Taking care of our own

So, today one of my friends asked if I blogged every night. Sadly, I had to say no. Although confession is good for the soul, some days are so long and drawn out that I really don't have time to sit with my thoughts. Honestly, with my kids, it is amazing that I still find the time to have thoughts at all. Since I last blogged, lots has happened. Chris and I celebrated our 11th anniversary; Dalton finished the 2nd grade and Peyton finished preschool. Guess those would be the highlights. There was probably a million other things that happened that may have seemed like big things for all of 15 minutes and then the euphoria passed. I don't think I have to tell you all the horrible things that are going on in the world. The ones I speak of have mostly to do with the weather, at least in the United States. Seems like daily when I turn on the TV, there is a weather alert for some part of the country. People are losing their homes to tornados, floods, even horrific fires. It is so sad. Then I listen to the commentators talk about how financially difficult the relief efforts will be for the country. Maybe the idea of offering financial aide to those people who are taxpaying citizens of our country would not be so difficult if we did not spend all of our efforts offering assistance to other countries. I know I have plenty of friends who hear of tragedy on the news and they are ready to break out their checkbooks and send a donation. My thoughts have always been that the tragedy may be awful, but we, as a country, can not afford to keep offering assistance when no one is jumping to help us when we are in need. Fundraisers popped up all over to help out the Japan earthquake victims, but I want to know if the city of Joplin, MO has gotten a check from Japan, or even a Japanese based company? The reason this country is in such financial perils is because we are constantly trying to be savior in all situations. We can't continue to function in this way. How long are we going to let other countries basically beat us up in the world of technology and production and then turn around and offer up the big bucks because they can't seem to take care of their own. We are seen as this powerful, rich country, but we can't continue keeping up this appearance. We are borrowing money from untrustworthy sorts. It is like we have worked so hard at keeping up with the Jones's that we have turned to loan sharks to keep it up. How do we expect Americans to learn how to live within their means and take care of themselves when the country is not leading the way? I am sure you probably wonder how I went from family events to a economy bitch-fest....that is why it is called ramblings.