As I shuffle around the garage putting various items somewhere else they don’t belong, I see my neighbor drive up and park in his driveway. We make brief eye contact and almost simultaneously raise our arms in a “man wave”-type motion. “Hey, Bob, how are you?” “I’m good, and you?” “Doing good, thanks.” Why did I just lie? It wasn’t a big lie, just a small one, but a lie nonetheless. I’m not good. I’m not bad either. But I’m not good. Work is scarce, money is tight, and politicians are telling me what they can do for me. I’d just as soon have those politicians get the hell outta my way. Maybe things are good for Bob, but I doubt it. So why keep up the daily lie?
Eternal optimism I suppose. Not hope, but optimism. Hope ushered in our current president, therefore I have no hope. But I do have optimism because I know what Americans are capable of inspite of roadblocks placed around them. So I continue the daily lie knowing someday I won’t be lying.
Lies. We lie to ourselves and each other daily. Hope can be a lie if we allow it to be, or it can be the base for our faith in God and humanity. We are all capable of better than that which we give each day. We allow ourselves to wallow in self pity, to despise that with which we disagree and to push aside those who mean the most to us. These are all symptoms of a failed system of government and beliefs.
When we put aside our petty differences and realize that each and every one of us is a unique and special individual, a person of worth and value and refuse to allow the perceptions of others to color how we feel about ourselves, then we can be free of the lies.
This is optimism. This is also hope. I have faith, I have hope and I am an optimist. I wake each day knowing that it is I and I alone, with the blessings of God, who will shape how my day progresses. Do I allow others to influence my decisions, attitudes and desires. Sure thing. I am human. I have ego. I seek approval. Still, it is only I who decide to allow these things to govern my life.
Politicians make decisions that affect us but do not listen to our desires because they are all beholden to the highest bidder. America is no longer the country of the founding fathers. That is a good thing and a bad thing. Slavery no longer exists, women can vote, a harmless God given plant is illegal, corporations run everything. Some blame the Democrats, some blame the Republicans, I blame the people. We have allowed this to happen. We have allowed the dumbing down of the populace so that a large portion of the people will believe anything without asking for proof. We have become a nation of low intelligence and lack of compassion for our fellow man.
But regardless, I too believe that we are capable of reversing course and bringing this country back to where it belongs. A country of Hope, compassion, concern for our fellow man and woman, regardless of economic, social or ethnic background.
If hope is a lie, then life is not worth living anymore.