I am now in my 7th decade on this Earth and I thought I’d seen it all. Howdy Doody, unjust wars, aluminum Christmas trees, Kennedy and King assassinations, thick glasses, bullying, family stability, love of reading and music and movies and sports, the National Anthem, religious lessons and total contradictions of its lessons, and ultimately, the knowledge I’ve gained from my patients, friends, and family, the knowledge that love and respect for our fellow travelers on this planet is the most important thing of all, that we are all in this together. And that without this humanity and love of mankind, what the fuck are we here for, anyway? I have learned much from you, the people I’ve met over the years, and I thank you for the lessons I’ve learned from the snippets of your lives you’ve given me. Thousands of patients of all ages came to me from different socioeconomic backgrounds, countries, languages and mental abilities, all as we attempted to solve their visual complaints. Your stories made my life richer. I am a wealthy man–definitely not with money–but with the tales of your lives entangled into mine. Thank you, friend!
I am just so sad that for all of that, I am not a happy man. My world has changed this last decade. It probably started well before then.
I genuinely fear for the future of my children, grandchildren, and beyond. I fear the supreme stupidity of Mankind. Even though I love technology and digitization and the ability to have knowledge at my fingertips at any time, it’s amazing how I only perceive the dumbing down of our society. We have the ability to pass genius from person to person in the form of online knowledge, and what is it that we hand each other?
Insults. Memes. Falsities, untruths, ramblings of juvenile intellect full of violent emotion and little thought, drunkenly flowing into our lives by the gigabyte. It’s overwhelming. It’s mind-numbing! It makes it more difficult to think clearly when our leaders throw out tangles of lies that ensnare our minds. Nixon told lies. Clinton told lies. Donald’s truthlessness is at another level of mayhem. If you find it difficult to put a sentence or complete thought together, you are forgiven. Me, too!
So how do we solve this dilemma? How do we regain the potential intelligence of our species? Is there hope?
Educate oneself. Read the news from different sources. Watch the news from different sources. Talk to your friends and learn different perspectives. Do not deal in falsehoods. Take a break from social media. Take a break from Netflix.
Read from this blog. Expand your mind and options. And talk to your neighbor or friends. There are some very smart, funny people here in Denver.
I am hopeful…
SL 2/2/2025
Thoughts and Media speaking the truth from Denver... 