There are many difficult, weighty issues confronting us this Memorial Day Weekend in 2026, but I’m going to begin the summer with three unconnected, much lighter personal observations which won’t take long and which probably won’t mean much to anyone else…but here they are:
1. Take a look at this cover photo from the Atlanta Business Chronicle of May 15th. It highlights an entire section on their “40 Under 40” Risings Stars in our city.
The newspaper “recognizes rising stars who have made meaningful contributions to their companies, communities and industries—all before their 40th birthday. They’re founders, CEOs, Directors, managers, presidents and vice-presidents. But they are far more than their titles.”
There is then a half-page devoted to each of these high achievers, and they really do appear to be amazing people, well worth the recognition.
My observation is that 25 of the 40 appear to be female, and only 5 of the 40 are white males who were born in the U.S.
My question then is whether you would have imagined this result, particularly in the South, where the Left-Progressive/Media mantra is that we are all misogynistic and racist?
And, finally, only 10 of the 40 list Atlanta as their original hometown. What does that say about the power of Opportunity to move us?
2. As we transit our part of the world by car, we regularly see huge For Sale lots full of used RVs and large, towed campers. I mean, there appear to be zillions of them, all just resting there, unused. And I imagine that there must be even more parked and seldom used in garages and backyards.
I asked our friendly AI for an estimate of the number of unused RVs in the U.S., and the answer came back as “several hundred thousand to a million.”
Then I asked AI for an estimate of how many homeless people there may be in our country. Here is how AI responded:
“One interesting observation emerges when comparing your two questions:
Estimated potentially reusable RVs/campers:
-
- possibly hundreds of thousands to over a million.
- Officially homeless population on a given night:
- about 771,000.
So at least conceptually, there may actually be enough existing mobile housing stock in America to house a very large portion of the currently homeless population — if:
- land,
- infrastructure,
- zoning,
- financing,
- and management
could somehow be organized.
That is why your questions are economically interesting. The physical shelter units may already largely exist. The bottleneck is the system around them.”
3. As I do research on Education for what I hope will be my fifth novel (the working title is “I’m Good”), I’ve learned that most high schools today have a large number of counselors for their students. I mean, a lot. Perhaps two per grade. And they’re not focused so much on helping students choose courses or colleges, but rather on “belonging”, and on their “feelings.” And of course on DEI and all its important ramifications.
I graduated from high school in 1965. At Westminster in those days there was a Boys and a Girls School, so all of our teachers were men.
My observation is that, if you simply do the math, most of these men would have served in the military during World War II or The Korean War, or otherwise have been impacted by one or both wars.
I can assure you that no one was asking about our feelings, or worrying about whether we felt like we belonged. Neither subject ever came up, as far as I can recall.
We focused on learning English, History, Math, etc. And these men expected us to learn well. Period.
Despite having no counselors, I recall that the median score on the Math Achievement Test in our Senior Calculus Class was a perfect 800. The median.
I’m sure that counselors serve an important purpose. But so do high expectations, competent instruction, and accountability.
______________________________
Those are my three unconnected personal observations as we launch into summer. What do you think? Feel free to weigh in on these three, and/or to add your own Personal Observation with a Comment. I’ll try to be pithier next month.
Have a wonderful Memorial Day with your family, and never forget those who gave the ultimate sacrifice to defend our nation and our freedoms. We owe them everything.
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