Kids today!

I cannot believe how bad things in the world have gotten!

I read the paper every day, and I like to think I have an idea of what is going on in the world. There are some pretty tense and unpleasant things out there right now, and we’re doing our best to cope with them. Those aren’t what surprised me so much, and made me so very unhappy, though.

I grew up on a farm in the Midwest. I grew up in a community with my family and the others in our small town. We looked after each other and made sure that everyone got by somehow. I went off and joined the Army, to get away from it all and make something of myself. I did well there, and was sent all over, doing various things in different hot spots, some of which I’m still not supposed to talk about.

Eventually, I’d had enough of it, and didn’t re-enlist. I couldn’t go home because the family had all been bought out by a giant corporation, and had moved to a trailer park in Florida. I worked here and there and saved a little money and bought some land nobody wanted that wasn’t good for much and went to live there.

I cleared a little land and worked it a bit. Most of my neighbors were ranchers at this point, and had huge expanses of land for grazing. My land was too hilly and rocky for the cows to like, so they didn’t want it much and I got it for a song. I lived in an old travel trailer for several years, while I built a snug little place for myself. I also cleared a few acres of land and raised some staples and some fruit. I had a radio, I had the newspaper, and I had land to work. I was quite comfortable, and while I wasn’t surrounded by a lot of people, the neighbors nearest me (near being a relative term in ranching land) were good friends and good people.

Recently, a huge company approached me and offered to buy my land. They didn’t want to tell me why, which I found suspicious. I did a little asking around, and discovered that they were a mining and minerals company. I figured they thought I was sitting on something good.

After a long time thinking about it, I decided they could have it. I was getting tired and a little slow in the winters, and decided to cash out. I pushed them hard, and got enough, according to my bank, I never have to work another day in my life.

Having done this, I moved to the city.

It was awful! Noisy and dirty and full of people, all of them angry and in a hurry all the time. That wasn’t what upset me. I was expecting that. I’d seen that before

What bothered me was the rudeness. People don’t know how to act any more, and it’s horrible.

I decided to do something about it. I don’t know how to get people not to be rude, or unpleasant, but living with all the crime and awfulness isn’t going to help them be good to each other. And I thought I was best suited to smacking the punks rather than trying to reason with them. I’ll leave that to others, who might be better at it than I am.

Eventually, someone pointedly suggested I move someplace where vigilantes were more welcome, and where things were worse. I did so, and found myself in Paragon City.

Some of the people here are astonishing. They do amazing things, like fly or throw giant bolts of electricity. Some of them do so while nearly naked, which I don’t quite know how to cope with. What can you say to an eight foot tall, axe-wielding Amazon who just clobbered an entire street gang? “Go put on a dress, Missy!” I don’t think so.

But here I am… doing what I can to make the world a better place. Even if I am often embarrassed by some of the other heroes.