Things I Thought I Would Never See

By Darlene Mitchell August 31, 2026 August 31, 2026 Update

Things I Thought I Would Never See

Seeing the Unbelievable

By Cate Rees-Hessel

Seeing The Unbelievable…

As a woman of a certain age, there are so many things that I never thought I would ever see or experience; some bad, some good, and some in-between:

Donald Trump in the White House-not just once, but twice
Talking to a small round device named Alexa
Setting alarms through Alexa, not an alarm clock
Donald Trump in the White House
The White House torn up and tacky as can be with hideous sprayed gold furnishings
Storing all my files in the palm of my hand, if not smaller
Dealing with a generation of people that have no idea how to read or write cursive
Donald Trump in the White House
Mail delivery arriving after dinner time
Eggs over seven dollars a dozen, hamburger seven dollars a pound
A global pandemic
Donald Trump in the White House
Medicare advantage plans (but are they a disadvantage?)
Smart water, watches, jewelry, phones, plugs, televisions, and appliances (I remember a time when these things weren’t smart but people were…)
Electric cars
Donald Trump in the White House
Sport Utility Vehicles
Global warming – a very inconvenient truth
Online learning, banking, and entertainment
Donald Trump in the White House
E-books on Kindle and the like
Video doorbells
Botox, Radiesse, Juvederm, glycolic and TCA peels, and non-surgical facelifts
Donald Trump in the White House
Video streaming services
Retinol, niacinamide, and hyaluronic acid
GMO foods – the majority of store shelves contain Genetically Modified Food
Donald Trump in the White House
Out of control racism, sexism, and anti-semitism – back in the day, we stood on street corners and marched for equality, but unfortunately we have turned back time
Geocaching – I still don’t fully get this
Computers in everyone’s home (and hand)
Donald Trump in the White House
Over five dollars for a cup of not very fancy coffee
People that call themselves Christians or even human beings wanting to see elderly, disabled, low-income, and children go hungry and without healthcare
Artificial intelligence rampant in our world, including our medical and financial records
Donald Trump in the White House
Masked immigration agents terrorizing our nation, killing citizens on the streets of Minneapolis
SPF lotions and oils to protect us from the sun’s rays, when we used to lay out to tan with baby oil and iodine
Bottled water costing at least $2.00 because unfiltered tap water is unsafe
Donald Trump in the White House
The Epstein Files, where “adult” men have sex with children and brainwashed individuals think it’s okay
The MAGA cult that can’t see the truth about a man with dementia and a complete lack of morals
An insurrection because a great man and his great female VP were elected president
Donald Trump in the White House
Flat screen 50 plus inch televisions hanging on a wall
Red light treatments, hydra facials, dermaplaning and microneedling
Social media, including very cute talking cats, and silly dogs on Facebook
Donald Trump in the White House
Lab grown diamonds and gemstones, make mine a big one.
Nose and belly button rings – I thought I was wild and crazy with double-pierced ears
People that that support a convicted felon as “president”
Donald Trump in the White House
A demented psychopath as “leader of the free world”
Java as a computer language, not just my morning coffee
Umami in cooking – I honestly don’t get that
Donald Trump in the White House
Kimchi, kale, and pumpkin spice being all the culinary rage
Water parks with slides and raging rapids, and splash pads/patios
The world wide web with e-cards, e-signatures, and a wealth of information at our fingertips, some good, some bad, and some in-between
Did I mention Donald Trump in the White House?

Editor: The sight and experience of Donald Trump walking the halls of the White House still creeps me out, hopefully his reign of terror is about to end. Vote! 2026 could be out last chance to save democracy.

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Things I Thought I Would Never See

Things I Thought I Would Never See

Seeing the Unbelievable

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“A politician thinks of the next election – a statesman of the next generation.” – James Freeman Clarke

“I want to disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed.” Arthur Ashe

“Our task must be to free ourselves… by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and it’s beauty.” ― Albert Einstein

“So the America I loved still exists, if not in the White House or the Supreme Court or the Senate or the House of Representatives or the media. The America I love still exists at the front desks of our public libraries.” ― Kurt Vonnegut

“Let’s just remember that social security is not the government’s money, it belongs to the people who had it taken out of the checks involuntarily their entire working lives.” Mike Huckabee

“I have insecurities of course, but I don’t hang out with anyone who points them out to me.” ADELE

“The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership.” Christian Grey

“My favorite old car had no reverse gear. It taught me I could only go forward.” Flavia

“Education is the most powerful weapon which we can use to change the world.” Nelson Mandela

“Those who think they can control the mob are fools and are often the victims of their own incitement.” D.S. Mitchell 2021

“A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned how to walk forward.” Franklin D. Roosevelt

“If now isn’t a good time for the truth I don’t see when we’ll get to it.” Nikki Giovanni

“Everything happens for a reason. Sometimes the reason is that you are stupid and make bad decisions.” Your mother

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“My art is my heart.” D. S. Mitchell 2015

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“Every lie is like stepping in a quicksand pit. Every lie as dangerous, as telling the truth.” D. S. Mitchell 2020

“Sometimes when challenged we find out we are capable of the unthinkable.” D. S. Mitchell 2022

“Surround yourself with those on the same mission as you.” Anonymous

“Dimming the lights will not hide the social injustice in America.” D. S. Mitchell 2017

“The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true. So I elect for neither label.” – James Branch Cabell

Smile

“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill

“Every moment is a fresh beginning.” T. S. Eliot

“Voting is like a prayer.” Raphael Warnock 2021

“We are all valuable. The problem is not everyone is smart enough to realize it.” D. S. Mitchell 2021

“I wonder, if you were blind, lost and confused, would you care what color the offered hand?” D. S. Mitchell 2015

“Silence in front of savagery is savagery itself.” Abhijit Naskar

“To be happy and contented, count your blessings, not your cash.” Chinese Proverb

“We can never be too busy to be kind.” D. S. Mitchell 2017

RIP RBG

“The rain falls because the cloud can no longer handle the weight. The tears fall because the heart can no longer handle the pain.” The Wise You

“Let my old days be my best days,” Cousin Lucille

“In no instance have… the churches been guardians of the liberties of the people.” James Madison

“Happiness is a gift and the trick is not to expect it, but to delight in it when it comes.” Charles Dickens

“Thoughtful people are slow to anger, not necessarily less efficient in their killing.” D. S. Mitchell 2019

“Endings are not always bad. Most times they’re just beginnings in disguise.” Kim Harrison

“The United States like so many countries around the world has chosen to give to the few and deny the many.” D.S. Mitchell 2020

“It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. This is true, its called life.” Terry Pratchett

“Trickle down economics is like having three dogs and giving one of them a hot dog, and thinking he’ll share.” Bill Maher

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” John Kenneth Galbraith

“When people start acting as though the past is the same as the present and context doesn’t matter, things start to get dangerous.” Trevor K. McNeil 2020

“Pardoning the Bad, is injuring the Good.” – Benjamin Franklin

“I don’t need to attend every argument I’m invited to.” Unknown

“I love you as certain dark things are to be loved, in secret between the shadow and soul.” Pablo Neruda

“Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.” ― Bruce Lee

“I have been far oftener discriminated against because I am a woman than because I am black.” Shirley Chisholm 5/21/1969

“The turning points of lives are not the great moments. The real crises are often concealed in occurrences so trivial in appearance that they pass unobserved.” ― George Washington

“We only fail when we fail to try.” Rosa Parks

“The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much it is whether we provide enough for those who have little.” Franklin D. Roosevelt

“I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.” Thomas Jefferson

“The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.” Albert Einstein

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” Martin Luther King, Jr.

“The 7 Social Sins are: Wealth without Work; Pleasure without Conscience; Knowledge without Character; Commerce without Morality; Science without Humanity; Worship without Sacrifice; Politics without Principle.” Frederick Lewis Donaldson

“All evils are equal when they are extreme.”-Pierre Corneille

“Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.” John F. Kennedy

“People without vaginas shouldn’t be able to regulate them.” Unknown

“What this country needs is more unemployed politicians.” Edward Langley, artist

“Be sure to put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.” Abraham Lincoln

“When sleeping women wake, mountains move.” Chinese proverb

“If people stopped searching for things that offended them and started looking for things that inspired them; what a wonderful world this would be.” Night Owl

A Poem For Don and Vlad

“If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.” Booker T. Washington

“To argue with a person who has given up reason is like administering medicine to the dead.” Thomas Paine

“Imagination is the bridge between the things we know for sure, and the things we need to believe, when our world becomes unbearable.” Staceyann Chin

“The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” Steve Jobs

“Inspiration descends only in flashes to clothe circumstances; it is not stored up in a barrel, like salt herrings to be doled out.”Patrick White

“I will not allow my life’s light to be determined by the darkness that surrounds me.” Sojourner Truth