Ever heard that old saying, “The world is going to hell in a hand basket?” Well, it seems like we are getting pretty close. The economy remains in the toilet. – SOTU – Cops are murderers. – Chris Dorner – North Korea is still set on pushing our buttons, – Nuclear Tests – and if they don’t succeed, we’ve got Captain Planet (Al Gore) reminding us that we’re killing everything anyway. – The Future – (Oh! And who knew the pope could quit?)
Remember when you were a kid and you knew that everything in the world was okay? No matter what, some grown up would fix it–whatever it was–and the world would always be rainbows and lollipops? Why didn’t someone tell us that we were going to grow up to be Mr. & Mrs. Fix-It? Seriously, where was the warning?
I used to have that “America, the strong” mindset. You know the one I’m talking about; “I live in the United States of America. Nothing bad will ever happen to us Americans. We rule the world.” (Of course, September 11th happened and my generation got short changed on the childhood view of the world.) Even after that, I thought we would kick some ass and take some names; I never thought this would be the state of things in 2013. As a country, we’re still children. We have at least a few centuries before our “empire” falls, right?
These days, just turning on the news is enough to make you nauseous. It’s the same old thing everyday; “Another shot dead on the south-side tonight,” or “Two injured in Convenience store robbery.” If the local news doesn’t give you your daily downer, the national news is always there, passing out free hits of reality. We’ve got psychos shooting up movie theaters and more psychos shooting up elementary schools, even if there was an amount of therapy to help with that, who could afford it? And I don’t care what the government claims, we are still in two wars. Fortunately, the last of my deployed loved ones just came home, but I still know the ache military relatives get every time there’s an Iraq/Afghanistan update. (My heart is truly with all of our troops, their families, and everyone affected by the recent acts of gun violence.)
Honestly, when the best news I can recall from the week is Justin Bieber getting shut out of the Grammy’s and Fox News
accidentally representing traditional marriage with a photo of a same-sex couple, something is wrong. But what can we do about it? I’m certainly no expert, but I do know that we influence the climate issues directly. So, there’s a start. What else? Well, our government representatives have just such a title because they are there to represent us, so we need to make them. Write letters, make phone calls, send emails, protest if you have to, but be heard one way or another. I don’t suppose there’s much we can do about North Korea and foreign affairs, but we can pay close attention to who we put in office, both locally and nationally. And of course if you’re religious, pray, not just for us, but for the world.
It’s time to get up off the couch and out of our depressed stooper. Once upon a time, we had a reason to feel that national pride we were raised on. If we want it back, we’re going to have to work for it.
Medley of Mo 