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"I'm 63 and I’m Tired"

Posted on 05/05/2010 7:33:46 PM PDT by cycle of discernment

"I'm 63 and I’m Tired"

by Robert A. Hall

I'm 63. Except for one semester in college when jobs were scarce and a six-month period when I was between jobs, but job-hunting every day, I've worked, hard, since I was 18. Despite some health challenges, I still put in 50-hour weeks, and haven't called in sick in seven or eight years. I make a good salary, but I didn't inherit my job or my income, and I worked to get where I am. Given the economy, there's no retirement in sight, and I'm tired. Very tired.

I'm tired of being told that I have to "spread the wealth" to people who don't have my work ethic. I'm tired of being told the government will take the money I earned, by force if necessary, and give it to people too lazy to earn it.

I'm tired of being told that I have to pay more taxes to "keep people in their homes." Sure, if they lost their jobs or got sick, I'm willing to help. But if they bought McMansions at three times the price of our paid-off, $250,000 condo, on one-third of my salary, then let the left-wing Congress-critters who passed Fannie and Freddie and the Community Reinvestment Act that created the bubble help them with their own money.

I'm tired of being told how bad America is by left-wing millionaires like Michael Moore, George Soros and Hollywood Entertainers who live in luxury because of the opportunities America offers. In thirty years, if they get their way, the United States will have the economy of Zimbabwe , the freedom of the press of China , the crime and violence of Mexico , the tolerance for Christian people of Iran , and the freedom of speech of Venezuela .

I'm tired of being told that Islam is a "Religion of Peace," when every day I can read dozens of stories of Muslim men killing their sisters, wives and daughters for their family "honor"; of Muslims rioting over some slight offense; of Muslims murdering Christian and Jews because they aren't "believers"; of Muslims burning schools for girls; of Muslims stoning teenage rape victims to death for "adultery"; of Muslims mutilating the genitals of little girls; all in the name of Allah, because the Qur'an and Shari'a law tells them to.

I'm tired of being told that "race doesn't matter" in the post-racial world of Obama, when it's all that matters in affirmative action jobs, lower college admission and graduation standards for minorities (harming them the most), government contract set-asides, tolerance for the ghetto culture of violence and fatherless children that hurts minorities more than anyone, and in the appointment of U.S. Senators from Illinois.

I think it's very cool that we have a black president and that a black child is doing her homework at the desk where Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Proclamation. I just wish the black president was Condi Rice, or someone who believes more in freedom and the individual and less arrogantly of an all-knowing government.

I'm tired of a news media that thinks Bush's fundraising and inaugural expenses were obscene, but that think Obama's, at triple the cost, were wonderful; that thinks Bush exercising daily was a waste of presidential time, but Obama exercising is a great example for the public to control weight and stress; that picked over every line of Bush's military records, but never demanded that Kerry release his; that slammed Palin, with two years as governor, for being too inexperienced for VP, but touted Obama with three years as senator as potentially the best president ever. Wonder why people are dropping their subscriptions or switching to Fox News? Get a clue. I didn't vote for Bush in 2000, but the media and Kerry drove me to his camp in 2004.

I'm tired of being told that out of "tolerance for other cultures" we must let Saudi Arabia use our oil money to fund mosques and madrassa Islamic schools to preach hate in America , while no American group is allowed to fund a church, synagogue or religious school in Saudi Arabia to teach love and tolerance.

I'm tired of being told I must lower my living standard to fight global warming, which no one is allowed to debate. My wife and I live in a two-bedroom apartment and carpool together five miles to our jobs. We also own a three-bedroom condo where our daughter and granddaughter live. Our carbon footprint is about 5% of Al Gore's, and if you're greener than Gore, you're green enough.

I'm tired of being told that drug addicts have a disease, and I must help support and treat them, and pay for the damage they do. Did a giant germ rush out of a dark alley, grab them, and stuff white powder up their noses while they tried to fight it off? I don't think Gay people choose to be Gay, but I damn sure think druggies chose to take drugs. And I'm tired of harassment from cool people treating me like a freak when I tell them I never tried marijuana.

I'm tired of illegal aliens being called "undocumented workers," especially the ones who aren't working, but are living on welfare or crime. What's next? Calling drug dealers, "Undocumented Pharmacists"? And, no, I'm not against Hispanics. Most of them are Catholic, and it's been a few hundred years since Catholics wanted to kill me for my religion. I'm willing to fast track for citizenship any Hispanic person, who can speak English, doesn't have a criminal record and who is self-supporting without family on welfare, or who serves honorably for three years in our military.... Those are the citizens we need.

I'm tired of latte liberals and journalists, who would never wear the uniform of the Republic themselves, or let their entitlement-handicapped kids near a recruiting station, trashing our military. They and their kids can sit at home, never having to make split-second decisions under life and death circumstances, and bad mouth better people than themselves. Do bad things happen in war? You bet. Do our troops sometimes misbehave? Sure. Does this compare with the atrocities that were the policy of our enemies for the last fifty years and still are? Not even close. So here's the deal. I'll let myself be subjected to all the humiliation and abuse that was heaped on terrorists at Abu Ghraib or Gitmo, and the critics can let themselves be subject to captivity by the Muslims, who tortured and beheaded Daniel Pearl in Pakistan, or the Muslims who tortured and murdered Marine Lt. Col. William Higgins in Lebanon, or the Muslims who ran the blood-spattered Al Qaeda torture rooms our troops found in Iraq, or the Muslims who cut off the heads of schoolgirls in Indonesia, because the girls were Christian. Then we'll compare notes. British and American soldiers are the only troops in history that civilians came to for help and handouts, instead of hiding from in fear.

I'm tired of people telling me that their party has a corner on virtue and the other party has a corner on corruption. Read the papers; bums are bipartisan. And I'm tired of people telling me we need bipartisanship. I live in Illinois , where the "Illinois Combine" of Democrats has worked to loot the public for years. Not to mention the tax cheats in Obama's cabinet.

I'm tired of hearing wealthy athletes, entertainers and politicians of both parties talking about innocent mistakes, stupid mistakes or youthful mistakes, when we all know they think their only mistake was getting caught. I'm tired of people with a sense of entitlement, rich or poor.

Speaking of poor, I'm tired of hearing people with air-conditioned homes, color TVs and two cars called poor. The majority of Americans didn't have that in 1970, but we didn't know we were "poor." The poverty pimps have to keep changing the definition of poor to keep the dollars flowing.

I'm real tired of people who don't take responsibility for their lives and actions. I'm tired of hearing them blame the government, or discrimination or big-whatever for their problems.

Yes, I'm damn tired. But I'm also glad to be 63. Because, mostly, I'm not going to have to see the world these people are making. I'm just sorry for my granddaughter.

Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam veteran who served five terms in the Massachusetts State Senate.


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: chainemail; chat; tired
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To: cycle of discernment

A “What a Great Article” BUMP!


21 posted on 05/05/2010 8:14:36 PM PDT by Pagey (B. Hussein Obama has no experience running anything, except his pedestrian mouth.)
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To: Tucker822

Not only am I tired too, I am ANGRY. This whole mess could have been avoided if the American people had been told the truth. There is much blame to go around, but I fault the MSM the most as they gave this Manchurian candidate a total pass. With all the “junk” in his background, starting with his birth certificate, had he been the Republican, he would have been “outed” and never gotten past the first primary. They helped elect him, now we have to live with him. I find him reprehensible, a total narcissist, an intellectual lightweight, and actually an angry black man who hates whites who have achieved the American dream on their own. However, he is not calling the shots. Something and someone very sinister and evil is pulling his strings and making the decisions. They do not have America’s interests at heart, and in fact hate the Judeo-Christian nation we love so much. We will not survive eight years of Hussein, but he really doesn’t care what we think. Narcissists think it’s all about them. I hope I live to see him get what’s coming to him. You can’t imagine how much I long to see that day!


22 posted on 05/05/2010 8:16:46 PM PDT by rtbwood
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To: cycle of discernment
I'm 63 also.. and I'm being layed off June 4th.. Forced into a forced and now underfunded retirement
23 posted on 05/05/2010 8:18:44 PM PDT by Robe (Rome did not create a great empire by talking, they did it by killing all those who opposed them)
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To: VRW Conspirator
All I have to say is...baby boomers. while you served, they sowed.

Boomers are the generation that slowed the left, and started the country swinging back to the right.

The boomers came out of the chute voting Republican, and they helped bring to a halt most of the worst of the radicalism of 1935 to 1975, by the late 1980s to 1990s as the boomers started gaining power, it was clear that conservatives finally had something of a voice again in America.

Today as boomers range from a young leader's age of 46 to a powerful leader's age of 64 we have a much more powerful and effective, conservative movement than we did in the 1950s and 1960s.

24 posted on 05/05/2010 8:21:02 PM PDT by ansel12 (Romney-"I longed in many respects to actually be in Vietnam and be representing our country there")
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To: Pagey

Time to get a hobby ... I’m 57 and mine is Survivor ...


25 posted on 05/05/2010 8:21:04 PM PDT by zigmeisterxiv
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To: cycle of discernment

Fantastic essay


26 posted on 05/05/2010 8:22:55 PM PDT by cammie
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To: jwalsh07; All
Well, I'm closing on 59 and I'm not tired but I am damn well pissed off about the debt being heaped on my grandchildren and their children

Yes, the debt IS monstrous; but even more monstrous is the Marxist/communist/fascist/Leninist/Alynsky politcal mind behind it; the calculations in play to recreate America's 'ground of being' using every crisis to intentionally weaken and further degrade our country. Worse, is that this only begins to speak to the malevolent intent of those who are Obama, Inc.

As great a threat as is our growing debt; it is enfolded in a larger evil and one we must speak to - and out against - as well.

27 posted on 05/05/2010 8:24:58 PM PDT by cricket (We ARE the Truman Show)
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To: 21stCenturion

...


28 posted on 05/05/2010 8:30:41 PM PDT by 21stCenturion ("It's the Judges, Stupid !")
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To: zigmeisterxiv
Time to get a hobby ... I’m 57 and mine is Survivor ...

LOL. ..from another hobbiest. . .Of course, 'survival' - ours, our Country; our children, Grand-children and those that follow; is pretty much what this is all about.

29 posted on 05/05/2010 8:40:13 PM PDT by cricket (We ARE the Truman Show)
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To: cycle of discernment

I’m tired, too. ;-)


30 posted on 05/05/2010 8:43:47 PM PDT by Tired of Taxes (Dad, I will always think of you.)
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To: cycle of discernment

This is excellent.


31 posted on 05/05/2010 8:47:11 PM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: Clump

I’m only 31 and I’m starting to get damn tired. How sad is that?
****

I have been feeling profound sadness when I see young people- younger than you, and I know they are inheriting a world of trouble not of their doing. The Age of Innocence passed them by a long time ago.


32 posted on 05/05/2010 8:48:34 PM PDT by Canedawg (I'm not digging this tyranny thing.)
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To: Clintonfatigued

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_A._Hall


33 posted on 05/05/2010 8:49:40 PM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: cycle of discernment
To read more from Robert Hall:

link

http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/

34 posted on 05/05/2010 8:53:41 PM PDT by cricket (We ARE the Truman Show)
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To: Lancey Howard

Im’, almost 62 and I’m so God dam tired. I’ve got firearms though!!!


35 posted on 05/05/2010 8:56:37 PM PDT by Empireoftheatom48 (Zero will never be my President, never!!!!!)
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To: dfwgator

Ahhhh! The lovely Lili von Schtupp!


36 posted on 05/05/2010 9:05:13 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

“Oh Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, legs, Lily, Lily.”


37 posted on 05/05/2010 9:11:05 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: dfwgator
Hello, Handsome! Is that a ten gallon hat, or are you chust enjoying the czhow?


38 posted on 05/05/2010 9:49:07 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: jwalsh07

I didn’t get tired until I reached 70. Now I don’t even want to get on my garden tractor to cut my 4 1/2 acres or even go grocery shopping...I love sleeping...God’s gift to man......We should all do more of it.....


39 posted on 05/06/2010 12:24:52 AM PDT by goat granny
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To: rtbwood

I agree 100% with everything you just posted. Particularly, the part about this usurper getting everything that’s coming to him. I’ve never hated anyone in my life, but I hate this anti-America communist with every fiber in my body.


40 posted on 05/06/2010 4:36:15 AM PDT by Tucker822
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