Graduation

We attended our son's graduation from high school May 26.

It would not have been possible without our homeschooling him til about three years ago -s-.

Past the 'pomp and circumstance' it left me thinking of the present and past.

Our son is preparing to step forth into the future. Yet the future is the present day by day. And the past is just a moment ago.

Waxing philosophically, we are the sum of the past.

The event took place on the North side of Indianapolis. That's my home turf. I grew up quite near Clowes Hall, the theater where the graduation took place.

I haven't traipsed about up there for some time. So, after, we took a tour of my old neighborhood.

It's changed. Physically there are new paint jobs, landscapping, even a few new buildings. Also, some places are gone.

Hamaker Pharmacy, one of the oldest family owned drugstores, is closed. I used to go there for my comic books. I used to buy my Grandpa's cigarettes there (When it was unpc for kids to buy tobacco.). Prescriptions were frequently filled there. And I used to get Stewart 'drugstore sandwiches' at the fountain counter, washed down with lime phosphates. Those sandwiches were horrible 'meat' concoctions with cheese and spices, heated in a toaster oven. The lime drinks were fizzy limeade mixtures. Ugh! They were great! Well at the time lol. I think I'm eating better now (usually).

It was sad to drive by the vacant building that housed Hamaker's. The saddest thing was to see the name 'J. Hamaker and Son Pharmacy' still stencilled above the door. For many now living there or passing through, it might be like seeing a 'ghosttown' storefront. So quiet, a little hollow but with an undercurrent of memory for those who care.

Mr. Hamaker was one of my Dad's clients for his inventory service. We used to call it 'Haymaker's' goodnaturedly. My Dad had nicknames for a lot of people and things lol.

There used to be a lot of small stores in the area. Mr. Burke's hardware store was just blocks away east near College Avenue.

It was dark and cool there. Small shelves and nail bins, hammers and saws. Not too much electrical stuff then -s-.

In the back was a weekly meeting of the Buzzard's Roost. My Grandpa, Mr. Burke and a couple other guys would pass the whiskey bottle and opine on their past and the current events etc.

His wife was a music teacher. We used to visit the house and I'd play with the metronome and play the xylophone. When they sold the property next door to a church, I'd stand in the big picture window when they let out on Wednesdays. Oh yes, with my Frankenstein mask, hands and feet adorning me. Didn't scare too many people though tsk tsk (You guessed it. I was a prankster.).

Mr. Burke also bred prize Beagles. I often had a new litter of pups to play with. I also helped take care of them and the parent dogs.

One thing that struck me as we drove by the house where I grew up. (BTW I attended all eight grades of grade school, which was only 3 blocks away. I got to walk home for lunch every day. Just to throw another unpc note in, during the eighth grade, I'd cap lunch with a cigarette. Back then, smoking was common. Smoke nazis were relegated to Hitler -s-. And I quit cigs in 91. Not because anyone legislated my behavior. I figured it out on my own. Seems free will was commoner even in 91.) Things seemed smaller. Yards, houses, even streets. Like the water fountains at grade school that progressively shrank as I got older and bigger. Shrinking like our Freedom?

In 'the old days' did we have more Freedom? Legislatively, yes. Mentally yes, but it was taken for granted. WW2 had been won. It supposedly instituted a new era of Freedom. It actually heralded the beginning of the end of our Constitutional Republic.

Mentally and psychologically and I would say, spiritually, many became stagnant, taking for granted our gifts. Now we have devolved to the point that Freedom is given away. In spite of the fact that there are multitudes that cherish our heritage, politics have refashioned us into a burgeoning democracy. With the aid of leftist Hollyweird and the Fifth Column, um that is the Fourth Estate aka the 'mainstream press', hearts and minds are twisted and shrunken to accept the spewings of our usurper to the Oval Office and his henchmen.

Empty vessels must be filled. We must seek to refill folks with the Truth, ie, our history and heritage.

When I was in school, there were of course, attempts to turn us. Thanks to my love of history, my imagination and intellect survived intact, greatly due to my brother and teachers and war veterans who were from a time when we were still a Constitutional Republic.

The color of the house I was raised in has changed from white to a rust red. As far as colors go, I like it. But symbolically, we have indeed turned from a glistening white to the red of communism.

As our son steps into his role in history as a Marine officer one day, he will take that sacred Oath. It has not changed. To protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. An Oath that though not changed, has been compromised. I believe it could devolve to mean protecting and defending the president who will drive more nails in our coffin, inless we stop it.

Are we dead yet? Though I hint we are doomed, are we done? NO.

We are seriously wounded but we have what it takes to take the Republic back.

We owe that to those who taught us. Our kids owe it to us when they are taught to step forth.

Past present and future meld. All our yesterdays converge.

Today is the beginning not of the end, but of the 'now' that is our opportunity to take back what is ours.