Always Reforming

These wounds are so fresh, and yet Scabs are already forming, Was it yesterday?  Or Was it a lifetime ago?

Economics is a complex subject that has been hotly debated for centuries.  These debates often devolve into passionate, illogical rhetoric, which should be unsurprising when we consider that economics concerns not merely theoretical numbers on pages, but the lives of actual human beings. Conservatives are often criticized, and many times rightly so, for their dispassionate approach to economics, but Liberals must remember that poor economic policies, regardless of the motives that lie behind them, produce devastating results in the real world.  Emotional policy making, divorced from common sense economic principles, almost always harms the vulnerable classes it intends to help, no matter how zealous the policy makers and their supporters may be. Whether we are concerned citizens on social media or public servants on Capitol Hill, we must avoid both extremes.  We should never approach economics heartlessly, as if it were merely an intellectual exercise, but it is important...

What we’re witnessing with the labor shortage right now, particularly in the fast food industry, is the free market attempting to work.  Employers are doing whatever they can to compete for the few people currently looking for work, offering $13+/hr for menial labor and even advertising sign-up bonuses.  They cannot, however, compete against Uncle Sam, who is paying people not to work and doing so by inflating the dollars of hardworking Americans.  As prices go up and the repercussions of shutting down our economy set in, the lower classes will almost certainly blame evil capitalists, but it will have been, as usual, the fault of crafty politicians who bought votes by devaluing our currency and interrupting the job market.

From sun-up To sun-down You're selfless, You're serving Your children, Your Savior. What a woman! What a mother! What a blessing it is To share this life with you! From skinned knees To stung hearts, Your soft touch, Your sweet words, Are healing And soothing. What a woman! What a mother! What a blessing it is To share these kids with you! You are The heart of our home, You are  The glue that keeps it together, You are  Everything I could never be For them. What a woman! What a mother! What a blessing it is To share this home with you!

You never know. You just never know. You never know when this  phone call might be the last one you have with your loved one. You never know when that text will be the last one you send to your best friend.   You never know when a mindless , careless word will be the last you utter to a person who means so much to you. Life doesn't always afford us the opportunity to make peace, to say goodbye, to say the words we've always been too afraid to say. As I scrolled through my text threads yesterday, and I stumbled across the last text conversation I had with my father.   We were discussing light bulbs. All the bulbs in the lighting fixture in our kitchen had burned out and he had told me that he had extra that I could have.  They are the long, skinny kind, (the kind you normally see in an industrial building or an office), so he sent me pictures of them to make sure they were the kind I needed.  One of the pictures was taken by my step-mom and show...

Originally written on 04/18/16. It's difficult to comprehend you, It's painful to absorb you, I strain to see the order, Sometimes impossible to see, O, Death, I know you have no sting, But sometimes I still feel it. It's hard to anticipate you, It's dreadful to see you coming, How quickly you're upon us! How suddenly the world grows dark! O, Death, I know you have no victory, But sometimes I feel the loss. There is a difference Between knowing  And being able to let go, My mind understands, But my soul still aches, O, Death, I know you are defeated, But sometimes I still fear you.

It is nearly impossible today to turn on the TV or to open a social media app without being bombarded by racial tension.  Cops are shooting people, athletes are kneeling and tweeting, and rioters are destroying their own cities.  It would be an understatement to say that our current situation is unsustainable. Conversations regarding racial issues always seem to gravitate towards  blame .  Whose fault is it?  Upon whom can we place the blame for the current state of our society?  Who should make reparations for past sins that have led us to this point?  White men?  Black men?  Fascists?  Marxists?  Western Civilization?  Colonialists?  The Patriarchy?  A number of options have been proffered, but, of course, there is no individual group or cause that is responsible for the economic and social unrest that plagues our nation.  It is a complex problem with a variety of causes, the chief of which is simply human depr...