As many of you are aware, I have recently had some health issues
which have presented me with an opportunity to do some evaluation and take an
inventory of my life. That being said, I’m pleased to report that by way of my
introspection, I have discovered that I’m wholly exhausted with self-evaluations
and over-done with personal inventories.
Back in my days of heady self-indulgence and selfish ambivalence
I wasn’t nearly as encumbered with opportunities for personal growth, and I
like to think I was still happy- well, happy enough. In fact, most of my recent
self-evaluation revolved around memories from my first three decades; more
particularly of the third decade.
I could easily call this time my Age of Unremarkable Self-Grandeur;
an age defined by my overly developed self-importance carefully wrapped in the
cloak of the one-of-us commonality of the 90’s and early 2000’s. I catch myself
with a wry smile as I think back on those days.
Those were the days when a person with half a gumption and a
handful of marketable skills could easily outrun misfortune and bad luck simply
by the pace of their lifestyle. A busy father who spent far too much time
working and traveling could easily placate his conscience and ply his children’s
angst with more stuff, more toys, more money, more after-school activities,
more music, more clothes… more!
And politics was easy! Whoever seemed the most able to do
nothing, and stay out of the way of our steamroller economy always seemed the
best bet for the country. Little did we know, or care, that these politicians
who seemed to not be doing anything were actually NOT doing nothing, and that
while we were busy clicking on our virtual shopping carts, the economy was already
on a collision course with numerous icebergs.
And now, we act surprised to find ourselves in the throes of
an economic downturn that has yet to even fully peak. That’s right. I don’t
think we’ve seen the worst of this economic downturn. It’s going to become even
more ugly and mean and real people are going to be hurt. And by “real people” I
am talking about people you know; even you and your family.
Excuse me if I seem overly pessimistic about the near
future, but this is a situation that can only be alleviated by fully confessing
the economic sins of our past, and allowing those follies to shrivel up and
drop off the economic vines. I fear we are merely prolonging our suffering by
throwing fake money at bad money, hoping it will somehow, magically even, heal
itself.
But there are some positive take-aways from this situation
and I would be remiss not to point some of them out to you, even if the
take-away hasn’t fully matured into something positive, yet.
I can sense some of you squinting at me in confusion, “What
do you mean? It’s either a positive or a negative, right?”
Yes and no.
For example, I like to think we are becoming a more
thoughtful people. I like to think that, but if I were you I certainly wouldn’t
be gratified by my thinking that thought. In my opinion, we are only becoming
thoughtful because opinions are easy to find and adopt. Not to mention being
thoughtful is free and can generally be rationed out according to one’s own
intellectual limitations- sort of a self-directed studies course for the
half-wits.
We may be a more thoughtful culture, but we still allow the
talking-heads and political parties to do a majority of our thinking for us. We
still turn to the likes of Glenn Beck and John Stewart to tell us the way we
feel about different ideas. We laugh at those who fashion their political ideologies
after the likes of Barbara Streisand or Whoopi Goldberg because these people
are clearly not professionals, they are entertainers. But, in the same breath,
we spout the political ranting of Savage or Beck as cannon, despite the fact
that they are both entertainers as well.
And I’m not suggesting that we stop listening to the talking
heads. In many ways, they do offer substantial subject matter that can be used
to spur individual thought and opinion. But if we count on these individuals to
provide our entire philosophical and political foundation we are setting
ourselves up to become a divided and reactionary citizenry, rather than a
free-thinking and pragmatic citizenry. By allowing our opinions and thoughts to
be marginalized we are setting ourselves and our voices up to be marginalized.
I don’t say these things to you in an effort to belittle
you, but as a way of admonishing you. If there were ever a time when your voice
should NOT be marginalized, this is the time. Individually, our voices may be
unique or common. We may speak loudly or in subdued tones. We may have a shrill
voice or a voice of low, almost dull, reason. But collectively, we have to find
a way to harmonize and blend.
It’s imperative that we speak out against fear and
oppression, whether it is from a group of hoodlums massing in the city streets,
or a band of terrorists. Our silence is being understood to be our acquiescence
to the government that is attempting unbridled access over our liberties
because we have led ourselves to believe that we are victims and afraid.
We need to collectively raise our voices against any Act of
government that would limit our freedom based on the tenuous notion of
security. And don’t be fooled. The attempts to subvert our freedom are not from
any one political party or even from any one branch of the government, but from
all of them. And while it may not be an act of malice or intent on their part,
it is certainly a product of our own passivity. We need to understand our responsibilities
when our core freedoms, namely the Bill of Rights, are not only being infringed
upon, but summarily dismissed by our leaders.
You’re familiar with my Three Rules of Being a Man; the
third rule being the collective summation of the first two rules, “If it’s
important to you, then prove it.” This is important to me, and by way of this
post I’m initiating my proof of how important it is. I’ve never been overtly
political, but this supersedes politics and partisanships. This is a matter of
personal freedom.
Congress has passed the Defense Authorization Act and the
President is hours from signing it into law. There are numerous websites and
groups decrying the Act as treasonous, and it may well be, but you need to read
it and decide for yourself.
This is important. This is one of those times where a
reactionary opinion from Glenn Beck is just as dangerous as a patronizing
rationalization from Jeanine Garofalo if we don’t take the next step and find the
information for ourselves.
We are well informed masses. We allow ourselves to be
informed by any number of sources, but we will never be a unified voice until
we become an educated citizenry.
