I was considering changing salt for sugar in y’alls’ kitchens, but I realized I didn’t possess the Santa Claus mojo to accommodate the travel portion of the program, nor do I ever say “y’all”, so…this.

I’m perplexed by many things.  I hate that!  I am a true black and white guy in a mostly gray world where too many people are taking firm, uncompromising stands based on incomplete or fully erroneous information. Our Town Crier-Print-Radio-TV-InterNet driven shopper mentality has been molded and manipulated by advertising scientists since the first exchange of an unneeded shiny rock for some tasty sabre tooth tiger meat.  The concept of persuasion equaling truth has so blurred the lines of reality that we have come to this time in history, ill-prepared for the challenges that threaten our very existence.  The sea of truthlessness that we are all floating in engulfs every aspect of our lives, from the primal lie of religion, the pedantic misinformation of science and education, the profane misdirection of politics and the say-or-do-any-fucking-thing-to-increase-the-bottom-line bullshit of business.  We have become conditioned to perk up to the buzz words, or all-knowing smiles, or believable haircuts, the well-chosen font, or the righteously tailored suits of our sources of information.  We confuse honesty with confidence.

How can there be legitimate, helpful debate when both sides can’t agree that guns kill people.  It’s not important to the concept of the right to bear arms to deny the intent of the subject at hand.  Yet, the rallying bumper sticker shouting that, “PEOPLE DO!”, insures that no amount of carnage will motivate a safe and sane solution.

It’s not relevant that one believe in climate change or the human contribution to it to see the effects of our blatant disrespect for the natural environment that sustains us.  No one can deny choking air in Beijing and Mumbai and Mexico City, fouled water everywhere, warming seas, dying bees, continents of floating, discarded plastics, storms, drought and disease ravaging our planet, that should have and could have been nearly utopian by now.  The naysayers, the primary sucklers of every last drop of profit from the industries most responsible for this race to catastrophe, will not be immune to the imminent horror, and yet…our Republican Congress and whack-a-doodle President are poised to roll back emissions and fuel efficiency regulations on automobiles and safety and environmental protections for off-shore drilling.

Words like peace and kindness and compassion do not have vague definitions.  They are ingrained in all theologies and exploited as being central to the heart of civilized people and their governments.  But, nationalism and tyranny and greed sold by catchy, (ear of the beholder), anthems and goofy flags, ridiculous uniforms and comical modes of marching, maniacally manipulated currencies, (bitcoin…are you shitting me?), weapons and more weapons and bigger weapons, and blustery speeches by bad actors, underline our differences and heighten the tensions that prompt us to be unkind, selectively passionate and never at peace.

I don’t care who Donald Trump fucked or fucks, (hopefully Melania’s rewritten her prenupt as her own NDA…non-divorce agreement), except if it’s me. I don’t care that someone mined everybody’s FaceBook information.  When you’ve spent the last ten years telling anybody who cared to pay attention, everything you do or see or think, isn’t it actually cool that now, the whole world can share it?

I do care that we choose to not get along by listening to people who really don’t care about us.  I do care that the advances we’ve made in science and medicine and art have been so overwhelmingly monetized and politicized that they are sparingly doled out at best or unconscionably withheld.  I do care, from the bottom of my aching heart, that we are leaving our children and grandchildren a far worse sandbox to play in than we inherited.  No foolin’.