GRANDMA GREEN SAYS: Thoughts on the current scene

As I drive around town, I see a busy, peaceful community, a community which has been ours for well over 56 years. Little Moses Lake is a safe haven for many, as are most communities in America.

I think at age 85, I’m seeing things from a whole new perspective. What if we failed to read a newspaper, watch the television news or interact with social media? We would be oblivious to what is actually going on in the world.

There are so many things that are the world’s concerns:

In the 1930s, England’s Prime Minister Chamberlain was patronized by Adolf Hitler, and you know what eventually happened with that: World War II. Hitler invaded Poland. Is this what is going on with Putin and Ukraine, the little country fighting for its very existence? How many victims will there be?

I’m sure old-timers remember the cold, snowy winters and the unbearably hot summers. Do swamp coolers bring back memories? When was the last time we experienced a blizzard?

Think of our neighbors in the Spokane area losing everything to those god-awful fires, and the fires in California. Droughts, the extreme heat all over the world. Fires, too. Don’t forget the floods. Climate change is a real thing and we can’t ignore it.

If my memory served me right, I was about 7 when plastic was introduced as a common thing. My brother and I used to roll the new plastic glasses on our kitchen floor. Now everything is plastic, but we need to learn a better way to recycle. What it is doing to the habitat is pitiful.

Gosh, I’m sounding like such a doom-and-gloom. Oh, well.

I was born in August of 1941. How many wars have happened in my 85 years? World War II, the Vietnam War and more, and now Iran, which I hope we can maneuver our way out of, and the sooner the better. The economy is one factor, but also our military. We have already lost some young women and men, over 800 injured. Enough is enough. If you think about it, life goes on in the USA. School, vacations, sporting events, big weddings and golf. If you didn’t pay attention to the news, you’d never know we were at war. 

Every day people go to work, pay their bills and raise their families to the best of their ability. This is the strong fabric of America. They have class, integrity and dignity. Just because a person has big money does not guarantee they have those qualities.

Possibly we should consider making the world all right before trying to go to space.

On Sept. 16, I went to the post office as usual. Patrons were being harassed by a group who were filming with their phones, actually going in the post office and scaring a little girl, who cried. The police were called but basically were unable to act. I then left.

A few days later, I had a conversation with a very smart person. I learned that the police can do nothing due to the First Amendment, freedom of speech and the press. If you are ever approached by those characters, ignore them completely, no matter what they say. Pretend they are invisible.

I leave you with hope.

Joan "Grandma" Green is a regular contributing columnist for the Columbia Basin Herald. She has been a Moses Lake resident for more than 50 years.