Going someplace?
Going Someplace?
"If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading."– Lao-Tzu. Where are we heading? I don’t see much chance of changing directions so it's important to me to figure out where we're going.
I hear that Social Security and Medicare will be broke soon. And our trillions of dollars in debt will bankrupt our grandchildren. I also heard that our war on terrorism will last a hundred years. Oh, and we'll be bought and paid for by China. Our climate is changing and New York will be under water soon. The president is a socialist and he will soon re-distribute our wealth. And according to the Mayan calendar the world will end on December 21, 2012.
That's a lot to worry about. But I do take solace from the fact that our Congress is so tied up in knots that very little can be accomplished. I take solace because if they can’t do anything, they can’t create any more laws that delineate how we live our lives. That’s good isn’t it?
Before I become too morose, I should offer other good things to consider. Chris Brown really does love Rihanna. Even though he cuffs her about from time to time. Jennifer Anniston will eventually fall in love for real – so we can all relax. Hugh Heffner is alive and well – living in luxury with nine or ten of his bimbos. Hollywood will definitely have their self-congratulatory Oscar show this year. Marlon Brando is dead so we don’t have to worry about another embarrassing stage incident. Kanye West has been invited to take the mike away from anyone who speaks too long. Finally he’s going to do something of value.
Oh, wait, I’ve slipped off course. I was talking about not changing direction and winding up where we’re headed. We seem to be, as Judge Bork wrote, “slouching toward Gomorrah”. In this time of global crises, we pay more attention to how Michael Jackson died than we do to the dire circumstances being created by the largest unemployment role since the Great Depression.
And heaven forbid that we miss even one second of the war of words between the talk show bloviaters on the right and left. Well, one good thing that comes from all this distraction is that we are being entertained. It seems that entertainment is still the opium of the masses. It’s not so different from the Roman circuses that kept the citizens occupied while their empire fell apart. Except that the Roman government also passed out free loafs of bread.
Oh well, I guess there’s nothing to do but relax and enjoy the ride. But one thing I’m going to do is be alert for the free bread. When that begins, the end is at hand.
Why do I think that we’re not going to change our trajectory? Because we are far more interested in worrying about Senator Reid’s use of the word, “negro”. And Sarah Palin’s new job at Fox News. I don’t want to be too critical but come on folks. The so-called news outlets would stop wasting our time with ridiculous stories if we stopped following them. For some reason we love them.
Maybe these stories help us escape from the fact that our government has lost its way and we can seem to do a thing about it. We throw the incumbents out and the victors take up where they left off. Our corrupted system has a way of sustaining itself. And the good news is that we get to pay for it. In the meantime, don’t worry so much. Pat Robertson will fix things after he settles the Haitian disaster with the devil.
So back to Lao-Tzu. I guess he was right. If you don’t change directions, you’ll wind up where you’re going. And I want to add “why not – everybody’s has to be someplace”.
I hear that Social Security and Medicare will be broke soon. And our trillions of dollars in debt will bankrupt our grandchildren. I also heard that our war on terrorism will last a hundred years. Oh, and we'll be bought and paid for by China. Our climate is changing and New York will be under water soon. The president is a socialist and he will soon re-distribute our wealth. And according to the Mayan calendar the world will end on December 21, 2012.
That's a lot to worry about. But I do take solace from the fact that our Congress is so tied up in knots that very little can be accomplished. I take solace because if they can’t do anything, they can’t create any more laws that delineate how we live our lives. That’s good isn’t it?
Before I become too morose, I should offer other good things to consider. Chris Brown really does love Rihanna. Even though he cuffs her about from time to time. Jennifer Anniston will eventually fall in love for real – so we can all relax. Hugh Heffner is alive and well – living in luxury with nine or ten of his bimbos. Hollywood will definitely have their self-congratulatory Oscar show this year. Marlon Brando is dead so we don’t have to worry about another embarrassing stage incident. Kanye West has been invited to take the mike away from anyone who speaks too long. Finally he’s going to do something of value.
Oh, wait, I’ve slipped off course. I was talking about not changing direction and winding up where we’re headed. We seem to be, as Judge Bork wrote, “slouching toward Gomorrah”. In this time of global crises, we pay more attention to how Michael Jackson died than we do to the dire circumstances being created by the largest unemployment role since the Great Depression.
And heaven forbid that we miss even one second of the war of words between the talk show bloviaters on the right and left. Well, one good thing that comes from all this distraction is that we are being entertained. It seems that entertainment is still the opium of the masses. It’s not so different from the Roman circuses that kept the citizens occupied while their empire fell apart. Except that the Roman government also passed out free loafs of bread.
Oh well, I guess there’s nothing to do but relax and enjoy the ride. But one thing I’m going to do is be alert for the free bread. When that begins, the end is at hand.
Why do I think that we’re not going to change our trajectory? Because we are far more interested in worrying about Senator Reid’s use of the word, “negro”. And Sarah Palin’s new job at Fox News. I don’t want to be too critical but come on folks. The so-called news outlets would stop wasting our time with ridiculous stories if we stopped following them. For some reason we love them.
Maybe these stories help us escape from the fact that our government has lost its way and we can seem to do a thing about it. We throw the incumbents out and the victors take up where they left off. Our corrupted system has a way of sustaining itself. And the good news is that we get to pay for it. In the meantime, don’t worry so much. Pat Robertson will fix things after he settles the Haitian disaster with the devil.
So back to Lao-Tzu. I guess he was right. If you don’t change directions, you’ll wind up where you’re going. And I want to add “why not – everybody’s has to be someplace”.
Robert DeFilippis
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