During Lent, for the most part out of habit (but not one that I would rather not think about), I tend to think (or wonder) about others. Fasting, even its mildest forms, can do that to you. (You really should try it sometime ... you might surprise yourself at what you find.)
Yes, I have friends who think that technology, the internet, social networks, digitalization (, whatever) are going to "save us" (whatever that means). They're deluded. By the same token, I have friends who deeply -- and I mean deeply -- long for the way it was, some (merely perceived) Golden Age of the Past when everything was as it should be. In between these extremes, I have friends who think that an adjustment here, some fine-tuning there, and a bit of elbow grease will get things back on track. And, I have friends who believe that no matter what we do where to what or how, we're heading down the tubes: the end may not be here, but it's fast approaching (and there's not a damn thing we can do about it). And, yes, in between those two interim extremes, I have friends who think we're just exaggerating everything: things have always been suboptimal and they always will be.
If Life were a multiple-choice test (as in America, where there is only one "right" answer), I'd have to write in (as I have done in the past) "e) none of the above". Sometimes all the "given" answers are just, well, wrong, or inappropriate, or irrelevant, or whatever. That's what I love about almost all my friends: they think there is a fixed set of possible answers and somehow, if we knew enough or were smart enough or, even, lucky enough, we could pick the right one. I hate to be the one to break it to them (and maybe to you): there is no one right answer to Life.
Oh, that's not to say that there aren't things we want to hold on to, irrespective of the cost: guns, freedom, individuality, rights, commonsense, discipline ... the list literally goes on forever. But, in all seriousness, how can you reduce the world you experience, the world you have to face day in and day out to one, and only one, issue or concept or rule or guideline or religious precept or ... whatever. But, I have to say, that's how most of my friends are: if everyone would only think like they do, the world would be damn near paradise that they so deeply long for. Turns out: reality is rather messy.
Most of you are thinking, I'm sure, I'm not talking to or about you, but I am. Just look at the latest primaries crap that the Americans are wading through, look at the crap about refugees and trade agreements that the Europeans are wading through, look at the crap the anything-but-the-dollar tactics that certain currently frisky nation-states are wading through, look at the crap the poverty and starvation that a third of the world is wading through. We're all in it, and we're all doing a poor job of dealing with it.
We have a terrible past behind us and we have little, if any, idea of how to deal with the future because, in a word, we just don't know what we're doing. We're so blinded by our petty, individual and national interests that we can't see the forest for all the trees. Oh ... yes ... I'm sorry ... we're (literally) cutting those (and real) trees down faster than any forest can grow. But, what the hell ... there's money to be made.
Yeah, the reason I sleep so well at night is because I know there are so many people out there who have it all figured out.
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