WORDS: 1,335 — To be, or not to be may be the question for that famous playwright back in the day but it seems these last few years in this country it’s been more like answering the question.. to have been, or not to have been. The nation seems to be changing in numerous ways as a result of a number of national experiences, which means, I am destined to be the local old fart who remembers the country “way back the way it used to be”. That role used to fall to my parents recalling those “heady” days living through The Great Depression as kids and being the victors of World War II as adults.
[ABOUT THE IMAGE ABOVE – From a painting by Wayne Pascall. Either we help each other from going over the edge, or we risk being pulled over the edge together.]
As I write this… ravaging storms… What a mess. But I’m getting ahead of myself here.
For much of my adult life I have often shared with those younger, including my own children, the trials and tribulations in living through the 1960’s. There was the civil rights movement coming to a head… the desegregation of the South, the Marches, the church bombings, the racial killings. There was the Watts Riots in L.A., the 1968 Democratic Convention Chicago riot. The assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy and crippling of Governor George Wallace (1972). There was Vietnam and the subsequent anti-war movement with demonstrations galore nationwide by hippies, when the week’s body counts of Americans killed in those strange sounding places on the evening TV news became just numbers after a while. I literally thought back then that the world was totally out of control. I would compare with those willing to listen to my aging babble and be comforted to know there had been worse times before, how seemingly far more critical of an experience it was living through all that than it was today… “today” being up until 2017. That anything we would experience under Trump would not be anything like it was during the 1960’s. My story has changed. As a nation we are in one helluva mess… a grand funk (no, not the “Railroad”).
Now, to present a bit of balance here, I am saying we are in a national deep funk, but we could be far, far worse. Although, to that point, I don’t think at all we’ve seen the worst of all this yet. What’s changed my outlook to surrender my normal optimism to some doom & gloom scenario? Let’s take a walk down this road together. Keep in mind here that the “funkiness” I am referring to is not a singular event or condition. Rather it’s a cumulative effect of all this occurring at this point in time forcing the impetus of change, wanted or or unwanted, across the entire country. We, as a nation, are swirling around the black hole drain and descending with each revolution deeper into it… or so it would seem.
So.. where am I going with all this glorious and encouraging display of optimism? Therapists say you have to hit bottom before you can rise back up from the ashes. There are 350 million people in this nation and that means 350 million different.. um… bottoms. I haven’t hit my bottom yet (hard to reach at my age). But others have. I mean.. others haven’t hit my bottom, specifically… ah.. nevermind. This meandering is becoming endless if not fruitless. Butt.. oops.. I mean.. but here’s my whole theme of this post. Most of our issues as a nation are pretty much caused by our own foibles and human diversities.. but we are also being hit by outside events. Specifically, nature seems a bit ticked off, you would think, given the serious record breaking storms.. and then imposing a determined virus onto humanity. Simply look at Louisiana.. smacked at both ends of nature’s wrath. You would think that something Biblical was unfolding upon the Earth. Maybe it is… but I have to think if some higher power was intentionally at work here it might be a little more effective to twitch the nose or blink the eye to make it all start over.
Any number of things are happening not only in America but all over the world, that we frankly have little control over, or, the control we think we have over it is marginal at best. It appears all our dilemmas can be brought down to these areas… disease, global warming, and man simply unable to get along with his fellow man, much less nature. Just name your calamity…
Global warming… extreme weather changes, record breaking storms, draughts, no end in sight.. and we can’t even agree if man caused it or it’s just nature in flux.
Then you have the great continental divide that is our politics. Racial and economic inequality. What’s left of the Afghanistan debacle, our changing population demographics brought to life by the recent census data, feeding white racism. Buildings collapsing, aging infrastructure… growing racial animosity at a time when no one claims to be racist. Immigration laws have failed, at the same time the laws haven’t failed but rather the Southern border is the road to freedom for so many refugees from the failed politics of other countries. Right is wrong, wrong is right, and that’s just how we have reacted to the pandemic alone. News is all fake unless it’s true. On one end people are dying and we bust our butts to save them, at the same time on the other end people are ignored and left to flounder in favor of political freedoms. No one is compromising and that essence of democracy has faded for more authoritarian.. and evangelical.. ideologies. We have become the nation where all citizens are patriotic but NO ONE displays it.
Sadly, I have no answers nor would anyone listen even if I did. All I can offer is that time does tend to allow the proverbial pendulum of change to swing back to a more moderate moment. That, and staying involved in life and the processes that regulate our government.
Just do your best to survive through the changes.. or events. Do your best to imagine the possible threats to immediate survival. You see a flux in the politics, social behaviors, effects of the pandemic… be wary of events that could trigger delays in the normal distribution system. Something that keeps the truckers from trucking. Things like Illness, government mandates, fuel prices, fuel shortages (caused by weather in other areas of the country, or some other reason), strange politics, civil unrest. If you sense something then consider making that extra, unscheduled trip to the store to stock up on items to hold you over. Keep in mind all the situations that could cause the electric or the internet to stop. Trucks will not function without electricity and/or the Internet. Less items that need refrigeration. Louisiana is a perfect example of catastrophic electrical outage not being fixed for weeks and maybe months. Go figure, the Northeast is presently suffering from record floods from the remains of Hurricane Ida that devastated Louisiana. The Southwest, where I presently reside, is suffering from a severe record drought.. not to mention forest fires. I’m still considering relocating to someplace with more lakes to provide fresh water in the event I had to boil that stuff on my own for drinking. We are slowly being consumed by our own human vanity.. and nature’s response to that.
I’m not being alarmist… just suggesting to all to keep one eye open and an ear up to the signs of change. I’m not suggesting that everyone convert to being a hard-core “survivalist-prepper”. So far the various calamities befalling the nation have returned to some level of civil normalcy over time. I am suggesting making sure you are prepared for those short “stoppages”. The villain in all this is NOT just the next guy with the idiotic political opinions.. it’s all of us.
Doug, in daily life I hear no one talking about climate change just a little lip service…..few are talking about Afghanistan now that the media has moved on….your advice is great. I do not see any real change in attitudes or reasoning in the short time I have left….2022 will tell us just how screwed this country will be for the next generation.
All this passivity I blame on the Dems for they have NO idea how to play the political long game….all they have is reaction no action. The only thing they exceed at is collecting corporate cash after that they have nothing to offer to this country.
Be well chuq
Yes.. I read your post about the Dems being passive and to that I agree when in context that the GOP always appears more “hungry” and more assertive in gaining power (that’s not to suggest “gaining power” is wrong.. it’s the nature of politics).
They play the long game and the Dems are always trying to catch up…..chuq
Your last paragraph neatly sums up why I am prepared for any number of calamities. Some would call me a ‘prepper’, or even a ‘hoarder’ [of useful goods, not old magazines and cat litter boxes….]. I just prefer to call myself prepared.
We, as a society, have not only become self-absorbed and lazy…..we actually eschew the skills and knowledge to sustain ourselves…..relying instead on a fragile thread of subsistence that can be instantly broken by the possible events that you refer to.
Zoning ordinances to prevent gardens and small livestock, prohibitions against natural items such as “raw” milk, the denigration of hunting [not to mention the fetish for gun control]….and the apparent opposition to include basic life saving skills and outdoor craft in our public education system…..all leads to an utterly helpless society when even the most minor of interruption of goods and services occur.
I always tell people that it’s ‘9 meals to anarchy’….after that, when it really sinks in that Uncle Sugar isn’t coming to help…things will go pear-shaped in a hurry.
Agreed.. and that’s the point I try to make regarding these clowns threatening some idiotic civil war if they don’t get their way. The fact is… disrupt the electric grid, the internet, and/or the distribution system… politics is over. If someone’s idea of a civil war is disrupting everything.. then the civil war is over. It’s survival time. duh.
Doug
Interesting post which seems to me that you are repeating the same message of observation of humans in your life experiences to agree with King Solomon’s observations 3000 years ago.
For example, you stated your advice
“Just do your best to survive through the changes. or events.
Now, compare your advice to King Solomon verses as follows.
Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these?” For it is not wise to ask such questions. (Ecclesiastes 7:10)
And then check out the verses in this link
king Solomon verse eat drink and – Bing.
Congratulations!
Regards and goodwill blogging.
Ha! Does that mean you will shun Solomon and quote from me now, Rudy? 🙂 The Wisdom of Doug. I like it.
Doug,
Only when you emulate Solomon’s wisdom.
Perhaps you might want to study more of his writings, discern his meanings,.
…..before your write your blog opinions.
Regards and goodwill blogging.
lobotero
I agree with your statement: “All this passivity I blame on the Dems for they have NO idea how to play the political long game….all they have is reaction no action.”
For example, I wrote a post today titled “Pickles Biden, comparison of his inept management and preparation skills that resulted in the Afghanistan exit fiasco’s
My point is if the leader of the Democrats has no idea of preparation management skills, why should it surprise us that the party he is leading has no long game>
Regards and goodwill blogging.
If interested,
https://rudymartinka.com/2021/09/03/pickles-biden-preparation-skills-analogy-king-solomon-blog/
I caught you on your own blog in reply to that.
?????
While I have little love for Dems the GOP is just as bad…..there’s is in foreign policy…..good policy and effective policy will never succeed as long as someone is pulling strings in their favor. chuq