can someone cheer me up?

[JohnnyD]

Jimmy, I'm right there with you. It's amazing how much things have changed for the worse even in the short span of my life and memory. While the misses and I are 4-5 years away from kids, we both question how much worse things will be in another 10 years and if we really want to bring kids up in that insanity.

I sometimes joke with the grey hairs I'm friends with that I was born 30 years too late or 30 years too early. 30 years earlier and I'd likely be dead by the time the S really hits the fan. At least many of the kids born today don't know that society is spiraling down the drain.

[Jim in CT]

TDF - yes, druggies have been around forever. Until the 1960's, people who did drugs (and who slept around, things like that) were stygmatized by society. Today, that behavior is at least accepted, if not considered 'cool' in certain places. I think the data shows that the frequency/severity of school shootings is on the rise.

JohnnyD - I'm with you, I wish I was born in my Dad's generation. His generation had it easier, by any measurable statistic.

RIJIMMY. hope this cheers you up. This is 'Murphy", he is our flat-coated retriever pup. Just got him from Boise, Idaho. We've had him for 2 months, he's doing awesome, should be a great fishing partner.