As I sit and put this into my computer, it is 15 minutes until midnight and a New Year will begin. At 8:58AM, I will celebrate my 60th anniversary of being born. Where did the years go? I don’t feel older than 30 in a lot of ways but my body tells me otherwise. As far as lives go, I have had an amazing life so far and done so many things that some people are amazed at what I have done in my life. I cowboyed for 30+ years (I still do a bit of it now.), started a business at 50, seen 31 of the 48 continuous States and seen the Canadian side of Niagara Falls, lived in Illinois, Oregon, North Carolina and Baumholder, Germany. Yes, for a woman who doesn’t have a big income, I have seen much and done a lot more. Yet few places have had as big of an impression as Dachau Prison camp, north of Munich, Germany, Bastogne, Belgium and the Battle Field at Little Big Horn.
At Dachau, we walked the grounds where at least 40,000 died and at least 41,000 more died in sub camps of Dachau. Of course the actual barracks were gone and a mock set up was in place, because of the disease that infested those original buildings. The old showers and new ovens were still there and then the smell was still there. I walked those grounds in 1992 and I could smell death. The flower garden near the new (and Thank God unused) ovens had soil as black as pitch but from those gardens sprung beautiful flowers but their smell was masked by the smell of dead bodies, the smell of cremated ashes of humans who were discriminated against because they were of Jewish blood. There were also homosexuals, Gypsies, Christians and others who also died there as they did in other concentration camps. I will never forget that smell as I will never forget the who, why, and how their deaths were brought about.
When in Germany I also got to visit Bastogne, Belgium to see the American Cemetery and attend Memorial Day Services at the Luxembourg, where General George S. Patton is buried at the top of the cemetery over looking those who died at the Battle of the Bulge. I also saw where battles occurred during WWII and WWI. All those lives killed in concentration camps and the battle fields were killed because one man hated Jews. One anti-Semite set the whole world into turmoil because of his hatred and jealousy of the Jewish people because so many were wealthier than he was as a child. What a waste!
When I walked the battlefield at Little Big Horn, I felt the People and I could see them on the Prairie. Many died and I will say that George Custer got what he had coming to him. He too killed for his hatred of what he believed were an inferior group of people. I am ashamed of what our country did to the Native People of this land. But there again, it was a belief and a thought process that killed in an attempt to wipe out the People of the Land. For as advanced as we humans are in the 21st Century, we have not learned from our past and it appears we are on the verge again of another ideology that is poisonous to touch.
Anti-Semitism is once again rearing its head up but this time in New York City, at the United Nations and anywhere the leftist push their agendas against Israel and it isn’t just one group, it is the woke agenda, illegal aliens, pod casters and even elected officials. I do not want to see another Holocaust! Yet we see Israel attacked again and again and even Christians are being slaughtered around the world. Why? Because of Truth! Those attacking, killing, raping, kidnapping, mutilating are fed with a hatred for other humans. What a waste! All because some people hate! The smell of death is forever a memory in my mind and I don’t like that smell. Yet I fear I will smell that smell again and soon.
I am not looking into 2026 as a year of fear but as a New Beginning, as in previous years. What I hope to find in 2026 is a settling down of hatred towards the Jewish and Christian People around the world and perhaps a settling down of the Russian-Ukrainian war, the push for cartels to sell drugs and for people to stop hating. I know a person who truly hates people and his hatred makes him ugly. I don’t hate people, I may not like some people, and I may have a distain for there beliefs, but I cannot hate them and I am sorry they have no love in their hearts.
AS for me and 2026, I look forward to the 250 anniversary of the United States, my new adventures I am embarking on and the beautiful sunrises and sunsets that only the Kansas Prairie can produce. I am going to focus on loving more, worrying less, chasing dreams and enjoying my blessed life in a country where I have FREEDOM to worship a God who Loves us all so much he gave us His ONLY SON, JESUS to die for our sins and LIBERTY to follow my heart’s desires. May 2026 be your year to Love, Laugh, and Dream also be Prosperous!
Educated Cowpuncher 