Can't we just get along?

Some days, we are thoroughly persuaded that the deck is stacked against us, the folks we have to deal with are our enemies, and the chance of a good result is remote.
  Then we're reminded, there are friends in our lives, there by the grace of a loving Father; good folks who wish us well and lend a hand when it's needed.
  Funny how we can forget that sometimes.

None are expendable.

These are our sons and daughters, Mr. President.  These are the magnificent among us.  They serve by choice and at great personal cost.  Let the weight of their sacrifice and ours settle upon your heart and mind, sir, as we remember who owes allegiance to whom.

ACCS USN(Ret)

Everybody knows ...

Disaster!  National collapse!  Hardly.  These are the common
social fluctuations occasioned by economic variations. 
We adapt to the opportunities available.

Everybody knows that when your kids are 18, out they go!  Everybody knows that if your kid goes to college and then comes back home, it's a disaster.  You must have failed as a parent! 

Or maybe it's the end of the world!

Nonsense.

Welcome to the 21st century.  The phenomenon is called the 'accordion family' and 'boomerang children'. It has happened before and will likely happen again.  As the economy loosens or tightens, folks in transition may or may not find an adequate place in the workforce right away.  They may or may not be hired into a viable career path right out of school.  They may launch in the classic (1950's) sense, or they may emerge more slowly like youngsters did in the 1930's. Let's not struggle with social contextual issues as though they were a simple choice.  Stuff like that happens.

Going a bit further, it's worth noting that the economically tight times will first affect young folks, single-income homes, recent immigrants, and perhaps non-technical folks.  If extended, the economic impact will envelope the entire population.  It's done to us, not by us.  

Stay connected.
Stay informed.
Stay involved.

Family is the safe place, the shelter, the base camp from which each foray originates and to which one can always return to be refreshed, encouraged, and helped.  A healthy church serves similarly in our lives.

    Take a breath, get a grip, adjust.

Fuss, pray, fight, pray, work, push, pray, change, vote :), be thankful for the opportunity you have.

     Did I mention 'vote'? And pray too.  Of course.

Of note, our unemployment in the U.S. hovers around 8%.
In Spain today, unemployment is 25%, and in Djibouti, it's around 80%.

Take the time to understand your world.

Legal Purchase of Government Policy

One person, one vote.
One super-rich person, one vote, but troublingly greater influence.
Despite the Constitution's Fourteenth Amendment, this really isn't equal representation, IMHO.

Most folks conclude that the Super PAC use of influence is crooked as a dog's hind leg.

The 9 biggest PACs are primarily funded by just a few rich individuals, yet they have great influence in our country's governance.

Super PACs emerged from the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling in 2011. PACs can legally raise unlimited amounts of money. They can legally spend that money on messages supporting the election or defeat of federal candidates.  This isn't money spent on research and analysis for the benefit of the nation, this is just advertising constructed to sell, to persuade, to inordinately influence.

From Forbes/Business:

"Super PACs are responsible for a new flood of secret and unlimited cash infiltrating our political system. They have become far more important and influential than the candidates themselves or the voters, and have fundamentally changed American politics. 

To date, there are 328 super PACs that have raised about $99 million and spent about $48 million in the 2012 election cycle, $42.5 million of which has been spent on the presidential race." 

The super pacs have more influence at election time than the candidates do.  That's a troubling possibility.

Update:  10/2016

2016 financial activity for super PACs

2,331	number of super PACs
$1,107,816,814	total raised by super PACs
$734,282,837	total spent by super PACs

That's money spent on advertising, smear tactics, biased recounting of history, and inaccurate representation.  There's no objectivity and no value in the actions, only detrimental misrepresentation and division in the nation.  If you're curious how it happened, this is a centerpiece.

I can see clearly now ... can't I?

World. View.

Worldview?

Every day, we are assaulted by talking heads, pushing us to accept some 'obvious' truth, or 'point of view' ... 

GenX/Yer    Millennial      Mosaic         ...?

Liberal  Conservative   Moderate    Radical       ...?        Tween  Teen   Twenty-    Thirty-something        …?

Optimist  Pessimist   Realist     Fatalist      Idealist         …?

     Do we know why we see things the way we do? 

Did we acquire our perspective from the media, the years, the culture?   From stories our father told?
Or perhaps we were dragged to it by life's circumstances.  
Do we see things clearly?   

One sociologist, for an example, describes us in terms of how we view people outside our own circle.  If we visited a dozen places, what might we see?

People as:
(1) interesting illustrations in dress and manner, or as 
(2) folks with whom you might interact as you travel and shop and eat, or as 
(3) potential friends, even extensions of your own circle of family and intimate friends.  

It's another way to describe our view, a continuum from isolation to social integration.  Does it help?  How many more such differentiations might there be?

   We hope to understand the world we see, to avoid narrow-mindedness born of ignorance.   

  We hope to make the world a better place for our having been in it.  

So what might one do for a better worldview?  
You can choose, you know.  

As a youngster, I was told with a smile ...

 Things are not as they seem.
    You were born into a world at war.
       Everything you do counts.

Perhaps a helpful beginning point.  

No mere mortal

“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. 

All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities… that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. 

There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal.

Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.” 

~ C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

Welcome to your world, Gabrielle Elise, and to your first sunrise, and to everlasting splendor!

All Hallows' Eve 2012