Unrecoverable

I just listened to Garrison Keillor perform a tribute to John Updike, after which a performer sang Neil Young's "Helpless".

Something about the line "And in my mind I still need a place to go. All my changes were there" instantly brought tears to my eyes.

I can't really identify the reason. I rarely look back, and references to the pleasantries of what lies in the past strike me as wholly false.

But there are those times, not often, when remembrance of things long gone can evoke in me a rare sense of regret and loss.

And at such times everything seems just too, too sad.

Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America.

"Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America."

- Barack H. Obama

44th President of the United States