*dear gawd everyone run he has saddled up his high horse again*
I am the little known, but very much feared by those who do, fifth rider of the Apocalypse! The smug, opinionated rider of the high horse! EEEkkkk! Cling together children and pray because today I ride...
Cool! A bombastic intro. I need to work in more of those.
Earlier I was asked by a good friend what my resolutions for the New Year were. You know THE cliche question of the season. Everyone answers with the usual stuff. I want to lose weight. I want to stop doing crack. I will no longer hold up convenience stores, no longer date Anna Nicole, stop flossing with razor blades. You see, I have the same basic issues as anyone.
If this were a variety show (and what ratings I would get!)this is the moment where my monologue would cease and the band would strike into song. Because Ladies and Gentlemen once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away, I wrote a song on this very subject. It was from my bands 199-...ummm. it was in the 90's anyway, release "Up your Stereo" which we sold in the thousands (alright barely over a thousand but still!) and the song was called strangely enough, "Resolution". How about that? I wrote it on New Years Day as sort of a post it note to myself at a time when I was trying to calm my life down a bit. The music was sort of rockabilly/50's thing as done by someone on acid (I neither deny or confirm that premise) and the chorus simply stated:
I only have one resolution
that if I don't see a real solution...
I don't fight it!
Alright fine. So my little punk anthem will make no one forget Bob Dylan or Rogers and Hammerstein or by God the Bay City Rollers, but eh...
But what did this mean anyway? I should first point out that I am by nature a cynic and a rabble rouser. This will never change. I am the Duke of Dissenters, the Regent of Rebellion etc and etc. However, when one is of this mindset so much of your anger and rebellion can be without any direction or point.
"Yes, I think the status quo sucks! I can't stand *insert inept ruler name here*."
Yet what good does this do? And further more, if suddenly I was thrust into that job, what would I do? I likely had no clue. So now I'm screaming and yelling endlessy when I have no clue how to better do it myself. Could a life of pointless blather never accomplishing anything be my lot?
And I don't mean this just in a political or worldwide sense either. In everyday life, do I criticize others, even those close to me, when either I do the same thing or couldn't do any better.
At any rate, I decided that if I was going to criticize or argue as was the very core of my nature, then fine, but only if I offered a solution or a different take. I would never go off about, I dunno, let's say "taxes", unless I had a better plan or answer in mind. This meant I had to study and learn a lot of things and do my homework before I went off about something.
I am frankly disturbed by what I see in so many around me these days. Not dissent or rebellion or difference of opinion, but outright, "this leader or that is evil and if you don't believe that or you don't agree then you too are just as vile and there is no room for discussion". Policy or ideas aren't discussed in any intelligent way any longer. Broad, vitriolic statements are all that matter. I also believe hatred is a proven numbing agent of the brain. This saddens me deeply because what is lost in all this is the fact that compromise and middle ground are generally where the best ideas come from. Opposing points of view discussed and filtered until a whole new point of view emerges at the end. This is the very heart of what our nation was built on and most successful nations on this planet.
As long as Conservatives and Liberals and Republicans and Democrats merely exist to bash the other side and have more power then nothing of worth is likely to ever again emerge. The bitter partisian mudslinging, the conspiratorial jibber-jabber, the nonsensical constant bickering of the career politicians needs to stop and stop now.
At the risk of sounding like some gawdawful hippy, I fervently hope that in 2005 intelligent people (not the politicians for certain but the rest of us) can look at the issues facing this country and the world and start coming up solutions. That's right, solutions dammit ideas. Not finger pointing, not bitching and moaning but answers. The power of the internet and blogs and the sharing of ideas is HUGE. If that power was used to create ideas and communicate them and shape them into great ideas, the word would be out there and it would be unstoppable.
Oh well, that is my bohemian dream I guess! But there I said it. And what's more I am going to do it on my own small, small scale. Next week I will be starting a diary and blog dedicated to just that idea (in addition to this one, it's going nowhere) and I hope anyone who reads this will join me there. I don't care if you post notes calling me and my ideas the most absurd nonsense you've ever heard. But be prepared to tell me why!
Happy New Years to one and all. Even to the conspiracy nuts and hatahs big and small.

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