A rant.
Juli and I went to a 1930's themed party on Friday--I came as a newsie. Some guy, obviously confused, came as a British parliament member circa 1781, white wig, ruffles and all. We had hot buttered rum and applecider, and I ate lots of cupcakes. On saturday we had a party for Juli's brother Joe, and I quizzed trick-or-treaters about the motivations for their costumes. One girl was a vampire, but I told her she looked like Micheal Jackson...I could sense the tears welling, so I gave her a generous handful of Nestle Crunch. Then, of course, there were the pre-teens, who don't dress up but hold out king sized pillowcases. Halloween is for them, as Garrison Keiller says, "a festival of sugar."
As for my beef with the world, it stems, in part, from the old adage "history repeats itself." Sure we have progress, but in reality, the problems have only changed on the surface. Take the war, for instance. The powerful have always used violent means to achieve selfish ends. Well, that makes sense in a skewed way. What doesn't make sense is, simultaneously, we use violence in attempts to achieve a peaceful end. This is why the war in Iraq was such a giant mistake. Radical Muslims don't see us trying to "liberate" Iraq, they see us as invaders who demand political, moral, and economic compliance. We're so bullheaded. We look at what we want to happen, then set out to accomplish it with no regard to those it might affect. Sure, radical Islam isn't good for the world, but we're not helping matters by bombing the hell out of everyone. Talk about drumming up hatred. The only reason we're remotely concerned about the middle east is the oil trade. Before that, it was a concern that Russia would get too chummy chummy with Iran. The thing is, we're damned either way. No one complains if Switzerland doesn't get involved with world affairs, but we're the top dog and everyone expects us to sort the world's wheat from the chaff. This opens us to scrutiny, however. Who cheers for the top dog (well, except for Yankees' fans)? Enough of that rant...but think about the other problems the world has. Poverty, dearth, poor health care, depleted resources--nothing has changed, each generation simply puts a new veneer on an old issue. We're Sisyphus, rolling the rock uphill and watching it tumble to the bottom again. Has any real progress been made in three thousand years? Sure, we've improved the "quality of life," but how do you even measure that? We measure by comparison--with whom? The wealthiest, those with the best healthcare, those with the most technology, those with the longest lifespan. Attributes that in no way guarantee happiness. Here's where my Platonic ideals come in. I want to believe that life is meaningful, but it's obvious to me that meaning cannot be isolated in the material, temporal aspects of our humanity. You could go the theistic existentialist route, and say that meaning is found in the interactions and love we have with one another and God, but that doesn't account for history. I want to believe that history itself is meaningful, that it's not just a cyclical struggle or God's violent means to a peaceful end. But, I always have this creeping doubt about it. There is no explaination, at least, not the kind I'm looking for, and so my hope for meaning rests on faith, which is, to be honest, a bed of nails.
As for my beef with the world, it stems, in part, from the old adage "history repeats itself." Sure we have progress, but in reality, the problems have only changed on the surface. Take the war, for instance. The powerful have always used violent means to achieve selfish ends. Well, that makes sense in a skewed way. What doesn't make sense is, simultaneously, we use violence in attempts to achieve a peaceful end. This is why the war in Iraq was such a giant mistake. Radical Muslims don't see us trying to "liberate" Iraq, they see us as invaders who demand political, moral, and economic compliance. We're so bullheaded. We look at what we want to happen, then set out to accomplish it with no regard to those it might affect. Sure, radical Islam isn't good for the world, but we're not helping matters by bombing the hell out of everyone. Talk about drumming up hatred. The only reason we're remotely concerned about the middle east is the oil trade. Before that, it was a concern that Russia would get too chummy chummy with Iran. The thing is, we're damned either way. No one complains if Switzerland doesn't get involved with world affairs, but we're the top dog and everyone expects us to sort the world's wheat from the chaff. This opens us to scrutiny, however. Who cheers for the top dog (well, except for Yankees' fans)? Enough of that rant...but think about the other problems the world has. Poverty, dearth, poor health care, depleted resources--nothing has changed, each generation simply puts a new veneer on an old issue. We're Sisyphus, rolling the rock uphill and watching it tumble to the bottom again. Has any real progress been made in three thousand years? Sure, we've improved the "quality of life," but how do you even measure that? We measure by comparison--with whom? The wealthiest, those with the best healthcare, those with the most technology, those with the longest lifespan. Attributes that in no way guarantee happiness. Here's where my Platonic ideals come in. I want to believe that life is meaningful, but it's obvious to me that meaning cannot be isolated in the material, temporal aspects of our humanity. You could go the theistic existentialist route, and say that meaning is found in the interactions and love we have with one another and God, but that doesn't account for history. I want to believe that history itself is meaningful, that it's not just a cyclical struggle or God's violent means to a peaceful end. But, I always have this creeping doubt about it. There is no explaination, at least, not the kind I'm looking for, and so my hope for meaning rests on faith, which is, to be honest, a bed of nails.