Hope fiend

 

Po Boy Views

By

Phil LaMancusa

Hope Fiend

Or

I Don’t Get It

        “Breaking away to the other side, I wanna make sense of why we live and die; I don’t get it: I don’t get it; I don’t get it.” wails Margo Timmins of the Cowboy Junkies. When I hear that, my mind also wails, twenty-two percent of the time or 4.5%.

        We’ve become a society of facts, figures and statistics adrift and seeking to find a foothold in our collective semi-conscious mental states of ennui: 45 million people affected by a cold front; 50% chance of an earthquake; Senator Fancy pants has an approval rating of 42% and the interest rate goes up again ¾ of a point. Aaron Judge (Jersey #99) hits home run number 62 this season (making 220 career) and makes history but Barry Bonds (#s 24, 25) still holds the record of 762. The Dow Jones has slipped and the S&P has fallen; “and the race is on and here comes pride on the outside…”

        Somalia car bomb kills 100, wounds 400; Seoul, Korea stampede kills 150 injures hundreds; a bridge collapses in India kills 141; the Palestinians fighting the Jews, 16 dead; Ukraine staving off another invasion and people are dying by the thousands; a gunman opens fire in an elementary school and slaughters in double digits; millions are starving in Africa; hurricane Ian is the hardest to hit Florida since 1935. And we head into 2023 with the same hope as 2022: “Dear Lord, please make this a better year”; the Devil chuckles and I get to use another semicolon.

        The Book of Revelations lists the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse as Conquest, War, Famine and Death; it seems that there is a Fifth Horseman and it is us, and for no apparent reason, we still hope for better times. Sometimes it makes me want to throw up. The odds are against us eight to five and climbing.

        Buddha’s Brain wants us to practice the science of happiness, peace and wisdom and still we raise animals to slaughter; we poison our bodies, minds and environment; we send our children into harm’s way and for no apparent reason we hope for the best in our lives and for our loved ones. I don’t get it. We believe and follow leaders that only serve themselves and the highest bidder keeping them in office by voting for the loudest voice or someone who talks as smooth as cream cheese on a bagel. We know the names of the players on our local football team better that those of our representatives in congress. Our attention span and reading levels are…. what was I gonna say? Oh, just this: we’re acting like we’re stupid and we know it.

        Renouncing ego seems the way to go; however, in this dog eat dog rat race where we work like beavers just to keep our head above water when we’re up to our asses in alligators; it’s hard to remember that our goal was to join in the Peace River Freedom Swim.

        Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, what’s to keep us from going emotionally comatose when it all seem to be an uphill battle; how are we to maintain a positive outlook on life? Hope. Hope and the way we view life, the Universe and everything; not taking our quality for life for granted and uniquely subjective. Realizing that everything is relative like the sun and the moon and the stars; and how we react to a beautiful sunset or the tiniest of flowers could possibly bring about world peace.

        Some wise guy said “I will tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven” implying that the way that we’re living should not be our default PDF state. Chew on that a moment.  

        Here’s the point; in the quest to relieve the adverse effects that bring about disappointment, disillusionment, heartache, misery and soul sucking pain in our lives because of greed and ego, we collectively are advised to follow these three simple steps to achieve a happy and forever existence: Right Thought, Right Speech and Right Action (a practical guideline for ethical and mental development designed to free us from attachments and delusions).

        Think about it. If you don’t have anything good to say, shut the pie hole; swallow that negativity and eventually you’ll begin to stop your negative thoughts (not as simple as it sounds, and it takes a lot of practice). Once you’ve gone beyond the keeping your mouth shut and follow up with thinking pleasanter thoughts, you’ll find your outlook on life changing and indeed, your very life and actions.

        Listen, you don’t wake up with a hangover, in a strange bed with a three legged dog, an empty bourbon bottle and a mouth that tastes like a garbage truck has emptied itself on you; tongue asleep, itchy teeth and you remember not only are you still living with your mother, but you vaguely recall calling up your employer last night and telling them to stick your job and salary where the sun don’t shine. When that happens to you…again, you may want to consider the concept of cause and effect.

        You don’t just happen to wake up naked across the hood of your car with the ignition key stuck in your butt without it (situations) starting somewhere with the exact wrong decision that you’ve made before but refused to learn because you didn’t think, thought that it was gonna be fun or this time you hoped the outcome would be different. You don’t get it, do you? Hope is not enough.

        It’s 2023 folks; time to wake ourselves and the world up and get our act together because this world, with you in it, is going to hell in a hand basket and no one can save it but you (and you, and you and me) Get it? Got it? Good.