More Smoke...More Mirrors...
Yesterday I talked about magicians and their sleight-of-hand, but today, I want to take a slightly different path along this journey called life, and trust me, it won't hurt all that much.
When I lived in Philly, one of the favorite things to do was go "down the shore". Actually it was more OVER to the coast, but we always called it DOWN THE SHORE, for some strange reason.
And we were never at a loss for fun, no matter WHAT city you drove to.
We had Atlantic City (pre-casinos), filled with such things as STEEL PIER (anyone ever hear of the DIVING HORSE?), or Asbury Park (before Bruce Springsteen made it popular), and Wildwood ( young adult party town). We also had Sea Isle City, Cape May, Margate, and other smaller towns that dotted the Jersey coastline, from north to south.
And in EVERY town, city, or village that had ANY type of "Amusement Center", there was something called THE FUN HOUSE.
The more elaborate ones were replete with ghouls, noises, and things swinging in front of you, all designed to scare the crap out of the young'uns.
We also had RIDES...everything from small kiddie planes, cars and boats to the "grown up"stuff like the ZIPPER....(and I will kill the inventor if, should I ever get the chance to meet him), the WHIP, the OCTOPUS, and the tried and true FERRIS WHEEL (could see better than 5 miles off the coast with some of them).
But, as was often the case, one attraction garnered little interest...and that was the HOUSE OF MIRRORS.
I suppose some people didn't want to wind up bumping into things, like hundreds of reflections of themselves (and after seeing some of the people that went to the shore, you wouldn't want to bump into them either).
I really never had a problem navigating any house of mirrors, and the reason is too simple.
LOOK AT YOUR FEET!
There was a wooden floor, and it had NO mirroring on it (major brain fart there), so all you had to do to get out, was follow the WOOD...like I said , way too simple.
Yet, it was interesting to see how the labyrinth was laid out.
Now, I said all that to say this...
Today's world is nothing more than one HUGE "House of Mirrors", and too many of us wind up "bumping" into another wall, whether we choose to call it health care, employment, taxation, or whatever else you can think of.
We're letting too many of these "civil servants" run the damn manor, when we should all be paying more attention to our ultimate destination...the EXIT to this house of mirrors.
Mirrors can be many things. They can reflect our image (scary before that first cup of coffee on a Monday), they can reflect the sun (to signal for help), or they can provide a method of amusement for some, and frustration for others vis-a-vis "The House of Mirrors". Some places even had "smoke" (actually, it was a fog machine, designed to keep you from looking at your feet, and getting the hell out).
Welcome to the world of POLITICS, people.
Much of our government, has sadly, become a HUGE, freaking HOUSE OF MIRRORS...complete with SMOKE.
We wind up ambling through it, bumping into one wall...or another, with a sense of panic setting in. We're not sure if well ever find our way out.Kinda sounds like today's headlines, doesn't it?
We are deceived on a regular basis...and to what end?
We are constantly told ONE thing...while something completely different is being perpetrated upon every single one of us.
But, our civil servants don't stop there...that would make it easy for us to see through it all, and find our "way out", as it were.
They like to pull some rabbit out of some hat (like I said yesterday) to DIVERT OUR ATTENTION from the matter at hand (getting out, remember?), and they do it pretty damn well.
Trouble with that is, sooner or later, people WILL find their way out of the house of smoke and mirrors...
People WILL begin to wonder what the hell they were doing bumping into all those walls, while politicians laughed at our predicament.
Well, you pay your fare, you take your chances, as the saying goes.
It's getting to be high time that people are not simply going to be led into that "fun house" any longer.
People are passing by that house of mirrors to seek out more meaningful pursuits.
Problem is, there are still way too many that like BEING in that house of mirrors. they're perfectly content to be laughed at, as they stumble about, and laughing at even themselves.
Time to start looking AT YOUR FEET, people.
You want out...go for it.
But you do realize that politicians will only seek to serve up another method to attract your attention (and keep it, while they do whatever they desire...at your cost). They always seem to have another magician waiting in the wings, don't they?
Yeah, it used to be FUN to go "down the shore", but these days...not so much.
maybe some of us have outgrown such things as the dreaded house of mirrors...
Or...perhaps we know which way OUR feet are pointed, and what direction we're headed.
Just something to think about, friends.
Stay safe out there, America.