Once thing I always wondered about the expression “going to hell in a hand basket” is well wouldn’t the basket burn up and if the ride is long wouldn’t you want a bigger one?
Saying the left is organized is a bit like saying “anybody can be president in America”, the game is rigged but we like to pretend it isn’t. In darker moments, I think the right will always be deluded dancing to a frantic tune and the left will be too busy having a food fight to notice that the roof caved in, the levees broke, and the oxygen in the air disappeared and middle America will be demanding that the “end times” be made into a reality show with really good looking participants. The organized right isn’t really interested in educating and teaching one another which is why they can march like humanoid tin soldiers to the most ridiculous tunes and make it seem and after thought.
On the left people actually want to try and understand one another from an individual and group identity point of view which is why they sputter into verbal cage fighting at times.
Good people will disagree and good people will act like jerks to one another because while we might all admire Gandhi and other peaceful mentors: we aren’t. What is that old cliché: it is easier to ask forgiveness that permission. The problem is we end up assuming others will forgive us when we should have asked for permission and suddenly everybody has a scorecard, a list, a legitimate list, whereas on the right if you inadvertently fuck over or hurt somebody you used to like God is going to take care of it in the end so why worry?
And if we are all going to hell in a hand basket despite noble efforts we might want to think about we we go there with, the next door neighbor who invokes a slur to explain how he got a good deal on a car, or somebody who decided to stumble like a happy drunk after a dream everybody said was silly and unattainable?
If the “real world” was so fantastic and fulfilling 24/7, most of us wouldn’t be here. Now, I am not complaining about the existential wasteland of my life. I am relatively privileged. I have been on the other side, at least economically, and it wasn’t fun. I was lucky as opposed to being smart and innovative. Scores of smart and innovative people never get the luck I have had which is why I generally ascribe any small victories in my own life to fate.
Some folks fold under confrontation, some are rather good at it, some prefer to chose their battles, some are ready, some are not. The clever man with the admirable skills of a seasoned parliamentarian just happens to have mastered a technique. He isn’t better, wiser, or anything in the end than his less articulate brother.
It can be wearisome when you’re the teacher and the students claim they are open to something new and it turns out they are still afraid and stuck in old patterns. It can be wearisome when you’re the student and you think you’re ready and you disappoint yourself with the embarrassing knowledge that you aren’t. In anger you might blame the teacher or the other students or you are too ashamed to admit you have failed in your quest to be the person you want to be.
It can be frustrating when question beget questions when what you thought was achingly clear isn’t. Maybe there aren’t answers, just questions that hover closer.
I have no idea.
Sometimes peace and unity looks an awful lot like a stale tasteless buffet that costs way more than you think it should.
Sometimes conflict causes a metamorphoses and others all it causes is a hangover.
You can get on the Love Train and get dumped…..
Being flawed is inconvenient. I know I have plenty of practice.
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on edge this morning because the fucking front gate didn’t close properly and the dogs took off when I let them out for the morning constitutional. I feel like a stupid asshole for not noticing it.
mighty fine ramblings if you ask me!
i know, no-one asked me…but i thought i’d give my opinion anyway!
i hope the furred ones did Not ramble too far.
your description of seeing both sides of the economic aisle remind me of what I’m sure many of us have witnessed. It is amazing when you first realize as a young child that there is something called Rich or Poor in this world, and you are able to be described as one or the other. Having not done the Rich side of that equation, I’m guessing you are talking about having seen the Poor side at one time.
Isn’t is astounding that when you are able to move beyond poor to EVEN just slightly comfortable, how different the world looks?
It is my honest hope that so many more people will get an opportunity to witness that difference. I know I will keep working toward that end.
The time is now. For what, well, that’s up to us individually. Thanks for a lovely essay.
ma’m. 😉 Thanks for your essay. It brings up a lot of rambling thoughts in my mind. I think this is what’s hitting home with me at this particular moment:
I just read this at the orange place: Seymour Hersh: Bush Steps Up Iranian Action. I guess that my main though at this point is that I hope we can continue to learn how to best communicate with one another, while at the same time making sure that we don’t get to hell before we completely work that issue out.
where i read this or what the quote actually is:
“The only difference between wisdom and neurosis is struggle.”
is the way i remember it. always thought that was a good one, putting the onus on me to turn my lemons into lemonade. at the risk of sounding all new-agey, i dig the whole we are responsible for transforming ourselves, our energies, our shit to gold. success or failure, it’s sort of fun.
and no one here has forgotten about the levees, fyi. :-\