November 10th, 2019
My Dear America:
Thirty Years Ago something extraordinary happened to me that not only changed my life but also changed your life, as well, America. I can't recall all of the details of what happened 30 years ago as well as I would like to but certain aspects of that fateful week are still embedded in my brain.
I was working for a local Children's Home as a Caseworker back then. As part of my job I was required to spend a week with most of the kids from the Children's Home at Camp Trexler, A Boy Scout Camp in the Pocono Mountains that the Children's Home rented out for the week.
It was my first time going with the kids to Camp Trexler and I was a little apprehensive. Although I liked many of the kids I worked with, I recognized that the some of the kids had some serious behavioral issues that could, and often did, explode at times unexpectedly and sometimes violently.
On my drive to work on the Monday morning of the Camp Trexler trip I was nervous. I didn't know what to expect in being with the kids in the desolate Pocono mountains for a week. If kids wanted to run away (which they often did) how in the world would we find them. Were there going to be fights that I and other staff members would have to break up, as we did often at the Children's Home. I was quite frankly excited about the camping trip but also worried about what was going to happen in the upcoming week long outdoor excursion.
The radio was on as I drove to work and I was listening to the news. The Newscaster indicated that there was some sort of trouble brewing in Russia. Apparently there were indications that Soviet leader Gorbachev was being held against his will under House arrest by members of the Communist party. The information was sketchy and unclear. Gorbachev had been under pressure by his own party as he moved Russia closer to the ideals of his friend and United States President Ronald Reagan. According to the radio broadcast no one seemed to know what was going on. As I listened to the broadcast I became more nervous, not only about Camp Trexler, but also about the status of the world. Were we on the brink of Nuclear war. Who knew. I certainly didn't. I suddenly thought about the fact that I was going to the Boy Scout Camp at exactly the wrong time. The fate of the world was hanging by a thread and I was going to be stuck in the woods away from my family. It had already been proclaimed by the powers that be at the Children's Home that radios, phones and other electronic devices would not be allowed at Camp Trexler. I decided to take my car to the Boy Scout Camp so that I could listen to my car radio every day and try to keep a handle on maintaining knowledge about the fate of the world.
Suffice it to say that with a few exceptions the week spent at Camp Trexler was fantastic.The kids and the staff were kept busy every day with swimming, boating, hiking, playing cards and board games and sitting around campfires singing at night. There were a couple of kids that were taken back to the Children's Home after acting out but their quick departure from the camp was an obvious lesson to the other kids who were having a good time and genuinely wanted to stay for the rest of the week.
I had so much fun and so much to do during the week that I completely forgot about my plan to listen to the Radio. I didn't think of my radio until I turned it on at the end of the week on Friday as I was driving out of Camp Trexler.
I listened to a radio broadcast on Friday that partially filled me in on how much the world, and in particular, the Soviet Union, had changed during the course of the past week.
Looking back on my week in the Poconos today I have to say that I am grateful that my camping trip with the kids from the Children's Home kept me from experiencing the depressing terror that must have been experienced by everyone following the story of the Collapse of the Soviet Union and the Collapse of the Berlin Wall.
Although we tended to get used to the worries about the prospect of a Nuclear Showdown between the United States and Russia it was a relief, at least for a little while, when Boris Yeltsin came to Gorbachev's rescue and Russia as we knew it became a thing of the past, or so we thought.
Certainly the Berlin Wall was a symbol of Soviet Terror and Tyranny. It was heartening to the world when it came down.
Now, however, in our day and time we in the United States of America have been forced to witness our discredited American President constantly pledge allegiance to the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, who seems to constantly benefit from Donald Trump's cowardly attempts to placate the Russian Dictator.
It is understandable that young Americans do not understand the stress of living in a world of Soviet Terror. It is not understandable that older Americans who lived for many years and decades under the Soviet threat would now pledge allegiance to a Russian Stooge like Donald Trump and watch their Democracy fall apart piece by devastating piece.
We still have a fighting chance to get it right. United States Republican Legislators don't seem to care that Democracy in America is in danger of going the way of the Dinosaurs. The latest elections in which Virginia turned blue and Democrats won the majority of election victories nationally should give Republicans some serious concerns about what is coming for them and for Donald Trump following Impeachment Hearings.
Wake up American Republicans. The bell is tolling. You can't hide your heads in the sand forever. The Freedom Bell is tolling for all of us and it is time to recognize that you have been backing a Dictator in a not too good disguise.
It is once and for all time for you to do the right thing for America.
Sincerely Yours
Jerry Gallagher
No comments:
Post a Comment