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The story of the year is not supposed to happen on the first day of the year. This year, maybe it has. While devastatingly cruel, if the early morning New Year’s Day murder and injury of several people is this year’s top story, it could bode …

It is crunch time until Christmas Day. We are down to the final few days to “git er done,” whatever that entails. That seasonal mix of excitement and pressure makes for the ideal dose of anxiety. Only a terrific timed tolerable snowfall could…

When a large segment of society is emboldened enough to publicly celebrate the cowardice defenseless murder of a citizen, we may have crossed a point of no return of human decency. Rooting for Robin Hood because his misdeeds benefited the les…

The best way to get through or to complete something you really don’t want to do is to just get started. At the risk of sounding like an overzealous fitness influencer, it may be easier said than done, but it works. Just do it and before you …

Give thanks. Eat. Rest. Go shopping. Let the season begin. Thankfully, I will not be in step with that popular process. For the remainder of this spending season, I will wisely do my best to stay out of the way of the professionals.

About the columnist

About the columnist

Ron Jackson is a resident of Kankakee. He can be contacted through the Daily Journal at [email protected]

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Onward. After another democratic Olympics, that is the only direction we can go. And with the certainty of a peaceful transition of administration and that there will not be a repeat of any domestic terrorism, we all won. Everyone who partici…

We are down to a matter of days before everyone who chooses to speak out will have their chance. Tuesday is the one day in the current voting cycle that candidates actually care what constituents have to say. Let them hear you.

Without any hesitancy, I am better today than I was four years ago. I am also better than I was a decade ago, a quarter century ago. Even 50 years ago, my life was not as good as it is today. Mistakes, I have made a few. Regrets, even fewer. …

Sometimes you just need something to make sense. Without a long, drawn-out debate on right or wrong, legal or illegal, some binding decisions make you want to pluck your gray hairs, one at a time.

Doing the right thing is one of the first lessons we learn. Even when no one is around, we’re taught to do it because it’s the right thing. Doing the right thing can be rewarding, even financially. It can also be risky and costly. It is the f…

We talk a lot about role models and heroes, especially for children. The conversation tends to sound comparable to discussions about dinosaurs, referring to something that is extinct. Or something that was great in size and presence that soli…

Now that all five former Memphis police officers involved in the vicious beating death of Tyre Nichols has concluded, I found the public response to be perplexing. The name Tyre Nichols does not register highly on the word association game as…

Being an American preteen in 1968 could be summarized best by the open line from “A Tale of Two Cities,” by Charles Dickens. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was…

I have experienced natural disasters — earthquakes, tornadoes, blizzards and wildfires. I prefer earthquakes. There are no warnings. You have no time to prepare. It’s just shock and awe. Without hesitation, you’re forced to instinctually depe…

We are roughly halfway between Memorial Day and Veterans Day. Two days that we encourage, hope and even implore citizens to consider the service and sacrifice of millions of fellow Americans. Two days to pause for at least one minute to refle…

Six people wounded by gun violence on a very late Friday evening in Kankakee was an unfortunate yet preventable incident. Six people shot in one night. Those are numbers typically associated with bigger populations. What has been reported as …

Life is about learning. Most things I have learned I can recall how and when I learned them. Reading, writing and arithmetic learned in first grade in 1963. How to swim, 1965 in the old YMCA on Harrison Avenue. How to respect and fire a rifle…