From my point of view, however, the biggest source of hostility in speech comes through my phone. You will identify. It is these insane computer voices that ask me endless questions in order to “promptly help me with my issue.”

In 2017, the National Highway Safety Transportation Administration attributed 9,717 fatalities on U.S. highways to speeding. According to the World Health Organization, this does not put the U.S. in the top 25 countries in the world for traffic deaths due to speeding by any measure (per capita, distance traveled, etc.). Also, in 2017, according to PEW research, there were 14,542 homicides in the U.S. by firearms. This places us 30th in the world. There were 879,000 abortions in the U.S. in 2017, ranking us as the number 10 country in the world for this practice.

Monday evening, I called up a friend of mine to talk about a business matter. He was in the midst of taking out the trash at his girlfriend’s house. She lives in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Georgetown. He was grousing about the precision of can placement required by sanitation crews.

There is an answer to all of this. I recommend a book to you written by the good Dr. Seuss. It is the “Sneetches.” This book comes closest of anything I have ever read to describing the despicable condition we find ourselves in today. Read it, then resolve to be a better person yourself, a better person as Dr. Seuss might describe.

Laura’s and my parents died between 1998 and 2017. I just got off the phone with a friend who is going through the process of transitioning his parents and his wife’s parents from their own homes to assisted living. I shared a number of experiences with him and thought these would make a good column, too.

(My raspy voice): “I want to talk to someone about Medicare Part D.” (Computer Voice): “We don’t offer pedicures. If you think we should offer pedicures, hang up and dial 800-555-1287. Unless you have a hangnail, then you should visit your local Social Security office and file a disability claim. That is if you are between ages 37 and 65. Otherwise, call 800-555-6781.”

On July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 was launched from Cape Kennedy, Fla. On board were Neil Armstrong (of Wapakoneta, Ohio, and a graduate of Purdue University), Michael Collins and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin. Two hours and 44 minutes after launch (one and one-half revolutions of the Earth), the S-IVB rocket stage fired and started Apollo into a translunar orbit.

The question remains: Does all of this as I have described today make life more convenient and improve the quality of life? Perhaps in some ways, yes, but in other ways, no. I can tell you this: Time passes much faster here in the suburbs with all these devices than it does when I visit my Mennonite friends. I miss the slower times.

I have recently had the occasion to explain to people lacking an engineering degree why they don’t necessarily need such credentials in order to think and understand – in the practical world – as an engineer might. As I noodled this over the last few weeks, it morphed into the identification of things I learned at Hillsboro High School that have served me very well in my career over the last 51 years.

First, I am talking about the economy and I have the answer: It is highly unlikely that anytime in the future that the basic economic measurements can be better than they are now. Going back as far as Herbert Hoover, one struggles to find basic economic statistics better than now.

When we try to personalize corporations, we are simply wrong. Corporations, just like governmental entities at any level, are not people. Corporations and government entities are just stacks of properly filed legal documents. Indeed, people work for them, people represent them, but people they are not.

This is a place where they don’t mess around. The entire city is spotless. And expensive. Unlike here, malls are still very vibrant and full of activity. There are lots and lots of malls and they are all full, all the time. Amazon must not have arrived yet. Additionally, I am told, the choices of family entertainment are limited, hence the malls are the place to hang out. Singapore is about half the size of Los Angeles.

It seems like our systems of shaming or bullying people into behaviors considered objectionable by the self-appointed elites is just so 2018.

It looks like 100 years of liberation for women has not been liberating after all. Suddenly, 2019 looks like 1919 in so many ways for women. The lack of progress is palpable. Women should be furious and protesting in the streets – just like 1919.

To put the following in the proper framework, realize I long ago said, “A bad day in Atlanta traffic beats the best day I ever spent in a hospital.” I am here to affirm that, but every once in a while a few things get under my skin.