Goodbye, Good Night, Good Luck!
Is the Whole World Having a Nervous Breakdown
America is in the throes of a massive battle between two sides with very different goals.
Both parties want to change things. Democrats prefer to follow the path of unprecedented progress which took place in the 20th century. Republicans are striving for regression, going back to what they consider their roots, pre–New Deal. Make America Great Again is a fitting motto.
The addition of the word AGAIN points in the direction of what used to be rather than what could be.
The New Deal, social security, public education, civil rights, women’s rights, Medicare, unions, pensions, the birth of the middle class, laws against children working, paid overtime, paid holidays, the five-day-work week, and gay marriage are all relatively new social constructs.
For most of human history, these systems and benefits didn’t exist because there were few promises made between the ruling class and the rest of the peasants.
The tug and the pull between the two parties has resulted in a struggle to keep status quo. On occasion, the Democrats lost some big battles.
Although we’ve had a few huge moments in the last couple years to celebrate, but we’re so frayed around the edges that we’ve barely noticed.
My sister who lives in Maine mentioned the other day that she can’t go anywhere that she doesn’t run into a street or a highway that’s being torn up and rebuilt. Nobody else noticed, however. I can’t believe how badly America’s infrastructure needed not just a facelift but an actual upgrade. There’s not a single state that isn’t currently benefitting from the improvement of roads, bridges, or water systems.
Still, we’re unimpressed because our sense of dread and foreboding makes it impossible to enjoy the good bits.
There’s not an anti-anxiety pill big enough to make us feel calm and serene. We suspect everything is being held together by a thread. A thread!!!
We panic at least once a day and that’s a good day.
There are too many issues to attend to them all. We feel traumatized, even paralyzed. The phrase “failed state” is casually thrown about by the media and they’re not referring to just one country either. Authoritarian rule, fascism, the far right, and theocracy have become common everyday words in our vocabularies. And we’re not talking about a foreign power. We’re referring to our next door neighbor.
What the heck?
These are challenging times because there’s a distinct and dangerous divide in the country. Everyone knows that when there’s a lack of cohesiveness nothing functions like it should. Families, the workplace, communities, and the government will slowly unravel when there’s no sense of unity or shared goals.
A dependable social network is crucial to long-term progress and security.
It’s a worry and as near as I can tell, the entire western world is experiencing the same confusion to a greater or lesser degree. If you follow international politics at all, I’m sure that you know the current trend is not very reassuring. The same struggle is going on across the globe between the opposite extremes of the political spectrum. Yesterday France. Today Sweden.
We turn on our streaming news stations or listen to our favorite talk show hosts as they deliver more bad news with a screeching fiery tone to their voices. It’s like sitting in a Pentecostal church while the preacher dances up and down the aisle literally spitting a sermon into the air with a beet red face and veins sticking out in his neck.
Yowzah! We’re going to hell in a handcart.
We need a vacation. The whole world needs to shut off their computers and smart phones and give it a rest. In fact, that’s such a good idea, I’m going to do it right NOW! I think you should consider doing the same. Just give me a few claps on my story and then turn off your computer, run yourself a nice hot bath, and relax. That’s where I’m headed right now.
Goodbye! Good night! Good luck!
Teresa is a retired educator, author, world traveler, and professional myth buster. You can find her books on Amazon.
