I’m finding that the more frustrated I am about the “big picture” things in the world, the more annoyed I am by the little things.
I want to grab Mr Assad and the leader of the rebels and give them both a jolly good talking to before sending them to their rooms. I want to feed the starving hordes in the Sudan. I want little girls in every country to have a decent education, and then be able to do something with it. I want to save the Great Barrier Reef from being dredged by greedy, thoughtless, narcissistic…(insert rude words). I want to give asylum seekers safe haven.
Oh I sign petitions until I’m seeing them in my sleep. I vote according to my conscience, and write to my local member of parliament but it doesn’t do any good. I give money when and where I can, even though we still have a big mortgage, lots of extra medical expenses, we live on one average income, and the Old Boy and I are hurtling towards retirement. I pray for a better day. But, deep down, I have a sinking, nagging, gut-wrenching feeling that I’m not making much of a difference.
So, I see a Johnson’s baby oil ad, in which the child thinks in an American accent and calls its mother, “Mom”, and my teeth are set on edge. I shout: We’re Australian for Pete’s sake (sanitised version)! We say, “Mum”. We’re not an annexe of the USA! Why are we buying ads from America, instead of using our own?!! The TV screen never answers back. (I’ve lived in the United States and there are still people and places in that great country that I love. BUT – we’re not the same. And, that’s a good thing. I’d like to keep it that way.)
I wasn’t going to mention the recent election but I have to share this little snippet. I heard that the Greens party gave their preferences to the Climate Sceptics Party in the recent election. How utterly hypocritical and self-serving! No wonder the average voter is drenched in cynicism.
I hear about book stores closing down, because everything is on-line these days, and I want to grab everyone’s smart phones, i-pads, kindles and what-nots, throw them on a huge bonfire, sprinkle petrol on them and set it alight. Of course, I make this statement using my desk top computer. I didn’t say my thinking was rational. I’m just frustrated and saddened by the thought of proper paper books going the way of the dodo.
I told you: can’t fix the big picture things, so I’m going nuts at the little ones. Hmm… Perhaps my “time out” wasn’t long enough. Bring on the tennis.
Yes indeed, this ‘Dystopia Express’ we have all been riding has been feeling a bit bumpier lately. Perhaps even worse, it seems like they have been giving the public address system to the dumbest people on board lately. They like to screech in the loudest possible voices the most insane and inane ideas that I thought we jettisoned a couple of generations ago.
Sadly, it isn’t me who needs to fret so much, it is my children. I figure I will be long gone by the time this train actually makes its final stop. I am not so optimistic about what awaits my children in their old age. For me, I continue to rely upon the idea that no knucklehead will find some way to hurry us along and get us to the station ahead of schedule. I probably don’t want to dismiss the depraved ingenuity of humans so easily though.
Humanity, as a species, has lasted this long – and so triumphantly – because of our extraordinary ability to adapt, so I guess we’ll keep doing that. The optimist in me is inspired by the wonderful individuals who do make a difference in the world. Not all the big money guys are selfish; eg: Bill Gates.
Of course, my faith tells me it’s all going to come to a screaming halt some day and justice will, one day, be done. Meanwhile, I’ve got to find a way to live that doesn’t continue to raise my blood pressure. 🙂
You don’t need a time out so much as a realignment of your engagement with the world. The world is now too big and pressing in on us from all sides. That can’t be handled by a single individual. You need to find the places where you can make a difference. That is difficult for people of our generation, who didn’t grow up with social media to narrow our horizons.
Some things just can’t be saved. I have concluded that the challenge of climate change is not the sort of challenge that human beings or their social groupings can cope with. Give us the sabre tooth tiger or demon duck of doom anytime. All great civilisations go through a growth and decay cycle. We are going to have the privilege of seeing ours follow that trajectory down.
Voltaire’s Candide is a good book to read in this situation. The trick is to cultivate our own garden without entirely shutting out the rest of the world.
I hear the wisdom in your advice to ‘cultivate my own garden’. On the whole, I agree: I need to choose my battles. The trick is getting the balance right: time in my own garden that keeps me sane, but not too long that the rest of the world gets over-run with weeds.
I’m with you Wendy, give me the heart, mind and will to mourn as we have been taught in the “sermon on the mount” but what about the personal stressors? Would love you to write on it but methinks very few people would read it. If you could help us that ‘elixer of life” could be well worth bottling making it much easier to swallow!
Thanks for that, Mairi. I can see it now: bottles of Elixir of Life sitting on the supermarket shelves. If only it could be that easy.