My Friends on the Left

I have friends on the left. Let me rephrase, I know people on the left whom I would still consider a friend, though I doubt the feeling is reciprocated. I don’t have many actual friends by the traditional definition, that’s just part of getting older I suppose. What I would consider a friend is someone who I would feel a desire to seek revenge for if someone had ever hurt them. By that standard, I have friends on the left.

I am not ultra-conservative, I am just simply a PROLC (Person Right of Left Center.) I feel that I should be entitled to my political opinions, hell, for nearly all of human history there have been nearly an equal amount of people created on both sides of that coin. Somehow we’ve made it to 2024 as one species and continue to grow. No amount of slander or hatred will prevent that statistic from holding true. But with that being said, I often feel bad for my friends on the left.

I feel bad, because when I say or post something that goes against their viewpoint, I feel guilty about it. Often I delete. I don’t want to risk alienating those individuals who I still consider a friend. I don’t feel my viewpoint is stupid or wrong, I feel that them seeing it would make them angry or upset and I don’t want to do that to my friends on the left. But speaking of feelings that aren’t reciprocated, this is most certainly one of them.

I have one particular friend who epitomizes the left in my eyes. When I think of left-wingers, I think of this girl. I still consider her to be a friend. She has no problem not providing me that same respect. She will often mock Jesus, Christians, Right-Wingers, or anyone who doesn’t see the world exactly like her. When I think of the people she is mocking, I think of my parents. She has no problem mocking my parents, but would block me, badmouth me, or disavow me if I did the same to her with the same level of persistence. If I was a politician, running on my viewpoints, she would not support me as a childhood friend but would actively engage is disparaging me. I would be a racist. I would be a bigot. I would be a “xenophobe.” I would be all the trendy catchphrases that my friends on the left have for those that with opposing views. As an individual, she knows I am none of these things. But how do my friends on the left equate that to all, even though they surely know those who are not?

Do my friends on the left truly not have any friends on the right? Do they truly think that life would be better without this balance of opposites? Do they not see that there is good, bad, good in the bad, and bad in the good? Are they so certain that they are the good in this world of black and white? I feel guilty hurting my friends on the left. Their feelings are very easily hurt. All one must do is simply disagree.

But my viewpoints are my viewpoints. I don’t know where they came from. I have family with different viewpoints, yet we are cut from the same cloth. I have friends from the same style upbringing, yet we see the world different. Surely it is more than just nature or nurture that forms our viewpoints. Why can’t my friends on the left afford me the same respect that I would give to them? Why are the ones who claim to be understanding and compassionate write off 50% of the global population, or lump them into the same pile?

Why are we all far-right? Is there no such thing as far-left? In my opinion there is, but we don’t ever see those words in print. We don’t see far-left in the news, we don’t see far-left on social media, we don’t see far-left on a boat. We don’t see far-left with a goat. The only people I know who are willing to hurt anyone, are my friends on the left. Respect is a one-way street.

I feel a desire to seek revenge on those that hurt my friends. I feel that desire even if that friend is on the left. The only time I actually do seek revenge, is when that person who hurts them is me. Perhaps this is what they want. They don’t want to change my mind, they don’t want my friendship. They only want my silence. I feel bad for my friends on the left.

Well-Intentioned, Elderly Man

You either believe Hur, or you don’t. What a time to be alive! Special Counsel Robert Hur has finally come out with his report on President Biden, and while the government got what they wanted, another look the other way type of result–the man could not help himself but put the diminishing mental acuity of our President down on paper. As if anyone with half a brain couldn’t look at President Biden and realize he is wiltering before our very eyes.

Of course he has a poor memory, he’s damn near 100 years old. I don’t think he is stupid. I just think that he is exactly what we would expect him to be. Think of all the gems his presidency has given us. Confusing world leaders, talking about conversating recently with long-deceased politicians, falling off that bike, falling up and down the stairs, this is the best we could come up with?

I certainly would not say President Trump is better or even 2nd to one. He has his own problems, but still. How is it that the greatest county in the history of countries has produced us 2 horrific candidates for the 3rd straight election? I feel sympathy for both of them. Biden, because he is basically a puppet walking around with no idea what’s going on, a punishment I wouldn’t wish on anyone. Trump, because the man has gone his whole life without a crime, attempted to get into politics, and now he is the victim of a one-sided justice system.

This cannot be real life. We most certainly are living in a simulation. There has to be something going on behind the scenes that we aren’t yet privy to. If only we had a free press who would investigate and tell the truth. Instead, we have stooges who push propaganda for their corporate masters. We have mainstream media who is beholden to the wishes of their adverstisers. We have advertisers who are beholden to the demands of their government. It’s no wonder these hacks won’t hold the politicians accountable. It’s not in their financial interest.

Sometimes, I just need to vent. This is one of those instances. I’m frankly fed up with the reality that is our simulation. The greatness of the collective human mind, and this is the world we have created? One that pits black against white, male against female, gays against straight, conservatives against liberals. This is how we want our world to run? Living in a nightmare scenario where we are told that all of our wishes and desires would come to fruition if it wasn’t for ‘the other side.’ Malarkey!

I do believe Hur. I believe that Biden is well-intentioned, as much as you can be for a man suffering from dementia. I just don’t believe he understands the intentions of those pulling him around his strings, and I don’t believe those intentions are “well.” I do believe he is an elderly man, hell, even the blind could tell me that just by hearing him talk. I do believe he has poor memory. Of course he does, catch him on the street and ask him what day it is or what he had for breakfast and I’d bet my minimal life savings that he’d get at least one of the two wrong.

What I don’t believe, is that this is the best we can do. This next election is not fascism vs democracy. It is is not Biden against Trump. It is not evil vs righteousness. It is the same as any election, the shadow government vs the people. We, all of us, are the people. This idea that the government, in any way, is doing right by us is long gone. We are the laborers, they are the beneficiaries. We are the system, they are the controls. The reason we have two horrific candidates is because that is what the controllers demand. It is a distraction. It keeps anyone with half a brain from realizing this country is wiltering before our very eyes.

Where are all the Adults?

When I was a child, grown-ups seemed to be all over the place. Get in a fight? We had to shake hands and serve our punishment. Make fun of someone? That’s a trip to the principal’s office. Lie, cheat, steal? You better watch it mister, a slap to the hand and a mouthful of soap would be coming your way. Adults were the ones making the right decisions. They were somewhat of a moral compass long before I knew what that even meant. Where have they all gone?

It just seems odd the predicament we have found ourselves in-in today’s America. Is anyone making the right call? Make fun of someone who thinks differently, that’s just politics baby. Identify as something you are clearly not, run with it kid, I’ll get you a surgeon. Steal from the American people, well, depending on what side of the aisle you sit, you are probably in the clear. There seems to be nobody making the right decisions. Nobody that is willing to say, woah, woah, woah, easy there pal. It’s sad. It’s troubling. It is actually quite pathetic.

It seems that we are racing down the expressway going 110 toward a brick wall and there ain’t a passenger in this car willing to suggest we touch the brakes. Let’s see what will happen. Let’s film it for our socials! As long as we can one-up our peers it’s worth it. Something is a little of here, don’t you think?

It can’t be a mistake. There is no way that we have been dumbed down this much in such a short period of time. That an entire nation has regressed to the mindset of a child, a child who doesn’t make any good decisons. It must be intentional. It’s like the majority of this nation has a God-sized hole in their heart, and the powers that be are suggesting we stuff it full of tide-pods, personal gratification, or whatever the trendy identity of the day is. Who is responsible for this mess?

I suppose we are. We should be the adults. The kids that were corrected should have grown up to correct. Instead, we allow it. It festers, it grows, it’s that nasty mold that we can’t seem to find the energy to scrub away for six months until we found out the house is diseased. Sure, we are only as powerful as our own voice, but collectively that voice should be booming. Not in celebration of the atheletes or the the pop-stars, but in support of our children. If we are not the adults, what will they grow up to be?

Hide and seek is an all time great kid-game. I’m seeking a few more grown-ups in this world, but still they remain hidden. Can someone please find the adults in charge around here? Where have they all gone?

Humans After All

How far we have come. From hunting to gathering. From living in caves to building skyscrapers. From not being able to even cook our food to being able to control the temperature in every environment we spend our lives in. Humans should be proud. Humans should feel accomplished. Humans deserve a little more credit.

We are the guardians of our galaxy. We have the ability to resurrect entire species from the brink of extinction and even those have been completely vanquished. Some (most) of the stuff our minds have created is still perplexing to me. How did we possibly figure this out? I can dial a number on a device and have real-time conversation with anyone in any corner of this planet. I can use that same device to speak to them face to face. Amazing!

I am of the opinion that we are all made up of three parts. I would hope the majority of us are made up two parts good, one part evil. The spectrum of those goods and evils may vary from person to person of course, and that’s what sets us apart. I hear stories about men and women who are so outlandishly good, that I can’t imagine how they were able to constrain their evil so well. I hear about people so evil, that I can’t imagine they have any capacity for love. But surely they do. Surely they love and are loved. Someone, something, somewhere shares their love.

I have difficulty understanding how we have evolved so far as a species, have reached such great heights, and done this all with the burden of life in this world weighing down on us. Life is difficult, life is tragic, life can really hurt, yet somehow we persevere. We march forward. We are all here today thanks to an uninterrupted chain of reproduction. Ancestors who have struggled. Ancestors who have faced the trials and tribulations of their time, but still provided the world with a copy of themselves to usher in the next years.

I have felt the pain of the generations before me coursing through my veins, I have felt their anxiety, I have felt their fear. It keeps me going and keeps me strong. Somewhere out there in the heavens, a person who I have never met or could even trace myself back to, is smiling and proud. They are delighted with what they’ve created and the thousands (if not millions) of others in this world who have been branched from the same trunk. I (we) owe it to them to continue marching on.

If all goes well, and I surely hope it does, I will inevitably be able to continue pouring out my thoughts and feelings. Some will come from my parts which are good, some will inevitably come from my part that is evil. My hope is that when these are read, that people understand that we are just one species. We are of the same cloth. We have differing opinions and thoughts of course, but who is to say where these thoughts even come from? What is the source of our ideas?

I feel like some come from my brain, I feel like some come from my heart, but what has placed those there? They just seem to magically appear. We are only humans, after all. Much like a deer, a rabbit, a bear, or a fox. We are made up of similar chemistry but somehow ours is the one that has reached these heights. We have also reached such lows. Organized wars? How is that even a thing anymore?

Like many people in today’s world, I fear that humans are working towards evolving themselves out of existence. My hope is that we take a step back and examine the righteousness of our paths, and work toward refocusing that path on the parts that are good. Evil is growing and only our collective can reduce it. Constrain it. We are humans. We have created life. We have built it to a point of reasonable comfort. There is absolutely nothing that we cannot do. How far we have come, how far we still have yet to go.