Suddenly, instead of same old vs. same old it has become fist-pumping blood-spattered hillbilly American patriotism vs. Same old same old. And in recent decades we have become an either/or nation incapable of subtlety, finesse, or autonomous individual change. So of course, true to our consumerist nature we will not see beyond the anticipation of something new and exciting; even when new and exciting is only relatively new; even when new and exciting repeatedly and continuously fails to fulfill.
It fails to fulfill because the anticipation is but hollow hope, and when the objective is attained, when that bubble bursts, we may work for a time to retain that baseless feeling of confidence and possibility but for most of us it does not take long to give it up and fall back on habit. And that habit has become divisiveness – pain – confusion – either/or – the next latest greatest.
And all this flitting about from one unburst bubble to the next, driven by a bit of manic desperation, knowing deep down that in the short run we’re standing still and in the long run we’re not keeping up, you’d think that more of us would work toward improvement, (and at least individual) fulfillment. But even those who do consider and encourage this active hope, (hope filled out with reasoned action), cannot ignore how today’s reality of 8+ billion people alongside the ever-growing wealth, income, and power gaps severely limits the efficacy of autonomous individual change.
And personal circumstance can further complicate and hinder progress. For example, to all this I can add my personal limitation of senior citizenry, (a limitation not of capability, contribution, or potential, but of opportunity); a circumstance that I recognize as a better circumstance than many (probably most) yet still a circumstance in which I am sadly contemplating retirement. It would be a mutual loss.
No, I am not new and exciting. I apparently do not spark imaginations nor do I often find occasion to pump my fist. And the closest I come to blood-spattered is as a pedestrian on my daily 4 mile trek to work; but even that is, well, pedestrian. If you look closely though, I am also not hollow. I work to fill my hope. There is substantial and even essential reasoned action within my method and my madness. And I’m not sure you can say that about our latest and greatest – or even our same old, same old.
