We the sheeple
(Micah Brown)
We are like sheep, and like sheep, most of the time we simply follow the woolly tail in front of us without looking up, moving from barn to pasture and back again. It’s often as simple as where and what we eat: Taco Bell, Burger King or McDonald’s. It’s as everyday as what we wear: Vans, thongs or Ugg boots.
These common things are easy enough to gloss over, but then there are the critical components of what everyone else gets to say about how we live our lives: can you smoke at the beach or not, can you marry whomever you want regardless of his or her gender, and what about putting a second story on your house?
Much of the time, there isn’t that big of a difference between the shenanigans of Republicans in Congress and those in the Republic of the Congo. What’s so democratic about a “Democracy of Change” when change can be good or bad? What exactly did we vote for? I wonder how much we think about what’s best, as opposed to doing what we have always done. We do not pause in pandering to the same old patterns, and now we are paying for it.
Obviously, the biggest casualty of late is the economy. As we study it, it’s now easy to see it fell victim to the idea that business as usual would be the best policy. The lines for money grew longer in the rage for everyone to get their cash, and that’s clearly what happened. It’s an attitude we can’t afford, and voting in political elections in itself is just not strong enough to the job anymore.
The most obvious cliché of all, “if you want something done right, then you have to do it yourself,” will do its hardest work if we ever allow it. The ballot bends beneath the load, and can’t keep up; our elected representatives can’t and won’t do the job. Newspapers continue to collapse and broadcast media inundates us with paparazzi gossip to the point that we can’t take a breath from the multiple shots of purple-jacketed dogs held within the tan arms of golden-braided divas.
We are the only ones left able to do the jobs that are the most important to us. As individuals, we can take our pick what the job at hand should be: global warming or climate change, Iraqi liberty or American imperialism, or the undocumented worker versus amnesty. It’s not too late to pull the wool from our eyes; it’s every man or woman for himself or herself, but in a good way.