Round and Round We Go...
I've always loved carousels...and being from Philly, we didn't have them in great abundance when I was growing up.
You'd see them on TV, usually in some smaller town, where everyone of all ages spent some time.
We had a few that I remember as a child, and that was weird, considering the Philadelphia Toboggan Company (founded in 1860) was a HUGE supplier of carousels and parts for all over the country.
Most times, I rode them whenever we went to the Jersey shore. (Wildwood, Atlantic City, Asbury Park, etc)
I've ridden them in New Hope, PA all the way west to Buena Park, CA.
Logged a lot of miles on the various critters that were mounted upon those wooden planks.
Always imposing, yet friendly...horses, lions, tigers, elephants...the closest a young city boy would get to such animals when not at the zoo.
And never once did I get sick...I was too busy laughing and smiling.
We even have a carousel in Fort Wayne's Glenbrook Mall (up north)...very nice.
But today, I'm sure you're feeling the nostalgia from riding that carousel you remember whenever we turn on the news or pick up the paper.
We seem to be going around in CIRCLES, and I don't know about you, but I'm just NOT feeling the anticipatory glee and fun I remember on those vintage carousels all that much.
In fact, I am feeling a tad queasy these days...
No armored horses to ride...no music echoing around us, and no enjoyment being had by most of us.
But we all are going around and around, and around some more...little chance of getting off this ride.
And we keep paying for more...
By now, I'm sure you're aware of the analogy I've painted here.
People, pundits and politicians talk, and talk, and talk some more about HOW they want to "change" things (often for change sake)...and we keep getting the same old story time and again.
Around and around...
Once in a while someone enacts some sort of change, and it turns out that the "cure" was worse than the "disease".
So, what do these folks do?
Do they go BACK to a way that worked BETTER?
Hell, no...they try something ELSE...AGAIN.
And after THAT fails, they keep on trying more crap that's destined to NOT succeed.
Around and around...
It's no wonder we're all getting a bit sick and tired of hearing the same old stuff over and over (just presented a bit differently).
Face it, America has some hefty obstacles to overcome in the near future.
We've got runaway spending by the governments (federal, state AND local).
We've got entitlements oozing out of every conceivable orifice, promoting a slothful sub-class of citizenry.
We've got fossil-fuel woes out the wazoo.
We've got crumbling infrastructures.
We've got rising prison populations.
We've got an overabundance of drug usage filtering down to the PRE-TEEN ages now.
We've got more violent crime across the nation.
We've got MORE poverty in America, in spite of all the money being dumped (yearly) into programs to PREVENT poverty.
We've got kids that are LESS intelligent than when MY generation left school.
...And this is just the beginning strains of this "merry ride", people.
The carousel has barely stared to rotate and the animals haven't yet begun to go up and down.
And God only knows where that BRASS RING is these days.
(not that we're trying to reach for it)
Damn, I miss the days when you could ride a carousel for a few cents...get a decent several minute circular "journey" of imagination, and then get off with the biggest grin a child could have...
Today, this "ride" costs us PLENTY...at the stores...at the pumps...at the repair shops...and at the doctors.
When we wish to get off, we're obliged to stay on, because the ride has "sped up" to the point of causing us injury, should we decide to exit.
And I don't see all that many of us SMILING (because we can't seem to get off AND have to keep paying).
Maybe we need to speak with the person running the show here?
Perhaps we ALL should speak up until we are heard.
It's always been said that when people do NOTHING...THAT is what gets done.
The last time I checked, this nation belonged to THE PEOPLE.
The PEOPLE pay for it, work for it, and they are entrusted with the care OF it.
It used to be called STEWARDSHIP.
Now, what make s a carousel "successful"?
Well, it comes down to proper maintenance...keeping it running and keeping it safe.
And the money for THAT doesn't grow on trees, or comes flying out of anyone's alimentary canal.
The money comes from those PEOPLE who BELIEVE that the ride IS, in fact...safe
They pay for those several minutes of fun by maintaining a level of TRUST in those who have been hired to RUN that carousel.
The people come back, and the ride is self-perpetuating...as long as that trust and safety is there.
(and people's attention is NOT diverted elsewhere)
Take either one away, and the people stop coming to ride...and the carousel goes belly-up.
It's happened so many times across the nation.
America really needs a good safe "carousel" these days, and not a bunch of cronies spinning round day after day, doing the same old unsafe and lack-luster things while the paint peels and the mirrors crack on this "ride".
The noise we hear these days comes from the "machinery" breaking down... and not from laughter or from the music from that carousel.
The nation's leaders have often neglected the preventive measures to ensure a safe ride.
And it shows.
Cities with ruinous areas, crime, drugs, poverty (in the once MOST prosperous nation)...all of this (and more)...and I have to ask WHY has this happened?
What took so many people's attention from WHO was running the ride?
And why were we being "entertained" elsewhere?
So many times, if you want to view the present situation, you often have to look back to simpler times to find the answers...or at least the reason for the questions.
That way, you can see more clearly what the future could hold.
In childhood, we saw through different eyes.
As we became adults, our view changed.
We sacrifice reason and clarity for dollar signs or possessions.
We loose the innocence we held as a child.
But when you see children riding a carousel...the joy THEY can find in going around and around, knowing that their parents will be there when it's over..the security in that, coupled with the trust in those that maintain that carousel...it becomes a lot clearer as to what WE need to do.
We can learn from such things, and teach others, in order to get our nation back on the right track.
It seems corny...and it sounds nonsensical, but it fact, the analogy is true.
Here ends the lesson.
Be well, make a difference to someone, and ...
Stay safe out there, America.