Near and Far

Some days, both near and far, I just sit and wonder. Can things be as they seem/are? Am I wrong on this and wrong on that? I'm reminded this AM of one of A. Lincoln's quotations during the Civil War, "It hurts too much to laugh and I'm too old to cry." I think that is most fitting for today.

I just look around and want to laugh at the insanity of so much. But, then I think of the gravity, and I want to cry (and, maybe, when alone, sometimes do--but don't tell anyone!).

My US Senator finally responds to my comments to her by saying, in essence, The nominee has some flaws (that is, he broke the law, the law that will be the particular domain of his position), but he's the best qualified for the job. Yeah, right.

The Michigan gov unashamedly proclaims she'll take the boondoogle (I won't say "stimulus") that certain governors have said they'll forgo. This is the same woman who admitted in a newspaper interview that, "They," meaning us, "have to get over thinking it's their," meaning our, "money." And, I have no doubt, were Gov Jennie not term-limited, she'd be re-elected.

Businesses that have laid off hundreds and thousands of workers give bonuses of 7- and 8-figures. Sports figures are demanding and receiving tens of millions of dollars for a single year. School districts, instead of replacing the failed administrators who know little or nothing about quality education, pay them $125,000, $150,000, and even up to $250,000 a year. Meanwhile, it's "Don't drive on weekends if it snows...there's no overtime pay for road workers."

The gov't encourages the most undesirable of behaviors. Have too many kids? Don't worry, those without children will pay for them. Have more? Don't worry, those without children will pay for them. Going to prison? Don't worry, there's cable television, a training room, and square meals each day. Coming out of prison, if you're a politician? Don't worry, someone will offer a six-figure salary for a job you know nothing about.

And gov't discourages desirable behavior. Play the game the way it's supposed to be played, well, get f**ked. (Excuse my French!) Know your field better than most, but expose the flaws in it? Don't worry, you'll be ignored if you don't fit the agenda. Pay off your mortgage, by having a job--or two or three or four or five? Don't worry, you'll get taxed more to bail out those who gambled and bought houses they couldn't afford or those stupid enough to lend to them (or was it gov't that required such loans?). Study hard, work hard--reap the rewards only to find the more you work, the more you earn, the more gov't takes to pay for those who don't want to study and work as long, as hard.

Of course, talk like this and you get labelled: "mean-spirited," "greedy," "out-of-touch," just like the dimwits in the schools who couldn't defend their inept programs and policies (They don't seem to be working, do they? Have you counted your change at McD's lately? Do you know that BO isn't anything at all like A. Lincoln?). Instead, call names, "negative," "bitcher," "old-fashioned," etc. Or, if those don't work, just ignore and/or intimidate others into ignoring (of course, that assumes people willing to stand up for what is right, not merely bitch in the lunch room and then blindly follow the stupidity).

Who are our "leaders," which I write very sarcastically? Politically, financially, educationally.... They are greedy. They have no principles. They are ignorant. They are self-centered.

And where are the people who can put a stop to all of this? We're too busy watching American Idol or Survivor. We are more interested in the latest basketball or football score. (There is nothing wrong with watching or having interest, not at all. There is something wrong when those are the most important things.)

Yes, A. Lincoln nailed it. "It hurts too much to laugh and I'm too old to cry."