Those who know me even a little bit have probably heard me say that I am going to live to be 105. Which, so long as I have a decent quality of life...I accept this challenge I have set for myself. Barring injury or illness, either of natural, accidental or nefarious causes, it is a possibility. How exciting, right!?!?
However, as I have recently turned 50, the Big Five Oh (not to be confused with the Hawaii Five Oh),the figurative top of the hill, I must also face the more real probability that I am closer to the day of my demise than I am to that of my arrival to this world. That is a sobering thought.
Due to my several and various careers, I have learned that humor, even the dark and gallows type, helps many gets us over and past dismal thoughts and dark times. Thus, I shall try to be less gloomy and more light hearted in my prose.
———————-
While you my readers may be unaware, there has been a significant period of time that has elapsed since I started writing this little essay. I wasn’t totally sure as to where I wanted to go with this,and, of course, the real world of living interfered with my individual life, no matter how significant I may or may not see myself in this world.
I think I shall start with that thought first. Unless we have some sort of super power or god-like ability, no matter what our station in life, regardless of title or position, it is a truth of life that the things we hope for, plan for, desire are buffeted by the winds of life as it is occurring. The best laid plans..., a literary phrase of some renown, yet it is only as we go through the process of living that we truly begin to understand it’s significance.
To truly live life and not just exist, it becomes necessary to learn that we must roll with the punches, “adapt, improvise, & overcome,” and alter, delay or change our plans, without actually giving up those plans, without denying our dreams.
——
I have come to believe that as much as technology has enabled the whole of humanity to learn so much about ourselves and the universe in which we live, in the so called First World, it has led to some of the most egregious incidents of Stoo-pid in the history of mankind. Not just in the small and annoying ways that affect me personally, like some kid who has no clue how to make change appropriately, let alone enough basic math to figure out what to do once they have rung something up and I come up with the coinage to just get smaller bills in exchange for my larger denomination cash tender. No, I am talking about the instant infamy and perverse glorification that come with acts of atrocity.
It is sad, deplorable even, that some people are driven to the extremes of taking their own life or on the other end of the spectrum maiming, wounding, and killing others because not only do they feel as if no one hears them, but can’t even escape to the relative safety of home without their on-line persona being harassed, bullied, demeaned, abased and abused.
What is the happy medium? I don’t know; but I’m pretty sure it requires human compassion and civility. Wait! What? Look, I get it; I have become jaded towards most people. I can be seriously snarky and sarcastic. However, I am also personally aware, from both the perspective of the one who has needed those things and the one to show those things, that they can truly turn a horrible day into a better one; change an outlook on life and/or self. So stand up for someone; intervene, interject, interact. Ultimately, you are helping yourself in as much as you are helping someone else.
———
Speaking of civility. Where has it gone in politics and civic debate? I grant that the ideas to try and improve the condition of society or mitigate/eradicate the ills that afflict is generally come from the extremes. Once the idea has been molded into something workable, it should then be shaped and tempered by debate and eventual consensus as to what is best for all while not trampling upon the liberties of any subgroup or destroying the rights of individuals.
Governance is the price we pay in liberty to have a rule of law. Rights may indeed be absolute (though what a complete list of what are inalienable human rights is still up for debate, as is how those rights are applied to that which is not human (animals) or is of human construct (corporations/businesses)); but inalienable doesn’t mean inviolable to you and yours while inapplicable to those with whom you disagree with or dislike. Your rights end when they take or deny another the same rights. Yes, you read that correctly. Your right to do as you damn well please ceases to exist when it infringes upon the right(s) of another. It is this interaction of competing rights and infringements thereof that require a) rule of law and b) civil discourse.
——-
I know that I have oh so much more to pontificate and ponder “aloud,” but I think I have taken up enough time of yours and consumed enough of mine that for the moment I shall sign off.
I look forward to comments, concerns, and such, should you so choose.
No comments:
Post a Comment