Let talk about something many ignore or forget to to do. Lets talk about forgiving and forgetting and letting things go.

Some people have a problem with letting go of the past, either unpleasant events that have happened to them, or hatred of people, places or things, or even fears they have had in their past. All the above can destroy your life, the direction it takes, and what it becomes for you. Because each of the above reasons for not letting go, forgiving, can fester and stay with you causing feelings of hatred, anger, even sometimes vindictiveness and destruction.

Here is the first thing I will tell all who have these problems and feelings and the inability to let go of past events, they will fester, they will arise again and again and affect each day of your life as you move on. It will affect how you decide, how you love or don’t love, how you connect to other human beings and any relationships you have. I have seen it, and I have seen this inability isolate people also, people may drift toward you and be friendly, but once you show the signs of not letting go or forgiving the bitterness, you carry seeps into every area of your being and life. The funny thing is this, those who have this inability to forgive and forget and move on, don’t realize what it does to them until it is too late and they find themselves alone, depressed and suffering from loneliness and despair.

So how do you forget and forgive and move on, you might ask? The solution starts in a simple place folks, here is the answer. Unless there was murder, theft or destruction as the reason for what happened, that you won’t forgive you should rethink it and forgive. Also, some will say well that’s just wrong to say on my part. It isn’t folks, please listen to what I am about to say.

If you can’t remember why your angry, depressed, have animosity, or vindictiveness for or what caused it, then stop and readjust and forgive, it wasn’t, that important then, was it if you can’t remember what caused it all to start? I have seen this happen, too many people, they will say he or she is this or that and attack constantly when anything is said about that person or situation, but when you go Why are you so angry, they can’t even remember why! That’s when it’s time to move on folks, forgive, forget and yes, even start over. Anything less just allows it to fester, and grow bigger, until it explodes in anger, or an action you will later regret doing.

Trying to destroy a person’s reputation is a worthless exercise, really. Unless you can prove what you are saying, it will come back to haunt you, because the truth will come out, eventually. I know many think well; I have a right to be angry, but do you really, for an extended period, over a minor issue or disagreement? What you are doing is prolonging misery, for both the person we direct it at and yourself, because you can’t let go. Prolonging pain is the job of a sadist, and anyone who accepts such pain over a lengthy period and enjoys it is a masochist. Is that what you really are and is that what you want the world to see about you constantly. Even if you are into the BDSM or D/s Lifestyle, you don’t walk around daily, showing it publicly do you? I doubt it, and I think you are not really destroying the person you are directing it all at, you are destroying yourself, for all around you see it. And they go. Why are you doing this to yourself? So Please Wake up and learn to forget, forgive and move on to greener and better pastures folks.

The above said and spoken out loud and realized may be the best medicine many, may ever get or learn. It is a lesson all mankind needs to learn. And if you learn it, you shall live a freer and fuller life and have more fun and happiness, then if you don’t. We all want to belong, and understood, and accepted in society and in the world, do yourself a favor learn to Forgive and Forget and Move On.

Negotiation, is a process that brings two sides together to accomplish a goal. It is also the art of compromise at the same time. All want things done their way, whether at home, in the work space or in relationships. We all struggle to make everything we do easier and in compliance with each other and to further the end goal we need to reach.

How do you negotiate and make it work then,? Well you bring a list of demands or needs to the table and so does the other person. Then you both sit and got through them all and sort out what will work for each side and then for both sides.

So first go over said list. both sides, have of their wants, needs desires and needs. When looking you will find many of the same needs are in common here. Then you will also find that the needs and desires and wants may matcha nd are just stated differently due to each the view or language of each party involved.

Sometime negotiation takes a bit of listening, that any do not have, YOu can’t negotiate if your not willing to compromise. It just can’t be one sides and you force it on the other party. Does not go that way, and never will for you will fave resistance if you go this route, you are not their boss ora God, listen to them and make sure they hear you too. Clarity is a major factor here. and the ability to understand one another is critical. Too many jump to conclusions they have no business doing, and get prefabricated ideas, and just won’t give in. It’s not giving in if you agree, be open to new ideas and thoughts not closed off and set in your ways.

Present your case in an honest straight forward way and when you do aim it at the otherside not in an attacking wy, but in a useful way for them to understand and use it. You can’t get them to agree, if they don’t believe you are on the same page or trying to get to the same conclusion. Be prepared to adjust or make it clear your willing to change is necessary if you don’t you just bang heads. That wont get you there at all, listen, be honest, be truthful and be expressive yes, but, make clear what you saying so they understand and grasp it and you grasp what they are saying also.

Now you are ready to meet in the middle, compromise and make progress, otherwise you don’t get there. then you can eliminate bad ideas for each side, save the ones that work for both sides and march toward a good and happy conclusion to your negotiation. It does work folks, negotiation is vital in business, relationships and daily life, so listen, communicate clearly and be open to new ideas, in the end, the result will be surprisingly best for all involved.

Let’s talk, people today, like why some do what they do to others, In Life and in relationships, not all goes right between all individuals. Some are forgiving and some are not ,also. And people tend to avoid those they misunderstand due to the way they speak or act or do things differently. We all do it, whether you like to admit it or not, folks. Some have fears of those who are different in some ways, for some it is a racial thing, or a skin color, or a lack of morals or ethics, or in some cases, just a refusal to listen and hear clearly what the other person is saying. A blanket refusal comes into play here and many don’t understand why they do it, when they do it, some do the blanket refusal bit on purpose because they don’t like what they heard or the person they do it to does not agree on all items with them period. This blanket refusal to communication, compromise, listen and respond causes massive problems for both sides involved.

There are many reasons for this happening, some are Prejudice, Discrimination, Racial inequality, use of language and barriers in it, but, the real ending reason is usually impatience and a lack of ability to listen and compromise. It happens daily to many people, we all have different ideas and thoughts on what life encompases and preset ideas we have instilled in us from childhood. So when something does not fit our thoughts or ideas we have pre-built in, we struggle to accept new ideas or ways and stick to what we know, shunning all that may be different or new. Sadly, this causes an uneasiness between people, then fear steps in, or anger and we get emotional and reject all that comes from that person. The schism it causes, causes more harm then anything else to both sides involved and can destroy relationships period.

How do we overcome this process and carry on in life in such a way as to benefit, society, and ourselves? I have looked at this in many ways over time and found that the best solution is to listen first. Listen with an open mind, listen with the intention of trying to understand and trying to find common ground. Then, not going off half-cocked so to say and going crazy because you don’t tend to agree, but accepting what is different and then moving on acknowledging the differences and accepting them as they be. As Mr. Spock, From Star Trek once said many times over, ” It Is Indeed, only logical to do.”

Something else to consider in this process is this, many times people are influenced by other people and do things because they are asked to or being pushed to, or they are told if they dont they will lose contact with someone they care about, or as I have become familiar with, because they believe they are protecting someone, they care for.

In this case before you do something because someone wants you to, you should step back, look twice and consider what they are asking you to do, is is good for you to do, and do you know both sides of said issue or only one. One person can create lies, stories, tales and say things in anger and fire up a crowd or just a few or even one person into doing things they shouldn’t and hurting others they have no real reason to. It’s a sad thing to see and in the end it not only hurts the one who is doing the attacking for someone, but the victim and then reflects back on the one who did it. So in the end, the one who sent the attack, sits back controlling it, and not getting any feedback or feeling of what they did, but their attacker does it all at their direction and may suffer the consequences for doing so. Now you have two people who are hurt seriously at the direction of the third who set it all up out of anger, vindictiveness, prejudice, discrimination or some other stupid reason. It produces a stack up effect like dominos falling in a line, because one thing leads to the next and it can go on forever unless someone or thing wakes up and breaks the line.

Being a Veteran, and a Disabled Person, with my medical problems I have come to understand many things in life. Color, race, nationalism all have no bearing on whether a person is a good or bad person. What does is the beliefs that were instilled as a child, they become hardwired into our minds and affect how we see things period.

The only way to overcome this is to force yourself to look at both sides of every issue, and realize, one, all are human beings, two we all make mistakes, three we all must stop, face our mistakes, back track, and correct those mistakes to move forward. If we don’t, well we are perpetuating a problem, and keeping it going on for all and it destroys when it happens, all around it. Sadly, too many get stuck in this mode and what happens is utter destruction of relations and it becomes violent and gets out of control. Causing Wars, Protests, Screaming, Yelling and acting out people want to fight back against. It activates mankind’s self-defense mechanisms and in the end it compounds the problems, mankind faces.

World War 2, is well known in history, But I remind you it took, Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin to all sit down and listen to one another to find a solution to the German problem as well as the Japanese problem too. The War didn’t end itself, The Allies ended it, to save all mankind.

Which is why we must all follow their example as human beings. If we stop, examine, dissect, and come up with a common reason to fix what is wrong, we can fix it. If we refuse to even allow open dialogue and open listening, all involved suffer for it. The same is in all relationships across the globe, the failure to listen and communicate correctly kills and destroys mankind in all we do. So remember this, when angry, when upset, when not agreeing in anyway, don’t go off and run away and leave it festering, don’t yell and shout and attack one another, step back, take a break and then come back at it from a different angle or perspective folks. Get both sides to listen, you and them and in the end a compromise or agreement will come and work out. You may even just agree to disagree, but in the end there will be less friction, less anger, less problems and it will be better for all of mankind. A Better World and a Better mankind can produce many advantages and advances for the world. Lets learn to listen, to compromise and to communicate openly and honestly without anger, or fear, but as human beings, so all can live in peace, and prosper and grow.

Reality, at times does not match the fascination of the unreal in Virtual Worlds. I use and like Second Life, put out by Linden Labs. It is a fun program that allows interaction between individuals, by the use of what is called Avatars and pixel built locations, clubs and more. It is indeed a virtual world many now live in at times for social interaction and more. It’s an Online program, over the Internet and can be used for free.

Many need to remember a few keys about such a Virtual World and Program. 1) It is virtual yes and it does allow you to make up your own mind as to what your avatar will look like, what clothes you wear, and what kind of a sim you build or go to is of course is up to you. 2) Many forget a very powerful thing, while in this virtual world because, it is such fun and it is entertaining too, and that is simply put, as you wander through it and look for places you like or people you like, you need to remember there is indeed a real person behind each Avatar in it. 3) Always keep in mind these are real people escaping or using a virtual world, to escape sometimes bad realities, or real life traumas, or in some cases, invalids and people who are limited in all they do in real life. 4) The next thing to remember for all who enter Second LIfe, the creators and operators can only so much to control what they created, the numbers of users makes this so. 5) People can and will be cruel, vindictive, angry, or just plain not your type or vise versa, do yourself a favor, Second Life gives you the power to mute, or block anyone who acts in this manner. It also gives you a way to report the user to them and outline what they did. Protecting yourself in Second Life, is sometimes hard, and scary. so do yourself a favor, save logs, or make note cards of any attacks by others and when you make a report, make sure Linden Labs has the person fully identified and your logs of what happened.

Second Life is an escape from reality folks, and fun. But just like a Xbox or Playstation or any other game online, you must stay in control, avoid the pitfalls of other people and just play the game for fun, or educational purposes. You may not like a person you will meet or you may get angry at them for something they say or do, just like in real life. do yourself a favor don’t bother with publicly fighting back it only makes you look bad, walk away. find a new sim or like I said Block, or Mute and Ignore the person. As soon as you speak out or say anything in retaliation, you are now at fault also, and will get blamed by the Sim Owner, and then by Linden Labs also, if you persist, and you will be ultimately banned from using Second Life. Please remember, it is not a real world but a virtual world and people are always watching you and how you act in it.

That’s my take on Second Life as it is today with updates to it programs, avatars and more. It’s fun, it’s an escape and it can be enticing and even addictive at times. If you find yourself unable to leave Second Life to take care of real life then you have a real problem and need help from a professional. Real lIfe is what the world and your lives are about, Second LIfe is just what it says, a Second Life. you can escape to when you have time for fun, I hope all will remember that. Real Life is far more important and happiness really isn’t found in a game, it’s found in real life relationships, don’t blow real life relationships for a game folks, ok.

                             I have lived since 1956, I am 64 years old and will be 65 years old in January of 2021 if  live so long. In my days, I have lived through Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon. Ford, Carter, Reagan, GHW Bush, Clinton,  George W. Bush,  Barrack Obama, and now Trump. America has a long history of Presidents for sure. We have now 45 of them.

                              In my days, as a born and bred American, who served his country for sixteen years  in three branches of service, I have never once seen an American President like Donald J, Trump. I have 5 DD-214s, all Honorable Discharges to my name, Trump has two letters of 4 f for bone spurs he never had. He has no business using the American Miitary Against American Citizens on America’s streets.  He divides people,  by races and colors, and shows how bigotted and foolish he is daily.  His hatered of Blacks and Hispanics is never hidden and his treatment of them has never been either. Yet, he is President of The United States, a position he has no business holding. in my opinion.

                              Lets talk his term in Office now, what has Donald John Trump accomplished in his term in Office so far? Nothing that helps the American People is the answer, He changed the Tax Codes to benefit himself and his cronies, check, he promised to return jobs to American soil that went to other countries, failure. He promised to create a Health Care Program to Replace Obama Care, he failed again and in the process destroyed Obama Care without any replacement, leaving millions without coverage.   Sad is the only word I can come up with to describe his time in Office up to right now. It gets even sadder, when you stop to look at his word on building a wall on America’s Southern border. He failed here too, even stealing funds from Military bases he has no business touching. His total wall that is repaired is 600 feet long period and  is a paint job on the rest. These are not his biggest failures though.

                               Trump failed to get anything from South Korea’s Kim Jung UN either, Their meeting was a political ploy on his part and an attempt to look good  was all. Kim Jung Un Laughs at Trump, for Trump gave him what he wanted a place on the world stage to be seen and heard. Trump didn’t stop or reduce South Koreas’ nuclear program at all. Sadly, it’s a failure on his part.

                               Trump failed to handle Russian Interference in America’s elections too. He told Putin don’t do it, and Putin is ignoring him and still doing it today across America and the world. Other Leaders of the world are laughing at Trump left and right, Canada, England, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and all our Allies are going, what is this, Trump is an idiot. They gather to talk climate change, he screws it up, they gather to talk military might or the economy he screws it up. He isn’t listened to by anyone and it is the saddest performance by an American President in United States History. We have had 45 Presidents, none so lowly rated or so lowly qualified. It’s a sad thing to see and the world laughs at us for it.

                                  Today, we face a pandemic that is killing hundreds of thousands of Americans and more world wide. Trump failed to act when told of it, boo hoed it along till the death tolls started to climb. Failed to find the Medical equipment and masks for the Doctors and nurses and assistants who are working overtime to save lives. He still refuses to wear a mask and set an example today, that’s not leadership folks, it’s foolishness.  Then he pushes to reopen the American Economy, knowing full well there is no way to stop a virus without a vaccine. He knows this, yet he keeps pushing and Governors have listened opening their states and the cases of Covid 19 now grow again, predictions are now we will lose well over 2oo,ooo Americans soon enough. He has no answers and he bucks his medical and scientific leaders. His lack of leadership, his inability to comprehend and understand and work toward alleviating this virus is  sad and  imcompetant period. He has a lack of morals, ethics and caring like no other President in American History.

                                  Now we come forward just a little more in his term and he uses a bible and church for political purposes after a black man is murdered by police in the streets of America? As Protests rage across America, by not only blacks but by all Americans he does this? For what purpose for his own purposes of trying to get reelected is all. It’s a sad statement on his desperation. His performance is President is a total loss period. He has failed at everything he has tried to do, with one exception, he made the Supreme Court Conservative, big shit. He got lucky and backed by Republican cronies in the Senate to do it I all. If not for McConnel he would have failed at this too.

                                  Now he attacked CNN, for Presidential Political Poles he doesn’t like because they say Biden is fourteen points up on him in the race for The White House in November of 2020. No President or political party has ever done such a thing in American History, and not even Truman attacked the polls or media back in his days when they said he was gonna lose. He just went out and proved them wrong, was all, he didn’t cry, moan complain or attack the media! This is not Presidential action on Trump’s part, it is childish, selfish behavior and not worthy of the Office he holds.

                                  Let me close in this way. If America is foolish enough to re -elect Donald John Trump, it will  be the worse event to happen in America’s history, he has already destroyed our reputation, our standing and no one looks up to us anymore. We have entered a recession now also, he has no economy to run on now. It was his one claim to fame and power in American Politics, but, even that he destroyed and it was handed to him from Barrack Obama. He thinks and has his followers believing the Stock Market rebound is the economy it isn’t folks, that’s a lie if he tells you it is. The bottom line he went in angry at Barrack Obama, for Obama embarrassing his at a Political event, before he even decided, to run. You could see it on television when it happened, he turned beet red. Then he came out to run for President, got elected by buying the Electoral College and barely beating Hillary Clinton, who beat him senseless in the popular vote in 2016. Once  in Office everything he has done or tried to do, is to tear down Obama’s Legacy is all. He failed at it too. You can’t kill a good President’s Legacy, all you can do is try to match it, and Trump didn’t and can’t. He is a failure.

Americans, seem to be the most selfish people in the world these days. When I grew up in the 1960’s and 1970’s, Americans were more friendly, helpful and in it all together. Now, it has become a society of me, me, me and screw you.

As many Americans will tell you, They all say it, I got mine, Get your own! IT’s pretty sad how very few care about anyone else or anything else but themselves and of course their own famililies.

You see very few, who stop and help others in need these days, and few who stop to thank Veterans, or medical People or even the Police, in anyway. Even the Fire Departments these days struggle to get noticed or thanked.

We should be thanking the Medical personnel who work daily to stop the coronavirus and be grateful we have them doing the work that puts their own lives in jeopardy. Instead, people tend to criticize all they see and get pushy and demanding and just want what they want, and dont care how anyone else is or what they may need.

I know the racial tensions are out there, we all have lived with them for centuries now, and yes they are wrong I agree and should be corrected. and I am sure action is being taken on the police violence and mistreatment of blacks. hispanics and more these days. The focus has been on it now for weeks due to George Floyd’s death, at the hands of a Police Officer. All four have now been arrested and charged and Justice must take place I agree and should indeed.

But while George Floyd’s death is a tragedy, and the police force is misuse and outright brutality is gross and needs fixed, do we really want to disband and unfund Police departments? How about retraining them, and teaching them different methods of restraint? If you eliminate the Police departments, crime wil run rampant folks, and there will be nothing to stop violence, robberies and thefts and murder.

This is just my opinion folks so please don’t go crazy on me. I am just saying we need Law and Order in The United States, ok, what form it takes and how it operates needs to be addressed for sure.

That said, let’s talk another big issue here. the coronavirsus (Covid-19) Pandemic. It is not disappearing folks and it won’t anytime soon, the only way to beat a virus is with a vaccine. Rushing a vaccine won’t work either, the vaccine has to work, it must be safe for humans and be properly created and dispursed to the public, in an orderly manner. Any less will not work folks, as the numbers rise in deaths and cases each day, between the protests on the streets, Trump’s push to reopen the country for political reasons to get reelected, the caskets are piling up. How many Americans have to die for people to get this, the coronavirus will not disappear on it’s own, nor will it stop infecting or killing people, if precautions are not followed. There have been many distractions thrown up and brought up over the the two main issues, most important now in America.

First Issue- is Address the Pandemic, get a vaccine and do it correctly.

Second Issue is Address the racial tensions in an America, That has a bigot for a President. Remove Trump.

Third Issue- The Police Brutality against blacks and hispanics and more. Retrain the cops folks

Fourth Issue and maybe the biggest, and most important, The November Presidential Elections. Donald J, Trump must go. We need a fair and just President who cares more about the American People and the world then himself and his reelection. Never in America’s 244 years as a country, has America ever had a more selfish, arrogant, sad President. Trump must go folks, I have seen his die hard supporters still backing him and I say this to them, Do you like having family members dying, do you like being broke, out of work, do you like being in a recession? Do you really believe Trump can fix anything he hasn’t, his only achievement is a Conservative Supreme Court, and that won’t save America.

Before you come out with you MAGA Hats and bullshit speeches, you Trump Supporters should look closer at his failures, his destructive behaviors and responses. His failures far outweigh anything he has done, in his time in Office. We need a President who Unites, not divides, we need a President with Empathy, with care, with thoughts and the ability to listen to his or her advisers. Not a Bull Headed so Called Tough Guy, who thinks he is a Mobster Boss.

Vote Trump Out, come November 3rd, do it by mail in ballot or in person wearing a mask. But Trump can not stay another four years, it will now take us twenty years to recover from all that has happened. He has made himself richer and his crony friends too at the common American’s expense. Trump must go, a con man and bullshit artist should never have been elected President. For America to survive and flourish, Trump must go!

June 2020 has arrived and started even before I realized it, because my life, even though I am like all cooped up in a home, on purpose, due to the coronavirus, I have a wife, with Stage 4 Breast Cancer, I care for daily.

While, I try to maintain a home, a wife, two cats and myself, the coronavirus rages across the world, the protests over police killing a black man rage on and a President who should never have been elected continues his disasterious four years in Office.

Many may be like me, struggling to get by, money wise, hoping to keep a loved one alive and taking chances not needed to do it all. But, to survive one has to go out to shop to eat, one has to take a cancer riden wife to Hospitals and Tests and yes, Doctors. My life is no mystery to those who know me, for I have spent a life taking care of others in one way or another.

So, to see 2020, now reach it’s halfway point, and the world practically going up in flames and disease is sad for me. I survived many things inmy 64 years on this planet but nothing like the chaotic Trump Years period. I saw, Kennedy killed, Johnson take over, Nixon and Watergate, and so much more, but no one or nothing like Trump, everything he touches dies or is destroyed. It’s sad.

I have survived 199 seizures, Attention Deficit Disorder, and Hyper Activity, I survived childhood beatings that were horrific, and 16 years of Military Service, plus Lung Cancer. I never once thought in my 64 years, I would live to see a United States, in such a mess.

Hundreds of Thousands Dead from The Coronavirus Pandemic, Police in our streets beating choking to death people with their knees on their throats. Anger from all sides hitting the streets, police departments being asked to disband and be defunded? We have enough of a problem in America with crimes, unlawfulness and more, you kill police forces and departments and unfund them and you will kill any chance of a lawful society in America. We might as well, head back to the days of the cave men and women and carry clubs to defend ourselves. It’s a sad state to find the once most powerful nation in the world in.

My Plea to all Across America is this: Please refrain from Violence first and foremost, Secondly do all of the world and yourself and your fellow mankind a favor, wear masks in public places, stay out of large crowds, and wash hands and bodies daily.

Remember, the color of one’s skin means nothing, Black, White, Yellow, does not matter, a pigminatation does not determine who the individual is. I have black friends, and even hav had black lovers and I am white, so listen to me. We all breathe the same air, we all have the same wants. needs, desires and we all bleed red folks. We all the same rights, to freedom, education and to survive and that includes jobs and equal income and all. I will say, I was surprised as a child when I saw my first black person, but I adapted and made great friends with their whole family. Humanity, kindness, decency and the fact we are all human is here and we should remember it at all times. We all have emotions, we all want the same thing to live in peace and have a full happy life.

The clock is ticking on humanity and the planet we are destroying is changing also due to climate change and out polluting it also, We have crisis after crisis to face, and to get human kind through, we should be doing it as one race, the human race, not as separate entities trying to kill one another. IT’s sad to see it in out world period.

I don’t care what Trump says, don’t follow his crap anymore!. Someone should inform him, just because you build a fence around the White House, it won’t stop his removal once he is voted out. Trump must go, so America can return to decent times, so America can recover from his term in office, we need a Leader, not a divider, who spreeds hate and fear. Vote Trump Out!

The Truth about many things only comes to light if you get involved in it! I say this for many reasons about many things, and my reasoning for this statement is a simple one, I lived many such moments in my life.

Lets start, the year I was born, 1956, in America. I went through the first nine months of my life, having epileptic seizures, I had one hundred and ninety nine, in my first nine months, of life. To control these seizures, my mother would hold me under a running faucet soaking my head to stop said seizures. How did I overcome them, well an accident. My elder brother decided to remove the tray from my high chair at nine months old, and I flew head first to the floor and landed on my head Good-bye seizures, it seems a small flap, I had been born with attached to my brain was then forced into reattaching. Medical Proof is in my medical records of old. I am now 64 years old and still here on earth.

The seizures ending didn’t stop my problems in life, they were but the beginning of them. I went from a child with seizures to one they called in the 1960’s, emotionally disturbed. They were wrong of course, because I wasn’t emotionally disturbed, I had and still have to this day, Attention Deficit Disorder and Hyper-activity. They didn’t know what it was in the 1960s, so I suffered more than most with the misdiagnosis. I was given to the State of Connecticut due, to it all. For two years from age ten to twelve I was Institutionalized in a Place called The Children Center, located on Whitney Avenue in Hamden, Connecticut. For those two years, I persisted, fought and survived and never changed in anyway, to be finally released to go back to my family. Not before they tried to adopt me out to other families I rejected, of course, my mother even had my real father contacted and asked if he would take me, he said he would , but Mom balked at that one and refused to sign me over. So yes I know Truth, Yes I know Persistance too, I also know determination and yes grit.

Once through the walls of lies and problems as they called it all, I was twelve years old and back in the school I started at in Waterbury, Connecticut, Buck’s Hill Elementary School. A school of mixed children or all racial pasts and colors and I was fine. I would Graduate from there in 1969.

I was not your average child in anyway you looked at it back then, I was lost in exploring the woods and books and comic books. I would escape into these places, because I never felt like I fit in anywhere, I could not be like all the rest of the kids around me. I was born a loner, like a lone wolf, I would run and hide on my own observing others from a distance. I was the outsider so to say.

By, 14 years old I had Graduated and Applied to a Technical High School in Waterbury, Connecticut, it was called Kaynor Technical School. I did the test the year I graduated Elementary 1969 and awaited the results, that summer. I remember my step-father, driving me down the day I took it. He asked me if I thought I could pass the test, I told him I would. The entrance exam, was to be a three hour exam covering all technical activities and academic activity too, The program is set up so one week is in the classroom for regular classes and the next in the Technical class you have choosen to take. I must admit I floundered in this case on my own because of distractions and my inability to concentrate, so after the introductory year, we moved to another town and I was withdrawn from the school, I wanted. I hadn’t failed the school, but, I had no choice but to go to a regular High School in my new hometown of Naugatuck, Connecticut.

I would last less than two years in the new school, before I was expelled and never went back. I went on to Factory Work In Uniroyal. There I became I serviceman on the lines producing sneakers Many weeks I worked 80 hours a week, making decent money. Yet factory work was not for me, and I tried many other small factory jobs and hated them, I would bounce from one to another, always unhappy.

By eighteen, I was done with factory work and tired of it all, it was the same shit day by day and it got boring. So one day, I wandered into a Recruiting Office for The US Army. Yes I joined up, went through Boot Camp and then to Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland for training as a m-88 Tank Retriever driver. I didn’t finish the training or my Army contract, I was given a Trainee Discharge and released Honorably that year. The thing was I lost concentration and lost my way due to my step-father being ill also at home. Army Life was not for me at that time, I struggled still at this point.

Between the ages of 19 and 22, I worked numerous jobs none that made me happy or any money, so I joined The Connecticut Army National Guard and became a Machine Gunner Scout. I would attend a weekend per month and do two weeks of training per year in the summer. But the economy was tight and so were regular jobs, and trying to survive was rough.

1978, was a year of change for me, I decided I had had enough of trying to struggle to survive. I went down and this time, I joined the United States Navy. I left my home state of Connecticut on December 29th, 1978, four days after Christmas in a snow storm that was huge. Destination, Great Lakes, Ill. Boot Camp for Sailors. I had problems and ultimately, I went on to complete Boot Camp and then onto the other side of Great Lakes, to the A School side. I attended Boiler Technician “A” School and reported to my first ship, in July of 1979, The USS Dahlgren, DDG-43.

From 1979 to 1989, I would serve aboard three different ships, The Dahlgren was the first, the second was an Oiler, The USS Monongahela , and the final one was an LPD called The Pounce. Now, in between ships I served on Shore Duty Stations and Limited Duty Stations too, do to a back injury aboard the first ship in a a fall. I refused to surrender to the injury and fought to stay in service until July 1989 when a Navy Doctor, said I was done as a Sailor. He Discharged me from Portsmouth Naval Hospital, on a Honorable Discharge under Medical Conditions. I fought for a decade to stay and I finally lost my battle that July 24th, 1989.

My naval career was over now, but adversity and difficulties were not. My life has never taken the easy path, I wasn’t handed anything not a dime by anyone so I struggled. Along with my Naval career ending so did my marriage and the biggest loss of all was my two daughters. I returned home to Connecticut April 1990, a man looking to survive and rebuild. I had lost my career and my wife and children and I was searching for a place in life for me to survive.

It, would take me a while to get there though, for, when I came home in April of 1990 I faced my step-father dying of cancer, unknown to me of course. He was told he had it in January of 1990 and he would die on October 15th, 1990. During the same span of time my mother was given the same diagnosis of cancer too. She would die a year and one day, after her husband on 16 October 1991. My sister and i would bury them both together at a later date, in one grave, I paid my part to do so. So I know what it cost, at the time. Sadly, I lost both of the parents who raised me in a year and one day, when I needed them most, they were gone.

I would struggle on more too, and overcome a lot more too over time. from False Accussations, Jail Time for a crime I never committed, to overcoming it and surving more. By, the summer of 1993, I had turned to the Veteran’s Administration for help to survive and get a way to survive and advance myself. They provided well.

I was given help surviving,and the ability to go back to school at 37 years old. The Veteran’s administration gave me Tuition, and Supplemental Income to attend College, I would attend Classes for three Years and Graduate in 1997, with a 3.7 out of 4.0 Grade Point Average, and Awards from my college, Naugatuck Valley Community College. I survived. I went on to Manage Hotels and work in The Hospitality Industry for a bit. But, due to Naval Injuries and PTSD my working career ended at a young age, I just couldn’t do it anymore.

I was declared Unemployable, and given my Disability Pay from The Service on a monthly basis and Social Security disability also. I survived folks and still do today. You do what you must to survive and get by, life is important indeed.

I learned to write and wrote blogs and books and poems too. I never surrendered and never will, would you?

Recently, I had someone try to lecture me on a couple of things over the internet and I had to laugh at it all. For I have lived 64 years, been through hell and back, and someone is going to question my integrity? I think not, nor are they going to sit in front of me and tell me about Grit and Determination like they have tried to do. I survived based on Grit and Determination, I survived on persistance, I survived on Truth and I survive on honesty and still do today. I also survived serviving my country, and have five, yes count them, 5 Honorable DD-214’s to my name.

It beats the hell out of The President, who has two letters of 4f for bone spurs, doesnt it?

Don’t, come tell me, my integrity is bad, don’t come tell me, I don’t have grit and determination, or I don’t speak truths, I do each day, I live. I have faced many things in life and overcome them, until you can do the same!.

George Floyd’s death at the hands of a police officer was just sad and unnecessary. He was too young to die in such a manner, and no human being deserves to die in the way he did. That’s the fact, period in this case, the man who did it is behind bars, and those who stood by and allowed it to happen, should be arrested also and charged with aiding and abetting a homicide. The fact that they have not been arrested as being complicite in it, is dead wrong. The remaining officers who stood by and did not pull the officer off of Mr. Floyd’s neck is in itself a crime and someone should pay.

I agree with all of this above, and I too, expect, these remaining officers who did not stop the one that killed George Floyd to be charged, why they have not been is the question at this time. The protests that have erupted across America, will continue, unless some action is taken to give justice to George Floyd’s family and to show what all of these officers did was dead wrong.

Now all of the above said, lets talk about these protests across the country. Protesting is a legal right and so is freedom or speech in America. I don’t disagree with protests, they have been in America since it began. Yet, the right to protest is one thing, there is no right to loot, deface and attack people, it is not protesting! It’s committing a crime in doing the acts of looting, defacing and attacking others on the streets. No one has the right in America to attack other people on the streets or anywhere else, stop it people. Stop defacing property, stop, looting stores and stealing whats not yours, and keep you damn hands off, of innocent people.

America is still the best country in the world, because of the laws of our land, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Don’t breech what was and is established and destroy the country, please. I don’t care if your white, black, yellow, or any other shade of color, we are all the same under the same laws of this land. Few, stop and think, about what I am about to say here.

We are human beings, and all of us deserve equal treatment, decency and morality and ethics that are fair to all. We all are born the same way, we all breathe, we all cry, we all laugh and yes we all bleed red. We are all human beings, no matter color, race, or creed. Humanity is all of us, and the pigmentation of our skin means nothing, it’s the person in the body that counts.

I grew up in a city, where all lived together, I grew up with blacks, whites, hispanics and asians. I saw all kinds laugh, love, cry, go hungry and struggle to survive in the projects here. We are all human and should all be treated the same period. We all live, we all die, and in the end, we are all remembered after we die, for how we interact with others and what we do for each other.

I care not what the color of one’s skin is, I do care how you treat me and I treat you, and that folks, is what we will be remembered for, after we are gone, from this planet. That is what a legacy is folks, it’s what you do in your life, and with your life that counts, people will remember, if you were fair to all, they will remember you for how you treated others, period. Never forget in all you do, you are watched.

Across America, Racial Violence has now grown to large proportions, in major cities, the unrest is now major and may soon involve the use of Military Force to control. If we get to that point, ladies and gentlemen, we will have become a military dictatorship, run by a President who is a racist, bigot, and in my opinion, a lost cause.

We need leadership, and not just someone standing up and spouting bullshit to the American people, real leadership involves many qualities sadly missing in President Donald Trump!

He has no empathy, he has no feelings for anyone but himself as he strikes out against social media, against anyone who states the Coronavirus is real and that it is killing hundred of thousands of people. He shows no ability to lead the America people away from violence, sickness and death that is happening now. He is lost in his own little world, having fun at the expense of the American People, as people die and get sick, and racial riots erupt, where is the American President?

As he worries only about himself, America suffers, as the Nation suffers the highest coronavirus death rate on the planet and it spreads like wildfires, he still preaches open the country back up we need an a economy, why, because without an economy he has nothing he can get reelected on!. He wants all America back at work and in churches as a pandemic rages and kills people, but pushing for it to happen, he is now responsible for more deaths than any President in american History. He refused to acknowledge all that is happening and just is pushing for his own reelection sadly.

The Coronavirus rages on, no vaccine exists ladies and gentlemen, please stop and think of what that means! It means there is no stopping a virus that knows not color, age, race, nationality, it knows only one thing expansion of itself, and will infect any human being it can period. I have watched as my newspaper Obituary Pages have grown each each first from one page to two, then to three, then to four and then five. Deaths are multiplying because people listen to Trump or follow his example. IT’s sad, he should be wearing a mask, he should be standing tall leading Americans to stay safe and healthy, instead he is not wearing a mask and telling everyone he doesn’t need to. Wrong.

Now as violence grows across the land over a senseless death of an African American Man, from idiotic and stupid policemen, he says nothing except, violence will beget violence! He thinks the solution is to let bullets fly and more people die, it’s not! We need real leadership, someone who can tell African Americans and the Nation as a whole that Justice will happen! Not foolish rhetoric and stupidity, Americans are dying, people are being mistreated and violence rises because we have no real leader in the White House. Arrest the three remaining Police Officers who stood by and allowed this to happen they are just as guilty as the one currently in jail. Show the American African People in America they count and are heard and justice comes for all, not just them.

America is now is in the saddest shape, in it’s 244 year history and led by a person who has no business running a business never mind the country! We need A Leader, we need leadership, guidance, empathy, we need someone who won’t withdraw us from the world, someone who will unite, not divide!. We don’t need Donald John Trump, let him go play Golf in Isolation, once out of office!