Lost Paradise for Our Children

I am an old fart, in body if not in mind.  I don't much care what happens to me, I have had a great run in my life.  I have lived through the most amazing time in American / World history that will ever be, I think.

I was born right after America with a little (lots) of help from the Russian won the great war against Hitler.  I witnessed the greatest creation of wealth and prosperity the world has ever witnessed.  I witnessed an effort to eliminate prejudice against blacks, gays, women, fat people, etc. An absolutely amazing period in American, and World, History.  Perhaps not since Jesus have people had more hope than we had in the sixties.

In art, we had John Lennon who imagined a world without heaven or hell when it was not popular to do so.  Simple men like Mohammid Ali stood against the government and the killing of people our rulers had decided were evil.  Martin Luther King spoke of the promise land, but like Moses, never got to see it.  Kennedy asked the people to not ask what the country could do for them, but what they could do for their country.  I am afraid the last remarkable thing we will do is to elect Obama.  It is our last gasp, perhaps.

Where did we lose our way.  It is actually quite simple.  We gave up the religion of the Bible and put consumerism in its place.  I do not support either religion, but the masses do.  Perhaps another religion that competed with consumerism is a complete faith in science to solve all our problems.  But, problems of humanity are not external, they are internal, inside the soul, and I use that word with caution. The world as we see it is a reflection of what goes on inside our minds, our souls.  Our thoughts and attitudes ooze from our body and color the world as we see it.

Our economic and social well  being derives from who we are as a people, and that derives from who we are as individuals.  Loving your neighbor is important to insuring our survival as a people and as a way of life.  And, unfortunately, consumerism does not teach such basic truths. The old religion, that I desserted 32 years ago, at least gets this right.  However, the followers of this religon mostly do not apply this principle, so either way, society is doomed.

Now my kids, what kind of world do they inherit.  First, a world that believes in nothing.  Second, they live in a country that is a military superpower but a declining economic superpower.  The superpower part came from a people that dared to dream and believe in a just world.  My children do not give such things much thought and my children are much above the average.  They are great kids.  All of them smart, all of them trying to do what is best and right, which is more than you can say for most. But, they are lost in the quagmire of American life.  The strength of a people come from their beliefs, and sadly our beliefs center around out doing the Jone's.   There are many wonder exceptions around me, but exceptions must become the norm to change the tide.

Our future at the moment depends more on the Chinese than on us.  Its an economic reality.  If you don't know what I am talking about, start reading, figure it out.  The Chinese culture is very old with a lot of wisdom embedded in it.  The current leaders, communists, do not yet reflect the whole of China.  The people of China understand many things they understand about life that we do not understand.  So, them holding the future, or the next hundred years is not necessarily a bad thing for humanity.  It is hard on the white, Anglo-saxon, protestant mentality, but not necessarily bad for the human race. They have a lot to teach us about families, community live, devotion, cooperation, and the good of the whole.

In all, the transition will be tough on my kids.  But, hopefully, they will adapt, accept the new world order and not be stuck with the attitude that we are the greatest.  Not even Mohammid Ali believes in being the greatest in the broader scope of humanity; his humility in later years testifies to this.  In the end, it depends on values, on morals and the courage that comes with living one's life based on principles.  For my kids, I am optimistic that I have helped to give them a set of values that will lead them into this new world.  I am not as optimistic about most of America and their children.  Perhaps this is egotistical, and maybe it is, but I have been fortunate to have children that embody the person(s) I would like to be, perhaps better than I do myself.  Today, Michael Jackson and Fara Facet died.  Michael J didn't seem to me to have a very good life based on what I think I know about him, but who knows.  Fara seemed to be a pretty cool lady.