Opinions

On September 25, 2000, two years after being diagnosed with bipolar disorder, 19-year-old Kevin Hines in a state of chaos and despair, attempted to commit suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. He fell more than 220 feet to the freezing dark waters of the Pacific Ocean, slamming into it at 75 miles per hour. The fall took only 4 seconds, and no one was more surprised that he had survived than Kevin himself. You see, the bridge was completed in 1937 and since that time nearly 2,000 people are known to have jumped to their deaths. What makes Kevin unique? He is the only known survivor.

Even in my kindest recollection, Nancy Messick was a strange girl. She could have played linebacker for the Chicago Bears which pretty well nixed her success in beauty pageants and sorority teas.

What President Joe Biden revealed in the humiliating debate against his challenger, Donald Trump, was a halting performance. Whatever his cognitive condition, it was cringe-worthy. To call it the effects of a cold or to whisk it away as just a bad night is an insult to those who witnessed the worst-ever showing of Biden.

I’d never been to a U.S. citizenship ceremony before. I’d never even thought about it much. I knew the process took a long time but, beyond that, I knew nothing about it, until I was invited to one. My dear friend, Betty, was coming in from out of town to attend the citizenship ceremony of her son-in-law, Raul. Raul is a quiet and soft-spoken man who works in corporate catering. He has been waiting to become an American citizen for many years and finally, last Thursday, he became one.