One of these days, I'm actually going figure out the meaning of the song "Old Lang Syne". The lyrics in that song have always bothered me, on some level, for some reason. Maybe, I'm just reading them wrong or reading too much into them? Anyway, how many of you actually took the time to take stock of 2017.. Reflected back on the good as well as the bad? If you did you probably wound up searching for answers at the bottom of a bottle or glass --be it punch or otherwise. 2017 was one tumultuous year to say the least, but that being said it wasn't all bad. Seems to me we have had accountability restored in the White House and that surely goes a long way to returning power to "we the people", in my humble opinion. President Trump is not your typical politician, but in many ways that's a good thing because he doesn't waste time tip-toeing through the politically correct tulips. Trump just tells it like it is and then proceeds to get meaningful stuff done. With President Donald Trump WSWYG (what you see is what you get). I have to respect that on some level, even if I'm not always fond of the Presidential Tweets. That being said, the biased mainstream media has absolutely LOST ALL perspective where President Trump is concerned, because a Twitter account and colorful, fluffy language --what the media would desire to see as per the previous President ... But don't forget President Obama's calm, collective and repeated assurances that wound up being flat-out lies (e.g., "If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor" and "If you like your health insurance, you can keep your health insurance)-- does not a meaningful Presidency make. Maybe it's just me, but I'd rather have brutal honesty over colorful and deceptive lies any day of the week. Contrary to what the liberal mainstream media and elites --on both sides of the aisle-- believe, "we the people" are not stupid and many of us are no longer willing to be blindly led, while being told what to think and say (i.e., politics of belonging). The time has come for true rebels, rebels of independent thought, reason and action to speak boldly and to begin coloring outside of the feel-good 'belonging lines', while firmly rejecting the narrative of absolutes.
With the media's off-the-rails coverage of the Trump Presidency it seems to me 2017 has ushered in the final death-blow to objective journalism. How SAD is that? Objective journalism used to play a vital role in support of our representative democracy. These days, however, many journalistic voices do little more than stir and feed frenzy toward overt political ends. So very sad! Our founding fathers would be greatly disappointed in the America of today, in this respect, I think. At the end of the day rhetoric may serve set the tone, but in the end it is actions --and not words-- that speak volumes to what is being done on behalf of "we the people" (e.g., record-breaking stock market highs, millions of new jobs, unemployment at all time decades low, energy independence becoming a reality --thereby lowering energy costs for everyday hard-working citizens, while stimulating the growth of new businesses-- and how about that historic revamping of the tax-code to the benefit of over 80% of Americans, which along with trade deal re-negotiations will likely bring back hundreds of thousands jobs back from overseas). Granted we still have a long road ahead, but from where I'm standing we're off to a great start.
My biggest hope for 2018 is that the mainstream media will finally screw their heads back on straight and begin to give the Office of the President of United States the respect it is due. That the media will finally begin covering the substantive actions of the President and his administration, instead of endlessly obsessing over the President's rhetoric, while "we the people" must continually suffer through the media's inane attempts at varying degrees of interpretation of the 'true meaning' behind Trump's words with the non-bonus of their quasi psycho-analysis of the man behind the words. Trump is his own man and he's redefining what it means to be Presidential in terms that work for him and the way he does business. You don't have to like President Trump, but the Office he holds demands a certain level of respect, which heretofore has been sorely lacking, and that in and of itself portrays the entire United States of America in a really bad light to the rest of the world. To my way of thinking true patriots want whoever is in office to do well, because that winds up benefiting the country as whole. We seem to have lost sight of this important fact somewhere along way? Something is terribly wrong when you want your political opponents to fail miserably, at the expense of the country, just so your party looks to be a better alternative in upcoming elections. I think the American people are beginning to see through this smoke and mirrors and tactic. Now that "we the people" have had a long over-due taste of actual accountability, I suspect we are not likely to relinquish it anytime soon.
On that note, I'm off to hopefully find a few hours of sleep --hopefully in the absence of dreams and visions. Can't quite bring myself to utter the predictable phrase "Happy New Year." Maybe tomorrow. For now, let me just wish that you find satisfaction --and maybe even joy-- in the singular moment presently unfolding right at hand.
1/6/2017(8) Well, what do you know ... Most people don't get the song "Old Lang Syne" either according to CNN polling data/article. CNN was kind enough to provide us with the full lyrics for this 'time-honored' song --considering it was written in 1788 by Scotsman Robert Burnes. Reading the lyrics for this song does little to ease my own confusion or dislike of this poem-song. How about you? If I were to modernize this song a bit, I suppose you do wind up with the 70's Dan Folgelberg song "Same Old Lang Syne", which starts off with the lyrics "Met my old lover in the grocery store. The snow was falling on Christmas Eve. I stood behind her in the frozen foods and I touched her on the sleeve." Maybe it's just me, but isn't it healthy to review and questions our "time-honored" traditions now again? If less than 3% of the general population knows the lyrics and almost no one really understands them, maybe it's time for some new lyrics??? I'd like to challenge some of our many talented contemporary lyricists or musicians to come up with some more modern, more readily understandable (not to mention easier to remember) lyrics for this ballad. Hey, it could happen .... My wish for 2018??? My starting pass for new lyrics is here.
1/11/2018 I finally find myself in actual 2018. Yeah? Another one of my tangible wishes for 2018 is that some artful communicator will give a TED talk on how to have a meaningful political discussion with someone who might not agree with your own positions, on key issues, 100% right out of the gate. Think this insight would be extremely useful in the divided America we find ourselves in today. Given the right skills and an open mind-set, I remain ever-hopeful that meaningful political dialogue can be restored in our nation once again.
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