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Lowell Cemetery, headstone of African American Civil War sailor Walker Lewis “LANDSMAN US NAVY USS RHODE ISLAND MAY 7 1839 APR 18 1901″. Photo by Tony Sampas.

Frequent contributor Jim Peters shares some thoughts on life, the Patriots and politics

Somewhere between my awareness of our light grip on life, my empathy for the Syrian people, and my understanding of our never-ending quest for knowledge (the Great Satchmo had it just right when he said that our children would learn things that we would never know), I realized that I would never get that doctorate I wanted, never die filthy rich, and never be as smart as I wished I were. So I realized that I would have to settle.

There are a few things that I know. I know there is a God. I know that being born an American is the most important piece of luck in my life. I know that I will eventually take off of this mortal coil. So, I had to decide what was important to me. My love of Native American customs, and my love of history notwithstanding, I have determined that my wife and children are most important to me. I would like to say that that is normal, but in our society I might just be lucky in that I realize such a thing. I watch television and come to the conclusion that very few civilizations are as free and opinion-based as ours. Without those opinions, we would not be able to enjoy the freedom, which was purchased for us through the gift of military men and women. It puzzles me how we can just whittle away at those freedoms by not acknowledging the sacrifices of others.

I have two good friends who would, quite literally, give me the shirts off of their backs. We recently went fly fishing in New Hampshire and I caught my first trout. They took me into their fold, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I find that I seem to have many friends, some closer at times then others, but all close at some point in time. I also found that I totally like fly-fishing. I had breakfast this morning with a man who deserves all of the credit he can get, but never would want to be named in an article. He was once a pro-football player, and he is a big man, both on and off of the field. He cheered for the Patriots in the Super Bowl and was just as disappointed as I was when they failed to win. That would be my take on it, they failed to win, they did not lose. A few plays, and they would have won it. But those New York teams are just bad luck to New Englanders. We forget that historically we surpassed the City of New York during the Revolution and have held our own ever since. So this curse of the “Babe,” and our willingness to admit that our millions of people are not equal to their millions of people are difficult for me to understand. During the Civil War, we lost 2% of our male population, and Massachusetts really put up a fight. Massachusetts always puts up a fight. Other states do not always fight with the ferocity of the Massachusetts citizen or politician. Look at the number of persons from Massachusetts who have run for the presidency and done credibly well. I include my brother-in-law, Paul Tsongas in that number.
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I was encouraged by the large crowd that gathered last evening in the City Council chamber to speak against proposed decreases in train service to Lowell and increases in the cost of riding the train. As I said at the public hearing, it is mind boggling to think that in 2012 we would find ourselves at a meeting where the topic is a recommendation to reduce access to mass transit. At a time when every reasonable institution, business, organization, individual, and family is trying to save energy and protect our environment through more “sustainable” behavior, why are we talking about making it more difficult to use a train to travel between Lowell and Boston?

Would a 10 percent increase in the fare be justifiable? Maybe. But not the huge increase being proposed by the MBTA. Would a slight adjustment in the weekend schedule on the Lowell-Boston line be defensible? Maybe. But not the plan to wipe out weekend service.

The MBTA certainly got the public’s attention. There is passion around this issue. You could feel it in City Hall last night. The opposition was spontaneous. It was personal. It was professional. It was immediate. This is the kind of change that would hit people where they live. It would be bad for everyone who lives and works in this area, as well as for those who count on the public being able to easily visit and do business in the city and region. We need the train. We need late service. We need weekend service. And the cost should be fair and affordable.