Angst is that abiding fear that we feel, that the world is a quagmire of corruption and violence and we will never be free of it. We are powerless. We are doomed. Death awaits us and nothing ever gets any better.
The root cause of angst is lack of money, lack of resources for what you need to live. Anxiety and worry and depression and frustration and retreat into kinds of dope.
Most humans are locked into a family, and children have real needs. Parenting is noble work. It should be considered so. But it is a struggle and a grind in our capitalist driven society.
The banks and corporations make you pay dearly for everything you need — education, health care, medicine, shelter, food, energy, heating and cooling. It’s all either a product or service to them and you are always a customer.
We have today that great capitalistic bulge that always arrives — the rich have just about all of it. Families are one serious illness away from bankruptcy. And while your kid may have gotten a college education with hard work and perseverance, it proves to be of limited value and leaves a lasting oppressive interest-rich debt he or she can’t pay.
Millions of jobs have gone overseas in American-financed global conglomerates and cartels, and third world cheap labor shops. Many others were lost here as foreign students filled the university libraries for years while too many American natives were at keg parties. Eventually, they took high-paying jobs and stayed in the U.S. as citizens.
We must take a college education as being more than a fancy piece of paper with mediocrity all over it. I’ve learned over the years that higher education is only valuable if you work hard and embrace its opportunities. If you slide through and give priority to your social life, you may pay for it later when you face tough competition in the now global job market. A university education costs a lot of money; you had best make it work for you.
We have a business-government oligarchy running the country. It is extremely difficult to take an oligarchy back for the people. It seems to always involve a huge economic collapse.
Today, our elected representatives are often there in order to get their money and perks. They think it’s fine and okay that HMO executives lavish millions of dollars and lifetime benefits upon themselves, even while they battle to eliminate the high risks that many people are destined to become. They can be thrown into some government/taxpayer funded slush pile if they can’t be a profitable client.
Will the world succumb finally to our excesses and idiocies and the heavily abused environment turn on us and kill us? Those with angst may think that will happen.
It is certainly up to us, the collective of divided and hive-stirring human masses that fill the world at this time. I don’t know that we’re really up to saving the planet from ourselves, but we must try.
Perhaps and just likely there will be spiritual help.
And maybe Angst will collide with two more words loaded with cryptic and inconclusive meaning. If we can actually define battle lines and understand the enemy, maybe we can win a war. If we can look in our mirrors and truly define what we represent, we will surely learn a lot.
One could consider the word “Apocalypse” to mean a great ultimate unveiling of Truth to mankind. Other humans have mixed that definition with a massive and violent conflict of values, loosely encompassed as good vs. evil. There have indeed been violent reckonings over the generations, such as the utter destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish temple. Was that the end of anything? No.
So, apocalypses come and go and might well be referred to as genocides and wars. We have had many of them between people consumed by hatred.
We should declare an Apocalypse for Angst. There is no reason to be so gloomy when we have all that we need for a progressive backlash of social and human decency that will face up to the puffy boil of the Despicable Me leadership we have and provide a sweeping lance to purge its venom.
Yes, I am a zealot against Trump. We should all be. Let us work together to plan something soon — Armageddon. We can more accurately call it impeachment, based on criminal indictments.
Armageddon is another term loaded with fabricated meanings. It first referred to hills outside Jerusalem, a good field for a battle of armies. Then they piled on the idea of a final battle at a final apocalypse and, of course, God’s chosen people would win it.
Today, we have a massive unveiling of powerful information that we’ve never had before — all the world’s knowledge in the palm of our hand. News media delivering thousands of reports and editorials every day to enrich the cultural landscape. Some comedian said we waste it all by arguing with strangers on the internet and sharing cat pictures. We must get more serious; we must.
During this so-called apocalypse at Armageddon conflict, let’s deliver a common sense death blow to Angst. Beat it with some positive thinking, some courage, bravery, fortitude, resolution, all those things that beat apathy and angst. The puffy old pontificating politicians are well defined in front of us. Their image surely must be a great inspiration to replace them.
We need to promote and instill higher values in our leadership — honesty, altruism, selfless public service that rejects the temptations of thievery and self-enrichment. We need to find these people, encourage these people, and elect them. We need to expect our political parties to live up to our levels of integrity and get out of the pockets of perk-spewing special interests.
In the huge progressive backlash that is about to hit our U.S. political and governmental systems, we can build a future where our working people will have jobs, well-supported families, guaranteed health care and education. The level of Angst will be considerably reduced.
And additional critical battles and significant unveilings all lie ahead of us. Nothing is final in the time and space worlds although our mortal times upon one of them is finite and ripe for urgent service to prove the mettle of our souls.
ABIDING ANGST
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© Jim Cleveland 2017