She sat at the kitchen table...
She was visiting her neighbor...
Her neighbor's family was visiting...
There was her neighbor...
Her neighbor's two sisters...
Their Mother was there too...
Her neighbor's daughter was there as well...

The two sisters were visiting from...
From other countries...
The Mother was also from another country...
The daughter is an American...
She was born and raised in America...
But she is now working in Japan...
The neighbor is from Nigeria...
Neighbor moved to America as a young lady...

Now she was born in South Carolina...
Born there and lived in the South all her life...
Lived in South or North Carolina her entire...
Entire 80 years...
She has never even been in another country...
America has always been her home...
The American flag has always been in her heart...
Flying in her yard on a pole...
She has always been proud to live in America...

But it is 2022 and all seems different...
She still flies the American flag on the pole...
But she knows that America is a different...
Different place in 2022...
People are afraid to go to a mall...
Children are taught things in kindergarten...
Taught things that she did not learn...
Learn ‘til she was grown...
Things that have nothing to do with...
With reading, writing or arithmetic...

The news shows people stealing...
People robbing people in the streets...
Cars being stolen and burned...
Police being beaten and killed...
Killed when they come to help...
Want to kill the police...
Call 911...
Shoot them when they arrive...

The ladies at the kitchen table were talking...
Their friends were afraid for them to visit...
Visit America...
Their friends no longer plan to visit...
Visit America...
Their vacations will be somewhere...
Somewhere else...
America used to be the prize...
It was where everyone wanted to go...
It was where everyone wanted to live...

She could understand why...
Why others are scared to vacation in her...
Her beloved America...
She has a heavy heart...
She is powerless...
She will vote her one vote...

She watches as the politicians work in DC...
Work ‘til they are 100 years old...
Getting richer every day...
They have the power to not make term limits...
They take stealing to a higher level...
Passing laws that they do not have to obey...

She is actually glad she is 80 years old...
Maybe she will die before America does...
She thanks God nightly...
Thanks Him that she did live in the other...
Other America...
The America that people used to want...
Want to vacation in...

More About Judge Rembert: WWII made Judge an only child when her half-brother was killed in the war. She lived in a tiny town in South Carolina until she was eight and her Mother went to work. She was sent to a boarding school in Belmont, N.C. From that time on she has lived back and forth in the two Carolinas. They are both home. She was born dyslexic and did not know what the problem was or that it had a name until she was about 45. She was unable to spell so she never put words on paper until she was 65 and had a computer with spell check. She comes from a long line of story tellers and a Mother that taught her much by telling stories. Stories about people and how they faced life and how they dealt with problems. If you read what she writes you may hear her Mother and her Grandmother talking to her. She is thrilled to know that anyone reads her words and finds them interesting. Oh, she is 75 now and she now makes her home in Aiken, S.C. If you like Judge’s writings or would like to comment on them let her know by emailing judgerembert73@gmail.com.