I was 10 years old when World War II began. While there are a lot of things I remember, one of them keeps ringing in my ear during these times when over a dozen of people are running for President of the United States.
I can hear my mother telling me to remember all the starving children in the war and to be grateful for my plate full of food and I should eat every bite.
We may not be technically at war in the world right now as far as the U.S. goes, but there a lot of wars going on in Europe and they are producing a lot of hungry children.
If you add up the total of the money being spent by presidential candidates, it’s over a billion dollars. That’s billion with a “b.”
I think most of us are appalled at the tone, specific words and actions of a couple of them and we’re still not exactly clear on their specific goals as president. Nor, in my opinion, do some of them have the ability to reach those few goals they may have expressed.
Dr. Ben Carson, the retired neurosurgeon, who rose to political prominence last Fall, is an example. If I, or one of my children, had needed him to perform neurological surgery on us, I wouldn’t hesitate. On the other hand his inexperience in the political world and a lack of knowledge about foreign policy and similar-type issues I felt were against him as presidential material.
Just think, though, of the poor people who could have had needed neurological surgeries with the money spent on his campaign.
Another candidate at this time describes a sort of Valhalla in which they would create a near-perfect world where most everyone would be equal, no one would go hungry, everyone could get a college degree at no cost, and anyone needing a life-saving surgery, would get it.
Most of us aspire to work towards a life greater than the one we are currently living when we were young…you want to live in a house that is paid for, you want to own a car younger than 10 years, you want to have been able to not have to tell your children there’s nothing to eat.
In retrospect though, there have always been the poor and the rich throughout time and those of us in-between get through life one way or another.
There’s still a full plate of food in front of me and I still eat every bite. If i needed some kind of surgery, I believe I have sufficient insurance. Today I may have to use a walker but with it I’m still getting one foot in front of the other.
I guess that billion dollars has fed a lot of people on the receiving end. I just hope they were appreciative of the fact and ate every bit on their plate.
