It Was a Beautiful Morning (Annual Repost 2024)

With all the pandering about the debate, too many forgot how pandering to evil led led to disaster. Unfortunately, those that were the worst of our problems have now infiltrated into the United States and are free to wander our streets.  

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It was an early Fall. The temperature was in the mid 50's and the skies were crystal clear. I had just finished breakfast and we were driving to the job site in the twilight of dawn. The motel was close to our project site, so the trip was short.

Traffic was light as we placed the advance warning signs and started closing down the inside lane of U.S. 59 in Cleveland, Texas. We had five sections of concrete to pull. We sawed the concrete the day before, drilled lifting holes and now needed to pull the sections of failed pavement and start preparing for the new concrete. The pour was set for 10:00 am.

It didn't take long for the lifting machine to pull the first section of paving. As soon as the broken slab was moved to the shoulder, the crew started drilling holes for the anchors. When the anchors were placed, the crew placed a mat of rebar and moved to the next patch.

The procedure was moving as planned, so all five patches were well on the way to being prepared by 8:00 am. We would be ready for the concrete. I checked the work and started documenting the sizes on a daily report.

Around 30 minutes later, my boss called my cell phone. I assumed he was checking our progress, but he wanted to tell me that a plane had hit one of the World Trade Towers. He didn't have any details. I wondered what failure had led a pilot to fly their small plane into the tower. Bad weather? An error in judgement? I thought about it for a few minutes and then went back to work.

It didn't seem very long after that when my boss called me again, which I thought would be a progress check. It wasn't. He explained that it was a passenger jet that hit the first tower and another had flown into the second tower. He described the preliminary news feeds he was watching on television. I could only stare while my mind raced.

We continued working. My boss kept me informed. It was now clear it was a planned terror attack. He was in contact with the area engineer office for the Texas Department of Transportation. We were working for them and their decisions would decide whether we would pour concrete, which required hours of time to set, or place a temporary material to be removed in the future. The decision was to proceed as we always did, so we prepared for the concrete pour.

Before the concrete arrived, my wife called. She was terrified and wanted me to come home. I told her I couldn't leave until the concrete was poured and we were off the highway. Even then, I couldn't leave if we were to continue with our project. I told her I would come home immediately if the project was shut down, and to go to her mother's if she became too worried.

More information was now available, so I knew there was an immediate call for all air traffic to land. I noticed the absence of air traffic immediately. We were close enough to Bush International in Houston to see the constant flow of air transports, which dwindled and eventually ended.

We poured the concrete and started the process of preparing for the next day. I went to the motel to catch what I could on television. The loops of the impacts, the falling towers and the smoking section of the Pentagon was almost unbelievable. My mind was having a hard time wrapping around the fact we had been attacked and the result was the death of thousands of innocent people.

We finished the day as usual. We were prepared for the next day when we started opening the lane in the early afternoon. I had spent long minutes as we were finishing staring at the empty skies, It was bizarre to not see the heavy air traffic. Contrails from military jets stretched across the skies. I wondered if they were ours, or the jets of an enemy that was in the process of invading.

I had kept in contact with my wife during the day. After I reached the motel, we had a long conversation. She was calmer. I knew she still wanted me to come home, but she understood that it probably wouldn't happen until the week was over. Since I was only about two hours from home, I reassured it wouldn't take long to reach home if anything changed.

Watching television was like watching a fictional disaster movie. I was still having a hard time wrapping my head around the events of the day, but it was becoming clearer that it was a middle eastern terror group. My anger was rising and all I could think of  was how cowardly it was to attack innocents. I wanted our military to bomb half the Middle East to Hell. Kill them all and let God sort them out.

I'll never forget that day. Time stopped and it became apparent that the cruelty in the world is always only moments away. Barbarians had tested our defenses and managed to find a weak spot for their advantage. It wasn't a pleasant thought then and still isn't. I feel no compassion for such people and can only offer their death be swift, although many days I'd prefer they would suffer the agony of those trapped on the upper floors of the World Trade Center Towers.  Even after years, I'm still angry. I'm not ready to forgive, or forget.

Ignorance With a Microphone

David Hogg was ratcheting up an anti-gun crowd of protesters. The problem is: he was in Canada, and his rhetoric was pointed toward changing America. According to the report, Michael Moore had a moment of lucidity and took his microphone away.

David Hogg is a young, ignorant, aggressive Fascist, that doesn't realize the sedition he practices can lead to time in jail. While some might think charging him with a crime will only lead to more publicity, the publicity is much less of a problem than his actions. Sedition is a serious crime, and Hogg is a serious criminal, who's actions border on treason. 

Twenty Five Percent?

This article reports 25 percent of college students have an emotional, or mental disorder. That's a substantial percentage, but is the report accurate?

Personally, I feel there's a strong effort to determine mental problems because of the amount of money to be made on these problems. Prescribing medications, scheduling more office visits, and continuing treatment pays many salaries. Future income is guaranteed for those that can keep the patient involved with treatments that may not be necessary.

Everyone has to deal with stress, problems, unexpected events and the knowledge things might not work out as anticipated. Dealing with these things doesn't always demand professional help, and many times the correct response is accepting events as they come. Maturity demands making the transition to being a productive member of society by quiet determination, and adapting to circumstances.

The report might be accurate. If so, there's a decay in society that needs addressing. The strength of a nation is the strength of the individual. With 25 percent of future citizens that are supposed to be the leaders of society showing signs of a possible debilitating disorder, there needs to be a strong effort to correct the problem; and prescribing another medication isn't the start of the solution.

Once Bitten

The first hurricane I remember was Carla. The Southeast Texas Coast evacuated, and even without a direct hit, many low areas flooded, and there was wind damage. We evacuated, and as a child, the experience was a strange adventure. I could see the expression on my parents faces as we returned. They didn't know what to expect, and their relief was apparent, when no damage was found.

Over the years, we had more close calls. One was Alicia, which hit Houston. I was an adult, so my brother, and I, went toward the coast to see the effects.

The tide was about four feet higher than normal. Where there were once bluffs on the ship channel, the waves lapped over the banks, and some of the roads were  closed to the coastal areas. Since I didn't own a home, the desperation felt from an approaching hurricane wasn't felt.

Hurricane Bonnie was my first experience as a homeowner. Bonnie was a category 1, the storm quickly formed in the Gulf, and there wasn't a call for an evacuation. We stayed, watched large sections of roof shingles blow away, and felt the fury of the storm. Repairs took weeks, and the week without electricity wasn't pleasant.

Over the next few years, we had a few smaller hurricanes that were close. Some killed the power for days, and one was nearly dry. The winds blew millions of salt water mosquitoes from the coastal marshes, and they stayed for weeks. A journey outside at dusk was terrible. I literally would rake mosquitoes from my arms.

Rita was next. We evacuated, which was a horrible experience. The nearly stopped traffic led to hours of waiting, hoping to not run out of gas, and the apprehension of not knowing where we would go. Adding the knowledge of predatory, and panicked people, only made it worse. The return trip took three hours, and being turned away from certain roads due to damage.

Rita caused some roof damage. That, and some tree limbs to be cut, but three weeks without power was the real problem. With working all daylight hours on cleanup, the trip to work was a dark journey filled with thoughts of things to be done.

We stayed for Ike. That was an experience. With a landfall only about fifty miles away, the 80 mph sustained winds were something to behold. I kept thinking we could leave, if things were to become too bad. That was a thought without experience for reference. The horizontal winds would have been impossible to endure, and any one of the tornadoes that rumbled through the night could have led to certain death. Our damage was minimal, but many lost everything to the storm surge that exceeded 19 feet in some areas.

So, I've had my experience with hurricanes, and Harvey last year yielded a terrible flood, even though landfall was hundreds of mile away. That's why I know how many on the East Coast are feeling. I wish them the best, and hope Florence doesn't make a U.S. landfall. Nobody deserves such an event, and the results interrupt the lives of people for a long, long time.

Playing Hardball

Obama ignored accepted procedures, thumbed his nose at Congress, and did damage with executive orders that are still tying up the courts. He wanted to keep to his agenda, regardless of the method, and did so with impunity.

I think the Democrats know Trump has the same avenue for keeping  his promises, and this knowledge is making them desperate. They know they can do little to stop Trump, and without a majority in Congress, they can't even use impeachment to keep Trump from finally unraveling the mess created by Obama.

I expect the Democrats will become more unruly, and the likes of Soros will cause more problems. They can't win with rhetoric, the ballot box, or with fake news, so violence is the next step. People need to be aware of this and be wise in their travels.