2017: The road ahead

2016 is fast coming to an end and with it, a year most all of us will remember. No one will ever label this the year of the Summer of Love II. It was more like an episode of All In The Family with a loud and continuous fight between Archie Bunker and Michael Stivik. The louder it got, the crazier it became until we were all too exhausted to fully process what happened. We may all need time to reflect.

It seems silly to lose friends over an election, but I lost a few and I know others who did too. I participated in my fair share of online political spats (I tried to avoid them face to face because I no longer know who carries a gun that might be a little trigger happy). I was accused of being a left wing meathead like Michael Stivik as well as being a right wing nut like Archie Bunker. You see, when you listen to people and then offer up different points of view, you tend to be called names or find people saying stuff about you that simply isn’t true.

I was one of those who did not vote for either Trump or Clinton. I have tried pointing out what I feel are their flaws that make neither one fit to serve in the White House. Now, just saying this opens me up to attacks from both sides, but it is what I believed at the time of my voting and still believe today.

However, I am also not one of those voters who is up in arms over Trump’s election or the people he is selecting for his cabinet. I find it funny he wants Rick Perry as his energy secretary when the guy could not remember the department he once wanted to abolish and yet I also think Alec Baldwin and his Trump routine is not done out of humor or satire, but just pure hate, the same kind of hate many claim Trump is filled with.

It’s a waste of time to piss and moan about a rigged election result when the people who are doing most of the complaining didn’t mind how Clinton could lay claim to more delegates in states she lost than Bernie Sanders received. If the Russians threw the election, guess what, that’s on Obama and his administration, not on Trump’s bromance with Vlad. Correct me if I am wrong, and I am sure people will whether I am or not, it seems the sitting president should be the one to make sure our election process is free and clear of tampering before the fact when he knows it is a very real possibility in today’s world of cyber warfare. It’s odd the CIA can conclude this in a matter of weeks but do nothing to prevent it when they had years to prepare for it. Maybe this is why some people voted for Trump. I don’t know because I just don’t care.

No, I am more interested in the road in front of me and not the one behind me. Being an avid bicyclist, I have learned to ignore the cars and horns of drivers behind me and be more concerned about what is in front of me. My life long battle with depression taught me we are all better off looking forward than backward because what’s done is done. As for Trump, I happen to believe we are all better off if he is made to stand for his actions as president than his tweets and other nonsense. Let’s see how he does in office and whether or not he has the guts to run on his actual record in another four years.

I will admit I am blown away at the level of hate still being tossed out and about on the internet, especially with regard to what I see posted on Facebook. Most of my Trump friends have laid low. Some still mock Obama and Hillary, but nothing to the degree I saw before the election. No, what I am shocked over is the level of vitriol posted about Trump from Hillary’s camp. They simply cannot wrap their heads around the idea our next president is not going to be named Hillary. Get over it.

The comments about demanding a new election and ignoring the electoral vote just convince me I made the right decision not voting for her. I am convinced we need to spend more time educating our youth on our own history, Constitution, and system of government than we do on trying to produce science and technological geeks with no ability to cope when life does not turn out how they like it. Their demands, or whining, sound more like a 14-year old insisting his parents treat him like an adult when it comes to privileges without holding him accountable for his ignorance. Guess what? This entire nation is about to be held accountable for their ignorance so get use to it.

One thing you do a lot of when you battle depression is think about events. It’s one of the major factors why we are depressed. However, what I have found over the last three years since I finally found the right medication that has pretty much halted my depression is I still think a lot, only now, it’s more enjoyable. It has freed me up more to consider points of view I may not like or may not have ever considered. It’s why I am okay with people who voted for Trump as well as with those who went with Hillary. If studying history has taught me anything, it’s all a crap shoot when we elect a president. The circumstances they face and how they deal with them are what make or break a presidency. If Nixon wasn’t paranoid, he might be on Mount Rushmore. Instead, he is loathed.

Maybe Agent Smith did win
(YouTube)[/caption]I will wait and see what is thrown at Trump and I will wait and see how he handles it rather than enter his first, and possibly only, term in office with a predetermined attitude. I think every president deserves this. He may turn the White House into a Trump Resort or he may restore some of the luster and shine that still seems to be missing from this great nation. Only time will tell me, not the rants and propaganda those with preset views have.

Maybe all of this makes me a fool, but at least I am my own fool and not one blindly beholden to the political tweets, posts, and urgings of either political party, neither of which seems to be able to restore order and calm into a divided nation.

We have survived a tumultuous year. That’s the good news. The bad news, 2017 shows no sign of letting up. Still, I am looking forward to it, not because of what all happened this past year, but because of what all we can accomplish if we get ourselves focused.

Photos are screen shots from The Matrix