November 5, 2016, Prescott- I sat down for breakfast with friends at the local lodge of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), enjoying pancakes, with scrambled eggs, bacon and a sausage link- for less than what Denny’s would charge for same. It was my first visit to the lodge, which sits a scant 1,000 yards from my house.
A disparate crowd comes to breakfast here- a retired district court judge, a diesel mechanic, the city’s mayor (once in a blue moon), a retired Army major and a former jet pilot, for starters. The organization draws more female veterans than does the American Legion. It is also meeting some success in attracting younger men, who have served in our recent wars.
When I checked my social media feeds, after breakfast, I spotted a photo of my second eldest paternal uncle, proudly giving his younger daughter’s hand in marriage, some thirty years ago. He passed away, not long afterward, but the expression of pride on his face is timeless. He was an electrician and carpenter, most of his adult life.My parents, as well as uncles and aunts, on both sides of the family, were , by and large, members of the lunch pail crowd- people who played by the rules, mostly worked the same jobs for decades, and took a lot of heartache in stride, because there seemed little other choice.
The people with whom I took breakfast this morning are, likewise, those who are trying their best, every day, to live life as they always have, and are seeing a multitude of changes, some good and some not so beneficial. The lives of lunch pail people are turning upside down. Many of them are buying into the hype, offered by one candidate or accepting, as truth, the white noise and innuendo regarding both main candidates.
I trust that, as the election fades into the background, those who work hard for a living will remember that it is only by standing firm, together, that the people of this nation have ever made any real progress.
A Sagittarian Seeker 
your place reminds me of the Colorado Cafe – Oak Creek Colorado – in that never at any time i was there was it any different feeling than stepping almost back in time. I mean close your eyes and imagine the faces speaking the stories. You know that on openingyour eyes you can see their spectres of impending retirement after but a few more years with luck to go after their decades on the SAME job. you could here the echo of the words they once heard themselves but no longer stood on that same side of time and hoped the ones getting that shotgun blast of WATCH it Youngster, we don’t. DO trouble here, mind your manners…. it was after all a bar with pool tables and thus the only entertainment for many miles that wasn’t in a diaper-scented atmosphere. fun allowed but not frolicking.. surely bar or not you know the atmosphere? Anyways to say one left understanding the weight of responsibility actualized is an understatement… you’ll forgive me but it was too amusizing to hear the sewer burst in the place so one couldn’t quit help speaking the pun that it went to bleep over there for ’em before i left, i am sure it’ll return or already long has. crap happens.
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That sounds like my kind of place. I’ll have to check it out, next time I’m in the central Rockies.
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I sincerely hope that the election does not have the effect of turning lives upside down — one of the advantages of our system is that no one person should be able to have that effect without the approval of at least 100 additional people in Congress.
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A certain candidate may well find that out. Just because lawmakers are conservative doesn’t mean they will give him carte blanche.
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I spoke to my S-I-L the other day, and she was saying how much tension is there regarding the election this time. She also explained about the Obama care etc. I know it is tensed, and hope you will get the candidate who is right for you.
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Unstable people are the ones, on both sides, of whom we must be wary.
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Having just read your previous post, and this one, it strikes me that we might be seeing the shortcomings of our education system, in one of the candidates. Perhaps. Not to mention, your comment that peace is more work (than war)…and less prosperous? Must we have this civil revolution? *sigh*
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I don’t agree that peace has to be less prosperous. That’s a disappointingly cynical view.
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Agreed, and not my view, but it seems that some would prefer the making of swords. I say keep the swords we made, but make some ploughs, too.
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