Quit Being Right And Do Something!

It is so crazy to me! I can't believe our astronauts are going to be passengers on Russian space taxis! It is so crazy! I was watching a series of shows on the History Channel about our crumbling infrastructure. Apparently about half our bridges are close to collapse. Our dams are about to bust. Our roads are full of holes. Our power grid is on the verge of failure. Our waste water systems are backing up. The whole country needs an overhaul! However our leaders choose to ignore it. I think that's crazy!

Not only is our infrastructure falling apart, our culture is too. Museums and libraries are losing funding. So are symphonies and public galleries. Parks and zoos are in disrepair. Old people are living on poverty. The mentally ill are either abandoned on the streets or dumped into prison! Once our public school system was a model for the world. Now it's being gutted. What kind of country is this?

We are doing some things. We are building more and more prisons. We are creating a super wealthy upper echelon who are isolated from and apathetic about the rest of us. Simultaneously we are creating a burgeoning underclass of the dispossessed. Why are we doing this?

I don't care what your politics are, I don't care what your pet economic theory is, none of this makes any sense at all. There may be a few out and out nihilists out there who long for some distopian future where they can either run wild or else hole up in their bunkers and live out some Armageddon fantasy. But the rest of us are somewhat sane I think. So why are we fiddling around while our country rusts to death?

It is not like there is nothing we can do about it. What kind of society would you like to live in? I bet most people would come up with very similar answers to that question. Most people would like to live in a country filled with optimistic, hard working, healthy people confident about the future. They would want a country where the elderly are well cared for. They would want to live in a country where even the humblest workers live satisfying lives and are respected for their hard work. They would want to work in a country which encouraged people to realize their full potential. They would want to live in a country where sickness did not mean financial ruin. Most intelligent and mature people are compassionate for the disabled, no matter the form of disability.

Our country needs a treatment plan. We need to identify concrete needs. Then we need to identify treatment strategies. We need to let go of political, moral and economic prejudices and instead get practical, be pragmatic and try things that could work. We need to measure real progress not political success! Damnit we do not have any problems we cannot solve. We need to quit trying to win arguments, that's for losers! We need to get some humility, be willing to try the other guy's way, all of us need to let go of being right and get to work on solutions.





Russell