Bush Traumatic Stress Disorder
January 2nd 2008 01:56
After nearly eight years of Mr. George Bush as President of the United States, I find I have changed. For better or for worse, I have lost my youthful naiveté. I find it more and more difficult to see the wonder in every moment through the eyes of an innocent child. I no longer believe that people are inherently good.
Instead, I trust fewer and fewer people. I have seen that if they are not out right liars, then they will spin words and phrases into faux meaning that seems in service to unfinished psycho-issues and overt greed. I am told that this is the price to be paid to be safe from all the terror that is in the world.
I no longer seem to see life through a lens of optimism and hope. It seems like only yesterday, for instance, that I would look forward to meeting and communing with people from other places and cultures. This was an exciting, fulfilling, and optimistic prospect. Diversity, uniqueness, and the marvel of so many different ways to be in the world. But alas, all these people that are different and alien are something to be feared, avoided, reported, and generally disdained. I am told that this is the price to be paid to be safe from all the terror that is in the world.
I remember when I truly believed it when I was told that my country took the moral high ground. Treating others with respect and subjecting even enemies to fair and reasonable practices. Protecting civil liberties as if they were something of value, and caring from the collective heart and consciousness for those in need. Regardless of how they looked, what language they spoke, or even which religion or spiritual practice they embraced. I now know better. Amassing of power and money are far more significant values, and the moral high ground is nothing more than a ‘spin’ and ‘talking point’ meant to divert thoughtful reflection from a time once revered and now past. No longer is it about how the game is played, but whether you win or lose. I am told that this is necessary because it will protect me from all the terror that is in the world.
I do find myself wondering when it was that Jesus became a Republican, Democrat, or any other sort of political figure. Though never a routine church-goer and better defined as a spiritual naturalist, I did once take heart in the messages of peace, love, caring for those in need, and ‘doing unto others as you would have done unto you’. Now, though, I see those who claim to value the message of Jesus acting in a way quite contrary to what the proclaimed son of God preached. Intolerance, greed, revenge, violence, and all such attributes, performed in the name of God, seem problematic to me. I suppose it must be this way because we must be protected from all the terror in the world.
I think the primary symptoms of Bush-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder (BTSD) are free-floating confusion, fear, social anomie, hopelessness, distrust of others, and a desire to be a part of something that once was but seems now lost. Remarkably, my hope has not been squashed. I believe the cure to BTSD may be a large turn-out in the coming elections by a well-informed electorate.
deorre
Instead, I trust fewer and fewer people. I have seen that if they are not out right liars, then they will spin words and phrases into faux meaning that seems in service to unfinished psycho-issues and overt greed. I am told that this is the price to be paid to be safe from all the terror that is in the world.
I no longer seem to see life through a lens of optimism and hope. It seems like only yesterday, for instance, that I would look forward to meeting and communing with people from other places and cultures. This was an exciting, fulfilling, and optimistic prospect. Diversity, uniqueness, and the marvel of so many different ways to be in the world. But alas, all these people that are different and alien are something to be feared, avoided, reported, and generally disdained. I am told that this is the price to be paid to be safe from all the terror that is in the world.
I remember when I truly believed it when I was told that my country took the moral high ground. Treating others with respect and subjecting even enemies to fair and reasonable practices. Protecting civil liberties as if they were something of value, and caring from the collective heart and consciousness for those in need. Regardless of how they looked, what language they spoke, or even which religion or spiritual practice they embraced. I now know better. Amassing of power and money are far more significant values, and the moral high ground is nothing more than a ‘spin’ and ‘talking point’ meant to divert thoughtful reflection from a time once revered and now past. No longer is it about how the game is played, but whether you win or lose. I am told that this is necessary because it will protect me from all the terror that is in the world.
I do find myself wondering when it was that Jesus became a Republican, Democrat, or any other sort of political figure. Though never a routine church-goer and better defined as a spiritual naturalist, I did once take heart in the messages of peace, love, caring for those in need, and ‘doing unto others as you would have done unto you’. Now, though, I see those who claim to value the message of Jesus acting in a way quite contrary to what the proclaimed son of God preached. Intolerance, greed, revenge, violence, and all such attributes, performed in the name of God, seem problematic to me. I suppose it must be this way because we must be protected from all the terror in the world.
I think the primary symptoms of Bush-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder (BTSD) are free-floating confusion, fear, social anomie, hopelessness, distrust of others, and a desire to be a part of something that once was but seems now lost. Remarkably, my hope has not been squashed. I believe the cure to BTSD may be a large turn-out in the coming elections by a well-informed electorate.
deorre
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