The suffering of ourselves...

[Javaman]

From time to time I reflect upon humanity, but I don't ponder too long otherwise I feel myself losing my grip with what is supposed to be my sense of reality.

What are we? We are a race of contradictions, a people prone to massive hypocrisy, a group of beings so full of themselves out to save ourselves from ourselves so in the end, we can all feel better about ourselves.

We proclaim, make statements, pass laws, rule by decree, and still we struggle. We hope that with each and every passing year the plight of we the humans, gets a little less burdensome. That our amassed brain power will push the ball forward to create "a better tomorrow".

100 years ago, most people traveled by means other than a motor car. 100 years ago disease was fairly common and "cures" or treatments were rarely effective. 100 year ago our level of understanding, in regards to the world around us, was only just entering into the confirmation of the atomic level.

We have come so far, but have we really?

We lament the short comings of various officials, of people who are supposed to be the responsible ones, the authorities who are to be the rudder to our ship of state.

But what are we really saying? Are we mad at them or are we mad at ourselves? Have we been duped or have we allowed ourselves to be lead along?

We put stock in one persons theories over another, then hold onto those theories as if they are true, while not seeing the result of said theories.

We continue to take things on faith. Faith that past actions of other people, of the same affiliation, are to be revived in the same spirit to satiate our hope for something better for today and tomorrow.

We want that ball to be pushed forward, we strive to make things better, we want that fair deal.

But what happens when those things we took on faith become compromised? Do we question? Do we demand the truth? Or do we exhibit our fatal flaw; rationalizing the new reality?

The enemy of the good is the perfect, right? That's fine, but what if the enemy of the merely okay is the good?

Have we fallen so far down the rabbit hole to mistake good for perfect? Has our own level of integrity been so influenced, so diluted; that now, what we demand of ourselves, of our elected officials, of our nation, which is so far from being even close to perfect; looked upon still as being perfect?

Has the public consciousness been so distracted, so taught to look the other way, to not demand accountability that our basic notion of what is right and what is wrong so bastardized that simple solutions appear complex or overly demanding?

We, as individuals, live, by and large, peaceful lives. We raise our families, mow our lawns, try to treat our neighbors with basic respect. We cook our meals, teach our children, enjoy peace and quiet. We dance, sing, play music, create art, all as people trying to do the best we can, when we are not working to pay bills that we struggle with each month.

Why?

Life, when you get down to it, is really quite simple, but made overly complex by people who choose not to take responsibility for their actions.

We have to stop demanding only good and only receiving okay.

I want perfect, because I know in the end, I will get good.

Perfect is not the enemy, it's the level to which we must strive in order to get the good.

I'm so tired of acceptable. I'm so tired of the excuses. I'm so tired of the daily parade of crooks, liars and cheats. I'm so tired of "this is the best we can do" when the best is far from good, far from acceptable and far from "I can live with that".

We have not been dumbed down as a nation, we have been beaten down by a force far more powerful. We have been taught to accept things for what they are and not demand more of ourselves and from our politicians.

To me, that is the biggest crime.

[Catherina]

1. Rec'd and very sorry I don't have time to give you a real response

but recommended!

Not believable! What kind of peson would unrec this?

[Javaman]

3. Thanks. :)

I saw the post sinking like a rock and thought about pulling it.

[Catherina]

7. I liked it. It struck a chord.

I just typed a long response to you and then zapped it because you said it perfectly already. I didn't have anything of value to add except a thank you.

[phantom power]

2. Perfect is not the enemy, it's the level to which we must strive in order to get the good.

:thumbsup:

[Solly Mack]

4. K&R

I want better. I demand better. That doesn't make me a malcontent - that makes someone that doesn't ever plan to teach myself to accept less and call it more.

[FedUpWithIt All]

5. "I want perfect, because I know in the end, I will get good. "

:thumbsup:

When enough people demand nothing less, the world will actually see the change it dreams of.

[SammyWinstonJack]

6. K & R nt

[happy_liberal]

8. I'm so tired of acceptable. I'm so tired of the excuses. I'm so tired of the daily parade of crooks

I'm with ya :applause:


Why do we accept incompetence as an excuse for everything? I don't believe that use to be a valid reason for anything, now they use it for everything. "no one could have known they would use planes as a weapon"

How do we overcome our learned helplessness? How do we get people to even understand this is not the way it has always been, as the new 9/11 generation comes of age(and we all die off) this is all the future generations have ever known so they certainly won't be demanding more.

JFK wrote a book way back when "Profiles in Courage"---OMG what a wake up call...amazing illustration of how far we have fallen. Not only were the politicians held to MUCH higher standards, the American people would have NEVER put up with anything close to what we are seeing now.

[Javaman]

9. In a number of my past posts, I make the following statement...

we are a nation of children.

It's really ironic that the very people who want less government are the same ones that depend on it so to protect them.

What 8 long years of having a dimwitted president did to us, among the very long list of other things, was to dumb us down and expect less from the people who are supposedly in charge. Less accountability under the guise of national security, less regulations to help spur the economy and less transparentcy to allow the elected officials to do their job without being "questioned every step of the way".

At the end of the day, the government demands of us, not we demand of the government.

Thus, we are treated like children and react as such.

We don't expect more from our elected officials because we no longer expect anything from ourselves.