I’m a bonafide cornball. I cry at weddings and when I hear truly beautiful music. I get goosebumps standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial or driving along Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park. I am humbled with every visit to Arlington National Cemetery. I’m one of those people who likes to travel to other lands but feels a sense of relief when I am back on American soil. I love the United States with every fiber of my being in spite of its flaws because I believe that it is one of the few places on earth where a nobody like me has the opportunity and the freedom to speak my mind and to live better than kings once did. Whenever I hear the Star Spangled Banner being sung by a crowd of fellow citizens I am moved to the very fiber of my soul. Continue reading “God Bless America”
Author: Sharron Burnett
Hats in the Ring
A few weeks back I offered some advice to Hillary Clinton for her campaign for the presidency. In honor of July 4th and in an effort to be fair and balanced as they say, I’m going to offer my services to the Republican candidates. Of course, bear in mind that when I ran for student body secretary back in high school I was soundly trounced so I may not be the best critic but one might say that I learned a bit from defeat.
There are so many Republicans running for the presidential nomination that I’d like to begin by suggesting that a few of them just go ahead and drop out right now. The first to go should be Donald Trump who has managed in only a couple of weeks to turn his campaign into a clownish fiasco and he’s not doing much to help his party either. It’s one thing to be transparent and speak the truth and quite another to be hyperbolic and mean. Some of his comments have been so bizarre that there are some who think that he is actually a secret weapon of the Clinton campaign given that he and Hillary are friends from way back when. He certainly can’t think that he is doing himself or anyone else any favors with his obnoxious descriptions of Hispanic immigrants. If he really does believe what he is saying that’s even more evidence that he simply needs to go. Continue reading “Hats in the Ring”
Gotta Laugh
In case you’ve missed it there is a great deal more going on in the world than just the events that have affected citizens of the United States. As is typical of the summer months the world is on fire. We need to closely monitor the economic crisis in Greece because one way or another it will have an effect on all of Europe and eventually the rest of the world. Spain, Portugal, and Italy are not too far behind Greece in having difficulties maintaining the social programs and monetary security of their governments. China is quietly weathering a slowdown in growth that the nation can ill afford. The governor of Puerto Rico has announced that the public coffers are empty and the territory will not be able to meet the obligations of outstanding bills. As if these developments were not worrisome enough on their own ISIS continues to rear its ugly head with terrorist attacks in France and Tunisia. They have boasted that many more countries may endure violence in the coming weeks. It’s enough to make one feel as though the world as we know it is coming to an end. All in all there seems to be little that those of us who are ordinary citizens may do and so I’d like to suggest that we learn how to laugh again. Continue reading “Gotta Laugh”
Deja Vu
I keep having bouts of deja vu as I work at Cristo Rey Jesuit High School. The building is different from when I went to school there and yet it is not. The neighborhood is filled with people that I have never met and still it is so familiar. It is a strange feeling to return to the place where I once received the foundations of my education now that I am a teacher.
As I walk through the hallways the speckled brown, white, orange, and black terrazzo floor gleams as though it had been laid down only yesterday. It still has the same smell of wax and paper and books that it had when I was a teenager navigating my way from class to class. The old lockers are gone, the windows are solid and sealed to accommodate the air conditioning and carpet softens the feel of the classrooms but otherwise little has changed. I can name almost every place where I once sat learning mathematics, science, English and languages. In my mind all of my classmates are still young and yet when I see their images on Facebook they appear to be more like their parents than the people that I knew in my teens. Continue reading “Deja Vu”
Love is the Word
I’ve written much about my mother. By now everyone who has read my stories should realize that while she led a very difficult life, she somehow managed to rise like the Phoenix again and again. She was a generally optimistic person who found good in all people and who needed very little to make her happy. It was only when her bipolar disorder raged through her system that she became a sad, frightened, and mean spirited person. I was generally able to separate the real mom from the one who periodically emerged as a result of the disease. I think that most of the people who knew and loved her were able to do so as well. All in all her generosity and thoughtfulness greatly outweighed any ugliness that came to the surface during her dark times. Continue reading “Love is the Word”
