By Jimmy Terrell

The world in which I entered one February frosty morn years ago is not the world of which I now know.

Growing up in LaGrange was good. In fact, life has primarily been great. Far more ups than downs.

There was a special comfort at Cannon Street School. It was grammar school to us in the 50s, not elementary. We knew the teachers cared for us. In fact, they loved us.

As children, we played in the streets, rode stick horses, played in fields and creeks, and rode bicycles all over town. A sure way for our parents to find us was to spot our bicycles at someone’s house.

We were wary of strangers, but not fearful. We said the Pledge of Allegiance, we stood for the Star Spangled Banner, and we said our prayers at school, at home and at church.

As children we were religiously tolerant. Our friends attended various Protestant churches, the Catholic Church or the small Jewish synagogue.

Our dreams were of rocket ships, baseball and getting promoted to the next grade. We traded baseball cards, played sandlot baseball and football, and made flips out of shoe tongues and rubber strips from discarded bicycle tires. We guarded our marbles with careful eyes.

The worst days of the week were days of heavy rain and on those days we played monopoly, battle, rummy, and a host of other games.

Otherwise, we were outside and about the business of growing up.

It was a world of kindness. Men, in non-flirtatious manners, opened doors for ladies and tipped their hats to the ladies on the street. People spoke to one another as they passed on sidewalks.

Christmas was a time of cheer and excitement. If you didn’t like Christmas for one reason or another, you went about your own way, keeping to yourself.

The world was all about kindness and tolerance with a deep respect for life.

To be honest, the world enjoyed populism.

As I have grown older, I’ve watched all of that lifetime change and it continues to change even more.

The world is darker and the world of politics even darker.

Populism has cloaked itself in new meanings; one side of the cape is for the left and the other for the right. Some blame the Obama administration, but I think it began even further back and both sides of the aisle have contributed to the current status of society.

Anger seems to drive the left, as it is unwilling to give any quarter to Christians or any other group that see life with a different viewpoint.

Groups such as Antifa and Occupy Wall Street promote false, unforgiving impressions that identify conservatives as evil and even illegitimate.

These leftist forces have trashed the U.S. Constitution, especially our freedom of speech, shouting down conservative speakers and creating a climate of hate and ill will to individuals and organizations that want to hear open and willing debate.

We, as citizens, must now fear retaliation from the Internal Revenue Department if we dare stand our ground and take issue with a leftist group or idea.

We see Presidential candidates promising to take our firearms and promising jail time for those who fail to surrender them.

We have to be concerned about the political bias of a Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation who may well have been on the way to a coup d’état in America.

We see and hear daily the bias of the news media and their attempts to shut down conservative media resources. Religious institutions no longer lead our daily lives.

Immigration is a 24-hour internal conflict as we hear voices that appear to want to give America away to noncitizens.

There is a darkness growing over America that we haven’t seen and it is very different from the early days after Pearl Harbor and 9/11.

The values on which this country was built are being trashed and are slowly diminishing from our culture and way of life.

Is it too late to save America?

Maybe not, but we need a “giant slayer”.