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Copyrights reserved by the author. If you are in doubt, please click on 'Copyrights' and read the details. In a time of uncertainty, no hurry to greet the future by J. G. Fabiano Once again I find myself sitting in my old dilapidated beach chair, watching Labor Day draw close, and reminiscing about the summer of 2004. I can’t say it was a great summer because there were more clouds than sun and the thermometer never hit the 90 degree mark on the beach. Our summer visitors are enjoying their final visits to the beaches and in the sun, though this year they look paler than ever from the lack of sun. Those of us fortunate to spend a lot of time at the beach call these people the "August Whites" and there seems to be more of them this year than in the past years. I always consider this time my New Year’s Eve. My final days at the beach are a great time to think about the past few months and to wonder what the future has in store. One of the more controversial social issues of the year surfaced during the Democratic National Convention in Boston. It concerned stem cell research and the seeming constant battle between science and religion. Our President decided to allow Federal spending for this research in such a limited fashion that many of our scientists believe it will delay the finding of cures for diseases like Huntington’s, Parkinson’s, and diabetes. This particular controversy hit a little closer to home because my doctor told me recently that I might have a problem with diabetes. My father and brother both have it and I am prime candidate. I can’t help wondering if stem cell research had been properly funded how much closer to a possible cure we might be today. I can never figure out this battle between science and religion but Albert Einstein said it best when he explained that: "Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind." This was also the first year when I could see the daily evidence of the way my town has changed. Many of our newer neighbors seem stressed out. They are always in a rush and scowl more often than they smile. This is a sad thing for them and for our town. I am hoping it is just a reaction to the economy and the war and they will come around eventually and learn to enjoy living here. This was also our second summer as a nation at war. We are not at war with a conventional enemy because they don’t represent a nation with borders. They represent an ideology based on hatred of my nation and all it represents. Our children are dying in numbers that will soon pass the 1000 mark, with 6000 wounded. I, and others like me, who work with young adults every day are saddened by these numbers in a war whose purpose we don’t understand. A summer spent staring out at the ocean, while the casualties increased every day, hasn’t helped me understand the justification for it any better. We are headed into a national election that promises to be one of the toughest we have ever known. And, if anyone were to question whether their vote was likely to make a difference, all they have to do is look back at the 2000 election. Clearly, this election is one of the most important we, as a nation, have ever faced. The President says he is the one to lead our nation in the war on terror. The only problem with that is every day we are warned of probable new terrorist attacks on our homeland while we lose more and more of our freedom. The challenger promotes the idea of freedom over fear and says he will show us the way. With the election only a few months away I wish to hell I knew which one of them I could believe. This was the summer that fuel prices hit new records and gave rise to talk that the $2 gallon was here to stay. Our need for foreign oil has not diminished any in the last four years. In fact, it has increased with our love of the SUV and the novelty of a car for every member of the family. A few years ago, when our President first took over the helm of our nation I wrote about his push to drill for oil in the Alaskan Reserve and his refusal to sign the Kyoto Treaty that would start to eliminate the "greenhouse" gases that are responsible for global warming. I recall the warnings of scientists four year ago that the increased average temperature of the Earth would raise the level of the ocean. This is something that concerns me greatly because I do not want to have to put my old beach chair on top of Mount Agamenticus to enjoy my days at the beach a few years from now. Once again I fear for the old, the sick, and the poor. Nothing has changed in the past year. The oil companies are all geared up to overcharge for heating oil this winter and they now have a President who supports what they do. Hell, he’s one of them. Our health care system is worse off than it was a year ago. The price of medicine has increased well beyond the rate of inflation, and health insurance companies continue with double-digit increases in premiums to the point that more and more people can’t afford health insurance at all. These and many other questions flow through my mind as I sit where the ocean meets the shore. The only thing that seems to remain constant is my dilapidated beach chair. Sometimes I thing that hanging onto my faithful old beach chair is nothing more that a desperate attempt to hang onto something in my life I don’t want to change. As I look around me at my neighbors I notice that they seem to be less at peace with themselves this year, in a place that is supposed to be all about peace. Eventually, I know, I will have to get up, fold my chair and put an official end to the summer of 2004. But, I’m in no hurry this year. So, I sit a bit longer and watch the waves roll in, afraid of what the future might bring. THE END
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