Bear with me two minutes while I paddle across my stream of consciousness ranging from the regrettable state of our nation today to how we choose to live our brief lifetimes and even to include a weeping Superman.
Several matters have been festering in my spirit of late, as I suspect they have in others. Feel free to disagree. I promise I won’t accost you in a childish and imbecilic fashion at some public place for holding a viewpoint different from mine in this allegedly free society.
On the matter of politics, other than casting my vote next month, I realize there is very little, if anything, I can do to change what will be. I refuse to wrap up what remains of life suffering from indigestion and anxiety over the disgraceful actions of two warring political parties filled with millionaires and their junior high food fights over who gets to make our laws.
Does anyone believe our meaning in life is found in becoming embroiled in the pettiness, idiocies and nastiness that have come to characterize much of what passes for a supposedly effective political governance within the aptly labeled swamp? Do the ugliness and manufactured hatred that characterize the political arena today really affect you or me to any large degree?
Granted, the policies arising from the ugly power struggles will impact our children and generations to come. But we have to be wise enough to understand that all the day-after-day smearing and refusal to act with integrity and decorum befitting of our highest elected offices (much of that I’m convinced is being purchased for political advantage) matters not to our everyday lives in Arkansas, or elsewhere.
When mosquitoes are draining my blood on the porch, I head inside since I can’t possibly swat them all.
Now let’s talk about celebrating the only life we know for certain is given us. I’m increasingly choosing to focus on the many positive things involved with being here, particularly the most basic. I’m talking about family and friends and the beauty of nature. I’m talking about things I enjoy doing, hearing, touching and seeing. I’m talking about companionship and good food and drink and the wonders provided by our senses.
Remember the smell of a puppy’s breath? Honeysuckle vines? Roses? Rain headed your way? Choosing to absorb ourselves in the myriad hate and purposeful division constantly swirling around us rather than focusing on everything we have to enjoy (while also realizing this day will be the last one for many) only cheapens the experience. Would you want to spend your last day embroiled in politically inspired hatred that benefits one group? If that’s your idea of a quality life, please feel free to enjoy all you can stand.
On a related closing note, how do any of us know whether what we pass along as truth to support our opinions is complete or factual?
In this world we have created and condoned where everyone with a cell phone or laptop (and those with selfish political agendas) is free to assert whatever they choose, it’s mind-boggling to realize how much incomplete, slanted or downright false information circulates endlessly through society.
For instance, I’m guilty of perusing Facebook for items I believe might sound interesting to friends then mindlessly hitting the share button. I have neither the time nor inclination to become the editor of Facebook. Besides, they are the media posting this material regardless of the degree of truth it contains. Even the so-called fact checkers of questionable posts may have their own hidden personal and political agendas as well, right? Can you say with any certainty who in cyberspace is trustworthy and who isn’t? I also know I can’t be alone in such a casual approach toward sharing on social media, so the beat goes on.
Just the other night I read various Facebook posts citing the number of migrants marching through Mexico toward our borders at anywhere from 4,000 to 10,000. They can’t both be right, can they? So why would one post more than double the actual number? What’s behind that? What’s the actual number?
The lesson from this is to take whatever you hear, see and read at face value rather than gospel and, even more importantly, realize we all make decisions based solely on incomplete information we have at the moment, which can (and usually does) change with fresh facts. This means whatever we learn initially lacks facts and context and therefore could be inaccurate. Because of the obvious (sometimes even admitted) politicization of much of the national and international media, this slice of reality sadly has to include them.
A fistfight in Turkey’s Saudi embassy, eh? Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh smeared for life based on zero evidence and without due process, eh?
The misinformation scourge isn’t limited to the nation’s biggest media. This kind of limited public information stemming from smarmy politics, ineptitude and/or intention that harms those involved (along with our ability to make informed judgments as voting citizens) happens repeatedly across America.
I believe even Superman himself would be weeping today deep within his Arctic cave at this sad state of affairs when it comes to our nation separating itself from his beloved “truth, justice and the American way.”
Mike Masterson is a longtime Arkansas journalist. Email him at mmasterson@arkansasonline.com.