A few thought on turning
60 years old.
I'm not quite sure what to
think of this. After all, 60 years is a significant span of time for
a human being, although not all that long in the grand scheme of
things.
Since it is the tradition
to grant wishes and give gifts on one's birthday, I was thinking
about what I would like as the ideal gift. At first, of course, I
thought of trivial things: a Classic Corvette, an all expenses
vacation, even an autographed collection of Stephen King or William
Carlos Williams. But these are things,
and in the grand scheme of things (no pun intended), end up as dust
collectors and clutter in an already cluttered life.
And
lets face it, at 60, your life is cluttered, whether you like it or
not. My little “office” at home is a narrow room, about eight
feet wide by twenty feet long, and it is very difficult to maneuver
in . There are three cabinets of VHS tapes, six bookshelves filled
with books and other assorted things (which I rarely use), a weight
bench with weights and several dumbbells and barbells, a folding
table filled with all sorts of books, magazines, and other tools of
the trade, a desk which I am sitting at as I type on the computer, a
chair, an exercise ball, a space heater, a CD holder, another table,
three guitars, a banjo, a mandolin, two wastepaper baskets, and
several items out of sight I have neglected to mention, I am sure.
All of this contained in 160 square feet. I think you will agree,
this is the definition of cluttered.
As
to feeling 60, I am not sure what that means. After all, I woke up
this morning like I woke up yesterday. A little stiffer, perhaps. I
have accepted that as a part of life, seeing as various injuries and
bad habits of my youth have taken their toll. I won't dwell upon them
all here, but suffice it to say I have dared to challenge myself from
time to time, and not always in the smartest of fashions. [I think
back now and am reminded of the famous last words of the American
Redneck....'Hey, Ya'll, Watch This!']
I
would love to say I have succeeded at every endeavor, but that is not
the case. I have had my ups and downs, my successes and my failures.
I have completed an Associates Degree in Liberal Arts, and have all
the credits needed for a Bachelors Degree, but cannot seem to master
a foreign language with enough skill to fill that requirement, which
frustrates me to no end. The requirement, that is. I see no need to
master another language when my native tongue is spoken around the
world. Furthermore, since I never intended to work outside the United
States, I just don't see the point. But the universities and other
institutions of higher learning seem to think this is important, so I
continue to write poetry and prose sans the benefit of an
acknowledged degree. C'est la vie. так это жизнь. E`
così la vita.
But
back to the birthday wish. I believe if I could make one wish come
true today, I would wish for all the peoples of the world to believe
in themselves, in their inherent goodness, in their ability to reach
beyond their petty differences and realize they have been laboring
under the flawed misconception they are destined to forever be at
odds with one another.
As
a Christian, I understand where part of this comes from. The concept
of original sin pervades our thinking like a universal solvent,
creeping in to every thought, every plan, every notion. We accept
without question our nature is flawed, and by extension believe every
other person is the same. Since we believe we are all flawed, we
therefore believe that people, when given the opportunity, will
always sink to the lowest level, and are, therefore, innately
untrustworthy. When we think of each other like this, we are
presuming the nature of humanity cannot rise above this flaw.
Now
this is not exclusive to Christians. I use them here as an example
because I know the people who read this are probably Christians and
want them to understand where I am coming from. No matter what
culture you hail from, this basic precept exists in one form or
another. And it is the greatest impediment to our rising to the next
level of human development. We can be one planet, one people, one
race, if we are willing to trust one another.
As
the Bard would say, “Aye, there's the rub.”. Trust is probably
the hardest emotion to earn, and the hardest state to attain. We are
raised by our parents not to trust, and some would argue with good
cause, for there are predators and deviants among us, evil men and
women intent on satisfying their own needs above the needs of others.
But what we fail to teach our children is these are the exceptions to
the rule, not the norm. We teach women in our society particularly to
distrust other women, a practice going back in time to competition
for mates. And while we teach our sons teamwork, we also teach them
to consider other men as adversaries. I could give you many other
examples, some more extreme and distasteful, but the point is we
teach our children not
to trust.
And
our leaders, be they Presidents, monarchs, employers, or clergy, use
this to maintain their power over us. Now you would think they would
want us to trust, to share, to be at peace with one another, but
nothing is further from the truth. For a society which trusts is a
society which listens to each other, a society which bonds together
to cry against injustice, especially when it is injustice carried out
in the name of the people. If we were to learn to trust one another,
we would be the ones in power, and the leaders would be forced to
surrender their power back to the people. And power is a drug once
taken which cannot easily be surrendered. So the leaders allow the
public to be terrified by the media, even so far as to staging events
and circumstances to drive fear into the people and a wedge between
factions, making them fear one another. And when you fear, you cannot
trust.
Twenty
years ago, this wish could not have been made, at least with an
expectation of fulfillment. Twenty years ago, the internet was
nothing more than bulletin boards and emails. Twenty years ago, there
was little chance of hearing all the facts of any matter without the
media slanting the information in one direction or another. Twenty
years ago, we did not have this marvelous tool called the internet.
Twenty years ago, we could not speak across oceans and continents to
learn about other people and their desires, their aspirations, their
dreams. Twenty years ago, communication required risk, confrontation,
encounters. None of that is true today.
Utopia
is not my goal, and in my opinion, will never be achieved. But
hunger, poverty, disease, homelessness, depression, and all the ills
of mankind caused by greed, corruption, and injustice are solvable.
All you need is trust.
Frederick
Smith
©
June 24, 2012
