Griz Bear Comments Stop the world; I want to get off!

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

— Does anybody else out there ever feel like saying, “Stop the world; I want to get off”?

Though it may sound to some like a sort of psychological anomaly to feel as I do, I just can’t help it.

I’m reminded of those long-ago days in southern California, back when I was a kid and would on rare occasions have to ride the Rapid Transit District bus to get to where I needed to be - usually school or home. Though I didn’t relish it, riding the bus wasn’t all that bad. For a few coins and the right bus connections, I could go just about anywhere RTD buses went in the Los Angeles area. The scary part was knowing which bus to take and just where to make the right connections. If I got on the wrong bus or missed my stop, I could end up miles away and in a place or neighborhood I would rather not visit. Rather than let that happen, my plan was, if I found myself on the wrong bus or headed in the wrong direction, to pull on the signal cord and tell the driver to stop the bus because I wanted to get off.

Though I haven’t ridden an RTD bus in about 40 years, I get this feeling that the whole world has taken a big wrong turn somewhere and is headed to places I’d rather notvisit. I realize this isn’t anything new. The world has been on a declining course - actually a collision course - since shortly after creation - but the direction and speed at which the bus is moving off course is alarming.

Our own nation has abandoned its moral foundation, banished God from His rightful place and turned headlong toward political and financial ruin. It’s hard to stay on the bus when I know it’s taking me to places I’d rather not go.

Why would I want to go to a place where right is wrong and wrong is OK? Why would I want to continue on a course where nothing makes sense and the only end can be THE END?

I cannot believe the changes in only 50 years! Leaders who were regarded as liberal 40 and 50 years ago, would probably be run out of office as ultra-conservatives today. What was regarded as immoral, unacceptable and even unspeakable a generation or two ago is prime-time and Grated (or at least PG-13) today.

I can’t help but wonder what kind of world we are leaving to our children and grandchildren. How can they ever know the difference between the truth and a lie, between the right way and the wrong way, between moral and immoral?

The bus on which I find myself a passenger is definitely not headed in the direction I wish to go, and I fear the neighborhood to which it is bound won’t be a very good place for me or anyone to be.

Doesn’t anybody else see the foolishness of what’s happening? Don’t any of the other bus passengers see that thebus is not taking us where we want to go? Or, am I the only one? Could I have I gotten on the wrong bus?

Having abandoned truth and morality, it seems our nation, along with most of the rest of the world, has adopted insane principles - at least they make no sense to me unless they are a part of an unseen plan to judge and destroy a foolish nation.

When a nation already has a debt which is dragging down the economy - $12 trillion and counting - what sense does it make to spend more, give away billions in taxpayer money and increase that debt? When taxes are so high people cannot afford to buy goods and services, invest in the future and create new jobs and opportunities, what sense does it make to increase those taxes? When current government restrictions and controls already hinder economic growth and development, what sense does it make to increase government restrictions and controls? When so many of our government-run programs are already the most inefficient and wasteful programs on earth, what sense does it make to put more programs and services into the hands of government? When the purchasing power of our government’s debt notes continues to decline, what good does it do to print more? But, yes, that’s the direction we’re heading and the course we’re taking.

And so, I hope you see my quandary. I must be on the wrong bus. Nothing looks familiar any more. Nothing makes much sense. We’re headed down a road and toward a destination where I don’t really want to go.

And so you just might hear me say, “Stop the world; I want to get off !”

Opinion, Pages 5 on 11/11/2009