I don’t want to regale you with the level of shittiness occurring at the global level these days. A brief recap goes like this: addled, mind-numbingly stupid man runs a government on spite and purposeful ineptitude & might start WWIII because his predecessor was much better at his job than him and people liked him; petty coward who lives in Budapest can’t handle free elections, so he’s doing everything he can to cheat right in front of our eyes rather than just be – the horror of it – a better leader; small, small man who probably lives in a bunker somewhere north of Moscow started a war and has been trying to gaslight the world with the whole ‘well if you just gave me this, I’d leave. This is really your fault.’
Sadly this is but the creamy top of the crap sandwich of the way people are making the world a bad place to live right now. There are also greedy billionaires, bullies, and conmen galore. The American government is no longer Republican or Democrat, but a subset of the UFC and World Wrestling Federation. We get tough guy speeches from plumbers who hid behind chairs. Empathy is scoffed at, unless it’s for a right-wing podcaster, then it’s required by law.
Deep breath in. Deep breath out.
Like most people – and I mean that, most people – I have simple wants. I want to be healthy, I want to save a little money, I want to stop working at some point, I want to have fun, and I want to live long enough to see World War Z made into a limited 8-episode series like it says in the Bible. I want the same (more or less) for my friends, family, and community. I don’t want to hate people and I don’t want other people to not have things just because they disagree with me. I think this is true of most people. And I think it’s no secret to us lowlings that we have all been convinced to loathe our neighbor for about 10 years now. What a terrible state of global affairs.
On the bright side, I do think this is changing or going to change. I get the sense that we are as one population of humanity sick of this. I think people are pissed and have come to the realization that the idiots mentioned above don’t care about them, they are in it for themselves or reasons that are not guided by humble public service. These guys won’t be around forever – it’s just not physically possible. Sure, it might be a year, two, or three, but they will be gone. A thought to give all of us hope. But – I think we are all wondering – then what?
I’m sure all of you out there have – at least to some degree – been in a toxic relationship. Until I was about 40, we just called that a ‘bad’ relationship. In a rare case of my opinion matching current phraseology, I think that ‘toxic’ actually captures the true essence of a bad relationship better, even if it is losing its tang through over-saturation. The world is in a toxic relationship.
And I think the world is about to break up. No, I don’t mean totally calamitous. But I do meant that what’s happening is going to come to a head, explode, and then we’re all going to have to regroup. We will do what 10,000 musical artists have sung to us about: we will suffer, cry, stamp our feet, question, moan, and gnash our teeth in the aftermath of leaving a relationship. Some of us will look forlornly at pictures of balding orange people and reach for the phone, but you will not call. Others might think that a one-nighter with the Russian guy wouldn’t lead to anything bad, but you’ll come to your senses before doing anything rash.
We can’t fool ourselves that once these people are gone the world will be peaches and cream right away. As with all breakups, it will be hard for a while. But with them gone and a bit of reflection and insight, we will be able to grow as a people. Nevertheless, we will also do as Gloria Gaynor told us: we will survive.
At least until the next time.
