Veteran's Corner

After experiencing two years of restrictions, mandates, misinformation, confusion, frustration and now steadily increasing inflation, it was refreshing to rejoin the company of friends at the Millerton American Legion Post 178 Sunday breakfast functions this winter, hosted by the American Legion and the 4-H Dutchess County Long Rifles shooting t

In my last Veteran’s Corner column, I spoke about my thoughts for the New Year. Although it is now the beginning of March, I am continuing to look forward to 2022 with guarded optimism and some pessimism, which hopefully will remain in check.

A tough year just ended, and now another one is upon us. This past 2021 was a conundrum, full of problems, not unlike dining, asking for a steak dinner and being delivered a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It was disappointing.

I guess I have always been a proud American, though as a tyke I didn’t always realize it. I learned my family’s ancestors even served during the American Revolution. An ancestor of mine even became POTUS. My grandfather was named after him: Martin VanBuren Conklin.

Antifa; BLM; The 1619 Project; unchecked cancel culture; defund and abuse the police; critical race theory; white supremacy; failed city, state and federal leadership or lack thereof; uncontrolled lawlessness and homelessness; the decay of morals and ethics; the recent invitation to the unvetted world to enter through our southern border now con

They can make such a big difference in our everyday lives. Little acts of kindness take little effort and have big results. 

‘Twas yet another interrupted late April night dreaming of the month of May’s possible encounter with the King of the forest, the American Tom turkey. A bird folklore states Ben Franklin nominated it as our national emblem. Not true, though I believe Tom is a worthy runner-up. I do agree with the lore regarding Ben’s beer proclamation.

This is directly related to long term lock-down of small businesses and public education that I wrote about a few months ago, when I wrote of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and its effect on the military, health care workers and civilians experiencing constant, unending stress.