Recuperating on the couch, watching a movie made in 1943, starring Mickey Rooney and a ton of other stars.  It's called "The Human Comedy" and suddenly, I was overwhelmed by the little vignettes of children, as young as 5 and 6, running around the town, having fun, and being kids.  Sneaking around the town 'crazy old man's place', playing football on a dirt lot...and I suddenly struck by how tragic it is that we have absolutely lost that.

Granted, out in the hinterlands, fly-over country, I am sure there are kids, unleashed daily on the environment to catch frogs and fish in ponds and maybe, when it gets a bit too warm, taking a swing on an old tree swing and into that swimming hole.  But it USED TO BE that way where I grew up.  We had a great creek and tadpoles to be caught and baseball fields we played upon until we heard our Mom's hollering for us to come in for dinner...or those dreaded street lights turning on and begrudgingly trudging homeward.  Saddened to have lost the day, but knowing tomorrow will be just as good.

Kids today do not have that here anymore.  From crime, to abductions to parents too afraid to open the door and unleash their young'uns.  What a complete and utter tragedy...all of it lost, lost to fear. What have we done with this amazing gift of a country?  What have we allowed to happen to us and this amazing place?!  It's like there was a surrender, that was never announced.  I want to know who surrendered for us?  Or did WE surrender that through a thousand tiny cuts?  Not knowing what we were 'accepting' each time we turned an eye from something we probably should have paid attention to, done something about?

Whatever it is, the immediate thought that followed that was obvious:  Can it be recovered?  The answer lies in each of our hearts.  In our commitment to our Belief in what once was such an incredible country.  Yes, sadly folks, my thoughts rarely stray from the greatest underlying problem to that unbridled appreciation and enjoyment of our lives: big government.

It has forced upon once placid communities such horrors as Section 8 housing, mass transit making such communities readily accessible by people who wouldn't necessarily have been able to reach these outer suburbs (ask the Anne Arundel County Police what happened once Light Rail extended the line into Glen Burnie...an INCREDIBLE uptick in crime statistics from increases in bicycle thefts all the way up to robberies and shootings due to the longer arm of drug dealers with an easier conduit to slither into those once distant communities.

Folks, we HAVE to take back our Country.  And that literally starts with taking back our individual streets.  From a neighborhood patrol to whatever we have to do.  I no longer hold great stock and store in our police.  For whatever reason, whether it's being stretched too thin, or just a general increase in the more militant police types who seem to react to a stolen bike (I had a Trek 2300 with all kinds of carbon fiber aftermarket parts, aero bars, improved deraileurs, etc. taken from my truck and the cop didnt even want to write a report.) as if I was reporting some school kid treading on my front lawn on their way to catch the school bus!
 
Like so much in life, it starts with 'Us.'  And with the 'victim class' increasingly more dependent and expectant of government to solve all their problems, I guess that potential number is rapidly decreasing.  So what are we to do?  At some point, we have to have had 'enough.'  And we HAVE to fight back.  Whatever each of us can do...because the more I dissect that movie and the serenity and tranquility it represents, the more I realize:  it was because those adults were all actively involved in their community.  And just like when I screwed up as a kid, EVERY neighbor noted what a neighbors kid did and had the decency to let the parents know.  Self policing folks.  Just like the 'old days' which, sadly, were not 'that long' ago!

Wake up folks.  This ride is soon to get a LOT bumpier!  Lady Liberty needs our help!