Saturday, May 14, 2016

They'll Be Days Like This My Mama Said

Old song lyrics meant to describe the ups and downs of romance but those words are true regardless of subject matter.

This week has been one of a lot of downs.  No, make no mistake, I wake up each and every morning with a prayer of thanks on my lips for giving me another day whatever it holds. I face the day and its challenges with an upbeat attitude and a smile but this last week has left me weary.

Why you ask?  Well, our state of being mostly -- as a country, as a society, as a species.  "Things" are just not right.  Why is that?  Have "things" always been wrong and we just have the information highway to thank for all our knowledge of "things" now?  Have "things" always been tenuous and in my younger years I was just too busy to notice?  That could be part of it.

What are these "things" you ask?  There are concrete, tangible things and then there are nebulous things -- feelings.

Our country is in trouble.  There is something just so wrong about an elected official trying to rule how we live our lives and run our businesses and then threaten to withhold federal funds if we don't cow-tow to his demands.  We have sunk to a new low level of morality here.  It appears that common decency is a thing of the past.  It would seem that self pride is alive and well but is it?  Back in the day people were too proud to put themselves in positions of controversy.  People lived by a set of moral "rules" -- now that is a bad thing.  It seems like everything bad is good and everything good is bad.  There is an overriding feeling of doom and gloom and threat.  We don't know who to trust so we trust no one.  It seems that the days of looking ahead to a bright future have met a brick wall. 

I blame a lot of this on social media -- i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, etc.  I frequent Facebook and I have taken notice that each time I do my mood drops a few degrees in positivity until, by the end of the day, I am so depressed and dejected that I can hardly stand it.  I hear you saying the obvious -- don't go to Facebook.  Agreed, that would be a wonderful solution but there are two things -- first off I keep up with family that way and secondly it is addictive.  I mean seriously addictive and the more I realize this I see how divisive and subversive it is to our children and our families.  I am not involved with the other media mentioned but I am sure it is the same for them.  I can see where youngsters as well as adults are bullied through these avenues and I can certainly see how so much time is wasted with a phone/tablet in hand to get the latest most important "news".

I have read a lot of posts on our latest controversy here -- the use of bathrooms by our citizens.  I have read good posts and bad posts.  I have heard such hate coming out of peoples minds and mouths from both sides of the issue -- I am ashamed to say that I have read it.  When did common decency cease to prevail?  I am baffled.

I  am perplexed by the number of posts involving sick children, hurt children, abused animals -- I understand it is social media and every person has a right to their platform but it just feeds the already growing depression that seems to be taking over this country. 

I am troubled by the amount of information discussing the dangers in every aspect of our lives -- our food is all bad, nothing should be eaten, our environment is toxic -- today I learned about how light bulbs can cause cancer and will eventually kill us all.  The air is bad, the water is bad, the food is bad, the medicine is bad --- but is it?  Back to that trust issue.  I feel like we are being lied to across the board about everything and  it puts me in a very defensive mood -- all. the. time.

We waiting for word that Bruce has ended his journey here and has begun his life in glory.  It seems there is no more they can do.  As I read about our "bathroom saga" and the "threat" of light bulbs I think about this young family with so much future cut so short. It seems to me that as a society we have our priorities all wrong, our interests all wrong, our concerns all wrong. 

Where did we go so wrong?  What have we become?  What can we do?

Personally I can't change the world but I can change me and my own environment and that is what I plan today.  Later today I will be emailing my important Facebook "friends" telling them that I won't be around much anymore.  I will encourage them to email me with news of their lives.  I won't do away with my account but I will be whittling down my "friend" list to probably a half dozen.  I hope people aren't offended but since most of those people don't really know me, they probably won't even notice I have gone.  I will be getting off group lists and when posts show up that disturb me they will be deleted.  I have to be proactive here because my mental/emotional well being is most important to my physical health.

So, sorry about the rant.  I have just been overwhelmed by sadness, fear and distrust.  I am hoping that next week will be better.  I will let you know.

Have a wonderful Saturday.





Update

 Ok, so we visited our cardiologist yesterday to get the lay of the land for the Hubs.  Seems there is an issue with one of the grafts from ...