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[possom813]

I was asked by my 9 year old daughter today why I was crying…

I didn’t have a very good answer for her at the time. I just couldn’t think of any words that would sum up the overwhelming emotion that had come over me without having to spend hours explaining the reasons.

My name is possom813, I don’t expect you to know who I am, or for that matter, anyone in my family.

I haven’t had a really hard life, it’s had it’s ups and downs and a few bad choices here and there, but there is nothing that I would change along the way. My grandfather’s name is Ira T. Fuller, he was born on December 19, 1912, he passed away on May 12, 1995.

Grandaddy was a man of few words, at least from what I can remember. I was 13 years old when he passed. But I remember the stories that my dad told me when I was younger about what WWII was and what it meant.

My Grandpa was a Private 1st Class in the United States Army from 1941-43 and was Honorably Discharged with a Purple Heart.

I was told that he received the Purple Heart in France, on D-Day, but after researching it when I’d gotten older, I learned that it wasn’t possible for him to have been at the D-Day Invasion, it happened on June 6, 1944, and he was discharged in 1943.

Never-the-less, it doesn’t change my view of him, because it wasn’t him that told me that story. By the time I’d gotten old enough to want to know about what he had to say, he was gone.

I remember growing up, we said the “Pledge of Allegiance” in grade school, and didn’t really know what it meant. Again, it’s something I didn’t learn the meaning of until many years later. All I knew back then was that I was supposed to put my hand over my heart and recite the Pledge with the rest of the class, and if you were caught inserting the wrong words and doing it on purpose or laughing about it, it was off to the Principal’s Office for 3 licks.

The way my country is now, it seems the Principal is supposed to laugh with you.

I made it until I was 19 with both of my parents, and I tried to learn as much as I could from them. On September 2, 2000, my mother passed away and I was as lost as one could be.

She always had great expectations for me, and I sometimes feel like I failed. I dropped out of college about 2 weeks before she passed. That’s one of my few regrets, I’d give anything to go back and stay for, at least, those two weeks so she wouldn’t have seen me give up.

I learned a lot from her, about how to treat people and how to take care of what I’m responsible for. I still think about her all the time and how much I miss her being around and that she didn’t get to meet her Daughter-In-Law or Grand-Daughters.

My dad, since mom passed away, our relationship has been on edge. It’s not that I don’t love my father, it’s just that every time my family is around him, he tries to take advantage of something we’ve done or we’ve earned. It’s gotten to the point that it’s laughable, he tells anyone that will listen that he takes care of my wife and my family financially and that everything that we’ve worked our butts off for is actually his and he lets us use it. We haven’t seen eye to eye in over 5 years. Most recently, I spoke to him and told him about the NV scope that I purchased. A few days later I was at one of his old friends resale shops and he asked me how I like the scope that my dad bought for me...This is a common occurrence when I run into his old friends, nevermind that he lives on his Social Security check and resides in a nursing home for fixed income individuals.

Back to the reason I’m typing this tonight. I’ve had a lot of time to think about why I was crying today, and I think I may be able to put it into words, maybe…


I was crying today because of what’s been happening in the Country around me. I’m not worried about the rest of the World, I’m worried about the United States of America. Just in the past, a little while actually. I’ve seen a white man get jammed up by the media for shooting a black man. Had it been the other way around, would we have ever heard about it? Due to this shooting, I’ve seen, in the media, two white men that were beaten, rather badly, while the assailants shouted out references to the black man that was shot. The media may say that it was a black boy, but at 17, I was a man, and I’m sure he considered himself a man as well, and was viewed as a man by the person that took his life. Why does this get National media attention, any of these events, when we have Soldiers overseas fighting for our Freedom as United States Citizens?

Why has our President decided to support Gay Marriage? I’m not against Gay Marriage, not at all, so this isn’t about right or wrong, I feel that if two people love each other, then, by all means, allow them to be as miserable as the other married folks…I kid. But as for President Obama openly supporting Gay Marriage, in an election year, doesn’t that seem a bit odd to anyone else? Politicians bother me, in a not-very-good way. The current administration seems to want the country to fail and be taken over by the United Nations. I, for one, will never support a U.N. take over of MY Country.

Another thing that bothers me, I suppose, is the media. There is no accountability for any wrongdoing by the media. Any media outlet can say pretty much whatever may be on there mind, or what they may believe and make slanderous accusations. Then, if they’re wrong, all they have to do is print a retraction? Really, I know when I screw up, I’ve got to answer for it, emotionally, financially, and sometimes publicly. I suck it up, take the heat I’ve coming to me, and move on.

If you’ve made it this far, good for you, because this is some incoherent, 4am ramblings that have been bothering me.

As for why I was crying, if you’re still curious, I wasn’t actually crying out loud, I was tearing up when I heard My National Anthem played today on a random radio station. Every time I hear it, I tear up a little bit, I do the same thing when I hear Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A”. I think of my Grandfather, my Mother, and the Soldiers that didn’t make it home. It bothers me a lot, to know that these kids are overseas fighting a battle that they may not understand to make life safer for us, safer for our Political leaders(that have forgotten how to lead) and safer for our children’s children. If it weren’t for these Soldiers, these Warriors, the Children, fighting our battle for us, do you think the media, and the politicians could continue to do what they’ve been doing without regard?

I’m done for now, and it will probably be years before I write something as random as this again, but I was thinking about that question, posed by a child, and I thought long and hard, until I teared up again, I now know I lost someone that I should have cherished. Haven’t we all?
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Chicka Chicka Wow Wow!

[VTDW]

Yes Robert, we all have pretty much the same regrets and values as you brother. You must believe your mother has been with you since she went to be with the Lord and is quite proud of you!!!! After all, she is the one who instilled in you the values you have! Think about it.

Nothing wrong with you as I believe you are "travailing in the Spirit"...a good thing. The same happens to a lot of us more and more these days Robert.

Dave
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2011 - 13
2012 - 13

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[Burt]

The current overall situation can be described thus -
The possibility for disaster boggles the mind. For multiple reasons, and from multiple directions. And many of those threats are in cahoots with each other too.
I often think we've lost a lot of people fighting for freedom, and that it may all
come to naught even so.

As for your dad, I wouldn't take it too seriously. No doubt some mental thing brought
on with advancing years. My mom sat there and asked me how my mom was before
she passed. Things like Alzheimer's and other similar things can really be a game
changer. That old joke about "the lights are on but nobody's home" isn't funny when
it happens for real.
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Ban guns to eliminate crime ?
Let's ban cars, to eliminate drunk driving.
Makes as much sense.