On the Rollercoaster

There are a lot of people claiming that 2016 is a terrible year.  I suppose I can get why they feel that way.  In some cases it had some pretty low moments.  Without doing too much research into the bleakness that is previous years, I wonder if it's roughly just another average year with ups and downs.  The thing is that 2016 probably means a lot of different things to different people.  For me it will always be a great year because my daughter came on the scene right near the beginning and she's pretty much set the tone for me ever since.  With that said, almost right after she was born I lost an old friend very suddenly.  I had no idea that the weird dichotomy of joy and sadness would pretty much be how I'd end up describing the year.

We may as well talk about the election.  I've kept my opinion offline because honestly the internet really doesn't need yet another extreme view, which only serves to further divide people.  That's the part that makes me sad.  I've never been a very political person to start with so maybe I've been blind to this kind of divisiveness in elections and politics in general.  Like some kind of idealistic fool, I always thought that the things that divided us were smaller than the things that brought us together.  And while I initially wasn't a fan of our current President, I eventually came to the conclusion that he was trying to do good, even if he wasn't always successful.  For the most part my life in the last eight years hasn't really changed all that much because of anything he or any other elected official was doing.  Apparently that can be seen as being wrapped up in my own little white blanket of privilege.  Because even though I've worked hard for what I have, there have always been advantages that I've taken for granted, blissfully unaware of many people out in my country who struggle every day in a system that seems to be actively working against them.  A lot of those people see the President as someone who doesn't represent or care about them.  And this is one of the many reasons why the election results came as such a shock to someone like me.

I live in a pretty liberal state and a very liberal city.  It's the kind of place where people are well off enough that they can be concerned about the name of the cow that supplied the steaks in the artisan butcher shop next to their favorite organic juice bar.  People tend to be socially conscious of the world and while I don't know if there is a lot of actual activism, there is at least perceived activism about issues.  Granted, like many Americans, we have a very short attention span and move on quickly to the next moral outrage or internet meme that is trending today.  So many of us gathered around our cable-free televisions to watch what was going to be an obvious victory for the seemingly obvious choice to run the country.  When it became obvious that things were going in a different direction I, like many others, were trying to figure out how it was possible?  How could this have blindsided me, when 24 hours before I would have been pretty confident that we'd have our first female President.  I hadn't taken into account the sheer amount of hatred for the Democratic candidate.  She was a politician and their very nature means they are going to do some shady things, but somehow she had managed to have normal people foaming at the mouth when they would even say her name.  There had always been a part of me that wanted to sit down with some of these people and get a real accounting of what it was they disliked about her.  By now, the term 'echo chamber' has been tossed around a lot and it makes sense.  We tend to surround ourselves with comfortable things and that includes information.  If someone or something challenges our ideas or beliefs, it's natural to shy away from that.  Toss is some good old fashion misinformation (or propaganda) and you've got millions of people who believe something that isn't always based on fact.  Or worse, based on a portion of fact, that has been isolated to prove their point.  Somewhere along the way we start to villainize people who disagree with us.  Social media was full of people who were saying not only did they disagree with the other side, but the other side was now bordering on evil, stupid, or brainwashed.  I found myself even falling into the trap of taking my disagreement on one thing and making it seem as though I was fundamentally opposed to these other people, who may as well been aliens because their beliefs were so different from mine.  I'm sure there are some truly awful people out there.  People who are excited to see hatred making a comeback.  Maybe it stems from fear or jealousy or ignorance.  Maybe it's simple greed.  I don't know at this point.  I would have thought in 2016 that pettiness and racism would be something we talk about as a thing of the past.  If not the past, then something that was getting better.  If anything, this year has made me wonder is the world really as good as I thought it was.  Then again, maybe that's what certain people want.  They want you to be afraid.  Afraid of the people around you that aren't on your side.  If you're not with us, then you're against us?  One has to ask, who benefits from us being afraid and hating those who are different from us?

As we close out this year, it feels like the nation is divided more than it's been in recent history.  Or maybe it just feels that way because I started paying attention.  There is a whole group of people in our country who have felt left behind.  I've been very fortunate to not know what that is like.  I don't know if those same people felt that the Republican candidate was the best candidate, but it was the one that they got.  The alternative being more of a government that wasn't listening to them.  In the end there was a massive shift from the status quo, which is how things tend to go after eight years with one party running the show.  People were bound to be upset either way, but now it seems to go beyond that where the winning side is taking victory laps and the losing side, still in disbelief, is doing anything it can to halt the inevitable reality that is coming in 2017.  It feels like a fight with a loved one.  Lots of things were said and done.  It seems like everyone now has this emotional bruise that's still tender.  I don't know how long it will last with people still holding their animosity towards each other.  Maybe like many things for our country, it too will pass.  At least right now it seems to be the capstone on a year that felt a bit bleak.

So as I think about this year, I have to remind myself that there has been some pretty great things as well.  The Cubs broke a 100+ year streak to finally win the World Series, giving the people of Chicago something to cheer about.  Our good friends had adorable babies, that will hopefully become friends with my daughter as they grow to be adorable together.  A private company, headed by the closest thing to Tony Stark, has successfully landed a rocket vertically, getting us one step closer to leaving Earth.  Doctors and scientists have created cybernetic implants that helped a man move his fingers for the first time.  Stem cells have been injected into stroke patients allowing them to walk again.  Someone with a lot of time on their hands discovered a new prime number, although I don't know how that helps us, but it's more to prove that we can keep finding new things, even when we think we've seen it all.  By the way, they've confirmed (again) that there is a ninth planet in our solar system.  I remember growing up with Planet X as a possibility so it's good to know that we've got people staring out into the cosmos and seeing things that have been hiding from us for longer than we know.  And finally, we got a new Star Wars movie.  Being the same age as Star Wars, I will always be thankful that I get to go back to that galaxy far, far away and see if the good guys and overcome impossible odds to save the day.  Maybe with the perspective of time, we'll all look back at 2016 as just another strange year in a long weird journey.  I'm excited to see what happens in 2017.

On How It Could Be

There are many times in my life when I wonder how things could be.  Maybe not so much a perfect world, but maybe a slightly better one.  I don't know if we could ever achieve perfection.  It's something of a fool's errand to think you could reach it.  It shouldn't stop us from trying though.  Plus I don't know how we would react if we found ourselves in a perfect world.  No, I sometimes think about what would it be like if things were just a little bit different.  Sometimes it's seemingly small changes that could have a huge impact.  Like what if our internet was cheaper and faster?  What if it was free?  I try to imagine what life could be like if everyone across the country was connected by incredibly fast connections to each other.  Could we create true virtual experience that brought us together, even though we're miles apart?  I know that technology isn't always the answer to bringing people together.  When used right though, it can bridge some of those gaps.

What could the world be like if our teachers were some of the best paid, best educated, most respected people in our society?  I have nothing against athletes, movie stars, or pop singers.  I enjoy a lot of what they do.  Honestly though aren't they a bit like junk food?  Watching someone excel at sports is a great experience.  It probably encourages young people to see what they can accomplish with their own bodies either alone or within a team.  That part is great and should be applauded.  To an outside observer it must seem strange that we give the most money to someone who can put a ball through a net better than anyone else.  When you go home after seeing that you're life isn't changed all that much.  Sure it may have been exciting in the moment, but that wasn't your moment.  That was someone else's fabricated moment.  With movies and music there can be a story being told.  Someone can transport you to an imaginary place and time.  They can make you think about things in a different way.  Even with that we're essentially saying that the guy who grew out a beard and pretended to be a fur trapper this year is one of the most important people, at least from a financial perspective.  Meanwhile the person who gets up early every day so they can sit with a student to help them learn the fundamentals of life makes enough money to live, but still has to worry about money when it comes summer time.  Imagine if the salary of the athlete and the teacher were reversed?

I wonder what it could be like if our political system were just a little bit better.  If you felt like the people elected to represent you were not only someone you could trust, but someone you respected.  And not because you paid them or promised them a favor in return, but because as your representative they wanted not just the best for you, but for all of us.  I'm not a politician and I know that the world is complicated.  It's just a little sad to me that in order to get anywhere in the professional world of politics you have to be something of a shark already.  Or at least keep yourself surrounded by sharks for protection.  How can you hope to accomplish anything if you're spending so much of your time trying to not get eaten by the system?  I try to imagine a world where you know in your heart that the government is an institute for good and that they are working hard at making the world better for everyone.

It's mostly a dream.  It's not much different than fantasizing about what you'd do if you won the lottery.  It seems like the trick is to accept that the world may not be anywhere close to perfect, but it has the potential to be better.  And if that's not always possible, we always have the choice to be a little bit better ourselves.  Maybe that's enough.

On Politics

Politics have never really been an interest of mine. As kid when it was that time for all those election ads to be running on television, interrupting what I was watching, I wouldn't have a passing interest in the whole process. As I got older that level of disinterest stayed pretty constant. The whole thing seemed like a lot of talk and posturing, but very little actual work being done. Obviously laws and changes were being done at some point. Someone somewhere was running the show. The thing was unless it affected my day to day, I wasn't all that interested in knowing anything about how the sausages were made. Unfortunately this nation is made up of a lot of people who still think that way. We always hear about how great democracy is and how people around the world are fighting for their right to have a voice in the system. We hear this and yet there is quite a bit of ambivalence when it comes to the whole political system.

First off, part of the indifference may come from the fact that the system seems unnecessarily complex, meant to deter people from looking too hard. Then again maybe the government really is that complex and things are as good as they are because of all the tiny details that go into making something law. Still there are bills that go into hundreds and thousands of pages. What is all that detail really for and could anyone ever claim to understand it all? It almost seems as though it's one thing piled on another because everyone wants their piece included. Eventually it becomes unmanageable or watered down to a point where it's ineffective, defeating the purpose in the first place. There are those situations where elected officials are playing a complex game of back scratching. In order to vote for one thing they have to first promise to vote a specific way on something completely different. How is that any different from saying you'll pick someone first for your kickball team as long as they share their cupcake with you at lunch?

On the flip side there seems to be a lot of fighting among the various sides that are in charge. Part of that is because there are usually two distinct sides to anything, even if there isn't. Not everything can be broken down into black and white sides and yet it feels like either you're with Democrats or Republicans. The dividing line isn't usually so apparent. There seems to be a mentality that either you're with one or you're against another. Of course if you don't pick one of the big kids' team then you're going to be classified as part of the lunatic fringe known as Green, Tea, or Independent. It seems like it would be nearly impossible to agree on a whole with everything that a party stands for. At least as a voter I've never found myself agreeing completely with any one side. Thankfully I have the luxury of not having to choose a specific side. The people who are running for election do though. I find it hard to believe that any Democrat or Republican agrees with everything on whichever side they've chosen, however, in order to have a chance at being elected they are going to have to at least pretend to agree with nearly everything. It's the only way they can get the support from their party and ultimately the vote from their party members. If that's the case then are there politicians that are going against their own beliefs for the sake of getting elected. It reminds me of when I was a kid and being told that I had to eat my vegetables if I wanted to have dessert. In order to get what I really wanted, I'd be eating some things I didn't want in my mouth.

In that avoidance of putting something bad in their mouth there is quite a bit of misdirection going on. This is done in a lot of different ways, but the most noticeable to me is when hot button issues like Social Security, abortion, or immigration suddenly become the most talked about subjects during election time. Politicians know that they can polarize the voting community by coming out for or against a specific issue. Then the story is all about that rather than one something else that may have more substance. Now I'm not saying any of those issues are unimportant, but they aren't the linchpins that they would like us to believe. Should they be addressed? Yes. They should be looked at and hopefully resolved before they become a crisis. In a lot of cases they want you to think it's already a crisis and in thinking that way there will be a bit of panic, which leads to less thinking and more reacting. If more time was spent actually making and implementing laws that make effective change rather than on railing about something that's known to get everyone upset maybe we'd get to a point where there was reasonable discussion about what the options are. Maybe that's expecting too much from people who are more concerned with winning than with doing good.

Why do both sides spend so much time fighting against each other? The things that unite them are greater than the things that divide them and yet they choose to focus on that small fraction of issue they don't agree on. When we were kids if someone agreed with you on nearly everything except who was the better G.I. Joe ninja that didn't stop you from being friends. Your similarities brought you together and it would be stupid to let one small thing drive you apart. Now I know that a character from a toy line isn't as important as what to do about Social Security, but for children it could be. Eventually there will come a time when the debate about abortion will seem trivial because there are larger, more important issues that need our attention. Right now we can't see that because for us it seems so important that we simply can't take our eyes off it. So the fight goes on and we're being told that something is important, even if it isn't important to us. How much time has been wasted on arguing an issue until it's no longer relevant?

The thing for me that is most upsetting is that in a lot of cases one side seems more interested in beating the other guy rather than coming up with solutions that could help everyone. One side could have a proposed plan to fight inflation. They bring it to the floor and it's immediately torn apart by the other side, not because they have a better plan, but because it wasn't something they came up with, therefor it can't be any good. I wonder how many bills or resolutions have failed because if it passed that would mean one side "won" while the other gets nothing. Not every idea brought forth is going to be great. In fact by the time most ideas get through the system they're anything but great. They're just survivors of the process.

The people making the laws are elected, which means we're ultimately responsible for them being there. If we don't like what they're doing it's our job to let them know. Sure not every voice is going to be the one that makes the decision, but decisions are made by those who show up. If you don't vote then you've essentially given up your right to complain. I'm not an idealist and I have no delusions that any political system will ever be perfect. I just know that any system has room for improvement.