**UPDATE** 2025 Wish List (I Can Dream)

 These are things I'd like to see happen or become possible in 2025:

• It would be nice if citizens could be more confident in accurate and fair voting results. No interference from inside or out. And, while we're at it, let's get back to election campaigns done with civility; sticking to verifiable facts and candidates addressing voter concerns instead of personal attacks on each other. 
• Civility between citizens in general. People learning to disagree without violence and personal attacks. 
• Let's reform the way corporations (and the people behind them) contribute to the national coffers. No employee should have to pay more in taxes than the employers. Tax the total income of the top dogs the same way that the workers bees are taxed.
• If we want to revert to the past (you know, MAGA), let it be with a return to good manners; people having a general sense of public shame; and socializing in person rather than remotely.
• Speaking of manners, let's get back to teaching those to children. Let's teach them to be polite, gracious, and kind to others.
• Let's bring back courtship in relationships. Apparently, even the young people are getting tired of "hooking up", "Netflix and chilling", or whatever else you want to call not taking dating and marriage as seriously as we should.
• **UPDATE:** Can we calm down with all the cursing? I think that cursing in public is such a rude behavior. You are assuming too much about the people who can hear you - mainly that they are a rude and language-insensitive as you are and that young ears need the audio assault... In some cases, I think that it affects how seriously you may be taken. I watch video compilations of people discussing various topics, and whenever someone can't speak for more than a few seconds without using foul language, I fast-forward past their part. (And can I also mention that I wish everyone would stop saying the following: bruh, bro, and, unless you were born with the accent to make it right, y'all because... 🙄)

I have other things I'd like to add, but the list would be ridiculously long. The only other thing I feel I have to have listed is for a specific part of the population. Here it is:

• Let's find a way to deal with churches (of all religions) hiding behind God (or whatever object of worship) to fleece congregants. If a pastor (or whatever) can own jets, mansions, and dress like the stars, they should be able to pay taxes. BUT - only of the "tech bros" and other Richie Riches have to pay their fair share of taxes.

Am I wishing for too much? Maybe, but I can dream.

Peace 

--Free

Politeness Is Not a Weakness

Since I've been slacking on the blog due to some extreme fatigue issues, I thought I'd drop in for a rant. (Sorry. I will be back up with some reviews in the next week or so. In the meantime...)

What ever happened to manners????

I was on the phone with my niece earlier. She lives outside of Dallas and she was shopping at a local Costco. As she was cruising through the lot searching for a parking space, someone actually gunned around her to get to the one she had her signal on for. (By the way, my niece always uses a hands-free phone accessory!)


We were still discussing how rude people can be when my niece got into the store. As she was pushing her cart through the aisles, someone in front of her slowed down to look at something so my niece slowed down. She happened to notice that the lady behind her was not slowing down. She sort of lifted her hand to catch the front of that lady's cart. The woman just pushed into her hand and ran over the back of my niece's heel with her cart.

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I heard my niece yelp. She told me that the rude lady only issued a " Sorry" because other people gave her curious looks.

This is not uncommon for someone living in a bigger and more crowded city. I think that my niece has just gotten used to it. Matter of fact, I think that she expects people to be rude.

Here in Alaska, one of the most positive aspects used to be how friendly people were. That all changed. I would say that in the past 10 years, Anchorage has started to resemble many of the places residents came her to escape.

What always makes me shake my head is that people have confused what's important. It's important to most people to be intelligent, high-earning, attractive - whatever they think is impressive. This is what children are being taught. However, not enough people are teaching (or using) good, basic manners.

I was with my little nephew in Walmart one day when he started coughing. I reminded him to cover his mouth. A moment later, he did something that prompted me to remind him to say "Excuse me." I hadn't noticed a woman standing nearby until she approached me to say how glad she was to see someone teaching a child common courtesies. We then had a brief discussion about the subject.

source

How crazy is it that something so basic as being a decent person can incite commentary?

It seems that the smarter and more intellectually advanced we become, the less we value basic decency.

Anyway, that's my little rant for the day. Let's go out and be kind to each other.

Peace
--Free