29 SEPTEMBER 2023 HIGH TIME

I have heard it said that our country (U.S.A.) is young. The past several years; however, portray a country that has become hardened and inflexible. Old bodies become stiff with age – even governing bodies. Plants and animals lose their ability to bend and give. Where they once were supple and soft, they grow rigid from years of being challenged by the forces of Nature. Minds, too, often become set and molded to certain ways of thinking, being unwilling to consider new ideas. Older people fall victim to dementia, becoming childlike and often reverting to immature behavior.

If I were to meet a foreigner today, I would feel slightly embarrassed by my American citizenship. I have always been told that the United States was a leader in the world and that many other countries strive to emulate our democracy. I am beginning to see that democracy fail. I am seeing that what has made us a leader is not our morality, but our obsession with capitalism and our inflated sense of righteousness.

Our world faces overarching challenges today. Global warming looms over us like the elephant in the room. It is unequivocally our biggest threat. Literally, millions of people around the globe have become refugees due to climate disasters and senseless wars. We have hungry and homeless people in our own country because of a corporate managed government, which denies them a living wage. All the while, older politicians hold onto their rigid, long held control, refusing to budge from their coveted positions. They have bullied their way through life to attain their personal “American Dream” at great cost to the people. They are now sinking into childish behavior, slinging verbal insults right and left, accusing one another of this and that, crying impeachment, and acting like boys in a school yard brawl. They are willing to shut down our government to distract, rather than address, the real problems. Donald Trump has been committing fraud for 35 years (probably longer) lying and cheating all the way to the presidency, and (possibly still) attempting to overthrow our government. Many of the other politicians are also questionable.

It is high time that they stepped down and allowed the people to elect younger leaders – people in whose hands our broken world will fall. The younger generations are not driven by capitalism, but seek to find ways to bring our country and our world back to a state of grace. They are not thanking us for the mess we (baby boomers) have made; but they are our hope for healing the damage that has been done.