Letter to the Editor: The state of our nation

By NED SCARLET Cleveland

Editor,
Several days ago I was listening to the radio. The speaker mentioned a recent poll, the poll asked whether, or not, people think our country is on the right track. She reported that a record number, 60 percent, think it isn’t. About 30 percent don’t know. She seemed dismayed that 10 percent still think the country is on the right track. I think the 10 percent are people who prefer to cherish what we have.
That 10 percent knows we can take the availability of electricity, natural gas, running water, and sewers for granted. We can be warm in the winter and cool in the summer. If we are sick or injured we have access to the best medical care in the world. No matter what the emergency, we simply pick up a phone and dial 911 and the best of help is on the way. Our stores have shelves loaded with many varieties of food and other goods. If calamity strikes we know our government and neighbors will be there to help, and not use our misfortune to further their own position or power.
We are still free to write or say just about anything, as long as we are not genuinely threatening someone. Using the internet we have instant communication and can seek information from anywhere in the world. Our children have schools to attend. Our country is connected with roads and airways. We are allowed to travel and live anywhere we desire. Unlike most countries, law abiding citizens can own and keep firearms in their homes. We no longer kill each other over differences in religion or doctrine. The list goes on and on.
If we could travel only 100 years backwards on our track and bring an average citizen to where we are now, they would spend weeks trying to absorb all of our blessings. After that they would spend years trying to figure out just what it is we have so much to complain about.
We are on the right track and have been so for more than 220 years. It is a track that has its ups and downs, but it has always taken us to a better future. And it will continue to do so, so long as we do not allow ourselves to become stuck in whatever mud hole the latest media inflicted gloom informs us we are tormented with.