Columns

We first heard the term “greatest generation” in the late 1990s with the publication of Tom Brokaw’s book of the same name. At that time the subjects of that book were in their late seventies. Twenty-plus years later their ranks are thinning rapidly. The deaths this summer of two of the members of that generation call to mind the day they met in Lima, Ohio on April 15, 2011.

To get a jump start on the forthcoming holiday season, I sat down to my computer and dialed up my media player and tuned up some Christmas music but I only got as far as one song. That song was “Some Children See Him.” I listened to the words of how some children see him as lily white, some children see him bronzed and brown, and some children see him as dark as they. It made me think of all the anger, hate and racism that we older people grow into as adults. Children at this stage are just the sons and daughters of life longing to be all that they were born into, which is a life of accepting another’s vision of how he perceives the goodness of humanity.

Mike DeWine’s encyclopedic knowledge of government makes him an effective officeholder. After taking nearly 63% of the vote, Ohio’s governor now has a mandate to lead, the opportunity of a lifetime to build on his accomplishments and no longer acquiesce to the extremists in his party.

It had been building for weeks. Americans could talk about little else, the tension and anxiety growing daily as the stakes climbed ever higher. The answer finally came on Nov. 8, and the country heaved a huge sigh of relief, glad that it was finally over.

Laughter, goes an old saying, is the best medicine. And, I would add, because I’m old myself, the cheapest.

I have never seen America.

My family discovered a huge new room in our house last week.

As the 2022 election cycle closes — and not even complete yet as of this writing — the 2023 election cycle is bubbling underneath as potential candidates weigh their options and try to arrive at a decision: Do I run? Should I run? Am I sure about this? What if I run and lose? What if I run and win? How many signatures do I need? Was that last signer a registered voter?

DeSantis, Kemp and Abbott.

Each year it starts just a little bit earlier than the year before. There was a time when the hoopla didn’t begin until November. Then it slowly filled October and spilled over into September.