Guest opinion: In my 66 years, is this the worst it’s ever been in America? Only if we let it

Have things been worse than they are now?

I was born 66 years ago on July 13. It was not a good time to start a life in this country. A senator claimed the State Department had been infiltrated by 205 Communists intent on subverting this country. Or was it 57? He got confused, but he was sure these traitors would soon be in control of the United States if not the world.

A few years later we were in a Space Race. The Soviet Union showed their dominance in technology by launching Sputnik, beating the Americans into space. We were behind in everything.

Then, Castro took over Cuba which led to a fiasco at the Bay of Pigs. Eighteen months later the Giants beat the Dodgers for the National League pennant in a playoff series. My 8-year old life was at its lowest point.

Two weeks later a missile crisis in Cuba made a nuclear war seem imminent. I was sure to be annihilated. I had seen movies about it.

Then a president was assassinated, there were riots in L.A., a conflict in Southeast Asia became a war, riots in Detroit, and a singer named Dion wondered what happened to his old friends Abraham, Martin, John, and Bobby.

People protested about equality, some protested about the war, and there was protesting at the Democratic Convention. There was no end of things to protest.

A 1966 Time Magazine’s cover asked, “Is God Dead?” I asked too but the adults didn’t answer.

The Dodgers lost the World Series in 4 straight games. I was miserable.

Helter Skelter, Nixon, Spiro, Watergate and more protests. I was just 20 years old and everyone said the country was going to hell. Then someone invented disco and leisure suits. I thought they might be right.

There were hostages in Iran for 444 days, kidnappings in Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria and “the greatest country in the world” couldn’t do anything about it. I wondered if it would ever end.

Then, a volcano in Washington blew up, there were earthquakes and people said this was the end.

The 1980s came. Taxes were crazy, interest rates were 15% and higher. Surely, this was the end. Our hope was a president from Hollywood and an economist named Art Laffer.

Then somebody tried to kill the president from Hollywood because of an actress, commentators said the Japanese were going to own the country and we all heard the name Fawn Hall way too much. Things were just getting stranger.

Iraq decided to invade Kuwait which meant another war for us. There were stock market scandals, Hollywood scandals, and we got a president who spent a lot of his time denying scandals. There was something called “Hootie and the Blowfish.” Somebody canceled the World Series! The world was insane and I was stuck in the middle of it.

9-11.

Then a dot.com bubble happened, a housing bubble, people even said the president was a bubble.

We had a mortgage bundling fiasco that kicked off what was referred to as The Great Recession.

A pandemic, another round of protesting and riots and suddenly I have spent 66 years going from one apocalyptic event to another.

Of course, if you stop and think about it…

The Communists did not take over the world. The Soviet Union broke up, and the Berlin Wall came down. There was no nuclear war, only barking and threats among old men.

The country proved that it could rise above any leadership change whether it be an assassination, resignation or just a change in political parties. The country survived with orderly transfers of power if sometimes begrudgingly.

It turns out God didn’t die, but magazines might.

I saw an American walk on the moon, in fact several Americans walked on the moon. We are not leading the “space race,” we won the “space race.”

Has it not been amazing how quickly we can rebound from all the financial crises that were going to break us all?

Bin Laden…..Gone.

Garth Brooks emerged from somewhere.

Kirk Gibson hit a home run and the Dodgers won a World Series.

Heck! The CUBS won a World Series.

The best has been to see how this country has rallied from setbacks — together. Oh, we complain, we disagree, we get disgusted, but when it matters — when it really matters — we come together.

After all the things that happened, and some were horrible, we as a nation paused, to mourn if we needed to, rebuild if we had to, change if we must, and then we went forward because that’s what has to happen. Not every nation does.

Is this the worst it’s ever been? Only if we don’t come together and keep moving forward.