You Can't Handle the...

Hot air, a metaphor used to profess the exuberance of, from the heart declarations. Some appear mysteriously in the clouds: puffy ducks, Abraham Lincoln, or my favorite, Jesus on a carousel. Some are spewed from the pinnacles of power in Capital City. Everyone is entitled to their interpretive imagination when it comes to clouds, but using the commandments to sell snake oil was considered at one time, crossing a line, and that was before we needed a line, to define truth. They promise to govern us and our country with only our and its best interest at heart, another line that needs to be redefined.

I can’t help but wonder how we got to a place where everything is challenged, not because it is not in the best interest of the country, we can only assume from our recent history it is not. But it appears to be most often in the best interest of whoever is promoting the latest idealism meant to further a particular cause.

I have begun to consider the facts, as no longer facts, but suggestions of intent. An interpretation designed to promote a product. Elephant elixir, “it will not only put hair on your bald head, but it will cause you to forget life is difficult and most times boring.” Or get you some of that Donkey Cong, “It will make your inhibitions disappear and you will find the courage to dance naked on the bar of your choice,” if only in spirit.

Is it possible that we expect too much, for too little? We do after all, expect human beings to act in the best interest of other human beings, disregarding a humans natural inclination to be self-serving, as God intended. If that were not true then why would we have been endowed with free will? The ability to choose which form of torture to inflict on those that do not agree, that to forgive is divine, to be vengeful is human. 

I can’t help but wonder how we got to this place. The general consensus is that we are headed for a revolution that will entail taking seventy-five years of animosity towards the Russian Communists, and transferring that to the Chinese Communists, who although socialist in nature have adopted a capitalistic attitude, when profitable, and blaming those who believe freedom encompasses the right to promote God’s principles, on earth.

We are transfixed by the notion that we are a segregationist country in many ways, and developing insidious ways to improve on it, in other ways. Freedom takes time, and as we all know, it is not free. We have Korea, Vietnam, the Middle East, and now illusionists to prove it. It is said you can no longer buy freedom, but you can pay for an impression of it. 

Where does all the hate come from. It is too complicated some say, to place the blame on any one thing: how about two, three, four? There seems to be no end to the reasons for hate. So let’s try prejudice. There has to be a reason we can segregate the crowded explanations, and reasons given for its existence, from reality.

Or race relations? That is my favorite. 

Hundreds of years of racial injustice, if it has taught us anything, it has taught us to take turns suffering the injustice, as it is part and parcel of the hazing ritual that must be endured, if one is to find their rightful place in American society. Just ask the Irish, Italians, Poles, Asians, Hispanics, Africans, and dozens of other nationalities and cultures that have paid their dues so that they too could participate in the ritual of what we consider, an American attribute, pay back.

The standard battle cry used, no matter the language, “give as good as you get,” prevails as the standard bearer’s idealistic mantra to this day.

I got to thinking about the whole color designation of people. I can see choosing the color of the carpet I buy, but in my opinion that same standard should not apply to the family who lives next door. Because I am paying for the carpet it is my God given right to choose the color, or so I believe it says so somewhere in the communist manifesto. I don’t remember it saying anything about being able to choose my neighbors color. 

Then I got to thinking about the reason we have such a problem with race and culture, shooting, lynching’s, in one form or another, immigration? Of all species it appears only animals, humans specifically, have a reason to exclude others of their species from societal interaction. Most species use color as a means to enrich their species through procreation, not segregation and murder.

I got to thinking perhaps I’m giving too much credit to the human race, considering we are lauded to be the most intelligent of all animal species, until you look at the repercussions of that indictment.  We are poised to destroy, not only ourselves by nuclear proliferation, or by fouling the very place we call home, but an entire planet.

I realize there are people who are not happy, unless they are unhappy. And that is fine if you don’t infect the rest of the world with your pessimism. But that is not the reason for our troubled past, present or future. I believe we have been looking under the wrong rocks for answers that can only be provided by investigating the very nature of humanity.

I have concluded that because we have elevated ourselves above all other species, and the planet that provides for our existence, we have forgotten that we too are evolving. As much as the fauna and flora on earth have evolved over millions of years, we too, if we do not destroy ourselves, may come to our senses someday, provided we have a day, in which to come to them.

No, I have believed for far too long that society, culture, greed, arrogance, all the most prized possessions of the human race, are responsible for the darkness we have become accustomed to living with. 

I no longer believe that. I have come to see that the evolutionary process has allowed our natures to become divided between those who have empathy for life and those that do not. It is not a condition of society, culture, teaching, or parenting. Reality as I see it, is that we have divided emotionally and spiritually, into two differing factions. 

One faction sees life as sacred, as it is all that we have, and is accepted as being enough. A time to be shared with others in hopes of creating an inclusive society where everyone shares in providing the needs of its people, no more, no less.

The other faction believes in the autocratic principle, the powerful rule, no matter the cost, no matter what is necessary to win. There is no pretense that life should be considered equal in all matters, and deserving of respect.

To leave the darkness of a dying planet and reclaim life and all it encompasses we must learn to respect all living things by allowing them to work in conjunction with our world, not fight against it. 

It may be too late to change the history of life on our planet, but perhaps it is simply another example of, one form of life being replaced by another. Extinction is an integral part of the natural world, and we must realize we are part of that world, not the ruler of it.

If we are ever to learn from our inherited values, slavery, war, depression, segregation, we must learn to adapt, as all previous life forms have. Our failure to do so will result in our becoming, kin to the dodo bird. A vision of what was, and is no more.

Light is necessary for growth. If we continue to expedite emotional evolution, at the expense of logic, we are headed for a failure of spirit. Hate, distrust, anger, all are exploited by darkness where nothing of purpose grows. We need to relearn our ability to focus on truth, growth, life. Everything else, is merely a difference of opinion.