It’s Thanksgiving Day. The dark days of the past few years have made it difficult to think of an obvious thing for which to be thankful. Prosperity and Security? Not so much; Good will toward men and back again? Are you kiddin’ me?; A home nation dedicated with one mind to the social balancing of life, liberty, and happiness?…….Nope.
Then, just now, it hit me that I have one wonderful yet bizarre thing to give thanks for, though it’s way outside the box. That one thing I can be thankful for is ALL of the recent calamities : the rise of the Islamic State Caliphate, terrorist attacks easily implemented, a rollercoaster economy; dissent between every ethnicity, every gender – and there’s a lot of ‘em now -, every religious organization, government, and sect, every owner and worker of almost every type of business; and every threat to the basic principles that hold all us worldwide ‘haters’ in check. In short, life is really messed up, and it’s actually a good thing.
One of my old poems comes to mind. It’s about the round-and-rounds of the wheel of life.
The Harping Wheel
No matter the way which one’s leaning is seeming,
Changes are most met with kicking and screaming.
There’s hemming and hawing,
Harping and hating,
They’re-different-from-us-so-we-must-be-afraiding,
Violent threats with wild gesticulating,
It’s these that give us all our fame.
It is “they” with desire,
Who started the fire,
It’s “them” who are fanning the flame.
Between the two sides,
There is no common ground,
“They” and “Them” have each other to blame.
But, “Those” who think well can achieve oh so little,
Because Them and They have Those caught in the middle.
No level of effort can turn it around,
So, sooner than later it all will burn down;
And then will come thinkers,
Idealists with dreaming.
I bet they’ll start over
With kicking and screaming.
(mic drop)
What’s the wheel? Wealth breeds the desire for power. Power corrupts. Corruption is addicted to control. Security creates complacency in all of us to yield to that corrupt control.
For decades the world’s prosperity and this nation’s financial security have caused a chipping-away of the most fundamental aspects of the common sense of humanity – the sense of reasonable satisfaction. From the richest to the poorest, everybody has desired everything, every way, all the time. This has become the culture, one based on desire and consumption. To consume is to spend. To spend is to create wealth in others. Then the wheel of life spins, again. Wealth breeds the desire for power. Power corrupts. Corruption is addicted to control. Everybody thinks they have what they need, and that security creates complacency in all of us to yield to corrupt control.
The wheel spins around and around, ‘most’ people getting more and more caught up in satisfying trivial desire, and so not noticing that other people are gaining corrupt power and control of the liberty of the ‘most’ to pursue their own versions of life and happiness.
I expect, even hope, that about now you’re asking, “Good grief, Andy, what the heck is wrong with you? How can we be thankful for such a crazy world?” It’s because of what the calamities reveal.
As the world falls apart – and I’m talking about America – it reveals that the greedy, corrupt controllers of power on both sides of the congressional aisle, in order to keep their ill-gotten positions of power, are lying, cheating, and stealing, as fast as they can, in order to eke out another round and a longer ride on the ‘wheel.’
Cutting to the point, the calamities are shining a spot light, revealing that the ‘controllers’ are corrupt; and the ‘most’ are almost to the point where a paradigm shift will occur, when all the disparate mind-sets of special, self-interest will concentrate and coagulate into a single force, which will result in a bright shining moment when the ‘wheel’ will be knocked over and replaced by an entire nation dedicated with one mind to the social balancing of life, liberty, and happiness……..Yep, I’ll be thankful for that.
But, I’m not naïve. I know the ‘wheel’ of corruption will rebuild itself to start spinning anew. Even so, right now I’ll start my own spinning wheel. Go to the beginning and read the poem, again.
Happy Thanksgiving
AB
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