Lately I've Been Generally Dissatisfied

I'm not happy with my personal physical state. I'm not happy with the state of The Union. I'm not happy with the state of human development. Not happy with the state of the environment. There just don't seem to be many things I am happy about these days. I'm not happy about that either.

When you've been alive as long as I have, you have accumulated a substantial pool of experience. My knowledge of highs and lows is higher and lower than that of most younger people. I have experienced extremes of poor. I have enjoyed the comfort of plenty. This experiential pool is a resource of the aged. You can't buy it, you can't rush it. It grows by walking miles with eyes wide open.

Out of that experience grow certain assumptions we call values. And that's where my problem lies.

Maybe I expect too much.

We humans tend to think everyone else sees things pretty much the way we do. You can see proof of this when you hear (or utter) the question, "What? Can't you see that? It's so plain!" Most of us have a really hard time believing that our experience may not represent the norm of human experience.

I tend to expect adults to understand that. To me, that IS plain. You may be normal in your little world, but in the larger context of global opinion, you might well be a fringe lunatic. Accepting that possibility is a defining mark of adulthood. Insistence that everyone else align with my world view is a sign of stunted development.

I expect people to behave themselves in ways that benefit everyone. Not just every "person", but every living thing on this rather unique rock we call home.

I expect individuals to be honest. Deception is reserved for your enemies. It has no place at home. Deception always breeds distrust. Where there is no trust, there can be no rest; there can be no peace.

I expect adults to look inside. They should understand themselves well enough to see that we all teeter on the brink of predation. We are, after all, the apex predator. The physically mature among us are among the most dangerous animals on Earth. It is tempting to many to use that power for self-aggrandizement. Unjust enrichment is all too easy. Preying on the weak is dishonoring a long history of caring. It is simply dishonorable.

I expect people to do right. Upright, stalwart people do not shrink away from consequences they themselves have engendered. Good people own their faults, their mistakes, their just rewards. This makes them deserving of respect. Doing the right thing even when it hurts is a mark of maturity.

I expect people to be giving. Children naturally take. It's all they can do. When we leave childhood, however, we become givers. Providers. The opposite of hoarders and accumulators. We let go of our substance to the benefit of others.

I expect my nation, America, to be the land of the free and home of the brave. To be of the people and for the people. Not just some of the people. Not just "the right kind of people".

I expect leaders to lead us to the light. Our world is dark enough already. There is enough grasping and subjugation already. We don't need help to spiral downward into hate and suspicion. We can do that all by ourselves. Lead us upward.

I expect people's behavior to reflect what they claim to believe. It is patently dishonest to apply a beneficent label to yourself when your life is one of selfishness and greed.

Maybe I expect too much.

I've been told I do expect too much. Time and time again friends and family have informed me that the world just doesn't work that way. They say I have no right to expect people to care, to do what is right, to live in a way that is more advanced than the law of the jungle. I have a hard time accepting that. I don't want it to be true.

If life is what you make it, why can't we make it better? Why does our success have to mean someone else's loss? When did it become normal to want to destroy those who do not think like we do? When did that become the higher reasoning of mankind? When did that once again become the mantra of nations and religions? I thought we had moved beyond that sort of thinking.

It's all a churn, man. Maybe there is no real linear path upward for mankind. Maybe when we start to touch the stars we are destined to fall back into the pit. I'm sorry, but that's just too depressing.

I keep looking for things that work. The idea that mankind is destined to remain savage is untenable. We gotta leave that behind.