Never had much patience when it came to being educated.
And, by that, I don't mean the state in which one finds oneself after having achieved a certain level of education.
I'm talking about the process of actually getting the education in the first place.
Not being educated. Being educated.
Not that I'm ungrateful, in any way, for whatever education I have acquired. If it weren't for education, for example, I wouldn't have known how to put those last couple of words in italics, there. Let alone even known that they needed to be put in italics in the first place.
I imagine my resistance to the aforementioned process was rooted in a zesty recipe of assorted ingredients, a little dollop of ADD, a splash of Asperger's and maybe even a little prefrontal paranoia that "education", at least in the elementary/secondary school paradigm of the 1950's and 60's was actually just "indoctrination" cleverly camouflaged by pictures of Washington and Lincoln above the blackboards and that All-American symbol of red, white and blue, the wobbly green Jello square unappetizingly quivering on the cafeteria tray two random days out of five each week.
Again, education remains both curse and blessing. Blessed to be informed enough to know the difference between the words "education" (the process of receiving or giving systemic instruction) and "indoctrination" (the process of teaching a person or group to accept a set of beliefs uncritically)
Put in a more easily understood by a large portion of the current population way....education is what you get when you attend school.....indoctrination is what you get when you attend love, praise and worship ceremonies transparently disguised as "campaign rallies".
Go Polar Bears. Make America Great Again.
"waffer thin" line.
The fidgety nature of my lack of primary school patience was, in hindsight truth be told, a lot about nothing more, or less, than simply that.
A lack of patience.
One thing we all learn in school. A lot of what we learn in school consists of a lot of things that we just don't really care about.
And very likely never will care about.
Like algebra.
This May will mark 50 years since I graduated from high school. That's 18, 250 days.
And not one of those days has ever been influenced, impacted or affected in any essential way by any knowledge I might have retained over those 18, 250 of...algebra.
It's not like I was on a career path to rocket science or mechanical engineering or any of the other noble slide rule occupations that algebra would play a critical part in.
I was always on a vocabulary based trajectory. English teachers nourished me. So much so that, 18, 250 days later, I'm fully aware that what I should have said a moment ago was "slide rule occupations in which algebra would play a critical part."
Then, there's that whole "square is a rectangle, rectangle is not a square" thing.
Pretty sure. Memory serves.
Again. Not essential life information.
All of this said, what I have retained, and used, for many, if not all, of those 18,250 is a little two letter dealio that has made, and still makes, a considerable impact on this life.
It comes up a lot.
And, no, while "it" is a little two letter dealio, "it" is not the two letter dealio I'm talking about.
Make that not the two letter dealio about which I'm talking.
What it, as opposed to "it", is, revealed and explained shortly.
Here's a quick, off the cuff, couple of three things heard said pretty often these days.
"How you doin?"
"Hot enough for ya?"
"So, you're in favor of welfare and people who just lay their lazy asses around taking money they haven't earned?"
Well, first things first.
Doin' fine, thanks for askin'.
Not all that hot just yet, actually, but, of course, if you don't like the weather...just wait ten minutes.
Actually, no, I'm not in favor of welfare. And, actually, yes, I am.
Extremism, as in extreme thinking to specifically one side or the other of the sociological and/or political scale has been around since the wacky adventures of those apple chompin' zanies, Adam and Eve.
Or, as contemporary social revolutionaries would say, Eve and Adam.
Somewhere along the way, though, we entered, and are now fully entrenched in, a period that could arguably be called "The Age of Fuck Me? No, Fuck You".
Polarization. It's not just a trip to the top or bottom of the world anymore.
And besides the predictable, standard issue problems that come with such radical positioning, there's one pretty basic twelve foot high speed bump on the freeway of love, peace and come on , people now, smile on your brother.
We don't really get anywhere.
It's not rocket surgery. It's simple physics.
Yanking a steering wheel all the way to the left or all the way to the right accomplishes nothing more than driving us around in circles.
And the sudden, violent yanking away from one direction to another can very quickly send us into a ditch.
Or over the cliff.
Which brings us around to a word that my ability to hang in there for, at least, long enough to get the basics of a basic education added to my vocabulary.
Moderate. To make or become less extreme, intense, rigorous or violent.
That old fashioned, once upon a time, today, no, not so much, we meet in the middle.
Drive straight down the road. Little bit me, little bit you.
Come on, people now, smile on your brother.
But let's put a pin in the peace train and get back to welfare.
And that little two letter dealio.
A particular little two letter dealio that, in this case, needs to be uninstalled.
Un.
Unclear? Unsure? Understandable.
Let me untangle it for you.
By talking about, for example....oh, here you go.....welfare.
Remember that I said I was not in favor of welfare...and, yes I was?
I wasn't unintentionally jerking you around. Or even intentionally.
I think there's nothing nobler, more American, hey, let's push the envelope and say, more Christian than to lend a helping hand or leg up to someone in need.
Faithful and wise stewards. Brother's keeper. And all that jazz.
It's not the one for another that clogs the pipe.
It's the un.
Unconditional.
Not subject to any conditions.
Whatever else there may, or may not, be in this country, in this world, in this life at any given time but, most especially, at this time in the time line.....
...there is simply too much un.
And a lot of that simply too much un is that particular un attached to that word 'conditional".
Which turns it into 'unconditional'.
A lot of our societal ills could be diagnosed, treated and cured with the surgical removal of that little two word tumor 'un' from that word 'unconditional'.
Which turns it into 'conditional'.
Welfare. Hand outs. Free money. Ain't gotta do nuthin' but cash the checks and upgrade to the premium cable package.
Unacceptable.
A reasonable, set in stone, length of time you receive assistance, at the end of which time, you either...
a) have found gainful employment
b) agree to spend a set period of time in the military
c) agree to spend a set period of time in the NCWC
Now we're cookin' with gas.
Wait. What?
What is the NCWC?
National Citizens Work Corps.
Never heard of it.
Understandable.
Hasn't been created yet.
Think Peace Corps only instead of helping Albanians learn techniques to prevent soil erosion, you help provide Milwaukeans affordable housing by being assigned to a Wisconsin Habitat For Humanity crew.
Or whatever you, or I, or anyone with vision and insight and imagination can come up with to get things done and provide people to get it done.
Getting those things done and giving those people a way to "pay their way" as they get those helping hands and legs up.
That turns welfare from its current, inflammatory, cost ineffective, lazy ass category status from unconditional...to conditional.
In life, you get what you pay for. So, too, should you get what you work for.
Easy peasy.
The successful removal of the "un" has all kinds of potential when it comes to dealing with a lot of society's ills.
Use of smart phones needs to be conditional, not "un". I've done numerous broadcasts and essays on making smartphones unusable when a car engine is running. It is a simple solution to the damage and death caused by distracted driving.
Driving a car, itself, needs to be conditional, not "un". Sure, we have to have a license to drive. Not that that's an impediment for anyone who either can't or won't score one. Would it surprise you to know that, although there is no real way to measure how many drivers on the road do not actually have a license, studies show that around 8500 people die each year on American roads in accidents caused by driver license-less drivers? Appall you? Yeah, sure. Surprise you? It really shouldn't.
This is America. Land of the free, home of the brave, headquarters of the unconditional.
Where 8 DUI arrests still doesn't keep you off the highway.
Wait, you pot stirring, rabble rouser, hold up, you say. There are laws, man.
Yeah. You go with that.
And I'll show you the couple of dozen items for retail sale with the White House or Presidential Seal on them that also bear the name Trump.
Then we'll have a witty, wonderful chat about laws....man.
Oh...and immigration....and the wall. Should coming into this country be "un"conditional? Well, I'll tell you there, MAGAmigos, despite what your boy, there, wants you to think/believe/worship, no reasonably intelligent person, red, blue and/or in between, thinks for a nano, that entry into the United States should be without condition.
But the wall, at least the wall Donald promised the starry eyed, is impractical and unlikely.
Given the opp and the resources, though, that previously mentioned Innovative League of America could show up in the Oval on 24 hours notice with a whole sparkling shit pot of practical, cost effective, efficient ideas for how to "secure that border" and make life safer for us, truth, justice and the American way.
Well, then, what's the snag, Tag?
First. Gotta be 'the wall' he promised or he's gonna drop a notch or two or three on the Adulation Meter.
Unthinkable.
Second, neither Donald nor any of his "let 'em eat cake" CEO buddies know a thing about high tech solutions to border security. But bet your mother-in-law's life they know, or are, the proud owners of steel companies....and barbed wire companies.....and.....concrete companies.
And double down the bet that they are all ...unashamed.
Favorite mantra around here.
The problem with freedom...is that you have to give it to everybody.
Frankly, based on what we've seen here in the US of A in the last few years, I'd debate you till you drop that freedom is another one of those things that needs to have the "un" removed from the conditional.
For now, let's just make sure we understand each other.
Unconditional is simply not the ideal default setting for a lot of what we need to deal with in this country.
And to those who are peeing themselves waiting to jump in with that "we got laws, we got laws!" slap back, or snark, as the case may be, let me save you the oxygen expenditure.
We need fewer laws. But we need to enforce the living shit out of the ones that we keep.
Unconditional?
Unacceptable.
No comments:
Post a Comment