The Yin and Yang of Our Times...
Every day you pick up the paper, turn on the TV, log onto the Internet and you seem to hear more of the same. Things are changing all over the place, whether it's across the globe, within our nation, in our state, within our city, or on our streets.
And there is NO getting away from it.
And we couldn't if we tried.
The amazing thing with all of this is the rapidity at which it is occurring. It's as though someone or something has kicked the proverbial snowball down the mountain, and the results, as they say, are predictable.
CAUTION - EDUCATIONAL / PHILOSOPHICAL ALERT
YOU MAY LEARN SOMETHING BY READING THIS!
-If it's not GM laying off THOUSANDS of workers, idling plants, and having their stocks look more like the latest "junk-bond" craze, it's the nation's mortgage entities (Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae) taking it on their collective chins.
-If it's not a local fire chief being arrested for a DUI in another county, it's the state of Indiana considering a repeal of a prohibition-era law that currently bans liquor sale on Sunday.
-If it's not having to endure higher home heating bills every year, it's the fact that the utility company is over inflating increases to pay for THEIR clusterf$cks, NOT yours.
-If it's not a black presidential candidate telling his own people that they have to start taking more responsibility for THEIR lives, it's watching scores of blacks, who couldn't give a rat's ass about responsibility OR the election process acting in the most reprehensible manner that mankind has to offer.
-If it's not people taking illegal drugs, it's people growing and selling illegal drugs.
-If it's not the high cost of fuel at the gas pumps, it's the rising cost of maintaining that vehicle well enough to be able to DRIVE to those high-priced pumps.
-If it's not the rising costs of consumable items including everyday food stuffs, it's hearing that e-coli and salmonella might be IN those .
-If it's not looking for an alternative to gasoline via corn-based ethanol, it's hearing that ethanol costs more to produce THAN gasoline, and that Mother Nature can take away those corn crops with a few well-placed FLOODS.
-If it's not police departments implementing new tactics to wage against crime, it's the criminals using technology so they can manage to remain a few ticks ahead of those officers.
-If it's not the separation of church and state, it's the denial and exclusion OF the church FOR the state.
So, if it's not ONE damn thing, it's ALWAYS ANOTHER...
Now I'm pretty sure that our parents and grandparents had THEIR share of hard times. Just talk to anyone who lived through the Great Depression. Sure, people managed to survive (or else we wouldn't be here, would we?), did what had to be done, and sacrificed to no small end. And they made out OK. Can we, with all the help that technology allows us, say likewise?
I'd like to think so, but ONLY if we are very careful where we tread.
We have at our disposal the means to keep moving forward at a pace unrivalled in human history, and with the ability to exceed our expectations of what we can do. Every one of us is living smarter, longer, healthier and better. That alone should mean something.
Sure we have problems with the environment, with each other, and yes, we do have problems around the globe that can oft times have a profound effect on what "we" do daily, but the people who founded this nation must have foreseen the capacity of subsequent generations to survive, adapt, and succeed.
Now this is not going to become some flag-waving, soapbox-preaching post. It's just plain old common sense. And the last time I checked, every single one of US has the ability to utilize this marvelous gift of the human condition. Whether we choose to use it or not is up to the individual.
There will be those that rally to the cause, as it were, while others remain content to watch from the bleachers, and still others will even refuse to come to "the game".
That's human nature...you'll ALWAYS have some who will fail when it comes to realizing what humanity entails.
Still, we can urge those that are able to do more than we can to do what is expected of them for the betterment of everyone. We can involve ourselves as well.
And maybe that's why I seem to have little tolerance for many living around me now. I see the lack of motivation, the ignorance coupled with a false sense of superiority, and a total disregard for most any or all others of the same race, which, curiously enough happens to be the HUMAN race.
I freely admit to growing weary at times with the situational stupidity many proudly display, and yet I plod on (as do others), because that is not only what is expected of me from OTHERS, it's what I have come to expect from MYSELF.
When you begin to comprehend THAT, you've just taken a major step into a much larger universe. Then you can do something once thought improbable - become a better person than you were the previous day. And isn't that what life should be about...a journey that includes self discovery and achievement?
Just a little something to think about...