1619.  So we have the feast, and the humble prayers for thanks.

Over the centuries the holiday has transformed into more or less an annual gathering of family and close friends for a feast, catching up, kick off to the holiday shopping season (4 to 5 weeks before Christmas), and a time to reflect and take measure of one's life and to count their blessings.  The meals today follow a much newer tradition then the first Thanksgivings celebrated in North America.  Today we have either turkey or ham, corn, green beans, sweet potatoes, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, squash, and desserts consisting mainly of pie or cake.  In the original times the menu consisted of what ever was available, from fish and lobster to deer and pheasant.  Vegetables would have been seasonal and corn of that time was small and not like we are used to today.  Desserts were limited as sugar had to be imported and many colonies did not have ovens early on.

Thanksgiving was not an annual national holiday until 1863 when Abraham Lincoln created the holiday.  Franklin D. Roosevelt changed the day in 1939, and again in 1941 when Congress passed, and Roosevelt signed, the holiday as we know it today.  The dinners, as we know them today came about in early 1900's and were popularized by the likes of Norman Rockwell paintings featured in the Saturday Evening Post and Life Magazine.  It is curious that most of our views of holidays came about during this time.  Thanksgiving is however the oldest holiday in the United States.

This year I will be at the in-laws celebrating Thanksgiving with wife and daughter.  We most likely will not have any of the traditional foods, many of which are not made or sold in China, but we will be together.  We will count our blessings and enjoy the time together.  I may not get to see my Lions play the Packers, the game will happen early Friday morning here and no one will carry it live in Guangzhou and this may be just as well, the Lions have lost 2 and Green Bay is on fire!  To all my family and friends and to all my readers, thank you for your time and friendships, have a safe and wonderful holiday, and I may your dinner and family time be as good as it possibly can be.

Acworth Georgia, a small southern community 30 miles (48 Km) northwest of Atlanta, population 17,000, just had the worst example reflecting our receding social values and free fall to date.  In a shocking and utterly unbelievable report an 11 year old girl has accused 3 boys, one aged 8 and two 9, of kidnapping, false imprisonment, sexual assault and worst of all rape.  This isn't like the other stories to hit the wires where some kids are curious and get caught playing doctor, but actual brutal, real, rape.  The events took place last Thursday, November 15th, in the woods behind their two story apartment complex, was reported to the girl's parents Saturday, November 17th, and the boys were picked up by the police Sunday night, November 18th, after charges were filed with local police department.  There was a doctor's exam, evidence collected, and now charges filed by the Cobb County DA for delinquent acts on all 3 boys, the arraignment was Monday, November 19th.  These offenses are the most sever under the letter of the law for the ages of the boys and the maximum sentence is 5 years in juvenile hall.  These are the facts of the case as reported in all the print media outlets.

Where do I even start, what do I say?  We all have an internal voice that quickly fires back answers to the things we observe in our lives.  Which is worse, an 11 year old girl being raped, or 3 boys under age 10 committing such a heinous act, the act itself, or the building media firestorm we all know is coming that will plaster the ugly truths of this case in places we can't but help notice and see?  The first thing that comes to mind is hoping the girl was mistaken in knowing what was actually going on, but a doctor's examination appears to dispel this.  The fear was real, as reports of one boy threatening the girl with a rock making the girl fear for her life.  One of the boy's fathers was reported in some resources as stating that what transpired was completely consensual sex and the girl was crying rape now just to get out of trouble, he therefore just publicly admitted the act was made and that they will not contend something else transpired, at least for the time being.  All the families involved live in the same apartment complex, just a few yards/meters apart, so ongoing resentment, fear, and intimidation are likely to transpire for years to come between parties and families involved.

Our children learn all their behaviors by us, society.  They observe what is going on around them and mimic it.  Getting into trouble helps them feel out the boundaries of socially acceptable behavior.  Children are not born with knowledge of such complex social interactions as sexual behaviors.  Most teenagers find this awkward until age 15 or 16, at least when I was growing up 20 years ago.  We have heard reports in the health news outlets of girls maturing sexually much earlier, but age 11 is not the age where any girl is capable of understanding the act, consequences, or feelings associated with sex, much less able to say whether or not she wants to do such things with anyone.  I know boys are adventurous, curious, and brash, but these events go so past that line that parental neglect on many differant levels is the only explanation I can come up with to make all this madness make sense.

The obvious culprits are the parents who are not supervising their children and knowing where they are or what they are doing or worst off, who and what they are playing, all families failed in this respect.  The next are the media outlets, Grand Theft Auto 3 (a M rated graphic video game popular with boys), MTV sexually charged rap videos (considered soft core porn by some groups), cable TV premium channels, or the ever more realistic and graphic prime time shows, and we can't forget the internet that gives access of everything to anyone.  Related to the above two are the friends of all 4 involved.  Did these children have older friends, tweens or young teens who gain entertainment and joy at manipulating younger children to see what the reactions to their actions are, we all know this kind of thing has been going on for many generations.  My bet is on our society as a whole, yes the whole enchilada.  Our children hold the reflections of our society.  All our selfishness and self centered values are now beginning to flow over the edge of the toilet and onto the floor.  This is not an isolated case outlining this.  This week we also saw reports of a girl who committed suicide over an online relathinship with a fake boy, created and maintained by a social rival and her FAMILY, turned sour and mean in response to treatment of the one girl to the other girl, both former friends.  There are no laws covering what happened and the families are poised to fight the battle in civil courts.

Middle class parents have to work 2 or more jobs to afford their lifestyles and measuring sticks to validate their success to their inner images.  Our morale compass is seriously broken, the canary in the cage is dead, warning signs are now the most neon bright color we can imagine.  Unsupervised kids who have raised themselves off of TV, movies, and video games are running around imitating what they see without adults close by to stop them and correct them when they approach a line, so they are running over the line and placing it in areas our minds can not fully understand.  Aa a parent our job scope is easy, raise and protect our kids as well as you can until they are able to stand on their own, it is the application to meet this scope that is complex and hard.  We have no time, need more money, need more sucess for out kids, want to have a better and richer childhood experience then they had.  All this leaves one huge gap, quality time with the kids themselves.  We, as a society, don't spend enough time with our kids actually teaching them.  We supervise them, feed them, taxi them from activity to activity but we no longer teach through play, discuss events kids see or hear about, help them explore their feelings and instruct them on what is right and wrong.  We are so caught up in our own lives and providing a myriad of experiences for them we forget the most important part.  Parents are not friends for their kids, we are the ones to tell them what to do and what not to do.  We can be friends with our kids after college, up until them we have to provide guidance and dicipline until they can do so on theri own.

Despite the events leading up and surrounding it, now we have to deal with the fall out, and this is the most sticky part.  We have an 11 year old victim who is scarred for her life and will have many issues coloring the rest of her life.  We have 3 defendants 9 and younger who fall into such a gray area legally there may be new laws written about this case.  Because all the people are under the age of 13, the youngest age someone can have adult charges brought against them in the state of Georgia, then technically the laws that we know and follow do not apply.  According to the law no rape occurred, despite the physical evidence and shattered life of a little girl.  How can we deal with 3 boys who not only did not fully understand the acts they were committing, the consequences revolving around them, much less how to punish them.  As adults we have a specific understnading of what is right and wrong, what is legal and illegal, kids only have a vague morale compass and their understanding of right and wrong is very immature and obscure.  They possible knew what they were doing was wrong, using threats to make someone do something against their will, but beyond that who knows.  Kids understanding of cause and effect as well as acts and punishment are murky at best.  This case needs to open the cold hard dialogue of what is going on in our society were we see somthing like this happen.

We all can agree that punishment has to be made.  A serious physical act occurred and we have to send a message to the offenders, the victim, and society that this is wrong, will not be tolerated, and the consequences will be harsh enough to prevent future crimes, the whole reason we have our current judicial and punishment systems.  The problems are, kids don't comprehend or understand this system, so deterrence is not a major factor.  Parents can get the message, but from past examples they will not change their habits or correct their children's behaviors because of it.  5 years sounds like an adequate sentence, but for an 8 year old?  In at 8, out at 13, a newly institutionalized system kid who blames his parents and resists authority for his troubled life.  He will barely even remember what happened, only his colored fuzzy memories interjected with councilor and others perceptions and interpretations of what happened. 

I have read some blogs that want to charge and punish the parents, others that want to hold intensive theory with everyone involved.  I have no idea how to approach this.  This is the problem of our unraveling social fabric.  It isn't bad enough we are isolating ourselves for our fellow humans via instant messaging, text messaging, avatars, virtual worlds and games we pretend to have real relationships in, now we no longer know how to interact or deal with our fellow humans.  Our social abilities are so far gone now we have kids recreating crimes and acts that people 10 years older don't consider.  There is a father taking up for his son, trying to protect him yet where was he when he should have been teaching his kid the difference between right and wrong and to get adult guidance when he seeing something wrong going on. 

Our society breaks down when our children are left to raise themselves.  I was a latch key kid, watched cartoons before school and in the afternoon until my grandparents and mom came home.  My entertainment choices were much less but, the at the same time my mom could come home, read to me, play with me a bit, and the whole family would do this or that.  We had pizza night, family time on weekends, and most importantly they would let me know when I was acting inappropriately which was often.  I never contemplated doing such a thing at that age, and would bet no one I know did either.  At 8 and 9 girls were still icky and teased, nothing more, nothing less.  Older kids were not played with because they were too busy doing other things.  How then in 20 years did we get from that to this?  This is a serious question this case will make us long hard look at our society, or at least should.

We have to change, we must change, or the fate of other societies will befall us as well.  For a long time I have been talking about how our ways have been eating away at what was and should be in our society.  How our current pop culture and fascination with instant results have lack of personal responsibility.  Every facet of our society has eroded nearly to our most animalistic sense.  We can't let pride or indifference stand in the way any longer.  We must humble ourselves and accept the ills of our way and begin the long and hard road to fixing the situation.  We have to seriously look at what we were doing when our society worked and what we are doing today and stop the insanity that is leading to these types of acts from occurring and reoccurring, which will happen once the media gets a hold of this and begins to plaster it everywhere.  Desensitizing ourselves to this will be the last straw in destroying our society.  If this does not wake us up and call us all into action then it is truly too late for us.

November is a wonderful time to travel.  Autumn in one of my favorite times of the year.  Cool enough to wear a jacket but not too cold, the smell of leaves in the air, cool enough to really enjoy soups and hot foods, and of course leafs changing colors.  Last weekend, the 10 to 11th, a small group of us planned 2 short day trips to SuZhou and NanJing, both old cities close to ShangHai. 

This was a perfect opportunity to try out my new Nikon D40x with both lenses, standard 18mm to 55mm and 55mm to 200mm.  I still used my trusty Cannon A620 for quick snapshots as it has proved itself capable for a few years now.  I must admit I love digital photography.  Don't get me wrong, I love my old Pentax K1000, but getting good quality prints back (developers save money by recycling the baths) and then getting them into the PC for sharing is a large hassle.  I am still learning with the Nikon, all the settings and differences between DSLR and SLR and the simple free software that is quite limited in its editing features.

We took a standard train, known locally as the "iron rooster" by many foreigners here, to SuZhou where we had a local style lunch, went to see the mountain and near by monastery/temple and then boarded the much better Chinese "bullet train" for a nighttime arrival to NanJing.  I uploaded as many pictures as I can, the monthly limit has been exceeded, for the second or third month in a row now... I will get the NanJing pictures up in December, and hopefully can catch up photo wise without backlogging any more photos.

Performance enhancing drugs, PED's.  This is the most serious threat to sports in our times.  Yes this is a bold statement to make, but let's look at the recent history of PED and other drugs in sports.  Just this week MLB player Barry Bonds, who holds the MLB home run title of 762 shattering the 756 mark of Hank Aaron that stood for 30 years, was indicted for 19 counts of perjury in his 2003 federal grand jury testimony in San Francisco.  The government has evidence, including positive drug results and if convicted Bonds could face 30 years is convicted on all counts.  Besides the obvious fallout from this current circus, the arraignment is scheduled for DEC 7th in San Francisco federal court, the collateral damage is almost catastrophic... yes catastrophic.

I have written about this topic before, In October 2005's article "In Search of the Heroes of Old" and it needs to be retold, since then we have seen a rash of PED use increases in sports heroes.  Just how bad?  According to ESPN's web article "Indicted athletes: Notable cases through the years" the list of the PED related cases is as follows:

1. Barry Bonds  -  Indicted for lying to federal investigators about steroid and PED use in conjunction with BALCO steroids case
2. Marion Jones - Plead guilty to PED usage and check writing scheme, she returned 5 Olympic medals from 2000 games
3. Pete Rose Jr  - Plead guilty to distributing PED's
4. Eric Moore   -  NFL player who plead guilty to steroid possession and conspiracy to distribute
5. Mark Duckens  - NFL player who plead guilty to lesser charges involved with steroid possession with conspiracy to distribute
6. Tammy Thomas - Elite cyclist plead not guilty to BALCO testimony surgery case before federal investigators
7. Ben Johnson  - Canadian Olympic sprinter testing positive for steroid use and being stripped of his medals
8. Jose Canseco  - MLB player who admitted to taking steroids and touted the practice in professional baseball
9. Nina Kraft  - German triathlete who tested positive for a Oct 16, 2004 win of the Ironman Hawaii triathlon
10. US Track and Field cover up between 1998 and 2000  - Involved over 100 athletes who took PED and competed
11. Professional wrestlers  - Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero died due to steroid usages and side effects of the drugs.  Many others have been named and suspected of using these drugs associated with their deaths

These cases are all either proved or in the process of being proved and results being made public domain.  There are countless others that are either merely suspected or just look off, Lance Armstrong and other pro cyclists included.  When these people, who have built their careers into ones worthy of hero worship, divert their hard work and efforts towards dishonest and cheating behavior the waves of this message go way beyond the obvious.

Major League Baseball now has to seriously decide on how to deal with this issue.  Sincere drug testing in professional baseball did not start in earnest until 2003, and baseball still has the shortest list of substances.  Now the NFL is being lobbies to remove marijuana from its list of banned substances (thank you Ricky Williams) and the pressure is off MLB to add more then its token banned substances.  The baseball Hall of Fame has stated they will not take down the Barry Bonds display highlighting his 756 home run hit.  Now the talk of placing an asterisk next to his name, if he is placed in the record books now, has to be seriously considered.  If Bonds is allowed in, with or without asterisk, then Pete Rose has to be allowed in as the argument of integrity and honor are out the window.  And still this year the NFL New England Patriots were found to have video taped defensive play calls and their run towards a perfect season, thereby shattering the 1972 Miami Dolphins 17-0 record and '72 Dolphins coach, Don Shulla, has stated they need an asterisk as well.  Actually it does not matter if you have an asterisk next to your record, you are still in the book thereby defeating the meaning of the record book in the first place.

Sports figures have long been heroes to youth across the world.  Little boys and girls dream of being like there hero athletes in every aspect.  These figures are idolized, placed on pedestals, worshiped.  Is this healthy and realistic, no but it is a stage of growing up we all go through.  Children want to emulate all the achievements of their heroes and recently that means cutting corners like so many pro athletes are accused of now.  University of Michigan did a report in 2004 where it surveyed sports trainers, armature organizations, and CDC findings and was shocked to learn that more and more young people are taking PED's every year... and suffering the consequences.  If your hero is involved in cheating and you finally make the team, but feel like you don't measure up, they why not cheat in the same way, if he gets away with it and gets into the record books they you can do it too and emulate their career as much as possible.  This is only one of the real dangers of the usage and acceptance of PED's in professional sports.

Now I have to address the selfishness and utter disregard for the responsibility of the people who use such shortcuts and how this reflects on society as a whole.  America has lost her integrity, pride, responsibility, fortitude, perseverance, guts, and ability to play fairly and by the rules.  I grew up in the 1980's, the so called decade of greed, yet for all the greediness and selfishness exhibited everywhere in the 1980's it is nothing to what the reflection of America is today. 

No one is responsible for their own actions any more.  Barry Bonds and many other sports players deny taking PED's until damning proof arises.  Now I can see from a legal sense why, guilty people never want to look guilty and own up to their crimes.  I have heard testimony from the baseball steroids testimonies where players stated, under oath, that they had no idea what they were taking... their trainers were just giving them stuff and they didn't ask.  Ding, ding, ding, ding... A shinning example of lack of personal responsibility.  As a professional athlete you are supposed to know everything about everything that you do and why.  I am not an athlete yet every time I go to the doctor and I am given a treatment, pills, injections, whatever, I want to know what it is, how it works, what can go wrong, and a copy of all the paper work to go into my personal medical file.  If a trainer is injecting me or giving me pills I want to know what the heck it is and what it is doing to my body.  We are all personally responsible for what goes into our bodies and playing an ignorant card is beyond stupid, its downright insulting.

Any professional athlete in America knows they are instantly role models to thousands of kids across the country.  Even lowly football linemen and hockey goons have legions of fans who play that exact position in junior sports leagues everywhere.  We are awed by the performances we see on out TV's every weekend.  From kids to grown ups, we talk about the amazing plays of the last game, from the impossible slam dunk to the amazing interception to the triple play to end the last inning, we all idolize those who do what we can only dream we can.  The issue here is integrity and irresponsibility.  Because of their station in our society professional athletes every action is scrutinized and emulated by millions.  Athletes are people too, who emulated their favorites as children, just somewhere along the way a select few decided hard work was not enough, polluting the reception and dignity of their respective sports for all.

Our society only wants to follow a winner, and we want it 2 minutes ago.  From our kids to our national policy, if it does not fit into our hyperactive supersonic expectations we reject it.  The level of conditioning and strength professional sports take requires years of work, hard work and continuous attention to detail.  As our athletes of today turn into our pros of tomorrow they take our lack of dedication, fairness, and respectfulness with them.  Our pros of today have methods, science, and tools available that make yesterday's pros look like college kids, yet this is not enough.  Our pros today have little integrity or patience to prefect their skills the right way.  We value speedy instant results and this shines through in more ways then one.  From steroids to more money from dog fighting to drug sales our pro athletes seems to be more greedy and vulnerable to our instant gratifications fixation we all have.

Finally, we, as a nation, are making our kids do more.  I grew up and was a typical kid, playing in the neighborhood, going to the zoo, park, library, zoning out in front of a black and white dial TV with rabbit ears.  I loved climbing trees and being outdoors when the weather was good.  I begged to play sports in middle school, and finally got the nod in junior high, now days parents are pushing their kids and demanding more from piano to soccer to school kids has so much pressure and little to no time to decompress.  This fosters the environment in which short cuts become more attractive, and professional endorsements, like Mr. Bonds, give the morale green light.  The shame of is all is this, sports for kids is different then it is for college kids as it is for pros.  For kids, sports is a learning mechanism with fun built in.  Kids sports is supposed to teach; team work, responsibility, integrity, fairness, sportsmanship, integrity, and fairness.  We are now glossing over these lessons and demanding more, we demand winning and winning consistently.  Kids now populate physical theory rooms across the nation, sports medicine is a booming business, kids are taking PED's and paying the price before they graduate at alarming rates.  If we don't answer these issues now because we are too busy with our own lives and selves we give the worst kind of legacy to our kids.

To all the active duty, inactive reservists, reservists, retired, and like myself just plain Jane old vets from the US military, Happy Veteran's' Day.  November 11th and 12th is Vets day in America this year, so hopefully you will take some time out of your day to thank the vets who provide the security necessary to maintain your lifestyle and way of living in our world.  To the vets out there, wear your medals proudly this Sunday and Monday, let people know you laid your life on the line for them, to serve your country, and to preserve freedom.

I have brothers in arms who are still serving, as well as resting at home and no longer answering the call.  To them I want to say:  Thank you for the privilege and honor of serving along side you.  Your sacrifices are not in vein and are appreciated.  Stand tall, be proud and may your watch be swift and uneventful.

With that said... I have to make an additional comment.  To the leaders and followers of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka Kansas, I hope you have plenty of donation drives and bake sales planned because you're going to need them!  For those who don't know about this church, they are the ones who lost a $10.9 million dollar lawsuit filed by the father of a fallen Marine whom the church protested his funeral with tasteless picket signs and chants of hatred and ignorance.

How can I saw this church is ignorant?  Where do I start?  First they have been doing this since just after 9/11.  I saw them on the News in Wisconsin in 2002, and now 5 years later they have finally messed with the wrong Marine's family.  This is NOT about free speech or free assembly or free anything, this is about respect and common decency for the family of a tragic loss.  Losing a child is the worst fear of any parent, and one that will put a strain on any family.  Throw in some ultra religious yahoos from Kansas trying to make an anti-gay message and you have the textbook definition of tacky.

The church's rationale is that God is punishing America for acceptance of homosexuality.  Now if this were the case, why would God target the military?  Why would God nudge us into a war with Iraq to punish people who are not effected by these events?  From what I read of the Bible, God is pretty direct in his dealing out of punishments, defy God and you get famine, plague, fire from the sky, turned into a pillar of salt, cursed for eternity... see pretty direct.  Why would God now change his tactics and punish our society by placing us into an unpopular war that only highlights our energy and influence views and not our morality views.  If God wanted to punish America for tolerance of gays and gay culture wouldn't he A) wipe it out B) make everyone gay and hate themselves being that way or C) just destroy the nation with a meteoroid or volcano?

Going beyond this weak argument we are left with protestors at a funeral of a fallen solider holding signs reading "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" and "Thank God for IED", now that is just beyond rude.  What if I showed up at one of their congregations fellows who died of lung cancer and at the funeral held up signs reading "Thank God for RJ Reynolds" or "Thank God for Nicotine" because I was protesting against Protestants sinful ways of divorce and sex before marriage?  Don't you think they would send over a couple of good old Kansas boys to politely ask me to leave and never show my face around there again... I bet they would.

While freedom of speech is a fundamental right of this country, people have placed too liberal of an interpretation on it.  Freedom of speech is to guarantee that you can speak out against the government without fear of reprisal or censorship.  Where does this cover desecrating a funeral service of another human being?  You can't cry fire in a crowded building and claim freedom of speech.  You can't slander a person and claim freedom of speech.  You can't incite a riot and claim freedom of speech.  Get the picture?  You can call President Bush an idiot.  You can Say Non-stop Nancy Pelosi is a left-wing hypocritical wing nut and waste of space in the House.  You can even say the US military is evil and should be stopped while you place flowers in their gun barrels.  But there is a line and this church's leaders, for whatever reason, decided to push the envelope and cross it and now they have to pay the piper.

Should the Church get sued?  Yes!  Why?  Not because they were in bad taste, but because they manipulated a tragic event to spread an ideology of hate and intolerance to a non related subject at the expense of others misery and memory of their child's passing.  This church manipulated a completely private affair for personal political gains and to gain a platform from which to gain a greater voice.  Did they have the right to picket a funeral, yes.  Did they have the right to speak freely and assemble, yes.  They also have to respect the rights of others.  Did the grieving family have the right to privacy, yes.  Did the graving family have the right to send off their son in a decent and respectful manor, yes.  Did the church goers rights fringe upon those of the family's, you bet your tush they did.  That is why they got sued and lost!

Now the church may claim that our men and women fighting for a stable and capable Iraq being killed because of America's acceptance for gay culture is God working in mysterious ways, but I will argue that them getting sued and ordered to fork over $10.9 million dollars is the Lord working in mysterious ways of telling them they are idiots and fools for being so distasteful and idiotic.  It was my life on the line in South America, Africa, and southern Europe to give these people the right to protest, and I respect that.  It was also my life on the line that enabled our court system to hear the father's complaint and succeed in gaining a judgement against these crack pots as well. 

If they are so motivated to do something as despicable as this, why don't they do one thing just a hair lower on the ladder... go to Washington DC and put all that effort and energy into lobbying the congress to pass anti-gay laws?  Oh, yea, passing a law that discriminates against a person for a reason beyond their control is UNCONSTITUTIONAL!  While I may not support the gay culture in America, I still live in America and who am I to say they are wrong or need to be discriminated against.  I once swore to defend the Constitution of the United States, against all enemies both foreign and domestic, and I still believe in that today. 

I may no longer wear a uniform but I respect and honor those who choose to.  We all owe our service men and women, in service, retired, fallen... we owe them for so much and they ask for so little in return.  This weekend and Monday, go up to a military person, shake their hand, look them in the eye, and thank them for their service.  Even if you hate the war and hate the government, its their sacrifices that allow you to keep your freedoms while you keep your points of view.  I salute you, and you have the watch.

In my trolling of news sites I came upon an interesting side article about the trouble defining the middle class in the United States.  While the article goes on about the Democrats creating a special committee to define and map out the middle class, and they failed stating there was no definition because it was all too subjective, the message board was all lit up on illegal immigration.  Now I may have been out of the US for 2 years now but it seems things have went from bad to 'oh my God' worse.  My friend Bobbi, who lives in New Mexico, has written some interesting articles about this showing how living in a border state colors your perception on the issue.  I am not going to get into this debate here as it is a different topic from my intended one, but it is related.

The posting in question asked a simple question... "Where will American's be in 10 years?"  and answers it with a doom and gloom outlook on jobs, unions, housing, the economy, and yes even immigration.  I had to post something on there, which was not too well received by the anti-immigration crowd, but it does bring up one fascinating point to such a simple question.  In stead of reinventing the wheel, so to speak, I will just repost what I originally did on the Gut Check bulletin board.  Now the last 15% of my post was cut off, so I will finish what the website cut off here, because it is that important.

Ten years from now it will be 2017, almost 2018!  My kid will be in junior high, I will have 20 years before retirement at 67, some idiot will be my congressman, senator, and president.  That is all I can say with any degree of finality, unless I am hit by a bus or worse.  Where will America be in 10 years? 

Where were we 10 years ago?  1997 I was still in the Navy, doing a Med cruise working with Russian marines!  The economy was still climbing like a rocket, unemployment was below 3%, getting into unemployable part of the population.  Dial-up was the norm, dot coms were all the rage, internet cafes were new, the internet was small and mostly a toy, a $100,000 house was a really big and nice house, a $20,000 car was luxurious, and cell phones were just becoming practical.  Global warming was just a whisper, the dollar was strong and the AFC just started winning super bowls.

Life is like the ocean, there are waves, cycles, ebbs and flows.  We had doom sayers when we shifted from an agriculture society to a manufacturing society, from a manufacturing society to a commercial society, and now... we have to switch gears into being a global component of a globally tied together society.  We depend on cheap manufacturing to enjoy cheap cell phones, computers, car parts, televisions, satellite TV's, MP3 players, clothes, shoes, etc.  If we blame this on NAFTA and war spending we are not looking past our own noses into the mirror.

We are a spending society, we are a selfish society, we are a careless society.  From out of control spending (from personal to political arenas) to out of touch communities we have lost our sense of community long ago and that is what has caused this creeping doom feeling.  We can't stop the waves flowing onto our shores.  We are adrift and along for the ride of this globally tied together economy so we have to learn how to surf the wave, or at least swim in it.  Why cry over lost manufacturing jobs?  You want to buy American made goods?  Do you really?  Are you willing to pay a company to employee tens of thousands of factory floor workers to work for $30 to $50 an hour to make electronics, clothing, cars, appliances when the rest of the world will pay 80% less because of Asia, Latin America, Africa.  The old way is dead, all things come to a pass, we either adapt or die.  The world has changed, stop whining and change with the world.

We have no clue where we, as Americans, will be in 10 years.  I live and work in China, but the US is my home.  My child is bi-racial, will learn at least 2 languages fluently, maybe 3, and we live comfortably on local wages in a foreign land.  I could not imagine this life 10 years ago manning a gun mount off the coast of Greece.  I could not imagine 90% of the medical, technological, or economic advances we have today back then.  In ten years we may have robotic surgeons, nano-technology that strips plaque from our arteries and stops strokes.  My life expectancy my improve from 81 to 91.  My daughter may go to college and then have a career on a moon base helping people explore Mars in 20 years!  The terrorists may get a nuc and vaporize Washington DC and our capital is Los Angeles.  The UN might take over the world and we all pay global income taxes.  The IRS may be extinct.  Point is who knows for any degree of confidence what will happen in 5, 10, 20, 25 years time? 

Weathermen are right only 30% of the time on average and we don't call them savants or wizards.  All is not doom and gloom because the future has not happened yet, it is still too far off, it is not set.  We can alter the course of our direction, while we are bobbing up and down in the ocean we can begin to swim in one direction or the other.  Change is the only constant in the universe, not doing anything will yield the results outlined in the beginning of this thread.  So what if the Mexicans invade the US?  Let them be garbage men, work at McDonald's, wash cars, mow lawns.  Let them spend money in Wal-Mart buying cheap Chinese made goods.  Let them do this and let us do other things we do not care to do.  Janitors, bus boys, hotel maids, these are all jobs we as average Americans will look down on and not take seriously.  They are trying to better their lives in a land of opportunity worth the risk of crossing the border and living in fear for.  Its all a sense of perspective.  It is up to us as Americans to better ourselves.  Work hard to gain the skills necessary to get into a better career, notice I did not say job.  Let the immigrants have our minimum wage jobs and buy the cheap goods shipped in on container ships.  Foster and grow careers that allow for opportunities beyond 10 years.

Being Native American I am a survivor.  I am the one of the children of a long line of people who survived from the last ice age through the turmoil of populating the Great Plains of America right up through the colonization and creation of the United States.  From trespassing tribes relocated into the Indian Territories, my ancestral hunting grounds, to US Cavalry punitive raids, to relocation, to starvation and disease and termination policies, I was the end product.  My people had a new world and way of life trust upon them and had to adapt or die.  My grandparents chose to ride the wave and swim lateral to the currents.  If they had fought the current I would not be here, my daughter would not be here.  Every generation has to deal with a paradigm shift, that is what creates a generation gap.  To survive in 10 years you have to catch a wave and do your best to stay on top of it and not get caught under it.  We have no clue what is around the corner or how we will turn out because of it in 10 years time.  Chances are we will be better off, on a high wave, and looking back and laughing at some of the silliness of the past decade.

So that is it.  My complete answer to the simple question.  Granted I did not follow the status quo and go anti-immigrant and doom and gloom, but instead stated the obvious... there is no crystal ball and while today has context for tomorrow, it does not predict 10 years from now with any degree of accuracy.  This kind of question is one started by the late great Ronald Regan.  "Are you better off then you were 4 years ago?"  meaning that the last 4 years predicts the next 4 years of a presidency.  To this interpretation it is true, people do not change their policies however, the events of the times shape the policies. 

The future is impossible to predict.  What seems common sense today was inconceivable just a few years ago.  All we have to remember is that things go up and things go down.  Things always change, those who change with it make out ok, those who refuse to get left behind.  This is why we have problems in America and we see doom and gloom everywhere.  Change is constantly happening around us yet we are so stubborn in our nostalgia for the past we refuse to go along with it.  We are on the top of the most prosperous time in world history, yet we fear it will all fall apart because of same things our parents and grand parents feared.  For immigration, look at the Irish and Polish, did they ruin America in the 1800's?  What about the Eastern Europeans of the 1900's?  We have stricter and more comprehensive immigration then any generation before us, yet we still harbor the same fears. 

Our middle class lives better then the rich upper class in most countries!  2 or more cars, 3 or more TV's, 2 or more computers, land with a house, steady income, access to health care, freedoms many die trying to emulate.  We talk of it all falling apart with no foundation for such prophesy.  Sure the economy is weaker, its fluctuating.   We have spent our way into a recession trying to 'keep up with the Jonse's'  Our companies are shinning examples of efficiency (that is why they are being gobbled up by foreign investors).  So what if the US dollar is less then the Canadian dollar for the first time in 30 years, gold is $800 and ounce, families making $100k+ a year are living paycheck to paycheck?  We are still the largest nation of investors, have the highest standard of living, and our dept problems are mostly our own, due to greed and competition with some silly ideal.  We have, do, and are capable of doing more then anyone else on the planet yet we complain about it, why?  Because we are afraid of changing.  Sticking to the old ways is running through the woods with blinders on.  We are limiting our vision and therefore our opportunities.  We are so scared of the future we just might miss it when it comes by.  10 years is a long time away, its time to open our eyes to new possibilities and catch the next wave of prosperity.