A New Year
It’s a new year, but nothing changes all that much. I never understood the fascination people have with dates. Mainstream holidays are meaningless and rarely have any significance beyond the revenue brought in my retailers. What’s the big story around Thanksgiving and Christmas? How much are consumers going to spend and will it be enough to put retailers in the black for the year. New Year’s means nothing to me, as it’s just another day on the calendar. The only difference is the incremental increase in the year, which is not cause for celebration in my book. Don’t even get me started about the commercially invented holidays or the formerly meaningful days that have been turned into beer slogans and cross-promotional opportunities. And birthdays are so far down on my list of importance that I can only remember them, including my own, if I enter them in my planner and make them yearly recurring events.
Maybe I’m just bitter. It’s hard to give two shits about what day of the year it is when everything stays the same or, more likely, gets gradually worse. I’m not talking about day-to-day life per se, but more about all the things that happen above and behind our daily grind. Yes, I’m focused on my work and my hobbies and a nice bottle of bourbon (more often than I should, I’m sure) but I can’t turn away from the actions of our state leaders and our national leaders (and I use the term “leaders” loosely, in both cases). I can’t help but wonder what steps these people are taking to benefit their fellow citizens and their state or nation. Unfortunately, it seems that, more often than not, it’s what these people are doing to abuse their position and rape their fellow citizen that comes to mind. I get angry and dismayed, but instead of gnashing my teeth or resigning myself to some sad fate, I write letters and emails, I join causes (the EFF for one) and I support the people who I think will truly act as public servants. All this comes at a cost though; it makes me think about all the ridiculous shit that goes on daily in this country that most people just brush aside as a cost of living in the United States.
A former boss of mine once told me that he was glad he didn’t need to think as much as I do, because he couldn’t handle worrying about all the shit I worry about. As far as he’s concerned, there’s nothing he can do about any of it, so he just gets on with his life. I suppose that this attitude is probably common amongst people who would rather just be left alone to live their lives. My problem is that I can’t feel like I’m being allowed to live my life the way I want it when I have so many fucked up assclowns running the show behind the curtain.
Sometimes I wish I could just ignore it all and let it go, but as soon as I make an attempt I hear about some overpaid bureaucrat enjoying an all-expenses-paid trip to some fancy destination for which I’m footing the bill (along with everyone else who pays taxes or has to suffer the penalties when lawmakers whore themselves out); or I hear about how corruption is simply being ignored because nobody is making any noise about it and the committe to investigate corruption is corrupt itself; or how thousands of kids are dying fighting a war that was started on the basis of lies, idiocy and misdirection.
My favorite thing to be told is that if I have so many problems with this country and the way things are, then I should move away. That’s the idiotic, knee-jerk reaction of someone who knows that something’s wrong but can’t be bothered to think about how to fix it, and, instead, spouts jingoistic cliches. I get called a liberal some times and a conservative other times, but what I am is a Patriot. I love this country and know that the only way I can show my love for this country is to work for change. I don’t need your labels or your two party “we’re just the same but wear different ties” system, because I’m fighting another war of Independence. I’m going to keep ranting and keep reading and keep writing letters and when it comes time to vote, I’m going to vote my conscience and not some party line. That’s my New Year’s Resolution: I’m going to stay the course, depsite how depressing and overwhelming it can be, or even if I never make a bit of difference.
And those of you out there who live on the fence and who aren’t sure that they can make a difference, just remember this: I’m only one person acting the way I feel I must, but if just one more person out there does the same, we’ve doubled the power of our voice. All it takes is that one person deciding to try to make a difference acting as an example to others, who will also make the decision to act. Suddenly, we’re a force to be reckoned with and our hope for a truly representative government may yet come to pass.
