Collecting Thoughts

2020 was a bad year. Sickness. Pandemic. Public panic. Nasty politics rising to a pinnacle of nasty. Economic suffering by tens of millions; worry of financial doom by the rest of us. Daily routines changed in the most basic of ways.

2020 fueled personal thoughts. All were touched by the year that struck the core of each of us. Minds whirled and thought of things unthinkable before this year. But now those are real to us. Pandemic is just a cause. The decline of culture, civility and hope marched madly through our lives.

Families learned to live with polar disagreement. Or maybe not? Some dysfunctional families split up or fell silent, refusing to talk about things that matter but clearly in disagreement.

‘What do you want to do with the rest of your life?’ became a meaningful question that was not easy to ignore. If you did ignore it, your head was buried deep in sand.

If there is a value to 2020 it is the appreciation of intellect. What does that mean?  Wikipedia defines the term as “the faculty of reasoning and understanding objectively, especially with regard to abstract or academic matters.” It is the ability of a person to use the mind to make sense of what is happening around them.

Perhaps to some this is a surprise outcome. A silent war against intellect and reason has been waged for many years in America. We have lowered the playing field so those who either don’t have intellect or are afraid to use it feel unsafe and insecure in such a state. The rest of society was left to learn how to live with a social order that increasingly didn’t question its surroundings. Unaware that fundamental change was occurring, they awoke one day to a society that has enculturated ignorance.

At the very least, using one’s intellect was considered poor taste.

Accepting this circumstance as a norm has done damage to the fabric of our nation.

The Sputnik Age refocused America’s attention on technical education and intellectual achievement. Perhaps the storming of the Capitol Building will do the same?

No doubt the human brain is capable of great destruction and demoralization. However, the opposite is as true as it ever has been.

We know we have arrived at this point of clarity when a mob of thugs openly celebrates white skin as proof of their supremacy. That is proof of systemic racism against all people who are not of white heritage. And our culture has absorbed much more of this ethos than we wish to admit.

Realizing that and doing something about it is likely more important than impeaching an ignorant spoiled bully a second time?

We have much work to do. Let’s get at it!

January 14, 2021