May you live in interesting times

It's a curse.  A strange yet apt one, and apparently it has been thrown onto our entire population.

My daughter recognized the strange pattern of about 50 years between periods of racial issues escalating to the point they are now.  Each time we make things a little better, then let sleeping dogs lie until the next big period of change, where once again, we are polarized by race.

We have a war at least every 20 years. We may hate abortion, but we get all patriotic about sending off our young men (and now women) to fight to the death in the name of god and country.  Ask most of the survivors at age 70 what they were fighting for and they don't know.  Making a war is old power-monger work, but fighting a war is the job of the young and passionate.  No one else wants to risk dying without knowing what exactly they are fighting for.

We have a depression/recession/inflation cyclicly--read that as if you are in the bottom half of incomes as at the top, your biggest risk is bankruptcy and having to be embarrassed in front of your fellow fat cats.   The bottom half is only feeling fat from the cheap, bad-for-you food  that is all they can afford.  When you are at the bottom of the bottom half, that cycle is about every 24 hours.

For some reason, there is always a crossover between these events, much like we are in now, and with that cross-over comes extremism, hate, violence, fear, and just plain finger-pointing.

We, the editorial we, need to be more informed, and also to be more self-aware.  We need to know what scares us and what makes us angry.

We need to know the triggers that bring up our own irrational fears and hates.  Not for therapy, although therapy is not a bad thing, but because for the majority of us, our lack of self-awareness makes us as easily led by our fears, insecurities, and sense of powerlessness as---puppies? sheep? 3 year olds? choose your group, none make us sound very wise or insightful.  But we are very herd-able.

And despite the many fine prints of Jesus as a shepherd complete with crook, there is not a lot of resemblance to his teachings in where our hate and fear lead us.

Instead, our hate and fear lead us to be the perpetrators of atrocities.   We insult and ridicule, we ostracize and criminalize and demonize, we even kill and maim, all because we need and want someone else to be responsible for the problems we are suffering through.  Our hate and fear makes us dangerous and ugly.  It does not solve our problems though.  And we are so easily lead and so seldom able to identify the real cause of our problems.

Perhaps we need to start asking questions, not letting others; the media, the politicians, the church leaders, the boss at work, tell us what the questions are and what the problems are.  We need to ask our questions, and keep asking them until we get true answers.

Why am I broker than ever?  Why am afraid for my future? Why can I no longer balance my budget?  Why?  Why?  Why?  and answer.  Answer repeatedly.  Research for answers.  Pray for answers. Meditate for answers.  Discuss with those you trust and are close too.  Discuss with those that you don't usually talk to.  Be the solver of your problems, not the blamer for your problems.

And remember,  this too shall pass.

You are just living under a curse.