Sunday Musing

  The ‘Baby Boomers’, born between 1946 and 1964, embarked on the most significant (sans war) national power grab in human history. They’ve dominated American society ever since and are now tightening their grip before passing away, a hold that may choke the nation to death. While attributing the current state of affairs solely to a generation, especially one crucial to government, business, and culture, is somewhat overly simplistic. Nevertheless, the postwar generation’s influence is evident across various aspects of American life. From music and commerce to technology and religion, Boomers challenged, defined, disabled, delivered, and creatively destroyed everything necessary to silence the Silent Generation and secure their place in the vibrant and assertive twenty-first century. Raised with television and credit cards, Boomers later pioneered the Internet, World Wide Web, and social networking, connecting the world into a global supply chain. Now, they’re...

 Yet People Do Not Want to Get Whet “The best way not to feel hopeless is to get up and do something,” Barack Obama.   Hope is but a dream until we decide to live it.   It takes more than an idea to change.   It takes courage, effort, persistence, and pain.   Hope provides the knife that cuts through despair, but this knife must be honed on the stone of accomplishment and endure the many strokes of change.   The blade of hope may break, but it will never do the job unless it is prepared.   Today, there are blades of hope that rust in the neglect of entitlement.   Even when something is achieved though immense effort, it can be lost when assumed to be given.

The first hunger is simple: a body yearning for food, shelter, and warmth. Once these basic needs are met, the hunger should subside. However, it does not; it transforms.   A roof alone is insufficient; it must be fortified. A meal is not enough; it must be a lavish feast. Once comfort is secured, it becomes fragile, haunted by the specter of loss. The thought of deprivation is unbearable, leading to an unrelenting pursuit of more.   Society applauds this relentless pursuit, disregarding whether it is just or unbroken. It rewards those who climb higher, not those who pause. The walls grow taller, wealth accumulates, but the hands that build it grow weary, and the hearts that sustain it grow hollow.   Security becomes an illusion that demands constant reinforcement. More is needed to protect, defend, and even lose. The soul is measured not by its depth but by its possessions. The weight of prosperity never lifts; it presses down, demanding new sacrifices. ...

  Life in Retrospect Most of the important things in life are viewed from over our shoulders.  And while we were looking back, learning from those lessons, we missed something before us that would someday be seem even more important. Occasionally, we look ahead with a sense of déjà vu and a hint of foreboding.  Our view seems strangely familiar in a frightening way.  But is it the déjà vu that instills fear, or the uncertainty about the newness?  We tend to fear the unknown more than even the tedious familiarity of peril.  The devil we know versus the one we do not yet know. What if we are right?  What if ‘it is all happening over again,’ and we are just witnessing the replay of great tragedy?  Are we doomed to let history repeat itself? History, ever-evolving, never unfolds exactly the same way twice.  However, our memories tend to be shaped by familiarity, making them easier to store.  We also tend to respond in similar ways to similar...