This Is Just A Test

This Is Just A Test

Earlier this morning, I was cleaning up after breakfast. Standing at the sink, doing the dishes, back to the TV, when I heard that sound. You know the one I’m talking about. The emergency broadcast sound.I quickly turned around to see the Emergency Alert image on the screen. With the sound on the TV being low and the water running, I couldn’t hear what they were saying. For the very first time in my life I wondered “What if this is not a test?” It could be a repeat of what happened in Hawaii over the weekend. It could be bad haircut guy in North Korea. It could be our own trigger happy President, who sat down on his desk and his big fat ass hit the button. That last scenario is the one that seems most plausible to me…in case you were wondering.

Over the past several months, I have actually felt less safe as an American than ever before. All too often, I wake up in the morning, turn on the TV and hope something dreadful has not happened out there in the world. This is the first time in my soon to be 58 years that I felt this way.

It’s not really the lunatic in North Korea that has me worried. My concerns are the enemies in the world we are making because we are just pissing so many people off. People from “shithole” countries, the terrorists that have wreaked havoc all over the world, and whoever else out there does not like America. Seems to me when you Make America Great Again you also make America a target.

I’m also very concerned about he home grown domestic terrorists, and they are terrorists even if some folks don’t want to call them terrorists. Domestic terrorists kill more Americans on American soil than the people we call terrorists. Not fake news. They have access to weapons, they are motivated, they are riled up by the current leadership, and they often appear just as willing to die as some of the suicide bombers that will do call terrorists.

I remember when I used to think those tests of the emergency broadcast system were funny and kind of hokey. Now I just wait for the day when the announcer says “this is not a test.”