Looking Back ... Looking forward

As I sit here in Federal Way, Washington, I've come full circle. I left this place for Idaho 20 years ago. Business and marital failure caused me to seek new horizons which I had left in Idaho in the '70's. One should never go back after a long absence from a place. The changes have been radical. Traffic is horrible, new homes everywhere with tiny little yards separating neighbors from each other. I looked out my bedroom window and found I was staring at the next door neighbor through an opposite window just 12 feet away.

After spending a long week here, I will be delighted to return to the little village of Bayview, where residents do not wish they were some place else. My stay here will be over after Wednesday, I think. Hopefully, I will have an uneventful flight back. Horizon had two air machines break, one while I was aboard and charged me $186.00 for the last minute fare. I will be going back on Southwest for a substantial reduction.

It has been cloudy and sunny alternately since I arrived. I think North Idaho got more rain than here. Visiting relatives you havent seen for a long time is good, but I'm getting a yen for the home stomping grounds. A place that today, some are criticizing as a poor place to live. Ironically, those that are doing so are migrants from the rat race in California and other densely populated areas. Well, we didn't ask you to move in on us and won;'t greive if you leave. Traffic is getting impossible due to this influx in the last few years. It has got to the point that those that moved to North Idaho to escape crime, overcrowding and high taxes, are bringing all of these things with them.

When you leave, please take your delinquent kids and your meth heads with you. We did just fine without all of that. Our rural lifestle has or is, disapearing rapidly due to those of you that move here and promptly try to change us into what you left behind. If you like Southern California better, go back. There are many foreclosed homes there to choose from. Please don't let the door hit you in the ass.

If you think Idaho has betrayed it's citizens with budget cutbacks, check California which is on the verge of bankruptcy, or Washington about the same. Only the rural states that don't expect their government to provide every need they have are surviving financially. School cutbacks, parks closing, road repairs delayed? Just as a family has to live within their means, so does government. With rampant unemployment, taxes are much less as well. If your child is going to miss a class a t school that is going to be discontinued, take them to the library where you can teach them yourself. There are places that provide more educational opportunities, but living in North Idaho has trade-offs that we value. Many that migrate for better opportunities come back later in life, missing the quality of life we have.

Opportunity is everywhere if you look for it without expecting government to always provide for you. Survival has come to mean something entirely different than just 50 years ago. Our expectations need to be readjusted, as politicians, in attempting to get re-elected, promise more and more each generation. Well, the goody basket is empty and if you don't have personal survival skills yer in trouble. This depression is just getting started. We haven't seen the stagflation of 1979 era occur, but occur it will. Too much money has been printed for there to be no piper to pay.

Whining about programs that are being reduced or eliminated, just because that state or county hasn't the money to pay for them is a juvenile attitude, regardless of your age. Times will get better only if you make them better. Do with less until the money is flowing again. Hunkering down is what your grandparents took for granted when times were tough. Get tough as well.