Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio?

When I was a kid, my world was simple and pleasant. My mother would make my sister and me peanut butter sandwiches which we would eat in the air conditioning while watching Sesame Street. Life doesn't get a heck of alot sweeter than that....when you are 6. But I am not 6 anymore. Alas, I am a grown up, and I have to pay bills. And deal with car trouble, taxes, money problems, broken dishwashers, and all the other fun stuff that means being an adult.
It also means not just sitting by and letting life happen to you. Don't get me wrong...we aren't all meant to be pit bulls in the arena of life. Which is where my frustration comes in. Pre 9/11 I was the happy little housewife (which I still am) staying home with our sweet little girl, keeping the home fires burning for my wonderful husband...and once again, life was sweet. I didn't watch much more than the weather reports when it came to current events. I didn't care. It didn't affect me, so why should I fill my head with such troublesome stuff? Wasn't that what we pay our senators and representatives...and the President for? I shouldn't have to worry my pretty little head over such complicated issues as tax reform, and school vouchers, and the problems in the Middle East.
September 11th changed all that for me, but the transformation was not complete until 6 months ago. I, like 90 percent of the rest of the country, sat glued to my tv for a week. Grieving for the loss of life, and my loss of innocence. Frozen in fear, formulating plans for the next time I flew how I would defend myself and my daughter should some crazy religious zealot try to take my plane down. My husband thought I was crazy. I felt crazy.
But then time wore on, and the fear faded. I became complacent and happy again in my little pseud0-safe world. Bad people certainly existed, but not anywhere near me, and I didn't have to worry about them. We had a new department in the government. It had a fancy, reassuring name. Homeland Security. Wow! This was the homeland! We grow corn here, and drive pick-ups, and name our boys Bubba, and have 4th of July picnics...and welcome "...your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" We were AMERICA! Land of the free, home of the brave! We stand for all that is good and honorable! We eat hot dogs and potato salad and watch baseball for pete's sake! How dare someone else in this world attack us! We became watchdogs for terrorists. All the while neglecting what was slowly building within. And now today, we are reeling at the thought that partial birth abortion is an issue, and euthanasia, which in some places is optional. But why should we be surprised when someday, soon, it is enforced on those seen as expendable. The old, sick and mentally challenged. There are other countries that already do this. We are not above it happening here. We are a country that needs a PRO-LIFE movement! The very name should cause us to say "Wait a minute! Shouldn't we all be PRO-LIFE?!?!" But it doesn't. And now the very right to parent our own children and teach them what we believe is being threatened. And health care professionals who up to this point have been protected by law so that they don't have to be forced to perform abortions they don't believe are morally right or lose their jobs, may not be for much longer! What else has to be taken away before we wake up and realize that this may be America, and a great country at that, but not the Utopia we have built her up to be! She is sick, and we, her people, have to realize that she needs help! If not from us, from who then? Will it be the rest of the country, or our government? Not for me! No thank you! If we are to go down, I will be fighting till my last breath to protect my America!
I still wonder where "Joe DiMaggio" has gone...I don't think he will ever be back unless we help him find his way.

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
-Edmund Burke