Deadly Comfort
I
have heard it said that mediocrity is the enemy of greatness. I am forced to
agree. There is a delusional comfort there that lulls us into a kind of coma,
keeping us from life beyond what we know. There are even those who fiercely
oppose greatness because it threatens that comfort.
Comfort
is a dangerous thing, and America does it so well. Are you hungry? We have more
food than we know what to do with. Are you sexually frustrated? There are a
number of avenues to release that frustration. Are you unhappy? We’ve got drugs
for that, both legal and illegal. (At times I have trouble telling the two
apart)
Our
country once had enough money to sustain itself and then some. We got so used
to that that even after the money was gone we still operated as if it exists,
throwing around numbers with dollar signs like they mean something. We are
indebted to other countries, and still we talk about money as if we have any.
We are clinging to this delusion because we can’t face the reality that we, as
a people for the people, are bankrupt.
So,
if we have no money, then why are we still spending more than anyone else?
Because it helps us remain dangerously comfortable.
We
keep trying to find the problem with the rest of the world and keep trying to
pinpoint why they can’t be numb and drugged like us. The world is a torrent of
dissatisfaction, seeking a place to rest and it settles here. Our peace loving,
moderate ways are creating a web of ultimate death.
We
stopped finding our peace in God. We stopped finding our responsibility in
ourselves. We forgot that the way to help the situation is to get your hands
dirty and fix it yourself.
We
throw money at the world’s problems with a distance that is nothing short of
offensive. Now I am not condemning the generosity of the United States. It
cannot be refuted that we are one of the most giving people of the world, but
is that not just another way for us to keep our comfort and still feel like we
have done our part? (There’s that word again).
Do
we really think that while Rome, or in this case the rest of the world, burns
we can sit at home and watch our mind numbing reality TV? Would you stay in
your home if the flames were in your back yard? Well wake up America, because
they are.
Gradually,
we have sought peace instead of sustainability. We placed more value in keeping
the masses appeased rather than doing what’s right. The political poles are a
mockery of a system once created to give power to the people rather than put in
the hands of those who would manipulate them. So instead of telling us what is
true and what we need to hear, a diluted, corporate news filtered, reality is
shoved down our throats.
Like
sheep, we are prodded and poked with fear tactics so that we rush to the
government solutions. Feed me. Clothe me. Protect me. Educate me. We have been
giving up power because we are either too stupid or too scared to do it
ourselves.
I’m
nothing short of astounded by the lack of backbone that exists in this country.
We turned our back on the old ways because they were old and out dated. Yes,
times were hard, but people made it. They knew who they were and what they
stood for. Now we ask who we are and are told what we stand for.
Our
power house is nothing more than a structure of cards carefully balanced on a
foundation of sand. We try and shift with the winds, but let’s face it, the
wind is crumbling us. Every world movement causes such panic that half of us
can’t think straight.
We
spend months planning and negotiating disasters that should have been foreseen.
No one can get their story straight because we pander to the audience. One
group hears one thing while the other hears something completely different.
What happened to the leaders who were willing to stand up, do what had to be
done, and say what needed to be said despite public opinion?
Where
are our Churchill’s, our Lincoln’s, our Reagan’s, our Washington’s? Silenced.
Why? Because they had a habit of disrupting our comfort. They pushed us, hard,
so that we could achieve greatness. But we don’t live in a generation that believes
in greatness anymore. If you can just make it you’re doing fine. If you can
watch television and find someone whose doing worse than you, don’t worry you’re
better than someone else.
Well,
that’s wonderful. You suck less then someone else. Congratulations.
Unfortunately, there isn’t a prize for people like that. Oh wait, you don’t
believe in that either. It might hurt someone’s feelings. Yes, you’re right, it
might. And you know what, that person might just decide to work harder, to get
better, to win. But no, you took that chance of victory away because of the
temporary pain.
Here’s
a thought. GROW UP.
Stop
searching for comfort and fight for it. Stop waiting for someone else to do the
job you are more than capable of doing yourself. Yes, it’s hard. Yes, it hurts.
But when you reach that goal, you know it. You know it with everything you are,
and heck, you may even find out who you are.
Why
do we fear pain? Haven’t we learned that most of the time it doesn’t last forever?
That if we pursue something greater than our pain, then we can use it as a
catalyst to create things this world has never seen.
If
you’re lying on the ground waiting for the world to stop trampling all over you,
it’s never going to happen. Stop for a moment to consider how many times an
individual has offered you a hand, but you rejected it because it wasn’t the
hand you wanted. If you want to get up then GET UP.
As
for the rest of you who have greedily taken the comfort which was offered you
off the backs of those who fought, sweat, and died for it, well you need a wake up
call. The scary part is that you slipped so deep in that over fed, over medicated,
over entertained, coma that, despite the world shattering events around you,
there are still no signs of life. I fear you will die in your sleep like a
useless sack of refuse, leaving a disgusting mark as your legacy on this world.
Well done. (That was sarcasm if you didn’t catch that. I feel like I have to
spell it out for you.)
Some
of you may think I’m being too harsh. Well I’m sorry if I see a child walking
out into traffic, I’m going to grab him by the arm and jerk him out of the way
of oncoming vehicles. How stupid and careless would it be for me to not save
him, because the taking hold of his arm might cause discomfort?
Many
of you don’t see the emergency. Children are dying. People’s rights are being
trampled in the name of protecting people’s rights. The world is sinking into
fear and disorder because the people who kept it in order were supposedly too strict.
Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it’s an emergency.
So
while you sit on your comfortable couch that you paid way too much for because
it had lumbar support, and you watch the Walking Dead, the living outside your
door are dying. The next time you complain because your salad has croutons and,
“doesn’t this waitress know that you asked for your fourth refill on your Diet
Pepsi like ten minutes ago,” you don’t have to feel bad for acting like a
narcissistic jerk because you bought the water bottle that said would donate
money to children in Africa.
Those
of us who know what’s really going on, and are willing to do the work, are
saving those who have been lost in the cracks of our short sighted society. No,
we aren’t always successful, but we try. And every time we miss, every time our
weary hands slip the mark, you, who are sitting on your comfortable backsides,
feel the need to point it out. Your mocking, self-satisfied voice is heard loud
and clear among the masses. The shame will stay with you until the end. But you
don’t care because you’re comfortable, surrounded by everyone else who’s doing
it too.
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