I hate what has happened to my America. Where a rancid political system works for the few and not for the many. Where a foul media keeps coloring the news instead of just reporting it. Where class distinctions are proudly touted to divide society even more.

America has become a "me first" nation where honor and integrity are second to "what's in it for me." We use suffering as a battering ram to ensure the success of personal agendas. Short term contentment is now the main focus rather than sacrifice for future hopes.

We are a divided nation in every possible manner. Economy, education, healthcare, politics, religion, race, gender, sexual preferences, guns, even which bathrooms to use. Terms like liberal, conservative, left, right, cupcake, snowflake, Republican or Democrat are hurled at each other to challenge rather than as an opening for discussion.

Our "Good Mornings" are now "Fuck You." Our helping hand is now a fist. Protesting has replaced reasonable conversations to settle differences. Negotiation of those differences has been replaced by submission only. Rude behavior and hostility is applauded and somehow given righteous status.

There was a time when “turn the other cheek” was the moral objective. Not all of us believed in that. Certainly, I didn’t. But we also let everyone know in advance that our response would not be another cheek. Today's climate is more back-stabbing and sabotage. Neighbors no longer talk over fences or meld freely in the community, but instead cluster in like-minded groups.

No longer do we seek justice or fairness or equality. It’s about advantage. A leg up on everyone else. To be first in line, stepping over the weak, the helpless, the homeless. Those who have everything are against those who have nothing. “Socialism” is the battle-cry at every opportunity to offer a system to help others. It should be about caring for another human being.

I hate what has happened to my America. Hopes and dreams of a better life have turned to just surviving the life we have. We have failed our children. Their education, their healthcare, their future livelihood are no longer entitlements of their own endeavors, but luck of the draw determined by others more concerned with their own plunder.

Pessimism has always been my inclination. The glass half empty. Yet even my own inclinations fell far short of reality. No one could have foreseen the hopelessness we now find ourselves in. Everyone on the boat is purposefully oblivious to those still in the water. Not a single life-saver being thrown.

I hope I’m wrong. I rarely am. I am a studious thinker. I tend to look at the big picture and not the distractions of small pieces. I know some of my friends and family will have divergent views and offer me alternative futures visions, but to accept them as a possibility is a risk I can’t take. I owe it to my own family to be invincible.

So here I am. Everything I hated in others. Turned to stone. A gargoyle steadfastly guarding what’s mine.