A few random thoughts about why our country is so screwed up today:

We seem to have lost our civility.  We see things only in black or white.  We seem to be unwilling to compromise on anything.  Whose fault is this?  Some blame the social media.  However I don't think the social media is to blame all by itself.  Some blame the news channels on TV.  I don't blame them entirely.  Some blame our schools.  I don't blame them.  What about our parents?  I do think they have to burden much of the responsibility.  Our children are not being brought up properly.  Having said that however, I look deeper and see that individually, most people know right from wrong; but when in a crowd they tend to revert to mob mentality. Why is that?

I look at my own upbringing.  I was raised in a very conservative atmosphere:  One of the reddest states in the country (Kansas).  I was a strong Republican.  Voted for Goldwater.  But somehow I "saw the light"!  Was it from my exposure to others while in the Air Force?  I don't know.  I know that one of my heroes in the Republican Party was Mayor John Lindsey of New York City.  When he switched from being a Republican to a Democrat, I switched also.  Now I am a very liberal person.  I went to a conservative baptist college, so that didn't change me although some of the professors there might have had an influence on me.

So I ask:  How did I change when others from a similar background and upbringing not change? I can't explain it.  I just know it hurts me to see family and friends who are "stuck" in their ways and seem to be blinded to the possibility of change.  I try to look at both sides of an argument before drawing any conclusion.  Of course I am biased but I do try to keep an open mind.  Others, I fear, don't even try.