It seems that the last few weeks have been the busiest I have encountered for a long time. I just look at how many times I have not been home for supper and it sort of freaks me out. Hence the extreme delay of posting anything to this blog.
Tomorrow is a huge day as to what course the most powerful nation in the world will take. I don’t want to state my political persuasion here, not being a citizen it won’t amount to much anyway. What we do need to see is someone in the White House that will begin to deal with the problems that all of us here on Main Street are dealing with. Here is hoping that whoever the winner, the course of history will change and we can look back to seeing this as the beginning of solving the mess we are all in.
In the last month the world has seen some major upheavals in the financial markets. It scares me to say the least. It is interesting to see all those bulls suddenly become bears (barren?). At least no one is saying I told you so. They were all drinking the same kool-aid. There is ample use of the word ‘toxic’. Seems that is the wattered down version of ‘poison’. Poison in the Oxford English dictionary means “A principle, doctrine, influence, etc., which is harmful to character, morality, or the well-being of society; something which causes harm; something which is detested.” It is the last word definition that is beginning to come into play somewhat. But we haven’t arrived at actually detesting this circumstance. If we do then we can manage the change. We seem to only be band-aiding what the poison has done and not necessarily taking the antidote.
I believe that antidote involves sacrifice, hard work (sweat equity instead of just paper equity), gratitude for our station in life (we aren’t going to bed hungry) and re-capturing and living some ideals and beliefs that have meaning in our lives. Maybe we realize now that we can’t bowl alone. That we have become disconnected from family, friends, neighbours, social structures like churches, clubs, sports clubs, community organizations and the like. We are people that live in a larger society and that our values need to go beyond just the physical accumulation of goods. Maybe tomorrow will be the start of something for all of us.
Tinfoiling 
Hey Gene, good to hear from you. Sorry it’s been so busy for you.
Hmmm, I can’t imagine who you favour in this US election. Let me ponder that a bit…
Not so sure the antidote is “hard work” – I think we *have* been working hard. I do agree that this would be an opportune time to get seriously radical and re-imagine what kind of world we want to help create, and with any luck it will have a lot less to do with accumulating “stuff” and a lot more to do with becoming truly civilized, in the “love your neighbour as yourself” sense.
These are great points to ponder, Gene. Now that we know who the change leader will be, I’d like to submit to you that I don’t know that it matters much who it is. I didn’t find either candidate particularly inspiring and I believe it’s going to take a lot to get the U.S. to start feeling good again, both emotionally and economically.
As far as change, it comes mostly from within anyway. People have to want to change, they can’t be told to. Some people say we are on the verge of a depression, but I don’t think so. It’s going to be a painful time, but hopefully we will recapture some of the good things that came out of the depression. Like connection with family and community and dependence on one another – people helping people again
America is lost to a degree and can’t seem to find its bearing. We need a better GPS, I guess. I plan to support the new president, as long as he adheres to the ideals that made us great in the first place.