Knocking off the Dust

Wow. It HAS been a while.... And some things haven't changed since the last time I posted here. I thought about making a fresh start, about clearing out the archives, but you know what? Nah, I may not 100% agree today with everything I wrote back then, but it was my thoughts, and really the main thing that this is about is my thoughts, searching for the truth ... that central facet ... the bone of the matter. It was always what Klikhizz, what I, meant in talking about the Path of Bones ... the path at the center of everything, the foundation, the core, the skeleton that everything is built upon.

 I didn't know everything back then, and I sure as hell don't know it all now. I'm not the person I was then and, in another ... looks over at the archives ... 20 years I won't be who I am now. At least that's the hope. People ether learn, change, evolve in their opinions or their minds are too closed to think for themselves, and if I want anything to be true of me, it's that I'll never become THAT person.

 At my core I'd still say that I'm fiscally conservative and socially liberal, largely a person that believes that what you do is your business as long as it doesn't directly harm someone else. But the world has changed, I can see that certain definitions have been changed over my lifetime, and not for the better. Certain things have stagnated, and many things that should have been ended have been left to fester.

I'm not writing this now to change people's minds, hell I don't plan to advertise this page any more than whatever blogger's algorithm does automatically. It's posted publicly, if people find it and read it fine, if they don't, fine, technically it's a journal for myself really. A way to look back on my thoughts down the road and go 'God I can't believe what an idiot I was' or, at least, consider why I thought certain things and think about why I changed my mind. 

The world has changed ... this isn't the world that it was in 2004 when I first started these rambles. Time marches forward, and if I've learned anything in my 53 years on this planet it's that you can't stop time, technology, or change.

This isn't to say that I disagree with what I wrote, I haven't gone back through it all, but I'm reasonably sure that I don't 100% disagree, but my opinions may have gained some nuance in the last 20 years ... some perspective that I didn't have back then. Maybe just because I've seen the change in the world, and see the damage that some of those trying to hold on to a past that doesn't exist any more are doing. But then isn't that what should change your mind ... acknowledging and accepting new ideas and knowledge that you maybe hadn't seen before? Change is a part of life ... nothing good comes without change, nothing improves the idea isn't to stop change ... that way lies stagnation and decline ... the idea is to make the best change for society as a whole, and sometimes that means letting go of things.

Where will this go from here? I don't know ... will I have the time, desire, and material to keep posting here regularly again? I don't know. The political landscape is bleak .... I don't know where things are headed at this point, if something doesn't change I truly fear what may be on the horizon ... not just in the US, but globally. I hope I'm wrong, but I see entirely too much hate in the world, and I see our leaders fanning those flames rather than dousing them, I see too many parallels in history and none of them end well. 

 Part of the problem is that our Education system has failed so many, for decades if not a century or more, an institution to churn out good little workers with just enough knowledge to do their job. The government isn't interested in teaching critical thinking because critical thinkers question things, critical thinkers want to know why, critical thinkers check sources, check facts, and expect their leaders to provide facts and evidence rather than just taking their word for things. A nation of critical thinkers could do great things, but such people are difficult to lead ... or more accurately, are difficult to mislead. They think about things, they see flaws and wonder why those haven't been fixed, only to realize that they aren't going to be fixed because that flaw benefits those in power. That those flaws are there to keep them in power.

It is said that power corrupts, but I'm not completely sure that's accurate. I can't decide if power corrupts, if power attracts those that are corruptible, or if those that are already corrupt can be relied upon to seek more power. The thing is power only truly attracts those that don't care about the responsibility that it entails. The head that wears the crown is only heavy if it cares about the people that it leads, if it cares about improving their lives or at least protecting them. What we need is a leader that understands that, who seeks to address the responsibility, rather than power, prestige, or notoriety. One who loves people, who wants to raise everyone up, who understands the strength of compassion. One that realizes that life is a collaborative art, and we all make more beautiful pictures when we work together rather than tearing each other down.