One person changes course of our history?

With Memorial Day a few days away, I began thinking about this great country, our freedoms, and the incredible advantages my family, and frankly, many of us have had. Interestingly, two strange things happen when you approach 70 years old:

As a guy, you become exponentially more reflective than ever before about everything, and you notice patterns, of things, personalities, habits, and, yes, politics and politicians

The ongoing behaviors of our national leadership, Mr. Trump, and his role in public events, sadly, have made me disturbingly aware.

During the late '60s and early '70s, it was the first time in my life that I personally was uncomfortable about something in our great country. What I realized decades later was it was the leadership, the national arrogance and the clear abuse of power that disturbed and embarrassed me, not our country. My indignant response to our leadership today is: "How dare you!"

Not since 1969, have I been this disturbed and embarrassed for "our" country on a daily basis. The current, grand three-stop, international expedition brings back these same, greatly unsettling feelings. It's not the "fake" news, it's the remarkable patterns of behavior. The daily barrage of short attention span reactions to everything that makes me cringe about what is coming next. Can the other 39 percent be really that oblivious to this?

I remember the events of the late 1960s and my first personal realization that misguided politics could entirely change the course of my life. Now, looking back, "reflecting" on the patterns of the very public life of "our" leader, I am saddened, and frankly frightened that this individual could single-handedly change the course of this great country and my family's life.

God Bless America, please!

Dennis Terdy

Glen Ellyn