Drippings.

 Just some thoughts that have been tumbling around my head.  Nothing complete, just want to get them out.

I thought we were heading for Revival, turns out it was just good marketing.

I've found such peace in getting older.  The restrictions and diminishments of aging have somehow helped me to enjoy life.  Humility, even forced humility is it's own reward.  I've realized that I do not have a sophisticated gastro-palette.  This has led me to even more enjoyment of food.  Even the reduction of libido has led to an enjoyment of life.  I guess when you take the foot off the gas it's easier to look around.  In my vain and pride filled youth, I just knew I was destined for greatness.  But greatness is usually fueled by some absence.  An absence of love or approval that causes a person of talent to be singularly focused on achievement.  I've had love and approval in my life.  My lack of greatness or extraordinary achievement is replaced with a sweet contentment in which my family and friends are my prize.  My growth is internal and communal rather than singular and showy.  There is a sweetness in decay.  I'm a slightly over ripe fruit!  Not much to look at, but still quite pleasant and absent of the bitterness of youth.

No one knows anything, but not for lack of information.

The quest for Utopia always fails to consider the consequences of that pursuit.  In seeking perfection, the imperfect are cast aside.  You cannot have human interaction without imperfection.  On a large scale, you cannot have evolution, macro or micro, without imperfection.  It would be better to put our efforts into the miracle of Grace.  A quest for inclusion and tolerance in this mess that is humanity.  We don't stop seeking to improve our society and our individual lives, but we can keep the imperfection in the calculation.  And we utilize Grace to overcome.

Corrupted People don't know that everyone is not like them.  They believe everyone is playing a game, hiding their true nature of greed, lust and power.  They don't trust goodness or altruism, thinking it a manipulative ploy.  In fact, they think themselves more virtuous because they are upfront about their thirst.

Just caught a piece of thought provoking social media.  The question was, why are Conservatives and Christians(Evangelicals) so bad at making Art.  {This can be debated, but the response was informative}  Modern Christian content is of course Ideologically based.  That's not necessarily a good or a bad thing, but it does effect the POV.  Most Christian/Conservative/Ideological content FEELS heavy handed.  The "art" is leading you.  A review of an historical event with this in mind is skewed to review the makers POV.  In this scenario, the Art is essentially propaganda.  This goes for any ideological art.  Sometimes it's unapologetic and upfront, sometimes it's intentionally deceptive.  

My thought is not to debate the good or bad/right or wrong of it all, but to realize that my favorite art and content asks a question rather than force an answer.  Curiosity about the complexity of being a human being is far more compelling than being led to the artists desired answer.  Great art does have a POV and the Artist does have intention.  However, in my opinion, the best Art makes you realize that you really don't have any answers.  The Doubt or Awe of it all should leave you uneasy and questioning.

There are people that will choose to feed 100 in hopes that they will reach the 1 that actually needs it.

There are people that will choose to deny 100 for fear that there is 1 who does not deserve it.

Grace is not efficient, nor should it try to be.

In the extreme:

Liberalism is about a Utopian future.

Conservatism is about a Mythologized past.

Both are a problem.

Groups that are expressively intolerant of the diversity that exists in humanity seem to be very tolerant of their own hypocrisy.  Intolerant groups believe there is only one "right" way to exist and cling to that even if they, themselves cannot adhere.

Oh Say...

 

The last tattered strips of my childhood patriotism have finally been dissolved by reality.  Every day current events and the reflection of our nation’s problematic past have taken their toll.  I was never a vocal patriot, but did always feel proud to be an American.  And I still do feel privileged to be an American.  I think my patriotism was based on a “2 step forward 1 step back” kind of belief system.  That though the United States and the experiment of our Constitution had devastating missteps, we ultimately leaned toward the good and righteous outcomes.  We were the Good Guys that sometimes had to do bad things.  That feeling has all but faded completely.  However, my optimism still has a burning ember.  As a nation that made Declarations in it’s fight for Independence, we DID make compelling and honorable promises.  Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happyness is a Promise.  While our delivery of that promise is a problem, it still remains a worthwhile pursuit.  From a World History perspective, it’s embarrassing and sad cliché that we keep repeating the same events over and over. 

“How could the world let that happen?” is something I wondered to myself from middle school forward well into my 40’s any time I considered the atrocities of the 20^th Century.  The Prime example is of course Nazi Germany.  How could the World let that happen?  The rise to power, the invasions, the Genocide.  Thinking the world had progressed and that we were passed that kind of hatred is a special kind of naivety.  And now, within my own country that boasts the most freedom ever achieved in the modern world, we have given power to megalomaniacs, billionaires, and oligarchs.  It’s the same embarrassing story over and over.  We the people got played.  In the last few months I’ve been consuming documentaries about Post Civil War up through the 1930’s.  America's Gilded Age and Industrial Revolution, with figures like Carnegie and Morgan, evoke parallels to modern-day titans like Musk and Bezos. We often celebrate these powerful individuals, even as their pursuit of monopolies always disadvantages the poor and marginalized. And more documentaries of European history leading up to World War I reveal a similar pattern.  Modern citizens are no different, we have learned nothing.  Furthermore, the legacy of the American Eugenics Movement highlights not only our failure to prevent Hitler's rise, but also how our own history of slavery, genocide, and the "scientific" justifications of eugenics provided potent tools for European nationalist leaders. And if those tools weren’t enough, we closed our borders to immigration by 90% in the 20’s adding fuel to the glowing embers of Europe.

“I am forced to look out for emigration and as far as I can see the USA is the only country we could go to.”  We all know the tragedy of what the Nazi’s did to Ann Frank and that she died in a Concentration Camp.  What is never mentioned was that Otto Frank petitioned America numerous times for asylum and immigration to the U.S.

There is a feeling of helplessness verging on hopelessness.  The irony is that it is because we hope for better that it feels so bad.  We hang on to the belief that we are collectively better than this.  Not just people the think and act like me, but the people that view life here in America from vastly different perspective.  We’ve all heard the promise of America.  We’ve bought in to it one way or another.  I have no illusions of a utopia.  Utopia is over-rated.  Utopia can only happen with 100% agreement.  I don’t think good things come out of a situations where humans agree completely.  You need dissent and diversity to push this mess forward in a way that we can deliver on that promise to the most possible people.  That is the Genius of our Constitution…it accounts for the mess with Checks and Balances.  And when forces work to diminish those Checks and Balances, it is up to We The People to put them back in place.  That too has happened in the past.  Unions gained strength for the workers that were getting crushed under Monopolies.  Women did achieve the right to vote.  The world did come together to sacrifice millions of lives to bring down tyranny.  We began to give equal rights to all persons of our country.

The Heroes of our Nation remain heroes.  America has been a force for good for centuries.  I don’t desire to minimalize the inherent goodness in the fabric of our citizens and the millions that have sacrificed for this country and for the greater good.  I don’t want this country to be torn down, I just want it to live up to it’s own ideals.  I’m cling to the quotes of past Presidents about the persistence of our better Angels and the belief that there is nothing that is wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.  So I guess I do have a little patriotism left.