It comes in many forms

The quest for light in a pessimistic world

I keep telling myself that the best days for all of us lie ahead, but with each setting sun, it’s getting harder and harder to convince myself this is truth.
Perhaps I’m just a guy who’s getting older like everyone else, but the fact nothing seems to change regarding the economy or the ever-increasing amount of money required to retire comfortably, leads me to believe that perhaps our best days are behind us.
To be eternally optimistic is difficult, especially when we see what we’ve turned into online—a collective troupe of people engaged in the futile game that is, “Look at me.”
Sure, I’m part of the problem, too, as this blog can be my own soapbox. And anyone with an Internet connection is given a cyber bullhorn if you will, to proclaim (and inflict?) their world views on others, so, why I am concerned with others’ musings online when I should be happy to just have my own voice here?
Well, because it isn’t enough. It’s not enough to tell a story or say something. We all seemingly are trying to convince others to think the way we do, that every other way of looking at a given issue (if it’s not our opinion) is wrong.
Sometimes it almost seems to me that we’re looking for apologies from people who don’t think like we do. What would we do if we received those apologies? Would it make us stop broadcasting our points of view? I would suggest that we’ll all just keep criticizing others for thinking differently, no matter how many people we bring into our camps, because we’re addicted to the attention.
No one wants to fade away. But fade away we must. Even if you go out in the proverbial blaze of glory, the passage of time ensures others’ memory of you will fade. It’s the cycle of life.
It takes too much energy for me to be hip at this stage of my life. I guess I just don’t care to even bother to try. The thought of fading away bugs me, but I’ll keep getting up, try not to get too excited and proceed with the day.
I don’t need any motivational posters hanging on my bedroom walls.
I do not require a pep talk from anyone.
I know that pain closes down all of us intermittently throughout our lives; we all share this.
And I know that love is the reason for living and am grateful for each day I can walk in its caress.
There isn’t an app out there that can bring me lasting happiness.
I still am irritated at how we’ve reached the sorry state of preferring to look at our phones rather than each other.
I also feel sadness that many of us are challenged at making new friends.
The way to stay engaged with this crazy thing we call life is take a risk every now and again, to have faith in ourselves that if we are brave enough to take a chance occasionally, it may result in something better than we had before.
This is what is missing from the world today. It’s called human interaction and it’s becoming an endangered behavior.
We’re losing to technology due to the degree at which we’ve embraced it.
Ironically, we’re worried about identity theft when so many of us prefer to troll anonymously online.
Extraterrestrial life has been relegated to the movies. But, if I were a species from another planet with designs on earth, I would feel the plan for taking over the planet was proceeding nicely.
We can carry on a conversation if we have to, but it all too often ends up an argument. We’ve lost the ability to respectfully disagree and move on. We insist on being right where everyone and everything else, is wrong.
We’re losing the struggle that life has become and it’s increasingly difficult to smile.
I don’t know what the answer is, but I’ve identified (part) of the problem. And I’ll start with myself—my actions, behavior and words, and we’ll see what they can bring.

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1 Comment

  1. Mark

    On the the other hand…..i find it incredibly freeing to not worry about anyone else’s definition of hip. I love the distillation of what’s not important and the search for the meaningful. The sadness of others fading away is impacting me now but seems to be leading me to the stronger conviction that something else waits for us. The aches and pains remind me that i have lived and tried.

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