December 22, 2022

Perhaps only senior citizens will recognize his name and a few millennials might know that he was the father of Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher). Other cinephiles might know that he left his wife Debbie Reynolds to marry Elizabeth Taylor, who left him for Richard Burton, but since they’re all dead, who cares? Well, I was ten years old when I heard Eddie Fisher sing “Count Your Blessings” and it’s a lesson that in this crazy world of protests and angst, we should all heed especially in this season of increasing despair.

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I interviewed a young Marine who had fought in the 2003 Iraq invasion and was now safe at home and newly married to a friend of my daughter. After hearing some details of his experience, I told him I was gathering a bunch of supplies to send to our troops which I planned to include deodorant and other toiletries. He told me not to do that because their body smell kept the animals away. At first I thought he was joking but I looked in his eyes and I saw an old man, not a 23-year-old. 

I think of that look whenever I step into my shower and feel the luxury of that glorious hot spray that so many of the troops would not enjoy until they left the battlefield. Whenever I  turn on the kitchen faucet and cool fresh water pours into my glass, I think how lucky I am. Counting my blessings has been a routine since I was five.

As a child attending parochial school in the barrio, I was trained by the nuns to always be grateful for being an American and blessed with what so many around the world did not have. The irony is that most of us in the class were living in a slum yet compared to the children in the Maryknoll brochures living in huts with no drinking water, we felt lucky. This was also New York City where the wealthy (before being demonized by the Left) had a strong sense of noblesse oblige. Thus, many medical services and cultural events were free of charge. We were so lucky and knew how to appreciate these gifts.

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So much of social media today is filled with complaints and whining protests about this country, yet we have one of the highest standards of living. Since I grew up in poverty, it’s easy for me to appreciate all that I have today but many Americans have never known anything but comfort in their lives and perhaps this may lead to a complacent lifestyle with no concept of deprivation.

The pandemic hoax has left many Americans with a sense of despair that has impacted their lives. It has become routine to read about the high suicide rate and incidents of senseless violence. I keep hearing friends talk about how everything has gone to pot and they would leave this country if there was anyplace else to go. This negative attitude is only understandable if one has no knowledge of history. Things have been way worse especially in the last century, with the Great Depression, two world wars and flu deaths in the millions. Many of today’s troubles, I believe, are due to malicious intentions by a powerful few.

Everything that is wrong in the world today is totally unnecessary because it has been engineered deliberately by malicious enemies of our nation. Just four years ago, America was booming. The stock market was in an unprecedented surge, wages were higher than ever for all, including minority groups, unemployment was historically low and natural resources were plentiful. Peace was happening in the Middle East; our military forces were being restored to strength and expanding and we had worldwide respect once again. At the helm of the administration was a leader despised by the elite GOP and the Left but responsible for all of the benefits mentioned. So, what happened?

The so-called COVID pandemic was caused by the introduction of an unheard-of coronavirus created in a lab in Wuhan, China. It seems to me that the only reason one would create a virus would be to use it as a bioweapon. More outrageously is the fact that the lab was given research funds by our own National Institutes of Health, where Anthony Fauci was one of the officials. He denies this happened, of course but the NIH confirmed it.

But the pandemic would have been the usual flu epidemic had the voters not chosen to turn Congress over to the Democrat Party in 2018, which pulled every weapon available to oust the man responsible for our prosperity during his administration. No need to mention his name because he’s still being targeted.

But since this is a column about counting our blessings, let’s do that by remembering that this is America, the land of the free that God has blessed with beauty and bounty. It is nation that you are in charge of and before our enemies, both here and abroad, take away that right, it’s time to stop complaining and time to count your blessings and start protecting them.