The Emerald Rose

Been a long year, lots going on, and the world as a whole, (in my humble opinion) is seriously out of control!!
For example, as I was watching the morning news today, at 7:30am, they announced the new “national unemployment rate” was at a new low of 6.1%, (lowest since 2008, good, so how and why?). Next statement is that the “new unemployment filings” for this week were 322,000, and in the next breath they tell me that the number of “new jobs created” was 288,000!!!
OK,…maybe I fell asleep in grade school math class, but if the number of new claims filed, exceeds the number of “new jobs created”, please explain why the unemployment rate went DOWN!!!!
One of the commentators made note of the fact that the”actuall” unemployment rate was 12.1%. So, and please pardon my French, what the hell is this “6.1%” bulls**t?
If we create 288,000 NEW jobs, and 322,000 folks are brand new unemployed folks,….how are we ahead?

Tomorrow is the anniversary of our country’s Independance,….and I seriously wonder how many folks actually comprehend and APPRECIATE what that means?
I do, …and I value the blood,(literally), sweat and tears that formed this country. So WHY DO MOST AMERICANS TAKE THIS FREEDOM FOR GRANTED?
The most unfortunate thing is that NOONE misses, or regrets , what they lost until after they lose it!!
As you age, you begin to realize that, simply because you begin “losing it”. For example, at almost 70 years old I can’t move as fast, be as limber, or stay up as late. Why, because my physical body is “wearing out”! My mind tells me that four years ago I went to the gym and did 7 miles on the treadmill, in less than two hours, then the old body started to assert itself, several “procedures” and other crap, a two hour session and two miles is a new landmark!!
I am an AMERICAN,…we don’t retreat,we don’t go back, we don’t settle for less, but here I am! My frustrations, my regrets,, (for having not kept fit the first 69 years, they all mean nothing,…..BUT.
That but is the American way that we ALWAYS move “Onward and Upward,…not “back and excused”!
I guess when that time comes that you “age out” of life, you have to re-assess your limitations, ….kind of God’s way of saying, “your name is on the list for a table,…we’ll let you know when it’s ready.”

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