However, yesterday I received an email from a dear friend who shares many of my values, loves and hates and she was so weighed down with the state of things that I realized my own deep Ultramarine blue condition was not that bad after all......I. at least, have recently developed a few tools to deal with "whats-the-use" and I decided to try to cheer her up with Lois's methods of coping with the End of the World.
So I wrote her this email...........
Dearest..............
Dearest..............
I keep thinking about your most recent letter and your worries about the fate of the world and realized one significant difference between us. I used to wring my hands just as you are doing and then, not too long ago, I realized that the world is indeed going to hell but, even if I should live another 10 or so years, it won't be completely rotten in my lifetime !! (probably not even in my young cousins' lifetimes that is, and beyond that is not for me to worry) I think it might take a pretty long time for the Extremists and the Mongol Hordes to gallop in and completely destroy all signs of civilization.
So, with that thought in mind I have really been able to shrug most of it off .......it is too bad that the world has to slip back into another set of the Dark Ages or go up in a huge bang or whatever, but as long as I don't have to experience it at its worst I don't really give a damn anymore. I wish you could adopt my philosophy........it makes things so much easier.
I used to be something of a control freak too and would get frantic when I looked into the future (based on how things were going at the moment). Now I feel that I have tried to do my utmost to keep Complete Disaster from overtaking the world and have not succeeded (up to the age of 83).......that is quite long enough I think. And after all, it is not my personal failure .......lots of others have failed with me. Conquering pestilence is apparently easy compared to trying to win over insanity and stupidity.
So, with that thought in mind I have really been able to shrug most of it off .......it is too bad that the world has to slip back into another set of the Dark Ages or go up in a huge bang or whatever, but as long as I don't have to experience it at its worst I don't really give a damn anymore. I wish you could adopt my philosophy........it makes things so much easier.
I used to be something of a control freak too and would get frantic when I looked into the future (based on how things were going at the moment). Now I feel that I have tried to do my utmost to keep Complete Disaster from overtaking the world and have not succeeded (up to the age of 83).......that is quite long enough I think. And after all, it is not my personal failure .......lots of others have failed with me. Conquering pestilence is apparently easy compared to trying to win over insanity and stupidity.
(I do not know why the rest of this page is in smaller type face nor do I care.........see, my new philosophy is actually working.)
I will be damned if I will waste my remaining moments grieving over what might happen after I have shuffled off this mortal coil. (Yes, I CAN be that selfish, finally)
By the way, dear....I can follow your dreadful scenario and see it in 3 D....... can certainly envision an Extremist Muslim takeover of the world happening and the downfall of civilization as we know it, but, as I was falling asleep last nite I suddenly thought of something......Do you really think that China is going to allow that to happen???? (or the Extreme Right Wing Republicans for crissake? ) Not bloody likely,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, so your scenario is not necessarily the only possible one......there may be worse.
By the way, dear....I can follow your dreadful scenario and see it in 3 D....... can certainly envision an Extremist Muslim takeover of the world happening and the downfall of civilization as we know it, but, as I was falling asleep last nite I suddenly thought of something......Do you really think that China is going to allow that to happen???? (or the Extreme Right Wing Republicans for crissake? ) Not bloody likely,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, so your scenario is not necessarily the only possible one......there may be worse.
I also had a moment of extreme clarity when I saw the SOLUTION...........and why no one has thought of this before is beyond me, All our scientists have to do is stop whatever nonsense they are working on and concentrate on inventing an odorless, tasteless gas that would render everyone who breathes it INFERTILE................drop a few cannisters all over the "enemy"( whoever we determine them to be) and wait a few generations for things to improve.
Now.....won't that help you to sleep better ??
Love, Lo
Well, that ought to give your friend something new to think about! I take a tiny bit of comfort in the notion that people have pretty much always thought the world was going to hell in a handbasket. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteYou know what, Lo? I love you. I'm not the one to whom you wrote that email (as you know) but I so identify with almost everything you say that I often wonder if we were separated at birth - except that we are not the same age. If we were, I would be scouring through birth records to be sure my mother didn't try to put one over on me.
ReplyDeleteI've pretty much reached the same place you are wrt saving the world. Phooey. I can't do it. All I can do is vote - and complain. Complaining is like a pulse-check. She's complaining, so she must still be alive. ;o)
I can't change the world. All I can ever do is work to improve my small portion of it. So I will go bottle feed an orphaned kitten.
ReplyDeleteThis SO mirrors my own thoughts!!!
ReplyDeleteI also think mass spraying (by satellite???) of either Valium or Xanax would be terribly effective, too ~
Yikes! Who gets to determine the enemy? Even though I'm out numbered here in California, I continue to vote. This is the nuttiest state; but it's my state and I will remain engaged. Everybody seems to get the opportunity to be the enemy.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that most of your readers are women. We have only had the right to vote for 90 years. Please encourage other women to vote and to vote thoughtfully.
I have helped another woman to register to vote. She now is curious about many issues. She is much younger than me. I am encouraged.
I try to do the things that I can do something about..and let the younger more responsible generation worry about the important stuff..we are all in this together and no one is getting out alive:)
ReplyDeleteListen to Ravel and suddenly everything feels magic again. Hope your new carer is just what you want.
ReplyDeleteI've just finished reading another biography of Churchill. And yes he was more often Conservative more often than Liberal, and never Labour. Still as the right wingnuts and Creationists appear to be surrounding us, I take faith in his notion that "democracy is the worst form of government...except for all the rest."
ReplyDeleteI love your infertility gas idea. Too late for Sarah Palin, though. Maybe in her case the apples will fall far from the tree, so the damage will be minimal.
ReplyDeleteFrankly, I don't have the energy to get as worked up and freaked out as I used to either.
ReplyDeleteLet the world stumble on as it will. If I can keep my own family together, do the laundry and make supper, I'm doing about as much as I can.
I love you, Lo.
A good dose of population control would indeed be an excellent start to solving or mitigating nearly everyone of humankind's woes and offensives..
ReplyDeleteDon't sweat the small stuff so true :-)
ReplyDeleteOh and don't sweat the big stuff either!
ReplyDeleteI commented on this one twice....It didn't show up the first time,,It's got my name here now,,I set up a Google acct. the other day..Here goes ,,,Love you
ReplyDeleteI wish I could touch you
ReplyDeletewith the sent of a garden
Pure simple and yet extraordinary
A baby can perform such magic
But it's not really magic at all
It's just a piece of life
Some thing you can not make
But then here they are
Some thing you can not push
yet off in the distance they are
In all your needing to be
You have not stopped to ponder
The phrase it self, magic,?!
The tune in witch you lay
Needing to preserve that witch is always
wanting to adhere to that witch is wind
The sent is not yours nor is it's taste
But you share in its wonder
It's your perception that's the paste
What did you get, An everyday fact?
The beauty of the sunset is so
And yet, Though the sun moves
It's the earth that is set
Its we who are the beauty
Of that witch we see
We hold the knowledge of facts and beliefs
Its we who destroy the facts for our grief
Michael T 2010
Hello, Lo: I came over because I felt a connection when I saw your avatar.
ReplyDeleteWeird, I know.
Anyway, I have a good feeling about meeting you. I just do.
Lovely to see you here.
And thank you for your very kind comment at my site..and how awesome are you with a blog at 83.
Please, try twitter now? You WILL love it.
Sure cure for anyone's blues.