Today is my birthday which in the grand scheme of things is not really important-and tomorrow is the 4TH anniversary of the Tohoku Tsunami which is. If had not given up booze for lent ( and believe me I think its a big mistake tonight)-I would probably be drunk off my ass tonight and not typing this post.
So lucky you, I am sober. 😀
Its 2015-the year Back to the Future promised us a lot of things. And we do have a lot of the technology toys that were promised, although I am still waiting for my hoverboard and flying car. Not to mention the demise of all lawyers.
But given the way the future of the world, and in particular the US is heading, we might need those lawyers after all. For certainly 2015 has not turned out the way I thought it would be in 1979. I mean, besides the fact that I am not rich and successful with a svelte young blond by my side-the overall direction of the land of my birth is backwards not forwards. And that troubles me a lot more than you know.
I feel cheated in so many ways. So many things were supposed to be true this years that are not simply in the cards. The world was supposed to be a more peaceful place. Technology was supposed to have improved the lot of all the worlds populations such that disease, hunger, pollution, and poverty were supposed to be a distant, albeit unpleasant memory.
And we won’t even get into the fact that the age of “free love,” e.g., lots of sex with lots of partners, got a real cramp placed on it in the ’80s. WTF is up with that? Certainly, it has not been for lack of trying on our part as a species-after all, monogamy sucks.
And what can one say about the United States? Nothing good, I am afraid. The direction of the country’s politics is definitely regressive, not progressive. President Obama did himself proud when he eloquently pointed out that it does not have to be that way and that the cruel vision for the country held forth by the tea sniffers is not in keeping with real patriotism at all. It is what teabaggers will never understand:
What greater expression of faith in the American experiment than this, what greater form of patriotism is there than the belief that America is not yet finished, that we are strong enough to be self-critical, that each successive generation can look upon our imperfections and decide that it is in our power to remake this nation to more closely align with our highest ideals?”
That’s what America is. Not stock photos or airbrushed history or feeble attempts to define some of us as more American as others. We respect the past, but we don’t pine for it. We don’t fear the future; we grab for it. America is not some fragile thing; we are large, in the words of Whitman, containing multitudes. We are boisterous and diverse and full of energy, perpetually young in spirit. That’s why someone like John Lewis at the ripe age of 25 could lead a mighty march.
More on that tomorrow. It was a wonderful speech-but then he had to return to Washington and govern the country with a legislature filled with morons. Suffice it to say, I am not optimistic about the direction of the country. I am deeply concerned what will happen in the back half of this decade, especially when some asshole like Scott Walker gets elected.
Like everyone on their birthday-especially when in their late 50’s I have paused to reflect on the fact that the more of the journey has been completed is left to run. That’s indeed a scary thought. I also, once again, marvel at the changes that have occurred in me and my viewpoints of both my former profession and the world.
For example, I continue to marvel at how completely I have been able to slam the door on my former career as a Naval Officer. While I am grateful for the gifts it gave me, I have no longing desire to go back to it. Especially in the “no fun of any kind” Navy that exists now. I could even pick up the latest Navy Times, where the MCPON says chiefs initiations are not “tradition” and not completely lose it. ( Even though the statements by the MCPON are complete and utter bullshit). I find myself speculating on the alternate paths I might have taken-especially as I hear so many people on the radio who left college and do not even, ever, consider the service. When I was 20, the idea of not going into the Navy was non-existent to me. But who knows what adventures the alternate path might have led to?
Or not. Either way, I don’t find myself missing the wearing of the uniform one bit. That door is closed and will remain so.
There are other things I think about too. I think a lot about injustice these days, and the unfairness of the economic system. I am asking myself what can I do about it? And not liking the answer of, “not very much”, at all. I have become a voracious consumer of economic news of late and I find what companies are doing these days quite disturbing. Disposable workers were not what 2015 was supposed to be about either. That they exist, well that happens. That so many people blithely defend the practice-that is what is truly troublesome.
And it brings me back to the question of my closed-door former life. What was it all for? Certainly not to defend this sick and twisted view of life, society, and humanity. If it was – well, then may God forgive me for devoting such effort to the profession.
And that brings me back to the idea of what will it take in the future to correct that?
More to follow on that later this week. Have a good day.
