Tuesday, January 22, 2019

Where did 2018 go?


I don't know about you, but for me 2018's been a blur.

Talk about time flying when you are having fun.  I'd say it flies even faster when you are NOT having fun, or at least you WILL it to fly faster and just get it over with.

That's what 2018 has largely been to me.  Something to get over with, to get through, to survive if you will.

I think that's been the attitude of slightly more than half this nation's people too.  Who wants to stay in this time, with all of it's highlighting of human failing?  Let's please close our eyes and skip ahead, skip ahead.  Maybe when we open them again we'll be in a better place.

2019, is that you?

Heroes and Friends

... or, when the brightest lights go out how do you find your way?

You would have to be a recluse bordering on hermitage, or the reddest of red-state Trumpists to feel good about the news of the Country and the World these days.  But we somehow get by without walking fully-clothed into the Pacific or swan-diving in our cars off Angeles Crest.

This on-the-brink-of-depair state hits those of a certain age the hardest, since we also are feeling unmoored from 'our time' as well.  We are being slowly disconnected from the people and things that strengthened our view of our country and our world; the sources of courage and hope during all the years of almost unrelentingly sad news blaring at us from our TVs and from our newspapers, and now from our multi-various 'screens'.

Even in our darkest times we had Heroes, who would speak words of encouragement, or lead by example; sometimes sacrificing their careers or even lives for the right thing.

We also had cheerleaders and those who simply made us remember the good things still surrounding us, through their words and actions in print, in films, on screen, or through disembodied voices over the radio.

These Heroes and familiar Friends kept us grounded and upbeat, through every damn thing the worst of our kind could dredge up and throw at us. (And that was an awful lot).


MAGA-Maniacal

 Of all the incomprehensibilities spewing out of the red-state Trumpian geyser,  MAGA, or 'Make American Great Again' is the first and foremost.  It Trumps 'Lock Her Up', and 'Build that Wall', or even 'Fake News'.

MAGA implies that America WAS great at one time, but currently is NOT.  And that Trump, or the populist but thoughtless movement of which he is the leader and symbol, can make it great AGAIN.

This is ironic and doesn't make sense, given that the self-same supporters of MAGA are the first to cry 'America is the Greatest country on Earth', and claim that millions of immigrants want to come and partake of that greatness.

So what is it? Are we Great or Not Great?

Of course, I'm kidding.  I know the MAGA movement is really saying that Americans of primarily caucasian lineage living 'traditional' lifestyles and wrapped in a familiar religion are what makes America great, and anything or anybody displaying different values would undermine that greatness.

But that attitude, aside from being innately racist, grossly inhumane, and irreligious, is a bad plan for the future.

Sure, short term change can be (and probably will be) painful and disruptive. But without change there is no way to find better ways to live together as a human society. Without change we will never solve age-old problems that may only be solved given new perspectives.

In other words, societies need fresh blood, and new ideas.  Change in the form of immigration has brought just that to America over the centuries, and it can do it again.  In fact, the greatness of our country depends on it.

Build a wall and all we will do is stagnate behind it.

So,

Maintain America's Greatness by Allowing immigration. MAGA, indeed.