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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.

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. …

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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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…

He said it, but he didn’t say it. He being Mayor Brandon Johnson, of Chicago. What he said but didn’t say was that deceased former president Richard M. Nixon was responsible for this year’s July Fourth weekend gun violence in Chicago. Violenc…

We don’t draw lines in the sand anymore. A simple dare to cross a line used to be effective. Primarily, that was because the emboldened encroacher understood the potential consequence. Today, boundaries are just unenforced borders meant to be…

America is not the same as it was just 20 years ago. One thing about our country is that we culturally evolve about as often as we engage in war. Roughly every two decades on average we are in a military conflict and a cultural revolution.